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In this episode, we sit down with Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver, a full-time teacher and coach who is engaged in many community outreach and support initiatives. In our conversation, she shares valuable insights that emphasize the importance of belonging in the classroom, the necessity of equipping students with strong literacy skills, and the power of recognizing students' innate genius.
Our discussion revolves around the practical strategies and mindset shifts required to achieve these educational goals in light of real-world challenges facing educators and students today. The Big Dream One thing that Caitlin holds onto is the reality that the world is hard and full of injustice, yes, but she wants all students to know that they can make it better — their voices matter. Her vision is to empower students through education, equipping them with the critical literacy skills necessary to challenge injustice and create a better world. Mindset Shifts Required A few mindset shifts can help educators in today’s complex educational environment, including the importance of making space for what’s going on in the world and bringing that into the classroom. Acknowledging external circumstances is a starting point for all educators, and, from there, we can work to ensure all students feel safe and like they belong in your classroom. Other important shifts include: recognizing the inherent genius in all students, valuing students' existing knowledge, and resisting the urge to simplify complex texts or issues. Rather than performing tasks for students, teachers should guide them as they navigate difficult readings and discussions, stressing the importance of honoring students' lived experiences and perspectives. Action Steps For educators seeking to bring these shifts to their classrooms, Caitlin outlines her “literacy is liberation” approach, which is based on a recent talk she gave at the NCSS Conference (outline available here). Here are some action steps educators can implement: Step 1: Focus on creating a sense of belonging in the classroom by valuing students’ voices, experiences, and backgrounds. This foundational step is crucial for any learning to occur and a big part of it is simply acknowledging what’s happening politically in the world and talking about it in the class; even when it's hard to do, it’s better than staying silent on the issues that matter. Step 2: Listen to students. Ask questions about how they are and their well-being, and then learn and listen from them. This is how you can start seeing kids as geniuses that we can learn from, too. Step 3: Encourage students to engage with rigorous texts — a lot of them. Even when students have lower levels of literacy, it’s still possible to engage in rigorous texts when we support them through scaffolding that helps them tackle difficult material. Educators can also focus on building up background knowledge and vocabulary that support learners in their literacy and understanding of content. Step 4: As you work to build literacy skills, honor the hard work of learning by acknowledging its challenges and celebrating student progress and achievements. Facilitate an environment where overcoming obstacles is part of the learning process. Challenges? Caitlin reflects on how teachers — and maybe Social Studies teachers in particular — love the content and love teaching everything. So, teachers may also struggle with how to cover the right amount of content with limited time to both plan and teach. It can also be challenging to adequately provide background knowledge and motivation necessary for students to engage with complex texts. One Step to Get Started Teachers can start small by simply highlighting and teaching key “tier two” vocabulary words found within texts. These are the words you have to know to make sense of the text. This practical step can be implemented in daily lessons and has the potential to significantly impact students' reading skills. Additionally, school leaders can prioritize conversations with their educators, focusing on what they are already doing well, and exploring ways to support their literacy teaching strategies. Stay Connected You can find this week’s guest on Instagram at @2025vtteacheroftheyear. To help you implement today’s takeaways, our guest is sharing her presentation outline from the NCSS Conference: Literacy is Liberation: Strategies for Supporting Struggling Readers and Work Towards Justice. It is full of resources that will support educators in the themes discussed in this episode. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 255 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript below. Quotes:
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TRANSCRIPT
Lindsay Lyons: Caitlin, welcome to the time for teachership podcast. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here. Lindsay Lyons: I am really intrigued by, uh, a lot of different things that I, that you bring to the table as an educator and coach, and. One of the reasons we reconnected is around your NCSS presentation on literacy as liberation and thinking about like the social studies context and literacy. And I just, I was really intrigued by that, but I also know that you have a wealth of knowledge and information and like passions and all the things. So what's kind of on your mind today, or what do you want audience members to be thinking of today? Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Um, well, I am, uh, still in the classroom full-time in addition to many other things, and classroom spaces are hard right now. We're talking at the end of December. Um, last night we did another huge food distribution to our students who are really hungry. So I was just right before this call, cleaning up from that. Um, we're supporting, I'm heavily supporting a second grader of ours who was detained by ice, um, at the be over the Thanksgiving break. So I was. Emailing back and forth with that. Um, and then we have a huge Somali population at our school in Winooski. It's a refugee resettlement city. Um, and after, uh, Trump's remarks calling the Somali people quote garbage, we've done a lot of support for our Somali population, um, which has, uh, been hard in some ways. Like we've been very atta uh, targeted and attacked. So even just now, like I was in the hallway and just continuing talking to kids about how they're processing everything and December is dark and it's. You know, going into break. It's a hard time for kids anyways, so there's a lot on my mind right now. Lindsay Lyons: Thank you for naming all of the things, because I feel like things are constantly evolving and changing. So yes, we were talking December, 2025, and whenever folks are engaging with this episode, at whatever point, like. Hopefully things will be different from the better, but it's a good reminder that this is where we are right now and these are all the things that are affecting not just educators, but students as well, and families. So thank you for just like situating us in that, and I think connected to, connected to that, but maybe like a, a positive spin off of like what is possible. I always try. To lead with the question around Dr. Betina loves quote on freedom dreaming. So dreams grounded in the critique of injustice. Like, we know all of this stuff is happening and we know there is a better possible future. So what does that future look like for you? Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Yeah, I love, uh, Dr. Patina loves work and I think what I hold onto in one of my north stars is that the world is hard and it's full of injustice. And I want kids to know that they can make it better, that their voices matter and that they can change the world. Um, and I want them angry by what they see, but I want them knowing that they will play a role in dreaming us. A better world. Um, and then specifically like as an English and as a social studies teacher, we play a big role in then helping them get the skills they need to do that. So making sure that they're really strong readers, um, making sure they have a strong awareness of our, their past, our nation's past so that they can understand why we are where we are today, making them. Become brave writers that can cite evidence and use good sources and make sense of misinformation, and then to communicate their ideas strongly. Um, so even though things are hard at the end of December, that's why I like can't get away from the classroom. 'cause there's so much hope for me in my four walls when I'm working with kids that like I get to be the one that helps them make sense of what's happening and do something about it. Lindsay Lyons: Oh my gosh. I love it. And I love that you're already getting into like all of the specific skills and things that we have the power to like amplify in our kids who, like many of them have these skills, right? And our job is just like coach 'em and, and improve them, um, and find ways that they can use those skills in real world like settings. I love that. And I'm also thinking about. You know, the, the teachers, I think most people who are listening to this podcast or engaging with this podcast are people who know justice is important and they know that this is what they wanna do. And I think for some it might be like. I'm not quite sure how to bring this about, or I'm not quite sure how I do this and I, you know, do X, y, and Z that my administrator requires. Or for an administrator, listen, li listening, you know, and engaging, it's like what, uh, whatever they have right on their shoulders that is being, coming from a above. Like, here are we, were talking about like languaging, right? Here are the terms you can't use, or here's like the state law on this. And so I'm imagining there's a lot of like mindset stuff going on for people. Are there any powerful like. Shifts in mindset or kind of like big ideas that have helped you or helped propel others that you know towards doing some of this work. Amidst all the things going on. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Yeah. I think what comes to my mind first is I don't know how we do the work of social, being a social studies teacher, being a classroom teacher, if we don't address everything that our kids are bringing with them into the classroom, if we don't make space for what's going on in the world. I had a student say to me recently when we were kind of talking about how do teachers respond to what's going on, what feels good for you? And, um, I'm a teacher that's like always talking about it with, with the world and being relevant. And she said something powerful, which was that when her teachers don't talk about it, she assumes that they agree with everything that's going on. And I know that that's not the intent of the teachers. But it was a moment for me of recognizing the silence carries so much meaning for our kids, and this was just one kid. I'm like, oh, do other people think that about this teacher and this teacher? Um. So for me, kind of like two mindset shifts is like, number one, yes, this work is hard and I don't know any other way. Like kids have to feel like they belong in your classroom for, to do any learning. And it seems like often, um, a talking point from the right wing of like, oh, just teach reading or just teach math and it. We can't just do that if kids don't feel safe, if they don't feel seen, affirmed, valued, et cetera. Um, and then I also think that there's a big shift in terms of like really valuing what our kids are bringing into the classroom. Um, and not just like lip service of like, oh yeah, languages are, are strength, but really like showing that in your classroom. Um, and I think a lot about. Honoring our kids as geniuses and like really this mindset shift of like, they are a genius. And it's my job to bring that genius out of them. And how do I do that? Um, how do I facilitate a learning space, a classroom space? How do my instructional decisions align with this underlying principle that like, I am so lucky to be with 20 geniuses today. How do I get that out of them? Um. We read this book, uh, in one of my English classes, the Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, and a character says to another character, um, the world's been waiting for your genius a long time. And I printed it out on my classroom. And like when we read it, I look at kids, I'm like, have, have teachers said that to you? Like, do you feel that? And sadly the answer is no often, but like that is something that I try to hold onto as much as possible. Lindsay Lyons: Oh my gosh, there is so much there. I mean, I just fiercely writing notes about like, you know, the valuing of, of, of things beyond just like naming them, but like truly valuing the, the idea of genius. I mean, you're like bringing in Goldie Mohammed here. Like, I just, I love all of this and I, I totally, I mean, I can literally think of colleagues as well as my own teachers as a student who. Did not talk about what is happening in the, the politic political landscape, the politics, the current events, whatever. And totally, that's what happens is everyone thinks like, oh, well then you must be just fine with it. Which in populations where we're our students are, uh, marginalized in various ways and identities and groups that they belong to, it's like, oh, you, so you don't value me. Right. And, and how to your earlier point, like how can we engage with students, partner with students and families. If we are not specifically addressing it and, and saying we're against all of the oppression that's happening. So I just really love that all of this is like threading together what you're saying. And I I also love your segue into how, right, so you start, you left off kind of saying like, how do I do this? I'm curious like, what does the, how look like, that's a huge question, but I know there's like different components that, that you think about. I mean, you talked about literacy as liberation. You talked about like elevating the genius. Setting up classrooms in specific ways, elevating student agency. Like there's, there's so many components. I don't know if you wanna like pick one or just kind of share a smattering of ideas, whatever works for you. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Yeah. Um, my presentation around literacy is liberation. I was like trying to distill a little bit of like, what am I doing in my history classrooms, in my civics classrooms that is working. Um, and I think a lot around, um. Well, even backing up, I think a lot around the need for kids to be strong readers and strong writers when they graduate high school. I think so much of my students who have graduated high school and sadly have not graduated college within four years or six years and life gets busy and you know, they're often coming from families that are in poverty and. It's complicated. Um, but I think about how can we better prepare them with these real concrete skills to then live, you know, our freedom dreams. Um, I think a lot about how do you first create belonging in your classroom? And it's not like. Switch that you can flip and you have it one day and you don't have it the other day. Is this ongoing reflective process of all the stuff that I'm sure your listeners, uh, are aware of, you know, like diverse texts and really leaning into checking in with kids. This is one thing I've been talking about a lot recently is during COVID I feel like we did a great job of like really slowing down and just like. Asking kids, how are you? Do you have enough food? What's going on? But we're past COVID now, and it's back to normal. And it's like we lost something there. And I intentionally, especially since the new administration have been really slowing down and trying to check in with kids, like, are we okay? And it's really through that listening that we learn about our kids. And there's that mindset shift again of like. I am not the expert like you are bringing so much into my classroom. How can I learn from you? And I think kids see me as that type of teacher. I think hopefully that really listens and then like. My doors like never close. They just keep coming in and keep talking and like you keep learning more stuff about them. And then it's like the books we're using and the, this is why I love teaching also. It's like every decision carries so much weight. Are all of our curriculum decisions, the text we're using, what we're teaching, what we're not teaching, what we're emphasizing, um. All of that. It's like it's messy and we show up in really small ways for kids, but then also showing up in bigger ways. Like we, our school raised the Somali flag after Trump's comment, so we show up in these big ways, or we have this big food distribution things. But I think kids see belonging over the course of, you know, the year or many months. Um, so that's the first thing. Kids gotta feel like they belong. And then I have a whole lot, like been thinking a lot around what does this mean from a literacy perspective? Um, and I think a lot of the science of reading research, um, is fantastic. Of course. And like most states now have adopted science of reading legislation. Most of the legislation is focused around K to three. And that makes sense of like addressing the root of the problem. Um. And I think about our high school kids that are kind of left behind from some of that research and what that means. And I started as a, uh, US history teacher in Boston. Um, and I was trained as a history teacher and I did not know what to do with struggling readers. Like that was not where our pedagogy was. Um, and you know, through many years in different jobs and stuff, I went back to school to become a reading specialist, just 'cause I felt like I needed more skills of like. What do we actually do as content teachers when we have kids that don't know how to read? Um, and I'm really enthused and, you know, hopeful 'cause their research is like pretty obvious and we know what to do. Kids will only understand attacks if they have strong background knowledge about it and if they have vocabulary about it. It's kind of like one thing. And then second, they need to read a lot and they need to read rigorous texts and they need to read a lot of them. So kind of those like four things of like belonging first, a lot around vocabulary, a lot around building background knowledge and what that means. And then like the actual reading strategies and what that looks like. But I'm left hopeful of like the research supports that as social studies teachers, there's so much we can do to support kids being successful readers and writers, and then into their future. Lindsay Lyons: Oh my gosh, yes. I, I love that belonging is central and because you can't really do anything without that. Right. And then I, I do love bringing in like the science of reading stuff. I know that so many, I mean, you just named three incredibly important things from the research and equally three challenging things. I think that teachers ask as a coach, they ask me or. Say like, this is my biggest struggle. Like these are the, the most particularly background and, and reading a lot, like how do I get kids to consistently read and how do I get kids if they have no knowledge of a particular group of people we're studying? And I'm like, okay, we're gonna start this inquiry lesson where you're gonna ask questions. And they're like, well, I don't even know who we're talking about. Right? Like. There. These are two challenging pieces and I'll just say what I've been thinking about and then I would love some of your thoughts because I've been reading TTA Hammond's latest work around like building students' capacity to learn and thinking about how information is processed and how we support students to use tools to like do it beyond like the teacher always being there and so. One thing I'm thinking about is the engagement of students with any sort of text and how if we could make it more meaningful to them, like they're gonna be motivated to read more. And so that's something I've been like just interested about. Like that motivational aspect as well as like the literacy skills themselves. I feel like there's something there, but then also like the background knowledge piece to me, my move and tell me if there's like other ways. 'cause I would love other ways. My move lately has been to think about. Like frameworks, like funds of knowledge or, um, cultural capital from Yos o like thinking about. What are the background knowledge, things that you might already know that might not be like this period in time or this particular geographic area we're studying in history or this person, but there's some sort of like, oh, we're talking about migration. Okay, well, I have a personal experience with migration, right? There's like things that we can pull on that we don't always think about in the classroom. That could be leveraged, but tell me what you think about these. Like what do you do with these pieces? Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: So I love that. 'cause so many times it's like, oh, kids don't have background knowledge, so I have to give it to them. And I do see some role in that, but it's like, no, how are we honoring what they do know already? And. Learning, reading, it's Velcro, it has to stick to something. So figuring out what it's sticking to first. So it won't work if we're only front loading. Like, here's a video and here's some pictures. Like now you have background knowledge. We have to connect it to something that they already know of to begin with. Um, and then I do think there is a role in like. We're gonna like use a video as a text before we actually read the text so that you have like, we're having a shared common experience before we dive into it. And like a starting place at least. Or, you know, showing pictures or reading a small short text before we read the bigger text. And thinking about how we're leveraging like text, text. And what our core text is, like, what we're trying, how we're using reading in itself to build that knowledge. But kids have knowledge, they're bringing knowledge into our classrooms, and they'll be more motivated to do the work if you're honoring what they already know, rather than treating them like they're stupid and they don't know anything in the first place. Um, and I haven't read the Reddi Hammond's new stuff yet, but I want to, and I've been doing, uh, we had a really nice. Uh, professional learning session recently with, uh, Trevor Reagan from the Learning Lab. Really thinking about growth mindset plus and really honoring that learning is hard for kids. And I have a five-year-old who's also l doing a lot of learning right now, and learning's really hard and I hear him sometimes saying this like, I give up. I can't do this language. And the research is really clear. It's like you need to honor. That it is hard and not just say like, no, it's okay, like you can do it. Like, no, this is really hard. Like I get it. And it's a skill and you can get better at something or worse. And then especially in high school, um, kids don't wanna do hard things like their life is hard enough already. And, um, at N-C-S-S-I was like, how many teachers. I have kids that like immediately go to the bathroom when you pass out a reading and it's like, it's everyone. They don't wanna look stupid in front of their peers. Um, so how we can build our culture in our classrooms, in our schools, we're like, no, we're, it is hard and we're gonna do something hard together. And I got you. And like, not dumbing down the text, not making it easier. I started teaching in 2011, I think, and there was a lot of like scaffolding texts, making it easy, the news ELA stuff of like, oh, I'm just gonna change sentences. Like now my kids can read it. Um, and the, it's, the pendulum has really shifted. It's like, no kids need to be reading rigorous texts, so how are we then scaffolding the challenge so that they can read the text, but they're the ones doing it? 'cause we know they're not gonna get better at reading some reading if we don't ever give them a chance to read in the first place. Lindsay Lyons: Oh my gosh, yes. For naming the, the pendulum swing for sure. I mean, 2011 is when, I think that was my first year of teaching, and it was exactly, it was like, here's like all, here are all these apps that will make it easier, so just use these. Right. And now it's like, okay, that didn't help. Um, yeah. Oh my gosh. I, I love the idea of honoring the hard. I also have a almost 4-year-old. And so it is like, right, we are, we need to, like, we can do hard things right now like this. We're in it together. Um, and I, I just really appreciate that this analogy of Velcro and like it's going to stick to something. What does it stick to? Like that really resonates because I think sometimes we think that there is literally nothing. There's, right. It's like the very much like the banking model, it's very much kids don't have anything coming in like. The No, it's sticking to something and if it's not sticking to something, it's 'cause we're maybe not like facilitating the, like, recognition that it's sticking to something. And it's just a kind of a, a lack of like us being like, it's sticking. And so I, I am curious in all of this, I mean in literacy challenges, in like talking about all the hard history that we have to teach. Like what is maybe a large challenge that you faced as a history teacher and what like. What's a way that you've kind of gotten through it, thought about like a different avenue into it. Like what advice could we give to social studies educators who might be like facing this big challenge that, that you've noticed yourself as a teacher or that you've noticed in other teachers? Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: I think one challenge is like we love our content. As social studies teacher, we wanna teach all of it. And like the more, the older I get, the more I learn. I'm like, oh my God, I never learned this. Like one random thing that happened. I was like, we have to do this. This is amazing. Um. And so for me it's like taking things out because we know if reading is hard, we gotta give them the space to process it on their own. And I know that sometimes when I'm short on time and I'm like, oh my God, I really wanna finish this unit before winter break. I'm like, I'll just read it for them. Like I'll just do this for them. And we start like doing more of the work for kids. Because we love our content. We, we think it's important for them to know. And I'm not saying there's never a place for that, which is what I love about teaching. It's like just being reflective and intentional about all your decisions. And I might make that choice tomorrow, Lindsay, but like I'm doing it with a reason. And I know in January we're not doing that, you know, certain things. But, um, I think really honoring, uh, and giving space to do this work of reading, of making sense of, um, you know. Figuring out what their genius is. If I'm giving them a text and I'm telling them what it means, like I am, that's still banking model, I'm still owning the meaning of that text and really creating space of like, I've read this text 5,000 times, but I'm reading it again with you, and you're bringing a whole new perspective into it. Um, but it's. It does take time and like even I, I know how important vocabulary instruction is and how important recognizing morphology like, you know, prefixes, suffixes, and roots and words is, and when you have diverse classes of learners, when you have so much at play in any given class period, sometimes it's easy to. Do some of the things that you know are good because you wanna get to your end goal. So I keep telling myself a little bit to like really just slow down and like honoring kids for, and giving them the time and space to do things. Lindsay Lyons: Oh my gosh. Again, with the, this is like exactly what all the challenges are. It's like pacing is number one. I literally have a post-it note that says slow, like right by my, because it's always right, like we can do less is more slow it down, like yes. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: And it's hard too. I had a student teacher a couple years ago that decided she didn't wanna be a teacher, and I'm like so happy she made that decision. But one thing she said to me was like, I just had no idea like how hard this work actually is. And I think just honoring that it. It really is so hard to do this well, takes so much planning time and across the nation teachers planning time is being cut left and right, and like to teach one lesson with one strong primary source, let alone like a whole DBQ or background text. Like it takes a lot of intentional planning to do it, and when that's cut short, uh, it's easy to fall into bad habits or just like trying to push through to get to certain content, et cetera. Lindsay Lyons: That's such a good point too for leaders who are like. Engaging with the episode. I think how much time we can give teachers is so critical. If there is anything we can do to increase planning or preparation time for lessons. Your, your comments today have just been such a good illustration that teachers know what is good practice and they usually are like, yeah, I have all these things in my head as I'm planning and I have the realities of the situation to like work within. And so as if we can just like support that structurally in any way, like. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Meetings. More planning time, please. Lindsay Lyons: Yes. Oh my gosh, that that's exactly it. And so I am just, I'm going to move us to kind of our clothes soon, but I am feeling like I wish I was a student in your classroom, and so I am just curious if there is a favorite lesson you've had recently or a favorite moment where like a student had this aha or like made you think differently. Like is there any, any sort of kind of like moment that in, in the moments of hard that you attach to and are like, oh, but this was great. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: You know why I love teaching is there's a million moments like that, but this is the one that just happened a half hour ago. But I was kind complaining to a colleague, I'm like, I'm trying to have this rigor, like I want the essay due, like, and kids just aren't doing it. And we're like, oh, it's a hard time of year. It's December, like, and I was like, I know, I'm just kind of setting myself up like I wanted to do revision circles, but. They don't have a solid draft yet, so I think I just have to give them more work time. Um, and then this kid came to me in her study hall and she's like, miss Caitlyn, will you look at my essay? And Lindsay, it was so good. I mean, it was amazing. And we're a small school, so I've been working with her in various classes for three years. And to see the growth in her writing was. So powerful. And she's writing, it's for the Bernie Sanders State of the Union, um, essay contest that our Senator Bernie Sanders does. Um, so they choose an issue that they think is the most pressing issue in the country and describe the challenge and come up with their solution. And like she's talking about ice, uh, detaining American citizens and she has a strong solution. So it was like all of this is coming together and like, you know, there'll be plenty of kids that. Don't have their first drafts done this afternoon and we'll deal with that also. But meeting with her for a half hour and looking at her essay with her was really powerful and uh, it was a nice moment. Lindsay Lyons: Oh my gosh. I love that for so many reasons. I mean, the student agency, the, like excitement that she's seeking out feedback like outside Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: I know. Lindsay Lyons: Incredible. And also just this idea of a growth trajectory. I mean, a lot of people can't, um, for structural reasons, like they don't see the same students o over and over, but many do. I mean, when I worked in a small school like you, absolutely do. You some teachers even have looping like there even in a one school year or one course, however long it is for you. Like the growth is, is part of the joy, I think, and sometimes in the pacing. Stresses and all of that. We, we kind of forget about like the growth and the, the student joy, and I just love that that story encapsulated that. So it's just like a nugget of a reminder for everyone too. Engage with that joy, engage with that growth and, and seek it out if it's not already seeking you out. Um, uh, beautiful. Thank you. And I think as we're closing, just kind of a few quick questions. One being like, we talked about a lot of big ideas and I'm curious if there's one thing that's like a implementable today or tomorrow kind of thing where. When they end the episode, they can go ahead and just do something to get started in one of these. So it might be like, I'm gonna do this in the lesson tomorrow. It might be something a leader could do. It might be something, um, where you've like, kind of painted this big picture and like, what's one, one step forward? I. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Um, yeah, for teachers, I was just reminded of this in my block one, uh, English class today of just, uh, highlighting tier two words, these words that show up in texts all the time that you have to know in order to. Make sense of the text. Um, so we were reading an article about how technology lowers students' emotional, um, intelligence, and there was a lot of words that were synonyms for the word lowers, so it diminishes, undermines, weakens. And just like I was doing so much with my hands just to help kids, like verbalize like it's going down, it's going down. Um. And just pay attention to those types of words in your text and how, if you didn't know what that word meant, how you wouldn't understand the text to begin with. Um, and then any administrators, listen, listening. I just think having conversations with your teachers and like the same way we try to, um, honor the genius in our students, honoring the genius in us as teachers. Um, so not coming in like, oh. Like I heard about this new way to teach vocabulary, but like, what are you already doing to teach vocabulary? What does teaching tier two words already look like in your classroom? Tell me about a moment of reading, you know, whatever it is, but just like honoring all the good work that's already happening in classrooms around literacy instruction, I think is important. Lindsay Lyons: I love that. I'm envisioning leaders putting up a little post-it that's like, what are you already doing? Dot, dot. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: That would be a win. Lindsay Lyons: That would be great. Um, okay. This one is just for fun. What is something that you have been learning about lately? It could be education related, but it could also be anything. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Okay. I thought of two things. Um, one, one of my students for this essay she's writing in civic class around the biggest problems in our world is writing about, um, moratoriums on building data centers for AI use. So I've done like a deep dive around. The climate and global warming impacts and environmental impacts of AI data centers. And we have some state legislation, um, in Vermont for next session. It looks like our senator is proposing some national stuff too. And just like what this means and like I'm kind of just like on the sidelines of this, but this student's top topic, I was like, I gotta learn more about this with you, what's going on? Um, and then I'm also in my English classes. I'm reading a ton of science fiction right now, and I, it's just been really fun. It's not what I would ever read for on my own, but what a way, like if we want kids talking about their world and like having classes where we're using literature and using history to understand our current context, just a huge plug for, uh, science fiction reading in classes. Lindsay Lyons: Oh my God, I am such a science fiction nerd that yes, like I totally love that you named that because I, every time I read I'm like, this is a blend of the things I teach. Like this is a blend of like the ELA and the freedom dreaming of like, often it's dystopian, but like also it's what is possible and how do we tinker with that as well as like grounded in the past. Oh my gosh. Yes. Love it. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: It's so fun. And then because I have this joint role where I'm English teacher and history teacher, like we read this story just now in my English class where I was like, oh my God, we actually gotta read this in my history class too, because the connections that we can make are so strong. Lindsay Lyons: I feel like we should do a sci-fi episode down the road. We'll do Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: down. Lindsay Lyons: And then finally, I mean, you do so much. I mean, you just presented at NCSS, like where can people connect with you or learn more about you? Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: I don't have a huge online presence, but I have my Instagram at 2025 VT Teacher of the Year. Lindsay Lyons: That's right. And huge celebration for being Vermont's teacher. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Thank you. I know the year's almost done, so it's coming to a close. Lindsay Lyons: Oh my gosh. Caitlyn, this was so fun. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Thank you, Lindsay.
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AuthorLindsay Lyons is an educational justice coach who helps schools and districts co-create feminist, antiracist civics-based curricula, discussion opportunities, and equitable policies that challenge, affirm, and inspire all students. A former NYC public school teacher, she holds a PhD in Leadership and Change, and is the founder of the blog and podcast, Time for Teachership. Lindsay believes all students deserve literacy, criticality, and leadership skills. Archives
May 2026
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