Practical classroom change, one routine at a time.
The EduGals Podcast follows Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell through reflective conversations about teaching practice. Recent episodes center on equitable grading, mastery-based learning, UDL, de-streaming, and routines that make classrooms more accessible.
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The EduGals Podcast is a teacher-facing show about changing classroom practice without pretending the work is simple. Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell bring a conversational, reflective pace to topics that often become either policy talk or tool demos. Here, they stay close to the classroom. Recent episodes spend substantial time on grading, especially the ways traditional systems can turn learning into point-chasing. The conversations around Joe Feldman's Grading for Equity are especially central. They consider why grading is so emotionally loaded for teachers, why students may avoid work when failure feels punitive, and how practices such as zeros, late marks, completion grades, and single-attempt assessments can distort what grades are supposed to communicate. Short answer: grades are not neutral. The show also has a strong practical streak. Mastery-based learning is discussed through routines, scales, modules, feedback, resubmissions, and the challenge of helping students understand that progress is built through evidence over time. Technology is present, but usually as part of pedagogy rather than as novelty. Brightspace, GimKit, assistive technology, instructional videos, and station rotations appear as tools for access, clarity, practice, and feedback. UDL gives the show another recurring frame. Episodes on action and expression focus on how students physically interact with materials, how they use voice or technology, and why tools should be familiar before assessment day. De-streaming receives the same grounded treatment. The hosts describe program-building, teacher teams, transitions between grades, pathway assumptions, and the tension between opportunity and readiness. There is optimism here, but not a glossy version. The show is at its best when it admits the stress, the planning load, and the uncertainty, then keeps working toward more humane systems. It suits educators who want to rethink assessment, access, and classroom routines in concrete steps. The tone is warm, curious, and candid. It favors reflective practice over quick fixes.
Made for: The show is for educators, especially secondary teachers, who are rethinking grading, access, technology use, and classroom routines. It will resonate with teachers working on mastery-based learning, UDL, de-streaming, or more equitable assessment.
What sets it apart: The EduGals Podcast stands out by pairing equity-minded pedagogy with the messiness of real implementation. It moves from big questions about grades and systems into specific classroom moves teachers can actually picture using.
The EduGals podcast is all about current challenges in education, and how teachers in K-12 can leverage educational technology (EdTech) in the classroom. Hosted by Rachel Johnson and Katie Attwell.
Twenty Jamboard frames for thirty students: Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell bring the arithmetic to your tool debate.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid opening book study on why grading strains classrooms and how more equitable practices might help.
The EduGals Podcast opens its book study of Joe Feldman's Grading for Equity by getting at why grades can be so hard to talk about, and harder still to change.
A thoughtful look at how grades can reward compliance while making learning feel risky.
Traditional grading can make a classroom feel less like a place to learn and more like a place to avoid being wrong. EduGals co-hosts Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell use Chapter 3 of Joe Feldman's Grading for Equity to look at late work, missed tests, zeroes, cheating,…
A grounded introduction to making UDL's action-and-expression pillar part of everyday classroom practice.
Universal Design for Learning can sometimes feel like a neat set of classroom categories, but Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell keep the action-and-expression pillar grounded in what students actually do.
A practical look at how Ontario's de-streaming reshapes timetabling, teaching, and student support.
EduGals gives Ontario's de-streaming push a grounded, school-level reading by staying close to grade nine English, science, and math changes already in motion.
A practical discussion of how mastery-based classroom openings can become intentional, visible, and welcoming.
Mastery-based classrooms work best when the opening is treated as part of the learning design, not just housekeeping. Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell frame that start as both course setup and daily practice, with attention to the small structures that help students orient…
Psychology teaching, one career story at a time.
Honest school talk with practical stakes.
The EduGals podcast episode 130 opens a book study of Joe Feldman's Grading for Equity, centered on chapter one, What Makes Grading So Difficult to Talk About and Even Harder to Change.
EduGals E138 examines Joe Feldman’s Chapter 3 of Grading for Equity, where Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell connect traditional grading to risk-taking, trust, and student motivation.
The EduGals Podcast episode E137, “Creating Inclusive Learning Environments: Action and Expression in UDL,” centers on Universal Design for Learning’s action and expression pillar.
The EduGals Podcast episode 'The Journey of Destreaming: Reflections and Insights - E136' revisits Ontario's grade 9 de-streamed English rollout after science last year and math the year before.
The EduGals Podcast episode "Opening Routines For a Mastery-Based Classroom - E135" walks through how Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell start a mastery-based semester and a normal class day.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell examine Chapter 2 of Jo Feldman’s Grading for Equity, focusing on how manufacturing, migration, intelligence testing, and behaviorism shaped schools and grading.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell explain how station-based learning can be adapted from elementary classrooms to secondary subjects such as IB chemistry and ESL.
Rachel Johnson explains how she is adapting standards-based and specifications grading for a Grade 12 IB chemistry course, while Katie Atwell questions the design choices.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell examine how families can manage student technology use at home after Stephen Hurley and Doug Peterson requested their perspective on Episode 125.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell of The EduGals Podcast explain how their podcast process changed from free tools and nervous early recordings to a more structured workflow for episode 131.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell begin a chapter-by-chapter study of Joe Feldman’s Grading for Equity with chapter one’s question: why is grading difficult to discuss and change?
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell examine the Universal Design for Learning pillar of providing options for comprehension.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell define asset mindset as recognizing students’ strengths, including multilingual learners’ first languages, rather than labeling what they lack.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell outline professional and personal goals for the upcoming Ontario school year, including mastery-based learning, student conferencing, leadership support, and work-life boundaries.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell explain how teachers can build stakeholder support for ungrading while working within Ontario grading requirements.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell explain how to organize Brightspace, Canvas, Google Classroom, or Schoology for the upcoming school year.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell explain how teachers can use Canva to create classroom visuals, assignments, presentations, and student projects.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell explain how short instructional videos support mastery-based learning by letting students progress at their own pace while teachers provide targeted small-group help.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell compare Google Slides and Google Jamboard across templates, backgrounds, collaboration, version history, hyperlinks, media, and customization.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell of The EduGals Podcast explain how student-created digital portfolios can document learning from the beginning to the end of a semester.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell examine how teachers can grade mastery-based learning within Ontario’s fifth-week reports, midterms, 15th-week reports, and finals.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell of The EduGals Podcast share summer reading plans centered on literacy, grading, culturally responsive teaching, Indigenous history, and classroom design.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell close The EduGals Podcast’s study of Daniel Willingham’s Why Don’t Students Like School by applying its cognitive principles to teaching practice.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell examine Guideline 2 of the Universal Design for Learning Framework, focusing on language, symbols, and the representation pillar.
Rachel Johnson and Katie Atwell examine Daniel Willingham’s chapter “How Can I Know Whether New Technology Will Improve Student Learning?” through classroom examples involving ChatGPT, smart boards, Screencastify, and digital texts.
This episode discusses shifting towards standards-based assessment practices with guest Jessica Liu from the Vancouver School Board.
Co-hosts Rachel and Katie discuss the first chapter of Daniel Willingham's book 'Why Don't Students Like School' and its implications for classroom teaching.