Explore every episode of the podcast Craft & Draft

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring to you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. “Jacob, are you doing any summer PD?’ Jacob and Pam discuss summer PD and share what they are doing professional development this summer.  In […]

The post Greatest Hits: That Summer PD Vibe! appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam address the issues of student cheating and AI.  Jacob poses the question of whether cheating is a greater problem […]

The post #229 Cheating and A.I. — What Are We To Do? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Allowing students to discover reading needs to be at the forefront of reading instruction! In this episode,  Jacob and Pam discuss how reading changes lives.  […]

The post #228 Allow Students to Discover Reading appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Everyone gets overwhelmed, but what should we do about it… In this episode, Jacob expresses a few of the frustrations that he and teachers are […]

The post #227 Teaching Frustrations: What to Do… appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in an episode. Pam’s new schedule and Jacob’s have conflicted more than normal! We will be back to the regular schedule soon! In the meantime, here is one of our favorites from the early days of the show. In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss the impact of the […]

The post Greatest Hits: Culture of the Writing Workshop appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss Reading Instruction, “Should teachers focus on skills or comprehension in their lessons?” Jacob explains how teachers through the […]

The post #226 Skill vs Comprehension Reading Instruction appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Pam rewinds her retirement and returns to school.  Jacob and Pam discuss Pam’s day as she decides to take up substituting.  Her […]

The post #225 Pam’s New Adventure! appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Far too often educators give up teaching the love of reading and writing during instruction.  They feel pressure from the curriculum developed due a need […]

The post #224 Keeping the Joy of Writing Instruction appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Jacob listened to an educational podcast episode this past weekend. The topic that caught attention was whether or not objectives should be posted in the […]

The post #223 Objectives: Posted or Not Posted? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

This episode was previously published Sep. 18th, 2020 — right as we were getting back into our classrooms from the Covid shutdowns. We cover A LOT in this episode, and it holds strong for then as much as I does now. Enjoy! —————————— Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited […]

The post Greatest Hits: Paper is Still King appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Teachers are told to make sure to implement standard based learning and assessment.  Easier said than done!   In this episode, Jacob and Pam answer a […]

The post #222 Standard Based Learning with a Twist of Assessment appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. Jacob and Pam answer two questions from our patrons: How can Gifted and Talented (GT) students stay passionate and not apathetic about literacy? How can […]

The post #221 STAAR Writing Support appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam welcome everybody back.  They each took some personal time, so thank you for staying with us! They both share […]

The post #220 State of Schools in 2025 appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Hey everyone! We just wanted to make this quick post. All will be well. Just lots of changes coming and Jacob needs some time, and Pam is on vacation for a few weeks. Stay tuned!

The post A Christmas Break appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam explain what they’ve been doing and why they did not post last week’s podcast. They are back and ready […]

The post #219 Leading Your Department appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  The Holiday Season is in full swing and much too often our workshops begin to slump.  The students’ minds are on everything but school.  Teachers […]

The post #218 Staying Strong During the Fall Season appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam talk about ‘Direct Instruction.’   Pam shares how direct instruction was the main strategy used while she attended school, especially […]

The post #217 Spicing Up Direct Instruction appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. Jacob and Pam discuss how they use direct and indirect instruction in their workshops. But before they begin, Jacob shares how each interview from the […]

The post #216 Balancing Direct Instruction with Facilitation (repost) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Jacob and Pam begin the episode with a segment regarding the best way to communicate in order to have difficult conversations.  This leads into a […]

The post #215 Building Relationships Through Content appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam answer a listener’s question regarding how to advocate for a workshop model in a culture of high stakes test […]

The post #214 Receiving Feedback and Advocating for Workshop appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Hello everyone! Bonus episode 2 is here for you to enjoy! It’s a full hour of workshop talk + we addressed a few questions you submitted. Below are the questions we tackle in this one. Thank you for supporting the show! Alisha’s Question I’d love to hear about how you start your 6 weeks units. […]

The post #213 Starting Units and Poetry (Q&A) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Many curriculum documents do not include time for low-stakes writing, but it is through such writing that students become comfortable with the blank page and […]

The post #212 Low-stakes Writing: Why? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

In this episode of Craft & Draft, we dive into the delicate balance teachers face when navigating political discussions in the classroom. How can educators remain neutral while still encouraging students to explore diverse ideas? We’ll discuss the importance of fostering an environment where students can debate concepts openly, without fear of backlash or repercussions. […]

The post #211 Navigating Political Seasons as an Educator appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  The concept of a school library is changing under the pressure of current technology trends in the schools and the current perception of how schools […]

The post #210 A Focus on the School Library appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. We are trying something new: an episode that targets a specific strategy.  This (previous) bonus episode will focus on Quickwrites and how we use them […]

The post #209 How We Use QuickWrites in Writing Workshop appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss whether or not teachers should use the academic language of the standards with their students.   Pam shares how […]

The post #208 Standards: Academic or Kid Friendly appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam answer a listener’s question regarding how to teach when the district implements a boxed reading curriculum. Jacob suggests that […]

The post #207 Workshop in a Boxed Curriculum appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Hello everyone! In this LIVE PD, Pam and Jacob dove into what the future of your workshop could look like. AKA… Previously, this episode was a PATREON only episode. If you’d like to see the video, join us here.  We give practical advice and outline what a mini-theme can do for you within actual lesson […]

The post #206 Develop the Future of Your Workshop (PD) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam share their thoughts on various topics from discipline to technology.  Jacob is excited about his new beginnings and shares […]

The post #205 A Wide Array of Workshop Wonderings appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  The new school year is around the corner for many teachers.  Creating a strong and healthy Reading and Writing Workshop for students begins on the […]

The post #204 The Dos of Starting Workshop appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  The new school year is around the corner for many teachers.  Creating a strong and healthy Reading and Writing Workshop for students begins on the […]

The post #203 The Don’ts of Starting Workshop appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Several of the Craft and Draft listeners have requested more information regarding how to set-up the Craft and Draft Notebook System They begin with the first page of the Craft Book. Jacob shares how he has his students organize their Craft Book from the table of contents to the individual mini-lessons, and includes how students […]

The post #202 The Craftbook and Draftbook Tutorial appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome to Craft & Draft, where we explore the art of teaching and the science of learning. In today’s episode, hosts Pam Ochoa and Jacob Chastain continue their summer book study of “The Knowledge Gap” by Natalie Wexler. Jacob and Pam as they share their final thoughts about the book, The Knowledge Gap.  They each […]

The post #201 The Knowledge Gap Has Gaps appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome to Craft & Draft, where we explore the art of teaching and the science of learning. In today’s episode, hosts Pam Ochoa and Jacob Chastain continue their summer book study of “The Knowledge Gap” by Natalie Wexler. Join them as they explore chapters eleven, twelve and the epilogue in section three, “How We Can […]

The post #200 The Knowledge Gap Book Study Finale and Our Thoughts appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome to Craft & Draft, where we explore the art of teaching and the science of learning. In today’s episode, hosts Pam Ochoa and Jacob Chastain continue their summer book study of “The Knowledge Gap” by Natalie Wexler. Join us as they explore chapters nine and ten in section three, “How We Can Change: Creating […]

The post #199 Chapters 9-10 of The Knowledge Gap (Book Study) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome to Craft & Draft, where we explore the art of teaching and the science of learning. In today’s episode, hosts Pam Ochoa and Jacob Chastain continue their summer book study of “The Knowledge Gap” by Natalie Wexler. Join us as they explore chapters seven and eight in section two, “How We Got Here: The […]

The post #198 Chapters 7-8 of The Knowledge Gap (Book Study) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome to Craft & Draft, where we explore the art of teaching and the science of learning. In today’s episode, hosts Pam Ochoa and Jacob Chastain continue their summer book study of “The Knowledge Gap” by Natalie Wexler. Join us as they explore the second three chapters of section one, The history of the Reading […]

The post #197 Chapters 4-6 of The Knowledge Gap (Book Study) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome to Craft & Draft, where we explore the art of teaching and the science of learning. In today’s episode, hosts Pam Ochoa and Jacob Chastain kick off their summer book study diving into “The Knowledge Gap” by Natalie Wexler. Join us as we dissect the first three chapters, delving into how reading is often […]

The post #196 Chapters 1-3 of The Knowledge Gap (Book Study) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  This summer on the podcast, Jacob and Pam will discuss the book, “The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System–And How to […]

The post #195 The Knowledge Gap Book Study (Join Us!) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Pam and Jacob talk about their idea of what “The Learning Gap” is and whether or not it is real.  Jacob looks […]

The post #194 Is the Knowledge Gap Real? (Book Study Intro) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  It’s interview time!  Interviews are often scarry, but they do not need to be.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss the interview process. Pam […]

The post #193 How to Get an English Teaching Job appeared first on Craft & Draft.

lcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Another school year is coming to a close! How can teachers close their year and keep the learning happening in the classroom? In this episode, […]

The post #192 Closing the Year Strong appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss many topics from how to figure out who you people are in a new campus to how to […]

The post #191 How to Study Literature appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. Do schools ruin poetry? Often…they do. But why? Poetry is an incredible art form. It can be powerful, insightful, and even humorous. So why does […]

The post #190 Schools Ruin Poetry appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  ‘What is an assignment?’ seems like a simple question, until it is discussed.  In this episode Jacob and Pam dive into the ‘What is an […]

The post #189 What is an Assignment? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam take a quiz straight from Education Weekly.  The quiz asks questions from teacher salary, to teacher PD preferences.   The […]

The post #188 How Much Do We Know About American Teachers? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Jacob just took some students to visit a few colleges and universities.  The visit propagated the question, “Are schools effectively readying their students for college?” […]

The post #187 What is College Readiness? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Every year in the education world, educators are trying to figure out if they should stay at their school or district or leave. Jacob and […]

The post #186 It’s That Time of Year: To Stay or To Quit appeared first on Craft & Draft.

In this bonus episode for our Craft and Draft patrons we answer Courtney’s question regarding the test taking season. Jacob shares how he begins broad in his workshop and then narrows his scope as his students approach the test.  This approach allows him to create a workshop atmosphere full of exploration, discovery and creativity. Pam […]

The post #185 Test-Prep Strategies! (Patreon Episode) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  It seems that the notion, ‘Students can’t read’ is always at the forefront of public conversations these days.  So much so writing instruction seems to […]

The post #184 Reading or Writing: What Matters Most? appeared first on Craft & Draft.