Teach Me, Teacher

Designed from the ground up as a no nonsense approach to teacher development, this podcast is your gateway to bettering your craft (and having some laughs along the way). It is a show for you. To help you better your craft, learn new skills, and get ideas to fuel your own. It is a show for anyone in the field of education, and has featured teachers and administrators from all over to offer their unique perspectives on some of the most relevant and hottest topics in public schools. Teach Me, Teacher has won several "best of" awards and has featured some of the top minds in education to date.

#415 On Endings, Failure, and Growth 05/18/2026

#414 The Leader in Me (Muriel Summers pt.2) 05/11/2026

#413 Fostering Student Leadership with Muriel Summers (pt.1) 05/05/2026

#412 Achieving Universal Child Care in New York (Cordero & Gardner pt.2) 04/28/2026

#411 The Tie Between Child Care and Education (pt.1) 04/20/2026

Growing Out of Struggle 04/07/2026

Should We Hate Standardized Testing? with Jeff Farely 03/30/2026

#410 The Disconnection Crisis (Jacob Adams pt.2) 03/23/2026

#409 Rebuilding Connection to Schools with Jacob Adams (pt.1) 03/17/2026

#409 Rebuilding Connection to Schools with Jacob Adams (pt.1) What happens when the biggest problems in education—chronic absenteeism, failing grades, teacher burnout, and families leaving schools—aren’t actually the core issues at all? In this episode of Teach Me, Teacher, I sit down with Jacob Adams, founder and executive director of , to explore what he calls the Disconnection Crisis in education. Check out their . Free virtual conference for folks who want to transform education from the inside out. For years, schools have chased outcomes—attendance rates, test scores, graduation numbers—while layering on interventions meant to fix them. But what if those outcomes are only symptoms of something deeper? Jacob argues that underneath many of the challenges educators face today is a growing sense of disconnection between students, families, educators, and the institutions meant to serve them. Drawing from nearly a decade of work with more than 40,000 Black and Brown young people in South Central and East Los Angeles, Jacob shares how his organization has focused not on scaling fast, but on going deep—rethinking learning environments from inside existing schools. The work centers on a simple but powerful idea: if students don’t feel connected to their school, no intervention will stick. Throughout the conversation, we dig into why so many well-intentioned reforms fall short, what educators often miss when trying to improve student outcomes, and how shifting the focus from “fixing students” to redesigning the learning environment can transform the culture of a school. Jacob also challenges some of the dominant narratives in education reform, pushing us to ask whether we’re even asking the right questions in the first place. Instead of focusing solely on performance metrics, what might happen if we prioritized relevance, relationships, and student voice? For educators feeling the strain of the current moment, this episode offers both a critique of the systems we work within and a hopeful look at what schools could become when connection moves to the center of the work. If we want schools to truly work for students, families, and teachers, the real question might not be how we fix outcomes—but how we rebuild connection. Listen in. /episode/index/show/dc087296-b3e8-4b8b-b9e9-ac2c9719d086/id/40506550

Teaching Grammar as Possibility (Martin Brandt pt.2) 03/09/2026

Keys to Focus Student Writing with Martin Brandt (pt.1) 03/02/2026

#408 Choosing to Keep Teaching (Pam Ochoa pt.2) 02/23/2026

#407 Is This Era of Teaching Dead? with Pam Ochoa (pt.1) 02/16/2026

A Closer Look at Student Behavior with Ms. Chyna (Greatest Hits) 02/09/2026

#406 Rest in Peace, Cyanna Boone 02/02/2026

#405 Education Needs to Evolve with Dr. Anindya Kundu (pt.2) 01/26/2026

#404 Who's to Blame for the State of Education? with Dr. Anindya Kundu (pt.1) 01/19/2026

#403 The Digital Delusion with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath (pt.2) 01/12/2026

#403 The Digital Delusion with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath (pt.2) On this week’s Teach Me, Teacher we sit down with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath — neuroscientist, educator, and author — to dive deep into one of the most urgent debates in education today: the role of technology in schools. All of the discussion items in this episode are inspired by and directed by Jared’s latest book: The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning — And How To Help Them Thrive Again — In this powerful conversation, Jared breaks down the myth of educational technology. His new book takes a rigorous, research-grounded view of why digital tools — once hailed as revolutionary — often fail to deliver on their promises and can actually hinder real learning. Jared and I explore how technology went from a supplemental tool to a central feature of classrooms. Fueled by optimism, investment, and the idea that digital tools automatically mean innovation, schools adopted laptops, tablets, apps, and AI — often without deep evidence that these tools improve learning. Drawing on decades of cognitive research, Jared explains how digital distraction — from multitasking to constant notifications — can disrupt memory, attention, and deep thinking. These are the very processes that real learningdepends on. Rather than simply adding more tech, we talked about what happens when schools put teachers, relationships, and focused engagement back at the center of learning. Jared makes the case that most student-facing screens should be phased out — not because technology is inherently bad, but because its dominant role undermines learning outcomes and critical thinking skills We also cover what better education actually looks like: classrooms where print media, discussion, reflection, and deep practice take priority — and where technology serves only highly specific, evidence-based purposes rather than driving instruction. As schools grapple with stagnant achievement, reduced attention spans, and rising concerns about student well-being, this episode challenges the assumption that more technology equals better learning. It’s time for educators, parents, and policy makers to rethink the role of ed tech — and that starts with honest conversations like this one. /episode/index/show/dc087296-b3e8-4b8b-b9e9-ac2c9719d086/id/39697030

#402 How Ed Tech is Harming Our Kids with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath (pt.1) 01/05/2026

#402 How Ed Tech is Harming Our Kids with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath (pt.1) On this week’s Teach Me, Teacher we sit down with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath — neuroscientist, educator, and author — to dive deep into one of the most urgent debates in education today: the role of technology in schools. All of the discussion items in this episode are inspired by and directed by Jared's latest book: The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning — And How To Help Them Thrive Again — In this powerful conversation, Jared breaks down the myth of educational technology. His new book takes a rigorous, research-grounded view of why digital tools — once hailed as revolutionary — often fail to deliver on their promises and can actually hinder real learning. Jared and I explore how technology went from a supplemental tool to a central feature of classrooms. Fueled by optimism, investment, and the idea that digital tools automatically mean innovation, schools adopted laptops, tablets, apps, and AI — often without deep evidence that these tools improve learning. Drawing on decades of cognitive research, Jared explains how digital distraction — from multitasking to constant notifications — can disrupt memory, attention, and deep thinking. These are the very processes that real learning depends on. Rather than simply adding more tech, we talked about what happens when schools put teachers, relationships, and focused engagement back at the center of learning. Jared makes the case that most student-facing screens should be phased out — not because technology is inherently bad, but because its dominant role undermines learning outcomes and critical thinking skills We also cover what better education actually looks like: classrooms where print media, discussion, reflection, and deep practice take priority — and where technology serves only highly specific, evidence-based purposes rather than driving instruction. As schools grapple with stagnant achievement, reduced attention spans, and rising concerns about student well-being, this episode challenges the assumption that more technology equals better learning. It’s time for educators, parents, and policy makers to rethink the role of ed tech — and that starts with honest conversations like this one. /episode/index/show/dc087296-b3e8-4b8b-b9e9-ac2c9719d086/id/39609915