Welcome to Season 5 of Progressively Incorrect! In this special premiere episode, I’m joined by Greg Ashman, a leading advocate for explicit instruction and one of the most important voices in education today. We begin by analyzing a new video from Jo Boaler, where she casts “step-by-step instruction” as the villain in favor of an idealized, inquiry-based approach. Greg and I unpack the pedagogical assumptions behind this stance and explore why it resonates more with ideology than evidence.
We also dive into the research on productive failure—its theoretical appeal, its classroom limitations, and what it reveals about the broader debate over how students learn best. Along the way, we discuss recent controversies in education, including efforts that seem antagonistic to teachers’ rights to public commentary and increasingly hostile toward explicit instruction as a legitimate pedagogical stance.
Whether you’re a classroom teacher, teacher educator, or instructional designer, this episode offers a sharp, unapologetic look at the fault lines in modern education—and why clarity, structure, and professional autonomy matter more than ever.
Listen to Progressively Incorrect on…
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Looking for great education books?
The podcast you’re listening to is sponsored by John Catt from Hachette Learning and hosted by Dr. Zach Groshell. John Catt publishes some of the best books in education, including my book, Just Tell Them: The Power of Explanations and Explicit Teaching.
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