Annotation can be a powerful way to improve comprehension and increase engagement, but its effectiveness can vary depending on how it's taught. In this episode, two teachers share their classroom-tested approaches to teaching students how to effectively annotate texts: 3rd grade teacher Andrea Castellano and high school English teacher Irene Yannascoli.

Thanks to Listenwise and Studyo for sponsoring this episode.

To read a full transcript of this conversation, visit cultofpedagogy.com/art-of-annotation/.

If your school is lucky enough to have a full-time certified librarian, it's likely they are not being utilized to their full capacity. In fact, yours may be one of a growing number of schools that are eliminating librarians altogether, and that is a terrible idea. In this episode, I sit down with four accomplished librarians — K.C. Boyd, Barbara Paciotti, Lauren Mobley, and Karina Quilantan-Garza — to explore all the ways a certified school librarian can make teachers' work easier, more efficient, and more effective, and to make a strong case for why every school needs one.

Thanks to WeVideo and The Modern Classrooms Project for sponsoring this episode.

To read a full transcript of this conversation, visit cultofpedagogy.com/pod and choose episode 226.

Many states are seeing record high numbers of teacher turnovers and vacancies. While the problems that caused this shortage have not gone away, there are groups of people who are coming up with some creative ways to address this situation, new and surprisingly affordable pathways for training good, enthusiastic teachers. Two of these programs are Oxford Teachers College at Reach University and Educators Rising. In this episode, educator Kimberly Eckert talks with me about how and why both of these outstanding programs work.

Thanks to Edge•U Badges and EVERFI for sponsoring this episode.

To read a full transcript of our conversation and find links to all the resources mentioned in this episode, visit cultofpedagogy.com/teacher-shortage.