All Episodes

Greatest Hits: That Summer PD Vibe!

#229 Cheating and A.I. — What Are We To Do?

#228 Allow Students to Discover Reading

#227 Teaching Frustrations: What to Do…

Greatest Hits: Culture of the Writing Workshop

#226 Skill vs Comprehension Reading Instruction

#225 Pam’s New Adventure!

#224 Keeping the Joy of Writing Instruction

#223 Objectives: Posted or Not Posted?

Greatest Hits: Paper is Still King

#222 Standard Based Learning with a Twist of Assessment

#221 STAAR Writing Support

#220 State of Schools in 2025

A Christmas Break

#219 Leading Your Department

#218 Staying Strong During the Fall Season

#217 Spicing Up Direct Instruction

#216 Balancing Direct Instruction with Facilitation (repost)

#215 Building Relationships Through Content

#214 Receiving Feedback and Advocating for Workshop

#213 Starting Units and Poetry (Q&A)

#212 Low-stakes Writing: Why?

#211 Navigating Political Seasons as an Educator

#210 A Focus on the School Library

#209 How We Use QuickWrites in Writing Workshop

#208 Standards: Academic or Kid Friendly

#207 Workshop in a Boxed Curriculum

#206 Develop the Future of Your Workshop (PD)

#205 A Wide Array of Workshop Wonderings

#204 The Dos of Starting Workshop

#203 The Don’ts of Starting Workshop

#202 The Craftbook and Draftbook Tutorial

#201 The Knowledge Gap Has Gaps

#200 The Knowledge Gap Book Study Finale and Our Thoughts

#199 Chapters 9-10 of The Knowledge Gap (Book Study)

#198 Chapters 7-8 of The Knowledge Gap (Book Study)

#197 Chapters 4-6 of The Knowledge Gap (Book Study)

#196 Chapters 1-3 of The Knowledge Gap (Book Study)

#195 The Knowledge Gap Book Study (Join Us!)

#194 Is the Knowledge Gap Real? (Book Study Intro)

#193 How to Get an English Teaching Job

#192 Closing the Year Strong

#191 How to Study Literature

#190 Schools Ruin Poetry

#189 What is an Assignment?

#188 How Much Do We Know About American Teachers?

#187 What is College Readiness?

#186 It’s That Time of Year: To Stay or To Quit

#185 Test-Prep Strategies! (Patreon Episode)

#184 Reading or Writing: What Matters Most?

#183 Does it Matter if Teachers Teach a Love for Reading?

#182 Essays and Possibilities

#181 Why Two Notebooks?

#180 We Talk About Stress

#179 This is What Schools Need to be Successful

#178 Filler Lessons for the Unexpected Day

#177 Will Programs Replace Teachers?

#176 GT and STAAR Writing HELP

#175 Set-up (literally) the Classroom for Success

#174 From Memories to Empowered Writers

#173 From Ancient Discoveries to Keeping Kids Learning

#172 The Importance of a Personal Story (pt.2)

#171 The Importance of a Personal Story

#170 A Journal System that WORKS (Tutorial)

#169 Capturing Where We’ve Been LIVE (pt.2)

#168 Capturing Where We’ve Been LIVE (pt.1)

Join Craft & Draft LIVE All Week to Rejuvenate Your Workshop

#167 Nuances, Complexities, Science of Reading, and More

#166 Building Reading Culture in your Classroom (pt.2)

#165 Building Writing Culture in your Classroom (pt.1)

#164 Checkpoints for Progress (pt.2)

#163 Checkpoints for Progress (pt.1)

#162 When Planning in Groups Goes Right (pt.2)

#161 When Planning in Groups Goes Wrong (pt.1)

#160 Getting Buy in from Students in Reading (Listener Question)

#159 Are You Coachable?

# 158 Solving Time Management with ChatGPT

#157 Libraries Are Essential

#156 Teaching with LIMITED Resources

#155 Making the Curriculum Fit and Flow Through Workshop

#154 Workshopping the Science of Reading (Bonus Episode)

#153 Activating Writers with Mentor Texts (Bonus Video)

#152 New School Year… New Us?

#151 Workshop and Special Needs Students

#150 Working with Difficult Colleagues (pt.2)

#149 A Day in the Life of a Workshop Teacher (Part 1)

#148 Annotation is to Reading as Diagramming is to Grammar

#147 Plagiarism: What Can Teachers Do About It?

#146 We Rate ChatGPT Lessons for English Language Arts

#145 Artificial Intelligence is Here to Stay

#144 The Art of Presentation

#143 On Endings… and Beginnings

#142 PD Books, Our Book, and Reading Conferences Q&A

#141 Helping Students Build Confidence

#140 When We Face Difficult Times

#139 The Interview: What Makes It Great!

#138 Keeping the Focus on the Students

#137 Lessons Through Skills, Genres, or Themes?

#136 Are Stations or Centers Workshop?

#135 Creating Context (and all the musings)

#134 Curb Cheating in the Classroom

#133 Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

#132 Instructional Rounds

#131 The Animosity Growing Towards Workshop Teaching

#130 Choice: Why It’s a Must

#129 Standards and Self-Selected Texts

#128 Working with a Co-Teacher in Workshop

#127 The First 5 Minutes of Your Lesson

#126 How to Nail Your Teacher Observation This Year

#125 What Data Matters?

#124 Strategies to Increase Engagement in Workshop

#123 What Makes a Robust Literacy Program?

#122 Our Top 5 Teacher Moments of 2022

#121 One Lesson a Day to Cover Everything?

#120 One Notebook for a Writing Workshop Class

#119 The STAAR Short Constructed Response Strategies

#118 Reading Conferences and…

#117 That’s Not Good Teaching!

#116 Keeping Kids Engaged at This Time of Year

#115 It’s Not How You Start, It’s How You Finish

#114 Fostering Creativity in Workshop Teaching

#113 Starting with the Standard

#112 How Grade-centric is Your Class?

#111 What is Writing in Writing Workshop?

#110 Managing Independent Work Time

#109 Honeymoon is Over

#108 Lesson Planning Woes

#107 The Value in Cold Writes

#106 Grammar Matters

#105 Vocabulary to Publishing

#104 Continuing the Workshop Journey

#103 We Answer ALL the Questions—Part 2

#102 We Answer ALL the Questions: A Listener Joins Us!

#101 Jacob is an Assistant Principal, What Now?

#100 Your First Day of Workshop (and BEYOND!)

#99 Why The Workshop Process Works

#98 Keeping Authentic Learning the Priority

#97 Doors Open to Kids who Independently Read

#96 Breaking Down State Scores and More

#95 Tech, Cross-curricular, and Workshop Questions Answered!

#94 Thinking Twice Before Using Outside Resources

#93 Advocating for Kids and Yourself

#92 Learning from Success

#91 The Writing on the Wall and Looping

#90 Saying Goodbye

#89 What Makes a Book Literature?

#88 A Time for Reflection

#87 Lesson Walkthrough with Pam Ochoa

#86 Discussing the Latest NCTE Position Statement Part 2

#85 Discussing the Latest NCTE Position Statement

#84 How to Build Background Knowledge

#83 Authentic Publishing Goals

#82 Balancing Demands of Teaching with Workshop

#81 Celebrating Students

#80 When the Product Hijacks the Lesson

#79 Questions and Writefully Empowered is HERE!

#78 When Students Write About Trauma

#77 Cultivate a Culture of Freedom in Workshop

#76 MORE Craft & Draft is Here!

#75 Why Are Educators Quitting?

#74 Before the Writing Begins

#73 Disrupted Plans…Thanks, Covid

#72 Balancing Direct Instruction with Facilitation

#71 Strategy or Craft? Listener Question Answered!

#70 How is Craft & Draft Going for Us This Year?

#69 The Causes and Cures to Apathy

#68 Motivation—A Secret Sauce

#67 Tutorials, Remediation, and Other Trinkets

#66 We Discuss Book Bans and Censorship

#65 Class Novels within the Craft & Draft Model

#64 Thankful

#63 Students are JUST Reading?!

#62 Where Do We Get Our Lessons?

#61 Publishing

#60 Weaving Reading and Writing Together

#59 Keeping Control While Giving Choice

#58 Scheduling Your Workshop

#57 Establishing Purpose to Increase Learning

#56 Hard Times

#55 Finding and Cultivating Student Voice

#54 Expanding Workshop BEYOND the Classroom

#53 Resistors

#52 Our First 3 Days

#51 Discussing the Art and Science of Teaching

#50 C&D Tutorial Questions Answered

#49 How to do Craft & Draft – Tutorial

#48 Are There Non-Negotiables of Reading and Writing Workshop?

#47 Is Freedom LESS Rigorous?

#46 Waiting for Change

#45 Should You Teach Grammar That Way?

#44 Why is it Hard for Teachers to Take Breaks?

#43 Should Students Fail? Listener Question Answered!

#42 That Summer PD Vibe

#41 Diverse Books for a Diverse Classroom (BOY pt.2)

#40 Listener Question — How to Begin Next Year (pt.1)

#39 Differentiation in Workshop

#38 An Ending to Remember

#37 The Quickwrite Handbook and Beyond

#36 We Love Teaching Poetry

#35 Change is Coming to Craft & Draft

#34 Bridging Reading and Writing in Workshop

#33 What Makes a Great Team?

#32 What Should Professional Development Look Like?

#31 The Writer’s Diet

#30 High Stakes Tests vs Teaching

#29 The Feedback Loop

#28 A Novel Approach

#27 Grammar — Meaning — Music

#26 A Little Reading Nudge

#25 Nuts & Bolts of Choice in Writing (Listener Question)

#24 The Waxing and Waning of Workshop

#23 Laura Robb: Entering the Writing Life

#22 Whole Group Novel or Literature Circles?

#21 Publishing, Assessing, and Measuring Growth

#20 The Draftbook

#19 The Craftbook

#18 More Programs, More Problems (Listener Q&A)

#17 Top PD Books to Buy With Those Gift Cards

#16 Unstick the Stuck Writer

#15 Cultivating Creativity

#14 Culture of the Reading Workshop

#13 Culture of the Writing Workshop

#12 The Art of Letting Go

#11 When Workshop Needs Some Spice

#10 The Anatomy of a Great Reading and Writing Conference

#9 Conferring is the Heart of Our Workshop

#8 Planning to Teach Critique to 7th Graders

#7 Lesson Planning to Teach Informational Text

#6 Oral Storytelling and the Brain

#5 The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

#4 The Scarlet Ibis

#3 Paper is Still King

#2 Possibilities and Surprises with Online Teaching!

#1 Our Beliefs About Literacy