Two Pint PLC

Laurence Woodruff & Michael Ralph

Teaching is a personal profession. We shine brightest when we work together in a safe environment for the betterment of our students. Two Pint PLC is a podcast that invites you to join two educators who discuss the big issues in education in a personal and casual conversation. Two Pint PLC combines the research base, current events and personal experiences to provide a context for each listener’s own professional development. read less

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086 PBL Effects & Mindfulness Introspection

086 PBL Effects & Mindfulness Introspection

Project-Based Learning is a thoroughly researched method of instruction with many benefits. We read a meta-analysis looking specifically at how PBL affects student motivation, and saw data illustrating just how important an excellent project prompt is to project success. Later, we read a study showing neurofeedback devices can increase the accuracy of students’ understanding of their own emotional state. We consider the responsibility of mindfulness programs to help students respond in healthy ways to their increased emotional engagement.

Episodes

086 PBL Effects & Mindfulness Introspection

086 PBL Effects & Mindfulness Introspection

Project-Based Learning is a thoroughly researched method of instruction with many benefits. We read a meta-analysis looking specifically at how PBL affects student motivation, and saw data illustrating just how important an excellent project prompt is to project success. Later, we read a study showing neurofeedback devices can increase the accuracy of students’ understanding of their own emotional state. We consider the responsibility of mindfulness programs to help students respond in healthy ways to their increased emotional engagement.

085 Academic Anxiety & Principal Leadership

085 Academic Anxiety & Principal Leadership

More schools are looking to address the socio-emotional needs of students, and a key area for that work is helping students manage anxiety in the classroom. We look at a study showing how some accommodations may be reinforcing their anxiety, and how teachers can help students develop healthier strategies for managing it. Later, we read a study of principal characteristics that support teacher self-efficacy and a shared sense of collective efficacy. Communication and modeling are essential, while coercion is deeply ineffective.

084 Theater Empathy & Cognitive Load

084 Theater Empathy & Cognitive Load

Field trips to the theater can be memorable opportunities for students to engage in community-based performing arts. Dr. Goldstein joins us to talk about how even a single theater experience can have an impact on socio-emotional outcomes like empathy and perspective-taking for students. Later, we discuss the intersection of cognitive load theory and motivation. Their method of diagramming teacher practice across both led us to lively reflection on our own tendencies in the classroom.

083 Underachievement & Artificial Intelligence

083 Underachievement & Artificial Intelligence

Student underachievement occurs when students’ day-to-day class performance is lower than their test scores predict it should be. We read a review of research that shows the causes of underachievement can vary widely. Still, it gives teachers some useful starting points when trying to help a student reach their full potential. Later, we discuss some recent coverage of AI and student cheating. We reflect on how student use of artificial intelligence - whether or not it is teacher-approved - may sit in relation to our classroom values.

082 Stimulus Complexity & Student Caregiving

082 Stimulus Complexity & Student Caregiving

This month is a collaborative episode with the hosts of the School Spirits podcast. We read a study of pigeon working memory that indicates complex visuals activate substantially more of our brains than simple ones, which can help with memory and processing of information. Later, we discuss new data that shows how common caregiving responsibilities are among school students. The findings prompt us to think about how schools can be places that support and embrace students as caregivers.

081 Instructional Agency & Bilingual Math

081 Instructional Agency & Bilingual Math

Researchers measured the impact of student-directed project weeks on their sense of motivation over the course of a school year. We reflect on the importance of consistently prioritizing learner agency throughout the year, rather than sequestering it to a single week of freedom. Later, we read a review of research on learning math in bilingual settings. Their paper emphasizes the influence of the teaching language on learner processing, and the importance of someone’s multilingual schema as they process mathematical concepts.

080 Growth Mindset & Music Distractions

080 Growth Mindset & Music Distractions

This month we talk with Dr. Elisabeth Tipton about the research support for growth mindset interventions, and the flaws in last month’s meta-analysis. Together we consider how growth mindset should be part of a more comprehensive approach to helping students improve. Later, we read how listening to music reduces our ability to use our working memory for academic tasks. Their laboratory study shows music has a cost, but we wonder whether the cost of background classroom distractions might be higher.

079 Meta-Analyses: Co-Teaching & Growth Mindset

079 Meta-Analyses: Co-Teaching & Growth Mindset

A meta-analysis of co-teaching showed that it benefits students to have more than one adult in the classroom, regardless of the specifics. We reflect on what it could mean to successfully build a co-teaching classroom based on trust among the teachers and students. Later, we read another meta-analysis that is sharply critical of the current research on growth mindset. We consider what their critiques mean for our past support of growth mindset research and what elements of growth mindset we want to keep (for now).

078 Season 6 In Review

078 Season 6 In Review

This month we reflect on our year of reading scholarship and growing as humans. First we’ll return to the segments we felt had the greatest impact on our practice and our thinking from the research we read. Later, we’ll reflect specifically on our praxis. We share some of the changes we’re making in our classroom and in our study that is moving us toward our goals as education practitioners. Finally, we’ll share a bit about how our lives are changing outside of school… and mark the 2023 recipients of the Mug of Honor.

077 PBIS Trauma & Reciprocal Reading

077 PBIS Trauma & Reciprocal Reading

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a framework being adopted by many schools, and some claim it can integrate trauma-informed pedagogies. However, we read scholarship that shows how PBIS is fundamentally incompatible with trauma-informed education. Later, we discuss a large-scale reciprocal reading study with significant impacts for some students is still not effective for every student. How should this shape our approach to implementing research-informed reading instruction?

076 Standards - Based Instruction & Belonging Interventions

076 Standards - Based Instruction & Belonging Interventions

Many schools have adopted new instructional standards in recent years, but some schools have struggled in helping teachers align their instruction. We talk with author Morgan Polikoff about his team’s work studying why flexible specificity is so important for success. Later, we look at a very large study of a belonging intervention that helps students persist in their first year of college. We consider what that could mean for teachers in both K-12 and higher education settings.

075 Evaluation Reform & Retrieval Memory

075 Evaluation Reform & Retrieval Memory

Feedback is an essential component of professional growth, and teacher evaluation has changed in most places across the US over the last 15 years. What do we actually know about how those changes impacted school performance? Later, we read a study that showed retrieval practice is only beneficial when we have working memory resources to devote to the process. We reflect on what this means for students who may be stressed or otherwise not able to allocate those resources.

074 UDL In MTSS & Feedback Processing

074 UDL In MTSS & Feedback Processing

Universal Design for Learning represents a framework that can impact every part of the school. We read research looking at how UDL can contribute to more effective MTSS Tier 1 interventions… if teachers have an accurate understanding of UDL. Later, we look at an eye-tracking study to examine how students process feedback differently. The authors discuss “feedback literacy” and we brainstorm how we could help students become more feedback literate in our classrooms.

073 Creative Constraints & Good Errors

073 Creative Constraints & Good Errors

This month we are joined by two authors of a piece on constraints that fuel creativity. They share how limits on our writing help us focus on new parts of the writing process and make interesting connections along the way. Later, we read about how errors are essential to the learning process and what we as teachers can do to make more productive use of the errors students will inevitably make.

072 Contextual PD & Teacher Mentorship

072 Contextual PD & Teacher Mentorship

This month we look at professional development. A fresh framework for PD lays out how we need to consider teacher learning in-context, with definite answers to the “for whom” and “when” when discussing whether something works. Later, we look at norms for co-teaching by examining the role of a mentor teacher while a student teacher works with students. How should the mentor engage or intervene during a lesson?

071 Extended Research With Youki Terada

071 Extended Research With Youki Terada

This month we are joined again by guest Youki Terada to discuss his 2022 education research roundup. His team at Edutopia has curated their 10 top studies of the year - from retrieval practice to play-based learning - and we discuss every last one of them in a marathon episode.

070 Critical Ignoring & Reverse Engineering

070 Critical Ignoring & Reverse Engineering

Digital literacy skills are important for teachers to consider across many teaching contexts. We read about how critical ignoring should be part of what we are teaching to help students manage the information overload of today’s digital landscape. Later, we read a classroom study of how reverse engineering can help students get more out of their first robotics experiences. The benefits over “forward” designs reached their collaborative skills and what they learned.

069 Self-Regulation & Pedagogy Of Enactment

069 Self-Regulation & Pedagogy Of Enactment

This month we read a robust, experimental study on teaching self-regulation and the increasing benefits to students over time. They learn more AND close a key achievement gap. Later, we read about a pedagogy of enactment - how to learn about teaching through teaching. It underscores the many ways we improve through practice.

068 Learning Styles & Learning To Learn

068 Learning Styles & Learning To Learn

The theories about teaching students according to learning styles have been debunked in research, but the idea has been difficult to interrupt in practice. We read a new paper focused on helping teachers move on from old thinking related to learning styles with more productive contemporary research. Later, we look at a listener recommendation focused on helping students think about how they view their own learning, in order to promote more effective practices among students.

067 Teacher Shortage & Homework Inequality

067 Teacher Shortage & Homework Inequality

Staffing challenges in districts across the United States are fueling a narrative of a nationwide teacher shortage. However, Paul Bruno joins us to talk about his recent work showing there may not be a national shortage… or national anything. Later, we read a paper showing some of the inequitable impacts of math homework, and the persistence of a meritocracy myth despite teachers’ knowledge of the inequity.