Zach Groshell

S5E20: Christopher Such on Action Steps for Reading and the Latest Literacy Debates Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect, a show sponsored by John Catt from Hodder Education and hosted by me, Dr. Zach Groshell. My guest today is Christopher Such, literacy expert, former primary…

Christopher Such really nails it with this great explainer on what often gets skipped over in discussions about “escape velocity,” “too much phonics,” and “linguistic phonics.”

educationrickshaw.com/2026/03/09/s...

S5E19: Leslie Laud on Writing Instruction and Self-Regulated Strategy Development Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. I’m your host, Dr. Zach Groshell. This season, I’ve been diving deeply into writing instruction — what the research actually says, where classroom practice …

Implementation is key! What does it take to layer writing into an existing reading program? When schools attempt to integrate writing across classrooms, what supports—coaching, leadership, materials, collaboration—matter most?

educationrickshaw.com/2026/03/01/s...

S5E19: Leslie Laud on Writing Instruction and Self-Regulated Strategy Development Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. I’m your host, Dr. Zach Groshell. This season, I’ve been diving deeply into writing instruction — what the research actually says, where classroom practice …

Writing is one of the most cognitively demanding things we ask students to do, and yet instruction can vary dramatically from classroom to classroom. Check out the latest episode with writing instruction expert, Leslie Laud!

educationrickshaw.com/2026/03/01/s...

What You Might Not Know About Project Follow Through People often ask me to talk about Project Follow Through, a landmark federally funded study that compared major approaches to teaching young children at scale. They tell me they enjoy hearing …

We need instructional design - no, instructional engineering - now more than ever educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/31/w...

Explicit Teaching Live Stream In case you missed it, here is a live podcast I did with Tim Cavey over on the show, Teachers on Fire, back in December. If you like what you heard, I’d love for you to come join me for the E…

A little primer on explicit instruction

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/26/e...

Glenn and Ian were glorious guests - if you haven’t heard of their CTTL, check it out!

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/22/s...

S5E18: Glenn Whitman and Ian Kelleher on Bridging Learning Science and Classroom Reality Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. I’m your host, Dr. Zach Groshell. In this episode, I sit down with Ian Kelleher and Glenn Whitman of the Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning (…

What I love about Glenn and Ian is they don’t treat ‘learning science’ as a magic wand. It’s a design discipline. A set of choices people must make every day. This episode is a reminder that the real work is in the implementation.

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/22/s...

S5E18: Glenn Whitman and Ian Kelleher on Bridging Learning Science and Classroom Reality Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. I’m your host, Dr. Zach Groshell. In this episode, I sit down with Ian Kelleher and Glenn Whitman of the Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning (…

Whitman & Kelleher remind us that the real challenge isn’t knowing the science—it’s building schools where that science actually lives in daily practice. Loved this conversation on turning research into reality.

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/22/s...

S5E18: Glenn Whitman and Ian Kelleher on Bridging Learning Science and Classroom Reality Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. I’m your host, Dr. Zach Groshell. In this episode, I sit down with Ian Kelleher and Glenn Whitman of the Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning (…

New episode: Glenn Whitman & Ian Kelleher show what it takes to bridge learning science and classroom reality. Less buzzwords, more usable practice. This is how research gets legs.

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/22/s...

S5E17: Femi Adeniran on Explicit Math Instruction and Coaching for Better Math Teaching Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. I’m your host, Dr. Zach Groshell. In this episode, I’m joined by the always fabulous, Femi Adeniran, to continue a conversation that started when I appeared…

New Today!

Femi Adeniran on Explicit Math Instruction and Coaching for Better Math Teaching

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/15/s...

S5E16: Scott Jackson on Summer Camp Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. I’m your host, Dr. Zach Groshell. In this episode, I’m joined by Scotty Jackson to talk about how summer camp can create the experiences—and build the kinds…

Take an old timey jaunt into the importance of the great American tradition of summer camp

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/08/s...

S5E16: Scott Jackson on Summer Camp Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. I’m your host, Dr. Zach Groshell. In this episode, I’m joined by Scotty Jackson to talk about how summer camp can create the experiences—and build the kinds…

I've lately become a bit obsessed with how our schools intentionally design the culture, rituals, and values that help kids thrive and belong. This latest episode about Summer Camp - with my former boss! - is such a treat.

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/08/s...

Progressively Incorrect a podcast where I interview all the folks who have gravitated towards the light side of the force. And here is the latest episode about how constructivism has failed in education.

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/01/s...

S5E15: Barbara Oakley on Constructivism vs. Learning Science In this episode, I sit down with Barbara Oakley—engineer, bestselling author, and one of the most influential voices in the science of learning—to talk about why so much instruction still misses th…

Constructivism: success or failure?

Failure, says prominent learning scientist, Barbara Oakley!

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/01/s...

S5E15: Barbara Oakley on Constructivism vs. Learning Science In this episode, I sit down with Barbara Oakley—engineer, bestselling author, and one of the most influential voices in the science of learning—to talk about why so much instruction still misses th…

Add this to your listening list this week:

Barbara Oakley on Constructivism vs. Learning Science

Excellent conversation!

educationrickshaw.com/2026/02/01/s...

S5E08: Doug Lemov on “What to Do” and Active Observation Techniques In this episode of Progressively Incorrect, I’m re-joined by Doug Lemov—author of Teach Like a Champion and The Coach’s Guide to Teaching, and one of the most influential figures in the history of …

Doug Lemov zooms in on two of my favorite clusters of techniques: the What to Do cycle (directions and follow through) and Active Observation (circulation and whole class feedback).

educationrickshaw.com/2025/11/10/s...

What You Might Not Know About Project Follow Through People often ask me to talk about Project Follow Through, a landmark federally funded study that compared major approaches to teaching young children at scale. They tell me they enjoy hearing …

Some of the things we gloss over when talking about the Direct Instruction Follow Through Model

educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/31/w...

What Actually Works in Instructional Coaching The “Thinking Out Loud” episodes on Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works are a running set of conversations to make sense of instruction, coaching, and implementation as they actually function in…

Check out the latest, or all, of the episodes of Thinking Out Loud, and share it with a principal or instructional coach!

educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/12/w...

The Workload Solutions the Profession Doesn’t Want I’m very concerned about teacher workload. Plenty of teachers are running on fumes. In the 2024 State of the American Teacher survey, 59% of teachers reported frequent job-related stress and 60% re…

I’m very concerned about teacher workloads but lot of what we call “work” in schools is tied up with identity, taste, status, and autonomy.

Check out my latest.

educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/20/t...

Direct Instruction Motivation, Part 4: Motivational Models I recently started this series about motivation and Direct/explicit instruction. So far, it has looked at key delivery and design considerations, such as brisk pacing, praise, and obtaining high su…

We can learn a lot about how schools get kids to do hard things - even ones that have a completely different model of education

Alpha schools in the news - I try to cut through the noise in my latest visit.

educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/09/d...

S5E13: Mike Schmoker on How Schools Can Get Results Now Mike Schmoker is one of the most influential voices in school improvement, urging schools to recommit to the fundamentals: coherent curriculum, strong lesson design, and authentic literacy—reading,…

I’m really proud of this episode, and I apparently asked Schmoker a question he’s never been asked:

“Where did your tendency to be so direct come from?”

Have a listen!

educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/12/s...

What Actually Works in Instructional Coaching The “Thinking Out Loud” episodes on Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works are a running set of conversations to make sense of instruction, coaching, and implementation as they actually function in…

A treasure trove of coaching insights for new and experienced instructional coaches

educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/12/w...

S5E13: Mike Schmoker on How Schools Can Get Results Now Mike Schmoker is one of the most influential voices in school improvement, urging schools to recommit to the fundamentals: coherent curriculum, strong lesson design, and authentic literacy—reading,…

New this week!

Mike Schmoker—author of “Crayola Curriculum” and "Results Now" —joins me to talk about what it will take to get education out of initiative churn and back to the essentials.

🎧 Listen: educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/12/s...

Direct Instruction Motivation, Part 4: Motivational Models I recently started this series about motivation and Direct/explicit instruction. So far, it has looked at key delivery and design considerations, such as brisk pacing, praise, and obtaining high su…

What if we thought of motivation less as the personality trait of students or the function of individual teachers, and started thinking about how motivational models?

More here, including my visit to Alpha:

educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/09/d...

S5E12: Brian Poncy on Better Ways to Teach Math Facts In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Brian Poncy to explore a claim you’ve probably heard in schools: “Teaching math facts interferes with understanding.” From there, we dig into better ways to thi…

How do you lay the foundation for math facts?

What to do you to make the most out of math fact time?

Is it okay to teach kids to derive facts or use charts?

How do you introduce facts vs practice them?

All the this and more in this fantastic episode educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/04/s...

S5E12: Brian Poncy on Better Ways to Teach Math Facts In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Brian Poncy to explore a claim you’ve probably heard in schools: “Teaching math facts interferes with understanding.” From there, we dig into better ways to thi…

New podcast about math facts - lots of science and instructional design in this one for folks interested in this important subject!

educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/04/s...

S5E12: Brian Poncy on Better Ways to Teach Math Facts In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Brian Poncy to explore a claim you’ve probably heard in schools: “Teaching math facts interferes with understanding.” From there, we dig into better ways to thi…

Math facts aren’t the enemy. Brian Poncy on math facts done right.

educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/04/s...

The “Guess Who?” Test for Instructional Design Does my app utilize high-mileage, general-case strategies?

Direct Instruction and high mileage, general case teaching

open.substack.com/pub/mrzachg/...

A flavour of what to expect from our Instructional Coaching Intensive in NYC 👀

Zach Groshell + Alex Gingell on culture, modelling and rehearsal.

📅 17 Jan | Bronx
🎟️ Limited spots

www.tickettailor.com/events/stepl...

You Can Stop Making Practice Apps Now Stop guessing-and-checking kids into oblivion. Start teaching them.

"You Can Stop Making Practice Apps Now" by @mrzachg.bsky.social does an amazing job of explaining exactly what has been bothering me for so long with "educational games" and "educational apps". The majority of them aren't designed to actually teach.

mrzachg.substack.com/p/you-can-st...