Host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross chatted with two classroom teachers about what it takes to create a classroom in which every student feels safe tasking risks as a reader and writer. Theresa Boyd is a teacher-leader coach and sixth grade social studies teacher at Mallard Creek STEM Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina; Ann Ingham is a third grade teacher from the Cedarsburg School District in Wisconsin and a 2025 Science of Reading Star Award winner. Theresa and Ann share what they're seeing in ELA classrooms today; students who are curious and collaborative, but also struggling with decreased reading stamina and fear of being wrong. After the roundtable, Ana and Eric reflect on key takeaways, including why sometimes you have to slow down teaching to speed up learning.

Show notes:

• Learn more about Amplify CKLA.
• Learn more about Amplify ELA.
• Follow Theresa on TikTok: @CraftyTeacherTees.
• Join our Amplify learning community.
• Follow us on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross.

Quotes:

"Growth lives outside your comfort zone." —Theresa Boyd

"Mistakes are valuable. They literally grow our brains when we make them and see them and correct them." —Ann Ingham

"Curiosity is very important. I think we've fallen away from that." —Ana Torres

"Sometimes we have to step back from just teaching content and switch to teaching our students how to learn." —Eric Cross

On this episode of Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres is joined by Miguel Cardona, Ed.D., who served as the 12th U.S. secretary of education and is the founder and CEO of Cardona Solutions. A former fourth-grade teacher and an award-winning school principal who served as the Connecticut commissioner of education, Miguel explains why bilingualism is a cognitive and economic superpower—and why we should always view it as an asset. Miguel also shares why he believes we do students a disservice by assuming the only option for success is four-year college and describes what it could look like to reimagine high schools to include career pathways. Eric Cross, our Classroom Insider and a middle school science teacher, then joins Ana to reflect on why sympathy doesn't always translate into support, and why we should ask students about themselves rather than making assumptions.

Show notes:

• Learn more about Miguel Cardona and Cardona Solutions.
• Listen to our Beyond My Years episode with Luz Muñoz.
• Listen to our Beyond My Years episode with Pedro Noguera, Ph.D.
• Listen to our special episode in Spanish with Luz Muñoz.
• Listen to Amplify's Multilingual/English Learners (ML/ELs) podcast playlist
• Follow us on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross.

Quotes:

"When you are thinking in different languages, your cognitive ability increases." —Miguel Cardona

"Sympathy isn't always support, so check your expectations underneath it." —Eric Cross

"I am a teacher at heart. I will have that teacher heart until the day I die." —Ana Torres

"Bilingualism is an economic superpower. It is a cognitive superpower." —Miguel Cardona

Host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross lead a discussion with two classroom teachers who have been making the shift from delivering math to facilitating it. Amy Siegmundt teaches third grade in Lockland School District in Ohio, and Jeffrey Mashbitz teaches seventh and eighth grade in the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania. Amy and Jeffrey share practical strategies for making facilitation work in any math classroom, including using sentence starters to help students talk about math and instructional routines that put students in the driver's seat. After the roundtable, Ana and Eric reflect on key takeaways, including why a great curriculum is less like a script and more like a recipe.

Show notes:

• Learn more about Amplify Desmos Math.
• Watch Student Centered Math Practices on YouTube.
• Listen to all Beyond My Years' math episodes.
• Follow up on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross.

Quotes:

"You have to embrace the noise, because the noise and the conversation is the learning." —Amy Siegmundt

"The conceptual part is more of the focus now. Being a facilitator, you're paying more attention to why the math works and not just how to do the math." —Jeffrey Mashbitz

"A noisy classroom was actually a joyful classroom. I realized that later." —Ana Torres

"We can't expect students to know how to collaborate if you we haven't taught them." —Eric Cross