It's AP season, and I'm hitting pause on new episodes for two weeks to record ahead, build content, and finally finish a writing program I started ten years ago. But before I go, I'm leaving you with something worth sitting with: sustainable teachers are better teachers, and giving yourself permission to step back is not a weakness. It's a strategy. If you're heading into spring running on fumes, this short episode is your permission slip.

Follow along with what I'm building over on Substack: https://substack.com/@leahcleary

Read my latest post about the writing program I'm finally finishing after a decade: https://open.substack.com/pub/leahcleary/p/im-finally-finishing-something-i?r=232lm2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Want to cut your essay grading time dramatically? Grab my free Custom GPT for Grading: https://leahcleary.com/gpt-for-grading-landing-page/

It's time for your mid-year Teacher Reality Check. Back in the summer and fall, I broke down three major education policy trends: cell phone bans, teacher evaluations, and the executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. Since then? A lot has happened.

Cell phone bans jumped from 26 to 35 states. States like Illinois and Virginia are pulling back from tying teacher evaluations to test scores. And the Department of Education has lost half its staff, with programs being transferred to other federal agencies while congress fights to protect funding. In this episode, I revisit clips from those original episodes and give you the real-time update on what's changed, what hasn't, and what it all means for your classroom. No spin, no panic, just the information you need from someone who's living it right alongside you.

Traditional vocabulary instruction strategies don't work. And research proves it. When students define words and use them in sentences, they're doing "pedagogically useless" busy work that won't help them retain academic vocabulary. But there's a better way to teach vocabulary effectively.

In this episode, I'm sharing research-backed vocabulary instruction strategies using John Hattie's three-stage framework from Visible Learning: surface level, deep learning, and transfer. You'll learn exactly how to move students beyond copying definitions to actually understanding how words fit into the world.

Teaching vocabulary effectively includes:- Surface-level strategies: SEE-IT cards, Quiz-Quiz-Trade, Quizlet previews, and appositive sentences from The Writing Revolution- Deep learning techniques: Student-created graphic organizers, close reading with primary sources, subordinating conjunction sentences- Transfer activities: Socratic seminars applying historical concepts to modern contexts

Featured example: I use mercantilism as a through-line to show you exactly what surface-deep-transfer looks like in practice, from basic definition to analyzing modern trade policy.

The reality check: Sometimes surface-level mastery in three weeks is all we can do. And that's okay. This episode gives you permission to meet students where they are while working smarter, not harder.

Resources mentioned:

• Visible Learning by John Hattie
• Visible Learning for Social Studies by Hattie, Stern, Fisher & Frey
• The Writing Revolution by Hochman & Wexler
• Free Socratic seminar template (sign up for my Free Resource Library)
• Templates from Complete Unit Planning Course (check it out here)

Stop the busy work. Start with vocabulary instruction strategies that actually stick.