Classroom Conversations with Samantha Thomas
By Samantha Thomas
Categories: Kids & Family, Education for Kids
Classroom Conversations with Samantha Thomas is where teachers get real, practical strategies for the classroom — no fluff, no jargon, just what actually works. Hosted by Samantha Thomas, a teacher and reading interventionist with nearly two decades in the classroom, each episode digs into the routines, relationships, and small shifts that build a classroom where both teachers and students can thrive. Whether you're setting up your first classroom or looking for a reset after years in the profession, you'll walk away with something you can use tomorrow.
11 episodes indexed on PodSearch.
Recent episodes
- What You Do Is a Gift
No strategies, no classroom management, no lesson plans this week. Just encouragement.Teaching is more than lesson plans, data, and emails. It’s finding a way in for a child who doesn’t understand yet, seeing potential students can’t see in themselves, and sometimes being the only person who makes…
- Say Their Name, Move Your Feet: The Power of Teacher Presence
Say Their Name, Move Your Feet: The Power of Teacher PresenceYou’re explaining an assignment. One student is having a side conversation, another hasn’t opened their book, and you’re about to say, “Everybody needs to pay attention!” But everybody isn’t off task.In this episode of Classroom…
- The Walk
The WalkIf you're teaching from the front of the room, you're missing half of what's happening in it.In this episode, Samantha shares what she noticed after leaving her own classroom to become a reading interventionist: students off task, on the wrong page, or quietly lost, while the teacher up…
- How Do I Make Small Groups Actually Work?
Classroom Conversations with Samantha ThomasSeptember Small-Group Series, Week 4: How Do I Make Small Groups Actually Work?You've identified the need, formed your groups, and planned the lesson. You call your first group over... and 37 seconds later, it's "Ms. Thomas? Ms. Thomas?"In the final…
- They're at the Table. Now What?
They're at the Table. Now What? | September Small-Group Series, Week 3You've identified the need. You've formed your groups. Now five students are sitting at your table looking at you, waiting for what's next. So what do you actually do with them?In week 3 of our September Small-Group Series…
- Who Needs to Be at the Table? Creating Small Groups With Purpose
Who Needs to Be at the Table? Creating Small Groups With PurposeYou know small groups matter, but how do you actually decide who belongs in one? In this episode, Samantha breaks down how to build small groups around instructional purpose instead of labels like "high," "middle," and "low." You'll…
- Small Groups Aren't Just for Intervention
Small Groups Aren't Just for InterventionSmall-group instruction gets a bad rap, treated like it's only for kids who are behind, only for elementary, only the interventionist's job. In this episode, Samantha Thomas breaks down why that thinking sells small groups short and how to use them as one…
- Build Academic Momentum
We're wrapping up the First 30 Days Success System with the question every student is quietly asking by week four: "Can I be successful here?"In this episode, I'm talking through how to build student confidence one small success at a time, especially for the kids who've become experts at hiding in…
- Responsibility Creates Freedom
Episode 3: Responsibility Creates FreedomYour students know the routines. They know your expectations. So what's next? In this episode of Classroom Conversations, Samantha Thomas dives into Week 3 of the First 30 Days Success System: teaching students to take ownership of their own learning and…
- Connection Before Correction
Connection Before CorrectionWeek Two of school is when students start asking a silent question: Do I belong here? In this episode, Samantha Thomas shares the story of a first-year teaching challenge that taught her a lesson she's carried ever since: connection doesn't replace correction, it makes…
- The First 30 Days of School: How to Start the School Year Strong
Episode 1: The First 30 Days of School: How to Start the School Year StrongThe first week of school sets the tone for everything that follows.In this episode of Classroom Conversations with Samantha Thomas, we're talking about why the first 30 days matter more than any other time in the school…
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