Classroom Caffeine
Classroom Caffeine
Season 5 Reflections & Season 6 Preview
Host Lindsay Persohn reflects on Season 5's journey through literacy education, where conversations explored evolving reading debates, strategies for supporting diverse learners, vocabulary development, and content-specific literacies. Lindsay also shares a recap of research presentations and publications related to podcasting by the Classroom Caffeine team.
Season 6 of the show promises two compelling special series. The first examines the transformative power of graduate studies for educators, featuring candid conversations with professionals who've pursued advanced degrees and discovered new pathways for growth and impact. These discussions illuminate how continued education shapes not just career opportunities but also classroom practice and student outcomes.
The second series spotlights the Spencer Foundation-supported "Stories to Live By" project, exploring how Florida teachers help students navigate climate challenges through place-based learning. As communities face hurricanes, flooding, and environmental uncertainty, these educators work at the critical intersection of climate science, political tensions, and students' lived experiences—empowering young people to think critically and act practically in response to ongoing change.
Publications mentioned in this episode:
- Persohn, L., Burger, L., & Geren, K. V. (2025). Pod Clubs for professional community: learning, conversation, and relationships. Professional Development in Education, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2025.2514703
- Branson, S.M., Persohn, L., Burger, L., Geren, K.V., & Robertson Stemme, M. (2025). Collaborative Connections in ‘Pod Clubs’ for Professional Learning. In C. Bohem, T. Canfer, & C. Salazar (Eds.) in Podcasting & Education: Concepts, Communities & Case Studies. Routledge.
- Persohn, L., & Branson, S. (2025). Scholarly Podcasting for Research Dissemination: A Scoping Review. SAGE Open, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241311694
(Direct link to available publication: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440241311694.)
- Persohn, L. & Branson, S.M. (2024). Broadening Legitimacy of Scholarly Podcasting as Knowledge Dissemination: Metrics, Opportunities and Considerations. Publishing Research Quarterly, 40(3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-024-10005-5
Connect with Classroom Caffeine at www.classroomcaffeine.com or on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Education research has a problem the work of brilliant education researchers often doesn't reach the practice of brilliant teachers. Classroom Caffeine is here to help. In each episode, I talk with a top education researcher or an expert educator about what they have learned from years of research and experiences. So pour a cup of your favorite drink and join me, your host, lindsay Persaud, for Classroom Caffeine research to energize your teaching practice. Hello, friends, and welcome to that in-between seasons episode of Classroom Caffeine where we look back at Season 5 and look ahead to Season 6.
Speaker 1:Season 5 has been a rich journey, full of thoughtful conversations with friends, old and new. Together, we've explored how the field of reading and literacy has changed over time, including ongoing debates like the current movement around the science of reading. We've talked about strategies for supporting individual learners, vocabulary and language development, content literacies like literacy and physical education. We've looked at the importance of offering young readers interesting and relevant texts. We've talked about the role of teacher professional learning. We've talked about the influence of the teacher in the classroom and the power of mentoring in literacy and education. And beyond that, season five was a year of sharing our work with the wider world. The Classroom Caffeine team presented at the EPOD conference that's Education Through Podcasting at Morley College in London. We presented at the Literacy Research Association's annual meeting in Atlanta, georgia, and at the American Educational Research Association conference in Denver, colorado. We also published a few things around scholarly podcasting and educator learning, including an article in Publishing Research Quarterly on podcasting as a mode of knowledge dissemination, an article in Professional Development in Education and a chapter in Podcasting and Education Concepts, communities and Case Studies about using pod clubs to connect educators and support action. And we compiled a scoping review of scholarly podcasting studies. This article is freely available through the journal Sage Open for anyone who'd like to read or download it. We'll include the citations and links for all of these publications in the show notes and you can also find this information on the research tab on the Classroom Caffeine website.
Speaker 1:As we move into season six, I'm excited to share with you all a couple of things we have in store. We have two special series that help to shine a light on important and timely questions in education. The first short series asks what is the value of graduate studies for educators. We know that taking the plunge or deciding to get an advanced degree in education can support not only new knowledge in the field, but also new career opportunities. And so in these episodes in the special series I talk with colleagues as well as a student in the Reading Education Master's Program at the University of South Florida. We talk about what motivated them to pursue an advanced degree or advanced degrees and how it shaped their thinking, as well as professional doors that their advanced education has opened. I hope that special series helps us to connect around what it means to be lifelong learners and the kinds of opportunities that lifelong learning can afford us as professionals and also our students and our circles of influence.
Speaker 1:The second special series will feature the Stories to Live by project, a project which is supported by the Spencer Foundation and explores climate literacies and place-based sensemaking. Stories to Live by is a project that is led by my colleague, friend and a former Classroom Caffeine guest, dr Alexandra Panos. Dr Alexandra Panos Climate literacies encompasses knowledge, competencies and practices necessary to understand the climate system, human-climate interaction and to act meaningfully in response to what's going on with our climate, personally, socially and politically. And place-based literacies the other term I mentioned includes skills, practices and critical sensibilities that are required to interpret, respond to and act within our own geographic and social environments. So in this special series of Stories to Live by. You'll hear from the project's leaders, researchers and participating teachers.
Speaker 1:Participating teachers They'll share a bit about how the project came to be and our teacher participant guests talk about how they work within their own classroom spaces across a variety of grade levels and content areas to support youth as they navigate unprecedented climate challenges, particularly in the context of the state of Florida. We've experienced things like back-to-back hurricanes and flooding. We know this is a topic that impacts people all over the world, not just in Florida, and with the idea of place-based sensemaking, you'll hear some personal stories about how the climate and climate challenges are impacting our day-to-day lives and education. We'll also touch on the pragmatic and emotional aspects of impacting our day-to-day lives and education. We'll also touch on the pragmatic and emotional aspects of dealing with climate-related losses. These conversations highlight how educators work at the intersection of climate science, political tensions and young people's lived realities across grade levels and subject areas, helping youth to think critically and act practically in the face of ongoing change.
Speaker 1:So I want to thank you all for joining me for season five and I hope you'll stay tuned and check out season six with us. Thank you so much for being a part of this community of Curious Minds, whether you've been listening from the beginning or if you've just found us. Your engagement in these conversations helps to keep the show alive. So if you haven't yet, you can subscribe to Classroom Caffeine through your favorite podcast provider. That way, you won't miss a single episode of Season 6. You can also visit our website at classroomcaffeinecom, where you can sign up for a short but informative monthly newsletter, known as the Espresso Shot. Through the website, you can also join our freemium area, where you can access what we refer to as pod packs, which are curated lists of podcast episodes related to particular topics of interest. In this freemium member space, you can also interact with other listeners as well as the classroom caffeine team, around what you hear and what you're thinking about it.
Speaker 1:As always, our team is working to make space for collegiality, networking and thinking about the questions and challenges that matter to you. Please help us keep the conversation going, share the episodes with your colleagues, use them in your courses, and you can always reach out to me if you'd like episode recommendations to align with your questions and interests, or if you need embed codes or ideas about how you might integrate the podcast into your own work. As always, I raise my mug to you, teachers. I hope you have a school year filled with learning and growth, laughter and joy. Thanks for joining me. Gives you things to think about. Help us spread the word. Talk to your colleagues and educator friends about what you hear.
Speaker 1:You can support the show by subscribing, liking and reviewing this podcast through your podcast provider. Visit classroomcaffeinecom, where you can subscribe to receive our short monthly newsletter, the Espresso Shot. On our website, you can also learn more about each guest, find transcripts for our episodes, explore topics using our drop-down menu of tags, request an episode, topic or potential guest. Support our research through our listener survey or learn more about the research we're doing on our publications page. Connect with us on social media through Instagram, facebook and Twitter. We would love to hear from you. Special thanks to the Classroom Caffeine team Leah Berger, abaya Valuru, stephanie Branson and Shaba Oshfath. As always, I raise my mug to you, teachers. Thanks for joining me.