Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works

Summary

Instructional coaches are often treated as a school’s all-purpose backup: covering classes, managing testing logistics, joining extra committees, and handling whatever emergency appears next. In this episode of Better Teaching, Gene Tavernetti explains how those individually reasonable requests quietly dismantle a coaching program.

Gene makes the case for protecting coaching time as carefully as instructional time. He recommends a clear job description, a schedule that protects observation and debriefing, explicit monthly expectations, and a target of spending 70–80 percent of the coach’s time in classrooms. The long-term choice is clear: covering a class solves today’s problem, while coaching improves instruction this year and the years that follow.

Chapters

0:00 — Welcome to Better Teaching
0:46 — The all-purpose support trap
1:23 — How understaffing consumes the coaching calendar
3:12 — The message teachers receive when coaches are pulled
4:08 — Define and protect the coaching role
4:49 — Keep 70–80% of the coach’s time in classrooms
5:16 — Dr. Randy Olson and the “nothing is an emergency” rule
5:44 — Short-term convenience versus long-term improvement
6:42 — Closing thoughts and resources

Show Notes

**Host:** Gene Tavernetti
**Core takeaway:** Protect the coaching calendar like instructional time. Define what coaches do—and what they do not do—and hold leadership accountable for preserving that work.
**Recommended starting point:** Write a clear coaching job description, set a weekly schedule for observations and debriefs, and review the coach’s time allocation monthly.
**Gene’s books:** *Teach Fast, Focus Adaptable Structure Teaching* and *Maximizing the Impact of Coaching Cycles*
**Website:** TESS Consulting Group
**BlueSky:** @gtavarnetti
**X/Twitter:** @gtavarnetti
**BE Podcast Network:** bepodcastnetwork.com

About Better Teaching

Better Teaching is hosted by Gene Tavernetti and focuses on practical ideas for teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, and everyone who supports better work in classrooms—no clichés, no buzzwords, only stuff that works.

Added/created/modified by Codex on 2026.09.22 13:22 PT on ombee

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.

Summary

In this episode of Better Teaching, Gene Tavernetti challenges the belief that effective coaching must be spontaneous and unscripted. He explains why a well-designed coaching script does not make a feedback conversation rigid or inauthentic—it gives the coach a reliable structure for specific, courageous, and useful feedback.

Gene connects coaching scripts to classroom-management routines, surgical checklists, crisis-response training, and his own experiences as a counselor, principal, and coach. The practical takeaway is simple: prepare the sequence, transitions, and language of a feedback conversation so you can be fully present when the conversation begins.

Chapters

0:00 — Welcome to Better Teaching
0:45 — The coaching trap: unplanned and unscripted feedback
2:57 — Why educators distrust scripts
3:57 — Scripts, checklists, and professional responsiveness
4:49 — How preparation helps coaches face fear
6:25 — Using scripts in high-stakes conversations
8:01 — What happens when a coach goes off script
8:47 — A practical standard for scripting feedback conversations
9:37 — Resources and closing

Show Notes

**Host:** Gene Tavernetti
**Featured idea:** Script coaching conversations with the same intentionality teachers bring to well-planned lessons.
**Gene’s books:** *Teach Fast, Focus Adaptable Structure Teaching* and *Maximizing the Impact of Coaching Cycles*
**Website:** TESS Consulting Group
**BlueSky:** @gtavarnetti
**X/Twitter:** @gtavarnetti
**BE Podcast Network:** bepodcastnetwork.com

About Better Teaching

Better Teaching is hosted by Gene Tavernetti and focuses on practical ideas for teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, and everyone who supports better work in classrooms—no clichés, no buzzwords, only stuff that works.

Added/created/modified by Codex on 2026.09.14 17:27 PT on ombee

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.

Summary
What does effective literacy intervention look like for students in middle and high school? Faith Howard returns to Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works to explain how she built Literacy Lab, a 6–12 intervention model that combines the science of reading with age-appropriate, grade-level texts.
Faith shares how a glorified study hall became a focused literacy intervention, why secondary educators need practical support in teaching foundational reading skills, and how schools can build sustainable literacy capacity instead of depending on one-time professional development. She also explains why teachers—not computer programs—teach kids, and how decoding, morphology, vocabulary, and rich novels can work together for adolescent readers.
Faith Howard is an adolescent-literacy leader and educational consultant with 17 years of experience in education. She has taught middle and high school English language arts, coached ELA and social studies teachers, served as a director of curriculum and instruction, and worked as a literacy specialist.
Chapters
00:00 — Meet Faith Howard and the case for adolescent literacy
01:48 — Why the original intervention model was not working
03:50 — Faith’s self-study in the science of reading
05:02 — Building Literacy Lab with foundational skills and grade-level texts
05:58 — Why teachers teach kids, not programs
08:11 — Making structured literacy meaningful for teenagers
10:39 — What “teen-friendly” literacy intervention really means
12:40 — Decoding, morphology, vocabulary, and complex texts
14:04 — What secondary teachers need from literacy support
17:27 — Demystifying the science of reading through modeling
21:11 — A sustainable sequence for schoolwide literacy improvement
24:16 — From professional development to practice and follow-through
44:49 — Building local capacity and letting the work speak for itself
46:36 — Gene’s closing message
Show Notes
Faith’s work focuses on students who have been overlooked or left behind by unsuccessful literacy interventions. Literacy Lab brings explicit foundational-skills instruction into a teen-friendly setting, pairing work with multisyllabic words, morphology, decoding, and vocabulary with thought-provoking, grade-level books.
In this conversation, Faith and Gene discuss:
How students can be misidentified for intervention when schools do not examine the root causes of academic difficulty
Why secondary teachers are often expected to address reading gaps without having been trained to teach reading
The limits of relying on computer-based programs without an in-person connection
How to adapt foundational reading routines for older students without giving them childish content
Why adolescents need both explicit instruction and meaningful, challenging texts
How Faith supports districts through modeling, planning, coaching, and follow-through
Why lasting change requires school leaders and teachers to build capacity together
Learn more about Faith Howard and Literacy Lab:
Website: literacylabwithfaith.com
Facebook: Literacy Lab with Faith
Substack: litlabwithfaith.substack.com
YouTube: Science of Reading Classroom
Email: literacylabwithfaith@gmail.com
Faith also highlights the Wyoming Science of Teaching and Learning Collaborative Conference, taking place October 10 in Cody, Wyoming.
Better Teaching is hosted by Gene Tavernetti. Find more practical conversations about teaching and learning at tesscg.com.

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.

Summary
What should every new teacher know before they are asked to improvise, differentiate, or innovate? Gene Tavernetti argues that one of the most important foundations is fluency in explicit instruction—not just hearing about it in professional development, but learning to design it, deliver it, practice it, and receive feedback until the work becomes automatic.
Gene explains why that fluency matters in real classrooms: it reduces the number of decisions teachers have to make, gives them a reliable baseline for accommodations and modifications, helps schools eliminate instructional variables before moving students into intervention, sharpens their ability to evaluate purchased or AI-generated materials, and creates a common language for collaboration. The goal is not to make every lesson look the same; it is to give teachers a strong instructional foundation from which they can adapt intelligently.
Chapters
0:00 — Better Teaching introduction
0:41 — What new teachers need to know
1:52 — Why training and coaching matter
3:10 — Reason 1: Build fluency and automaticity
5:19 — Reason 2: Create a baseline for accommodations
6:22 — Reason 3: Eliminate instructional variables
8:02 — Reason 4: Evaluate curriculum and AI-generated lessons
10:08 — Reason 5: Build a common professional language
12:31 — Explicit instruction is a foundation, not a restriction
14:55 — Better Teaching outro
Show Notes
Gene Tavernetti helps educators strengthen explicit instruction, lesson design, and instructional coaching.
Gene’s website: tesscg.com
Gene’s books include Teach Fast, Focus, Adaptable Structured Teaching and Maximizing the Impact of Coaching Cycles.
Follow Gene on Bluesky and X: @gtavernetti

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.

Summary

Glenn Whitman is a distinguished educator who has worked with schools around the world to support schools and teachers bringing evidence practices to their classrooms.

In this episode Glenn talks about his own school’s journey to becoming an evidence-based teaching institution, his continued role in that journey, and how his school supports schools around the world who also want to become evidence-based through The Center for Transformative Teaching.

Episode Links

Website: Home - The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning
Glenn's Email: gwhitman@saes.org

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.