Filling The Pail Greg Ashman

Dr. Judith Hochman is an educator and founder of The Writing Revolution. In this episode, she talks to Greg Ashman about the origins of her method for developing writing skills and the contrast between her method and a writing programme. Judy and Greg discuss the differences between this approach and other methods for teaching writing. Along the way, Judy gives practical advice on how the method should be embedded in a content and how best to prepare for standardised assessments that require large amounts of writing from young students. Judy and Greg also discuss the importance of a knowledge-rich curriculum and ponder the solutions to fixing the knowledge-lite, skills-based approach to education that is prevalent in the U.S. and Australia.

Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden is a mathematics education researcher, founder of Spring Math and a policy Adviser who is also involved in new Science of Math initiative. In this episode, Amanda talks to Greg Ashman about how she developed an interest in class-wide maths intervention and what makes such an intervention successful. Amanda and Greg also discuss use of data, explicit teaching and how to deal with the arguments of the 'other side', including a discussion of procedural fluency versus conceptual understanding, productive struggle and the idea that timed tests cause maths anxiety.

Eric Kalenze is a teacher, curriculum and instruction lead, occasional consultant, researchED US organizer, and author of the books, Education is Upside-Down and What the Academy Taught Us, as well as the A Total Ed Case blog. In this episode, Eric talks to Greg Ashman about his awakening to the research evidence around teaching and education, and the journey that led him to write two books about education and his experiences of school improvement. On the way, Eric and Greg discuss Eric's funnel metaphor, differentiated instruction, how reform efforts are frustrated and Eric's experiences coordinating researchED US. 

Glenn Savage is an associate professor at the University of Western Australia who is an expert in education reform and the author of the book, “The Quest for Revolution in Australian Schooling Policy”. In this episode, Glenn talks to Greg Ashman about 'alignment thinking' and asks whether ever greater alignment in education policy is necessarily a good thing. Along the way, Glenn and Greg discuss Australia's education system, how it has arisen and the role of evidence and 'what works' in framing school reform. 

Daisy Christodoulou was the second guest on this podcast back in 2020. Daisy returns in this episode to talk about writing with Greg Ashman. Daisy and Greg discuss comparative judgement, banal writing prompts, the limits of moderation and the contribution of a knowledge rich curriculum to writing. Along the way, Daisy and Greg chat about quick fixes for improving writing and the correlation between multiple choice questions and writing scores. 

David C. Geary is Curators' Distinguished Professor and Thomas Jefferson Fellow in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri. In this episode, he talks to Greg Ashman about his influential theory of evolutionary educational psychology that categorises knowledge as biologically primary or biologically secondary. Along the way, Dave and Greg discuss knowledge transmission in traditional societies, some common criticisms of the biologically primary/secondary distinction and both the artificality and importance of school.