Teach Smarter Podcast · Guest
Zach Groshell
Teacher, instructional coach, and author of Just Tell Them · Host of the Progressively Incorrect podcast
About Zach
Zach Groshell, PhD, is a teacher, instructional coach, and education consultant based in Seattle, Washington. He works with schools across the United States and internationally to improve instruction using research from the science of learning.
He began his career as an elementary classroom teacher and later moved into instructional coaching and school improvement work. Zach is the author of Just Tell Them: The Power of Explanations and Explicit Teaching and the host of the Progressively Incorrect podcast. He also writes at Education Rickshaw, and is known for a practical approach to explicit instruction, teacher development, and coaching models that respect teacher expertise while pushing for better outcomes for students.
The Episodes
Why Explicit Instruction Works, with Zach Groshell
What does decades of research tell us about how students learn, and why do so many schools still move away from it? In part two of our conversation, Zach moves beyond instructional philosophy and into the evidence behind clear modeling, guided practice, frequent checks for understanding, and the gradual release of responsibility.
Zach explains findings from Project Follow Through, cognitive load theory, the worked example effect, teacher-effectiveness research, and Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction. We also discuss how explicit instruction differs from lecturing, when inquiry and projects make sense, and why stations and small-group structures should serve a clear instructional purpose rather than become expectations for their own sake.
The conversation also takes on the hardest questions schools face: how to provide grade-level instruction when many students have significant prerequisite gaps, when targeted intervention should happen, what leaders should look for during walkthroughs, and how teachers can increase participation through cold calling, choral response, turn and talk, mini whiteboards, and other opportunities to respond.
“Just Let Me Teach”: Why PD Lost Teachers, with Dr. Zach Groshell
Professional development has a trust problem. Many teachers feel burned by years of shifting initiatives, surface-level walkthroughs, and messages that miss the reality of classroom instruction.
Zach unpacks the loneliness of teaching, how poor training creates defensive cultures, and why strong instruction is often misunderstood by people furthest from the classroom. We dig into explicit instruction, coaching models that build trust instead of compliance, and the danger of edu-fads that look good but fail to improve learning. We also tackle AI, edtech, and why tools cannot replace thinking, while still having a role when used with intention.