Beyond My Years

Host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross chatted with two classroom teachers about what it takes to create a classroom in which every student feels safe tasking risks as a reader and writer. Theresa Boyd is a teacher-leader coach and sixth grade social studies teacher at Mallard Creek STEM Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina; Ann Ingham is a third grade teacher from the Cedarsburg School District in Wisconsin and a 2025 Science of Reading Star Award winner. Theresa and Ann share what...

On this episode of Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres is joined by Miguel Cardona, Ed.D., who served as the 12th U.S. secretary of education and is the founder and CEO of Cardona Solutions. A former fourth-grade teacher and an award-winning school principal who served as the Connecticut commissioner of education, Miguel explains why bilingualism is a cognitive and economic superpower—and why we should always view it as an asset. Miguel also shares why he believes we do students a disservice by ...

Host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross lead a discussion with two classroom teachers who have been making the shift from delivering math to facilitating it. Amy Siegmundt teaches third grade in Lockland School District in Ohio, and Jeffrey Mashbitz teaches seventh and eighth grade in the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania. Amy and Jeffrey share practical strategies for making facilitation work in any math classroom, including using sentence starters to help students talk a...

Host Ana Torres is joined by Fawn Nguyen, Director of STEM Initiatives at Amplify, one of the show's most beloved returning guests. A 30-year middle school math teacher and K–8 math coach before she joined Amplify, Fawn shares practical strategies for teaching math in a way that values multiple solutions and makes every student feel like they belong. Fawn breaks down the routines that open math up to every learner and explains why stepping back to let students do the thinking is one of the mo...

Host Ana Torres is joined by Kelly Serpa, Ed.D., STEM product specialist at Amplify and passionate advocate for inclusive math instruction. Together, they explore what it takes to develop students' conceptual understanding in math and why an asset-based approach makes all the difference. Kelly shares the "aha moment" that transformed her teaching practice and breaks down practical strategies for developing deeper math thinkers—from hooking every student in the first five minutes with routines...