The Balance, by Dr. Catlin Tucker

How to Use the Jigsaw Strategy in Your Classroom (and with Station Rotation)

In this episode, I explore the jigsaw strategy, a powerful cooperative learning structure that positions students as active participants in the learning process.

I break down why the strategy is so effective for increasing engagement, deepening understanding, and helping students develop communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. You'll learn the step-by-step process for implementing a jigsaw lesson, including how to support learners as they develop expertise and teach their peers. I also share practical ways to adapt the jigsaw strategy for diverse learners using scaffolds, formative assessment, and AI-powered supports.

Finally, I explain how teachers can integrate jigsaw experiences into a station rotation model to increase student ownership, accountability, and cognitive engagement.

Episode Resources

• Related Blog: https://catlintucker.com/2026/06/jigsaw-strategy
• Resource: Teacher's Guide — Using Jigsaws in a Station Rotation
• Check out my new keynotes!

Teaching AI Literacy in Any Class: A Conversation with Matt Miller

In this episode, I chat with Matt Miller about his new book, AI Literacy in Any Class, and what it means to prepare students for a future shaped by artificial intelligence.

We explore practical ways teachers can integrate AI literacy into everyday lessons without losing focus on meaningful learning, strong instruction, or core content. Matt shares approachable strategies educators can use across grade levels and subject areas to help students think critically about AI, ask thoughtful questions, evaluate information, and engage responsibly with emerging technologies.

We also dig into some of the more challenging conversations happening in education right now, including concerns about screen time, technology use in classrooms, and the growing pushback against devices in schools. Instead of framing technology as simply good or bad, we discuss the importance of intentional instructional design and how the way technology is used ultimately shapes the learning experience.

Episode Resources

• Check out Matt’s New Book! AI Literacy in Any Class
• Connect with Matt Miller
• Skills Before Tools: K-12 AI Implementation Guide

Using 360 Feedback to Increase Accountability in Small Group Work

In this episode, I explore how a simple 360 feedback protocol can increase accountability and reflection during collaborative learning experiences.

Inspired by feedback systems used in corporate settings, this strategy gives students structured opportunities to assess their own contributions and provide thoughtful peer feedback after small group discussions, reciprocal teaching, project-based learning, and other cooperative tasks. I share how asset-based rubrics and peer reflection can help teachers gather meaningful formative data without adding more grading to their workload.

I also discuss why collaboration, communication, empathy, and self-regulation are increasingly important human skills in an AI-driven world. If you want to make group work more equitable, reflective, and student-centered, this episode offers practical strategies you can implement right away.

Episode Resources

• [Resource] 360 Feedback Routine

Guided Notes vs. Cloze Notes: Are Your Notes Supporting or Stifling Learning?

In this episode of The Balance, I unpack a classroom trend I’ve been noticing across middle and high school classrooms: teachers using what they call “guided notes” that are actually closer to cloze notes.

I explore the difference between guided notes, cloze notes, and completed notes, and why those distinctions matter for cognitive engagement, meaning-making, and long-term learning. I talk about how note-taking scaffolds can support students without reducing learning to task completion and compliance. I also address questions teachers are asking about fairness, accommodations, inclusion, and how to normalize differentiated supports in diverse classrooms.

Finally, I share practical strategies for designing guided notes that actively engage students in thinking, processing, discussing, and making meaning during direct instruction.

Related Blog:
Are Your Guided Notes Supporting or Stifling Learning? Designing Notes That Promote Active Engagement

AI Tools That Give Teachers Time Back with Robert Mayfield

In this episode, Robert Mayfield and I continue our conversation about deep work in education by exploring specific AI tools that can help teachers reclaim time and focus on more meaningful instructional work.

We discuss how AI can streamline tasks like creating slide decks, writing student-facing directions, designing higher-order questions, generating review activities, providing feedback, planning units, and managing communication with families.

Throughout the conversation, we emphasize that the goal is not replacing teachers, but reducing the shallow, repetitive tasks that consume so much of their time and energy. We also talk about the importance of teachers remaining thoughtful evaluators of AI-generated content and building a small, purposeful toolkit that supports student-centered learning.

Related Blog:
Deep Work in the Age of AI (Part 2): AI Tools That Give Teachers Time Back

Deep Work in the Age of AI: Protecting Teacher Thinking with Robert Mayfield (Part 1)

In this episode, I chat with Robert Mayfield about a growing tension in education: teachers aren’t necessarily resistant to AI, they’re resistant to more fragmentation.

We explore how the structure of teaching leaves little room for the deep thinking required to design meaningful learning experiences and why AI should be used to create space for that work, not add to teachers’ cognitive load.

Robert shares powerful examples from classrooms, including how one teacher’s perspective on AI completely shifted when she saw its potential to support student thinking and reclaim teacher time. We also discuss the difference between simply putting together lessons and intentionally designing them, along with small, realistic ways educators can begin protecting time for reflection, analysis, and instructional decision-making.

Related Blog: Deep Work in the Age of AI: The Case for Protecting Teacher Thinking (Part I)

Tier 2 Instructional Shifts: Strategies That Strengthen Small Group Instruction

In this episode, I unpack the instructional shifts that make Tier 2 more targeted, responsive, and effective.

Too often, Tier 2 turns into a smaller version of whole-group instruction, repeating the same explanations and tasks that didn’t work the first time. I walk through what needs to change, from grouping students based on specific needs to using different instructional approaches, scaffolding thinking, and ensuring students are doing the cognitive heavy lifting. I also explore how pre-assessment and formative data can be used to proactively design support and enrichment, not just react after students struggle.

Finally, I share how the station rotation model can create the time and structure teachers need to make small group instruction possible in real classrooms.

Episode Resources

• Related Blog: https://catlintucker.com/2026/04/tier-2-instructional-strategies/
• The Station Rotation Model & UDL

Rethinking Technology in the Classroom: It’s Not Screen Time, It’s Design

In this episode, I take a closer look at the growing conversation around technology in education.

With rising concerns about screen time, student attention, and mental health, many schools are starting to question their use of devices. But what does the research actually say? I unpack key insights from a recent American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, highlighting an important distinction: it’s not just how much time students spend on screens, it’s what they’re doing on them. Then I contrast that research with what I see in classrooms every day and explore what it means for schools moving forward.

Episode Resources

• Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents: Policy Statement

Engagement Is the Outcome of Design: Supporting Teachers and Students Through Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness

In this episode, I reflect on a recent keynote I delivered in Singapore, exploring the shared challenges impacting teacher and student engagement.

Drawing on Self-Determination Theory, I unpack the three psychological needs that drive motivation—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—and explain how these needs shape what we see as engagement in classrooms and schools. Too often, we treat engagement as a student issue, but teacher and student engagement are deeply interconnected and influenced by the same system-level conditions.

I share practical examples to illustrate how rigid structures, one-size-fits-all design, and limited opportunities for connection can undermine motivation for both groups. If we want to reignite engagement, we have to move beyond compliance and intentionally design learning experiences that give both teachers and students a sense of control, confidence, and connection.

Fast Finishers: 6 Strategies to Support Self-Paced Learning Without Busywork

In this episode, I tackle one of the most common questions teachers ask when using the station rotation model: What do you do with students who finish early?

Instead of treating fast finishers as a problem, I reframe pacing differences as one of the biggest benefits of blended learning and self-paced environments. I walk through six practical strategies you can use to keep students meaningfully engaged without defaulting to extra work or busywork. From Must Do, May Do, and Aspire to Do to peer tutoring and brain break options, these approaches help you design for flexibility, student agency, and better classroom flow.

If you’re using station rotation, this episode will help you make pacing work for you, not against you.

Episode Resources

• Related Blog Post: What to Do When Students Finish Early in a Station Rotation
• The Station Rotation Model and UDL: Elevate Tier 1 Instruction and Cultivate Learner Agency