About This Episode What makes a family engagement initiative become part of everyday practice instead of one more thing for schools and families to manage? Dr. Elisabeth O’Bryon of Family Engagement Lab and Carolin Purser of the Center for Literacy and Learning (CLL) explore what it takes to make change stick. They discuss why resources need routines, how family support differs across subjects like literacy and math, and what their partnership is teaching them about connecting family engagement more directly to instruction. The conversation also explores the challenge of scaling this work across schools and districts without losing the relationships and local ownership that make it effective in the first place. Chapters 0:00 — Welcome: Elisabeth O’Bryon and Carolin Purser 0:51 — Why good resources don’t change practice on their own 3:08 — What’s missing when a strong resource fails to take hold 4:35 — Supporting families without overwhelming them 6:53 — Does family support look different in literacy and math? 14:14 — What separates initiatives that stick from the ones that fade 16:28 — Connecting family engagement to instruction: the CLL and Family Engagement Lab partnership 20:32 — The challenges of statewide reach 25:16 — Scaling the work without losing local ownership 27:07 — Wrap-up Resources Family Engagement Lab — Elisabeth O’Bryon’s organization, which helps schools make families partners in student learning. The Center for Literacy & Learning — Carolin Purser’s organization in Louisiana. Louisiana Statewide Family Engagement Center — The statewide family engagement work CLL leads, discussed in this episode. Implementation Series, Part 1: The Missing Instructional Layer — Where the series starts. Implementation Series, Part 2: Why Good Ideas Fail Quietly in Schools — Why promising initiatives lose momentum. Implementation Series, Part 3: What Happens to Family Engagement When Instructional Practice Changes? — Elisabeth O’Bryon and Rayna Flye on bringing families along when math instruction changes.

Virginia Quinn-Mooney — Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works About This Episode In this episode of Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works, Gene Tavernetti talks with first-grade teacher and literacy advocate Virginia Quinn-Mooney about the Science of Reading, teacher learning, and the work of bringing research-backed instruction into classrooms. Virginia shares how the launch of Sold a Story helped prompt the Science of Reading Virtual Happy Hour, a community that connected teachers with influential literacy advocates and created space for honest professional learning. The conversation explores classroom practice, teacher collaboration, advocacy, and the tension between evidence-informed instruction and the systems that resist meaningful change. Virginia and Gene return to a practical hope: teachers can model effective instruction every day and help more students experience the teaching they deserve. What You’ll Learn How Sold a Story helped teachers begin reexamining literacy instruction. Why teacher communities and honest conversation matter for professional learning. What Virginia learned from hosting the Science of Reading Virtual Happy Hour. How classroom modeling and research-backed practice can influence students directly. Why implementation depends on leadership, accountability, and follow-through. How educators can keep working for better instruction even when systems move slowly. Chapters 00:00 — Welcome to Better Teaching 01:05 — Introducing Virginia Quinn-Mooney 05:00 — The impact of Sold a Story 10:30 — Building the Science of Reading Virtual Happy Hour 17:00 — Teacher learning, advocacy, and community 25:00 — Bringing research-backed practice into classrooms 34:00 — What effective modeling looks like every day 43:00 — Systems, implementation, and the challenge of change 52:00 — Hope, persistence, and doing better for students 57:00 — Closing thoughts Resources Sold a Story Gene Tavernetti and TESS Consulting Group Added/created/modified by Codex on 2026.11.04 00:00 on ombee.

About This Episode Dr. Erin Bailey talks with Benjamin Strouse, award-winning children’s author and co-founder of GZM Shows, about the power of immersive audio storytelling to engage young people and open pathways into reading, writing, and deeper learning. Strouse shares how his work in books, serialized audio drama, and educational storytelling brings complex stories to life for children and families. They discuss the creative and educational possibilities of audio fiction, the role of curiosity and imagination in literacy, and how stories can give educators meaningful ways to engage students in literary analysis, critical thinking, and creative expression. The episode also explores how listening to a great story can become a gateway to reading. What You’ll Learn How immersive audio fiction can engage tweens, teens, and families. Why original storytelling can support literary analysis and critical thinking. How listening experiences can lead young people toward reading and writing. What makes serialized stories compelling across classrooms and communities. Ways educators can use high-quality storytelling to deepen literacy engagement. Chapters 0:00 — Reading Inspires introduction 0:42 — Meet Benjamin Strouse 4:00 — From children’s books to immersive audio 10:00 — Building serialized stories for young listeners 18:00 — Storytelling, imagination, and literacy 26:00 — Bringing audio fiction into classrooms 34:00 — What reading inspires 38:59 — Closing Resources Benjamin Strouse — Award-winning children’s author and co-founder of GZM Shows. Hey, Boy — Strouse’s picture book, recognized by The New York Times and Kirkus Reviews. GZM Shows — Immersive audio fiction and educational storytelling for tweens, teens, and families.

In this episode of The Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach sits down with Claire Drolet, Access Services Librarian and Assistant Professor at Delaware Valley University, to talk about her journey from being an AI skeptic to finding practical ways to use the technology without abandoning the values that made her skeptical in the first place. Claire shares the project that changed her perspective: a diversity audit of her university library's roughly 900-book leisure reading collection. What traditionally required librarians to manually sample a fraction of a collection became an opportunity to combine her own expertise with AI. Using ChatGPT and custom bots in BoodleBox, Claire developed a workflow that helped her analyze books in minutes rather than hours while still requiring her judgment and information literacy throughout the process. The conversation explores why using AI well can actually demand more critical thinking, not less. Claire discusses prompt refinement, verifying outputs, understanding where models fail, and why educators don't necessarily need to embrace AI to recognize the importance of understanding it. Claire and Zach also explore what assessment should look like in an AI-enabled world and whether traditional assignments like the 12-page term paper are still the best way for every student to demonstrate learning. For educators who remain skeptical of AI, Claire's story offers a different path forward: you don't have to become an AI evangelist. You can experiment, question the technology, maintain your standards, and decide where it genuinely makes your work better.

Have you ever stayed silent in a meeting, only to hear someone else share your idea and receive all the praise? Or perhaps you've worked with a leader who dominates every conversation, leaving little room for anyone else. Both behaviors can come from the same place: insecurity. In Episode 8 of The Humility Advantage, J. Alexander explores Quiet Confidence: How to Speak Up Without Arrogance or Shrinking. Drawing on a memorable experience as a young Marine Corps captain, real-world healthcare leadership scenarios, and personal reflections, J. explains why authentic confidence isn't about being the loudest person in the room. It's about knowing your worth, speaking with clarity, and remaining humble enough to listen. In this episode, you'll discover: Why insecurity can cause leaders to shrink or dominate. What a Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sergeant taught J. about leadership presence. Why quiet confidence matters for healthcare communication and patient safety. How to communicate concerns without arrogance or defensiveness. Two practical tools: the Clarity Script and the Curiosity Cue. Why you don't need everyone's approval to remain confident in your worth. One powerful reminder: "You don't have to dominate the room. You don't have to disappear from it. You just have to show up, know your worth, and make your contribution." Develop the person first, then the leader. Explore leadership coaching, speaking engagements, and organizational culture development at https://excelerateyoucoaching.com. Follow The Humility Advantage on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share this episode with a leader who needs to hear that their voice matters. Less ego. More impact.