The Leading Learning Podcast
This podcast is for school leaders who are ready to level up and scale their school improvement journey.
Episodes
16 episodes
S2 E6 - What to Do After You Get Your Phonics Screening Check Results
When your phonics screening check results make your stomach drop, what do you actually do next? In this return episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast, Jocelyn treats the check like a blood pressure reading: it tells you whether ...
S2 E5 - Why Do Our Good Coaching Questions Fall Flat?
"Ask more questions, tell less" is coaching gospel - but what if it's setting your least experienced teachers up to fail? In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Jocelyn challenges the one-size-fits-all approach to instruct...
S2 E4 - Why Isn't Our Instructional Model Transferring Across the Curriculum?
Ever wonder why a teacher can run a flawless, tightly-structured literacy block in the morning, then deliver a chaotic, worksheet-heavy science lesson by the afternoon? In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Jocelyn unpacks the real r...
S2 E3 - How to Make Your Explicit Teaching Journey Actually Pay Off
Every school is drowning in a checklist of "evidence-based" boxes to tick (phonics programs, screeners, daily review, engagement norms) and still seeing no movement in student outcomes. Why?In this episode, Jocelyn unpacks the gap...
S2 E2 - How to Survive System Mandates
Systems are pushing hard on explicit teaching and the science of reading - but a directive can change what a school looks like without ever touching what happens once the classroom door closes. In this episode, Jocelyn unpacks the r...
S2 E1 - Why Can't Teachers Let Go of Worksheets?
This is the season two premiere of the Leading Learning Podcast, hosted by Jocelyn Seamer. The episode opens with a real classroom story: a teacher, new to implementing a spelling program, quietly turned a discussion-based lesson segment into a...
S1 E10 - What Does the Research Actually Say About Grouping Students for Phonics?
In this episode, Jocelyn looks back at an episode from her other show, the Structured Literacy Podcast.We challenge the assumption that whole-class phonics with a little extra is the most effective route and explore why targeted Tier 1 g...
S1 E9 - The Real Cost of Creating Our Own Programs
In this episode, Jocelyn unpacks a question school leaders increasingly face: should we build our own curriculum program instead of buying one? Using the distinction between price and cost, Jocelyn shows how "free" homegrown program...
S1 E8 - The Instructional Principle That Can Change Everything
In this episode, Jocelyn tackles one important question: Do your students have the prerequisite knowledge for this learning? The spread of answers reveals whether a school is focused on delivering content or ensuring students actually learn.
S1 E7 - We've Done the PL, but Our Team Can't Get Started
In this episode, Jocelyn explores why new teaching practices often fail to take hold after professional learning sessions, and how giving teachers one clear, concrete starting point - rather than open-ended freedom - better supports beginners i...
S1 E6 - Data, Data Everywhere: But Learning Still Won't Stick
In this episode, Jocelyn explores how to close the gap between assessment data and classroom instruction. She argues that diagnostic and formative assessment need to be built directly into school-wide systems, not treated as separate from plann...
S1 E5 - The Real Work Begins Where the Program Runs Out
Jocelyn reflects on what happens when a well-built instructional program stops providing answers, and what leadership teams must do next. This episode explores the difference between building a minimum viable system and the deeper, more demandi...
S1 E4 - Why Teachers 'Go Rogue'
In this episode, Jocelyn explores why instructional initiatives lose consistency during implementation, and offers a practical five-step framework to reset and strengthen practice across a school.
S1 E3 - Who Makes Decisions in Your School?
Today's episode forcuses on school leadership, exploring who truly holds decision-making power in school improvement... and why it matters. Jocelyn unpacks how even capable leaders accidentally hand over authority through outsourcing to consult...
S1 E2 - How to Steer Clear of Bright and Shiny Things
In this second episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Jocelyn explores how school leaders can avoid the trap of chasing every new initiative and instead make strategic, high-impact decisions. Drawing on Jim Collins' Hedgehog Princ...
S1 E1 - Launching the Leading Learning Podcast
What does it actually take to lead school improvement that sticks? In this first episode, Jocelyn introduces the Leading Learning Podcast by sharing the leadership journey that shaped everything she now believes about what schools need. F...