Today on Vrain Waves we have an exciting and somewhat earth shaking interview from Natalie Wexler, education journalist and author of The Knowledge Gap. She walks us through the contributing research and education history that led her to write the book, and some strategies for schools to set the foundation for student success. From her website: “Education journalist Natalie Wexler focuses on two ideas that have solid evidence behind them but have been mostly overlooked by schools and...

Dr. Portnoy is an author, professor, teacher, advertiser, and designer. Join us for this discussion to hear about what teachers might learn from advertising, how we can improve authenticity and personalization, and turning students into our biggest fans. Share with us how you teach like an advertiser with #makesomevrainwaves! 

I know, I know - clips episodes seem overdone, but bear with us… in this show, we went through our interviews to this point and used Dr. Martin Seligman’s PERMA model for happiness to think through how we can be more joyful in our classrooms (and beyond). Links to all other shows can be found below!

Sports psychologist Dr. Jim Afremow joins Vrain Waves to share the importance of cultivating a champion’s mindset in everything you do. There are plenty of parallels between sports and teaching and learning; some of these parallels are useful for thinking about your classroom or your collegial relationships in a different frame. Download the Champion’s Mind app to hear inspirational audio clips and motivate yourself for anything you’re trying to tackle in life! Enjoy!

We’ve been waiting for years now for the chance to interview Dr. John Medina: Developmental Molecular Biologist, Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and author of Brain Rules, Brain Rules for Baby, Brain Rules for Aging Well, and Attack of the Teenage Brain, to name a few. Dr. Medina takes time out of his busy schedule to chat with us about Theory of Mind, stress and learning, and some history behind our fancy brains.

Five-time Jeopardy! Champion, professor, and author Dr. Tom Nichols joins us on Vrain Waves to discuss the implications of his work on K12 education. We chat with Dr. Nichols about the importance of relying on experts, cultivating our own expertise, and the cognitive heuristics that get in our way. From his website: “Tom Nichols is a U.S. Naval War College University Professor, and an adjunct at the U.S. Air Force School of Strategic Force Studies and the Harvard Extension School. He is a...

ASCD Author Chase Mielke joins us to discuss his book, The Burnout Cure, which combines educational practice, research, & brain science to offer tangible strategies and both short- and long-term solutions for when you’re feeling fried. We all know that being in education is the best and most rewarding job in the world, and that those exceptional times come with equal and opposite periods of uncertainty. Tune in to hear listener tips for avoiding burnout, rationale for living with...

Join us for a discussion with the potent pair Doug Fisher & Nancy Frey! We learn about their new book, PLC+ and resolve the age old question, "how do I make the most of my face to face time with other teachers?"

Episode 042: Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year!!! A quick intro episode after our summer break. Listen for some inspiration, activities, and free resources to help get your year started off right!! Please consider sharing with a friend, and point some feedback our way at tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback! Thank you!

How should teachers make the most of summer? Avoid decision paralysis, discover herculean motivation, and avoid distraction! Ben and Becky share advice from some giants in education about how to capitalize on every second of summer break!

An episode for every listener... Doris Kearns Goodwin & Michael Goodwin join Ben and Becky for an interview about what teachers can glean from presidents, the importance of interdisciplinary education, and the fundamental purpose of education

Robyn R. Jackson, PhD, has been an educator for more than a decade. As a National Board-certified English teacher, she increased the enrollment of minority and nontraditional students in her AP Language and Composition classes and tripled her overall course enrollment within one year without a decrease in her students' test scores. We had the extreme pleasure to speak with her on Vrain Waves about buildership, the importance of a strong and compelling mission / vision / values, and being the...

Today’s episode is all about reading! Join us as we interview Cognitive Scientist Dr. Dan Willingham on what teachers need to know from the research on helping kids love to read, vocabulary acquisition, and much more!

It’s not a real cult. It’s a mindset, a family, a ton of free resources, a podcast, great blog posts, relevant topics, and, frankly, a security blanket for busy teachers. Many times it’s pushed our thinking, strengthened our practice, and given us solace. It’s the Cult of Pedagogy, and we had the privilege of speaking to the “Head Teacher Nerd”, Jennifer Gonzalez, about school culture and much much more.

Join us to learn from best-selling author & Computer Science professor Cal Newport as we talk to him about exploring the world of digital abundance, using technology with intention, and walking through life with purpose.

Co-authors Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson stop by Vrain Waves to share the best moments from their sessions at ASCD 2019! Listen as they teach us how Design Thinking can help improve school culture.

What is an equity moonshot? What is the problem with deficit thinking? The dream team of Dr. Jackson, Dr. Kallick, and Dr. Zmuda has combined to author 27 books and were so lucky to have them swing by at ASCD to answer these questions and more.

In the first of our mini-series highlighting the conversations at the ASCD Empower 2019 Conference (#Empower19 for more on social media as well…), we sit down with inspirational teacher Mr. Dwayne Reed from Chicago Public Schools. Please enjoy this quick discussion about getting to know our classroom by starting with ‘you’, then ‘them’, then ‘we’, a quick reprise of his keynote at the General Session of the conference. (Becky’s Chicago accent comes back a little harder in this episode, too,...

We hope you’re sitting down. With a notebook. And that you’re ready to hit the pause button a bunch of times, because you’re going to need some reflection time for this one! This episode has so much insight we had a hard time uploading the audio. Join us for an interview with Cornelius Minor, the author of We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be (https://www.heinemann.com/products/e09814.aspx). Enjoy, and please tweet or share your takeaways so we can...

In this episode, Girl Scout CEO Sylvia Acevedo shares so much wisdom and insight into how to reach learners at every level, especially girls. Her stories, both from her own life and from being the CEO of girl scouts and seeing the projects that students are working on, are sure to inspire! Stay tuned after the episode for more classroom tips and instructional resources.

Co-authors Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson stop by Vrain Waves to share the 5 elements of design-inspired leadership. Alyssa & Kami “believe that educators can solve the challenges that face our schools faster and more effectively than any policy, top down mandate, or expensive commercial solution.” Tune in as they explain how design, creativity, and observation can help us navigate and advocate for change.

In his new book, Educated by Design, The Tech Rabbi Michael Cohen shares his journey to education through design, while providing useful tools and resources for the reader to help expand students’ belief in their own creative ability. Today on Vrain Waves, he shares many of these insights with us!

We’ve covered what we teach, and how we teach, and why we teach… but we have never really talked about WHERE we teach. So today, enjoy the insights and inspirations of Dr. Robert Dillon. In this interview, we discuss the research behind where we learn, how we can put this research into practice by making small changes to our environment, and strategies for keeping this top of mind as we move throughout the school year.

For our first show of 2019, we decided to outsource for more tangible tips and creative ideas for your classroom to kick off second semester. We asked Vrain Waves listeners to give us a 2-3 minute voice clip of them describing something in their classroom or their practice that they wanted to share with a broader audience - an extended version of our Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom segment. Here’s the result - we hope you enjoy, and would love it if you would contribute too! We’ll...

We’ve condensed 1,273 minutes of Vrain Waves 2018 into our 5 top moments. Let's put this advice of giants into practice and make 2019 our best year ever!