Ask Catlin – What's the Best Way to Start the School Year?

How can we make instruction more effective for students with different levels of readiness, learning needs, and language proficiencies? In this Ask Catlin episode, I answer three listener questions about chunking lessons, making differentiation manageable, and ensuring all students have access to grade-level learning. I explore the art of chunking and use a seventh-grade Bluebonnet math example to illustrate how the chunk-pause-process cycle gives students time to make meaning throughout instruction. Then, I discuss how data can help us choose between whole-group and small-group instruction and make purposeful adjustments without creating a different lesson for every learner. Finally, I unpack the difference between exposure and access, explain why groups should remain flexible, and clarify how differentiated Tier 1 instruction and additional Tier 2 support work together.

In this episode, I talk with Zaretta Hammond about her book, Rebuilding Students’ Learning Power, and what it means to position students as the primary actors in teaching and learning. We explore the shift from a pedagogy of compliance to a pedagogy of possibility, where students have opportunities to think, talk, make mistakes, and work through challenges. Zaretta explains why explicitly teaching learn-to-learn skills is essential to making deeper learning available to every student and how these skills differ from instructional strategies. We discuss the teacher’s role as a cognitive mediator, coaching students to change their learning moves and become more independent learners. We also consider what teachers, instructional coaches, and leaders need to make this shift within the realities of curriculum demands and pacing guides. Throughout our conversation, we return to a powerful reminder: only the learner learns. Episode Resources

Schools and districts invest significant time and resources in professional development, but are we creating the conditions for teachers to actually learn? In this deep dive, I explore ideas from a recent blog by my colleague Nicole Wilkinson, Blend Education’s new implementation support specialist, who makes an important distinction between professional learning and what she calls “PD as PR,” time designed to build shared understanding and organizational alignment. I add a third category, compliance, and share my own experiences facilitating professional learning for hundreds of educators at a time compared with working with groups of teachers who have opted in because they’re genuinely curious and ready to learn. I challenge the assumption that getting more people in the room automatically creates greater impact and explore why purpose, motivation, physical environment, and thoughtful design matter. Ultimately, if the goal is learning, we need to design professional development with the same intentionality we expect teachers to bring to designing learning experiences for students. Related Blog: https://catlintucker.com/2026/09/what-is-your-professional-development-actually-designed-to-do/

Can you use Chunk, Pause, Process when you’re reading aloud to students or teaching with an “I do, we do, you do” lesson? In this Ask Catlin episode, I explain how to build meaningful pauses into both approaches so students have time to think, talk, and make sense of new information. I walk through examples from elementary read-alouds and secondary classrooms, then show how the cycle can make each stage of gradual release more responsive to students’ needs. I also share how to use Four Corners to check for understanding during direct instruction and uncover misconceptions while there’s still time to address them. You’ll leave with practical ways to hear from more students and use what you learn to guide your next instructional move.

Technology has the potential to connect students, foster collaboration, and support richer learning experiences, but those benefits exist alongside real concerns about AI, screen time, and the role technology should play in schools. In this episode of The Balance, I talk with educator and Scriblit founder Adam Sparks about how we navigate those tensions without reducing the conversation to technology being either good or bad. We explore the role technology can play in helping students develop as writers, including how peer feedback, communication, and collaboration can make writing more social and dynamic. Adam and I also discuss the growing presence of AI in education and what it means to acknowledge both its potential benefits and the harm and risks associated with it. Ultimately, our conversation asks a bigger question: How do we thoughtfully prepare students for the world they are entering while continuing to design learning experiences that prioritize connection, communication, critical thinking, and meaningful human interaction? Episode Resources