10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher

Grief in the Classroom When Teachers Are Grieving Too

Sometimes we need to talk about hard things, like grief in the classroom. Because real life is hard, and real life is in our classroom every day. Our students and we as t

Using AI? Keep Teachers in the Driver's Seat

Dr. Patricia Dickenson, author of Smart Teaching in the Age of AI, shows how teachers can use AI to plan and differentiate without losing the heart of teaching. Relations

A Blind Teacher on Truly Seeing Your Students

Kathy Nimmer is the 2026 Helen Keller Achievement Award winner. Her story is so heartwarming that, to celebrate episode 1001, we're airing an extended episode focused on

Celebrating 1,000 Episodes: My Son Turns the Tables on Me!

Thank you so much! It was February 2017 when I took a day off school to "figure out" how to publish this podcast. I started by telling the story of "Sue and Mrs. Scruggs"

Productive Struggle: When to Help and When to Hold Back

Productive struggle is the sweet spot between too easy and too hard. Dr. Barbara Blackburn, author of more than 40 books on rigor and motivation, explains when to help a

New Teacher Advice From a 3-Time Teacher of the Year

New teacher advice from a three-time Teacher of the Year. Retired fifth-grade teacher Eric Hall spent 27 years in the classroom, and he says it starts with relationships

Frustrated With AI? Make It Interview You First

Frustrated with AI? Make it interview you first. Dr. Jie Tao of Fairfield University explains why "prompt and pray" gives you brilliant answers one day and useless ones t

Expelled 3 Times, Now a School Leader: The Believement Gap

Teacher expectations shape what students believe they can do. Edward DeShazer was suspended more than 30 times and expelled three times. Today he leads a school that went

Student Mental Health Questions for Teachers: What Am I Missing?

When a student puts their head down, the question you ask next matters. Therapist and former high school teacher Charle Peck shares the one question to ask instead of "Wh

Why Kids Can't Stop Moving: The Neuroscience Behind a Student's Need to Move

Why kids can't stop moving, and why some students can't sit still in class: an occupational and physical therapist explains the need behind the movement. 🏆 NUMBER 1 IN

5 Easy Brain Breaks for Your Classroom

NUMBER 2 IN OUR COUNTDOWN OF THE TOP 10 EPISODES OF THE FIRST 1,000. This one goes all the way back to April 2017, when the show was brand new, and it has been downloaded

5 Ways to Build Reading Stamina in Grades 6-12

NUMBER 3 IN OUR COUNTDOWN OF THE TOP 10 EPISODES OF THE FIRST 1,000. This one originally aired January 31, 2022 and has been heard 27,058 times — the third most-listened-

Rebound: How Schools Accelerate Learning Recovery

NUMBER 4 IN OUR COUNTDOWN OF THE TOP 10 EPISODES OF THE FIRST 1,000. This one originally aired in December 2021 and has been downloaded 26,813 times — the fourth most-lis

AI Literacy for Teachers: Free Lessons, No Expertise Needed

You do not have to be an AI expert to teach AI literacy. Laura Gray says nobody is one — and points to free, ready-to-teach lessons that work in any subject. SPONSORED:

Blended Learning Best Practices That Still Hold Up (Recorded 2021) - episode #5 of all time

NUMBER 5 IN OUR COUNTDOWN OF THE TOP 10 EPISODES OF THE FIRST 1,000. This one originally aired in 2021 and has been downloaded more than 25,000 times — the fifth most-lis

How to Teach Writing with Digital Media

Dr. Sarah Levine taught secondary English in a Chicago public school for ten years, where she founded a youth radio program to make writing feel real to her students. She

Neuroscience Research: 5 Ways to Superior Teaching

Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath has lectured at Harvard, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Melbourne, and has worked with more than 150 schools around the world. In

What is Mastery Learning and How Do You Implement It Effectively?

Mastery learning is the driver's-test rule applied to school: if a student fails the test, they take it again until they pass. Jon Bergmann teaches that way, full time, i

Engage Every Learner: 8 Timeless Classroom Principles #9 Episode (updated for 2026)

Eight ways to engage every learner — recorded in 2021, and every principle still works. This was #9 in our all-time top 10 countdown, and it isn't a ten-minute episode: i

Are You an Upset Teacher? How to Understand What Is Wrong (#10 of all time)

This is #10 in the Top 10 of the First 1,000 — a countdown of the ten most-downloaded episodes in the history of the 10 Minute Teacher, running weekdays through September