Teaching Today Center for Professional Education of Teachers

Questions come naturally to young children: Why is the sky blue? Where do butterflies go in winter? As they grow older, students need invitations to cultivate curiosity and teachers who are able to teach the skill of questioning.

The Question Formulation Technique builds this lifelong learning skill, teaching students how to ask their own questions. In this episode, we’re joined by Dan Rothstein, Luz Santana, and Sarah Westbrook from The Right Question Institute to discuss how the QFT works and what we can do to cultivate curiosity through questioning.

Educators have an important job: getting students — the next group of leaders — ready for the future. Our guests this week — Lisa Dughi, CEO of NAF, a national education non-profit that works to prepare students for a life of upward mobility and success; and Collette Smith, Founder of Believe N You, which works with schools in underserved communities to encourage students and inspire positive change — bring their personal and professional experience as changemakers to the pod to discuss how we can best support tomorrow's leaders.

Engagement is a lever for achievement — when students are highly engaged, they are more likely to learn and persevere through challenges. How can educators effectively measure and assess student engagement in the classroom?

We're joined by Nona Ullman and Melissa Payette of LessonLoop — an organization that guides better instruction and transforms learner engagement — to talk about the innovative practice of using student feedback to measure engagement and increase joyful learning.

Station teaching can transform traditional classrooms into dynamic learning environments — the key is to familiarize yourself with the promising practices and potential pitfalls of this approach. In this episode, we're talking with co-teaching specialists Dr. Laura Rigolosi and Jacqui Stolzer about how educators can make station teaching work in their classrooms.

Adopting and adapting a new curriculum is a complex and multi-faceted process. It can pose a significant challenge as it involves navigating various competing needs, such as state standards, standardized exams, district and school-specific goals, and the diverse needs of students. The question arises: which of these priorities takes precedence? How do you do it all? Today we are Courtney Brown, Senior PD Advisor, NTN@TC Initiative Leader, and Secondary Ed. Specialist and, someone who has worked closely with a variety of schools to support curriculum, and ELA and ENL specialist, Lauren Midgette, who has been involved in various curricular projects with CPET.

Establishing and forging meaningful relationships with students at the start of the school year can be challenging — students often have diverse backgrounds, needs, and personalities, and they need to feel a sense of trust in order to be vulnerable about their learning needs, their personal opinions, and their challenges.

In this episode, we’re talking with Kelsey Hammond, a former ELA teacher and Lead Professional Development Coach, and Victoria Fernandez, a former Math/Special Education teacher and Lead Professional Development Coach about the importance of building relationships that foster a positive learning environment.