Gene Tavernetti
119 episodes listed below
Practical school talk, minus the buzzwords.
Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works brings educators into grounded conversations about what actually helps teachers and students. Its interviews move from research and school leadership to daily classroom decisions, with a steady bias toward usable practice.
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Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works is built for educators who are tired of polished theories that do not hold up in real classrooms. Gene Tavernetti hosts practical interviews with teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, researchers, and school leaders, and the conversations usually settle into the same useful territory: what changes when this idea meets students, curriculum, time, behavior, and school politics? The show has a calm, working rhythm. It lets guests tell the long version, then nudges the conversation back toward classroom consequences. Episodes on literacy and science knowledge connect comprehension to content, especially in elementary settings. Conversations about math and reading foundations get into curriculum, scripted programs, retrieval practice, interleaving, data, grammar, writing, and the relief teachers can feel when they are not building everything from scratch. Coaching episodes focus less on performance and more on refinement, trust, and teachers helping other teachers get better without feeling attacked. Leadership conversations are equally concrete. School boards, principalship, initiative fatigue, discipline decisions, and governance are treated as forces that shape what teachers can actually do. The technology episodes are blunt about screens, ed tech, children’s behavior, and the danger of letting hardware set the agenda. Still, the show is not anti-progress for sport. Its standard is usefulness. If a practice helps students learn and gives teachers clearer choices, it gets a fair hearing. If it sounds impressive but adds confusion, the conversation tends to press for evidence and classroom detail. The result is a warm but unsentimental education show, one that respects teachers by staying close to the messy work they recognize.
Made for: For teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, and others who support classroom instruction. It especially suits educators who want research and school leadership ideas translated into practical decisions.
What sets it apart: The show keeps big education topics tethered to classroom use. Guests can range widely, but the conversation keeps returning to what teachers can try, stop, refine, or question.
Descriptions of effective teaching often depict an idealized form of "perfect" instruction. Yet, pursuing perfection in teaching, which depends on children's behavior, is ultimately futile. To be effective, lessons and educators need to operate with about 75% efficiency. The remaining 25% can be impactful, but expecting it in every lesson, every day, is unrealistic. Perfection in teaching may be unattainable, but progress is not. Whether you are aiming for the 75% effectiveness mark or striving for continuous improvement, this podcast will guide you in that endeavor.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Gene Tavernetti makes school leadership legible by testing research, curriculum choices, and administrative policy against daily classroom practice.
Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works turns conversations with educators and researchers into practical examinations of how schools operate. Gene Tavernetti asks guests to connect evidence with decisions made in classrooms, coaching relationships, and administrative offices.
Scripted lessons as freedom? Gene Tavernetti gives that classroom paradox a fair hearing.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Coaching is framed here as careful refinement, not a wholesale reset.
The episode treats coaching as refinement rather than demolition. It keeps returning to a simple point: strong teacher support starts by naming what is already working, then making it more precise, whether the focus is a learning objective, feedback, or a small adjustment that…
A clear case for judging classroom technology by evidence, not habit.
Digital Delusion treats classroom technology as something schools should examine, not accept by default. Gene Tavernetti lets Jared Cooney Horvath build the case that ed tech has moved ahead of the evidence, starting with international and national test results and widening into…
A grounded classroom conversation about evidence, curriculum, and the room it can create for students.
This is a grounded conversation about classroom practice: an award-winning kindergarten teacher walking through research, the tradeoffs of action research, and what changes when a curriculum does more of the heavy lifting.
A sober look at initiative fatigue and the habits school leaders try to leave behind.
Gene Tavernetti's conversation with Joey Davis, now in his 38th year in education, lands on a familiar frustration: initiative fatigue and the question of what school leadership looks like after decades inside the system.
A practical look at executive functions, self-regulation, and how classroom behavior can be misread.
The episode keeps its focus on executive functions and the classroom signals that appear when students are not yet ready to manage attention, memory, and self-regulation in the way school often expects. Gene Tavernetti's conversation with Dr.
Blake Harvard shows how explaining the research behind study strategies can strengthen student buy-in.
Blake Harvard frames evidence as a practical classroom tool, showing why students benefit from understanding the research behind the ways they study.
Psychology teaching, one career story at a time.
Honest school talk with practical stakes.
Practical classroom change, one routine at a time.
Coaching can feel like correction.
Gene Tavernetti opens with a familiar question teachers ask all the time.
This episode features Dr.
This episode features an interview with AJ Crabill, an expert on school board governance, discussing why school boards fail and how educators can be more effective in their roles.
This episode explores how schools can balance technology use with human-centered learning, based on Dr.
Gene Tavernetti talks with Anjanette McNeely, an award-winning kindergarten teacher in Davis County, Utah.
Gene Tavernetti talks with Joey Davis, a veteran educator in his 38th year.
Gene Tavernetti sits down with Dr.
Blake Harvard explains Brain Book Buddy, a retrieval routine where students answer first with only their brain, then with notes, then with a peer, so they can see what they really know.
This episode features an interview with Kent Wetzel about implementing evidence-based science of learning practices in a large school district through professional development and organizational change.
This episode features an interview with veteran educator Ed Cabrera, focusing on practical strategies for leading passionate classroom discussions on controversial topics in subjects like history and social science.
This episode features an interview with Dr.
This episode features an interview with Dr.
This episode features an interview with Laura Stamm, a second-grade teacher and literacy expert, discussing evidence-based teaching practices and mentoring fellow educators.