The podcast where knowledge meets curiosity. Join professor Margaret Vaughn as she explores groundbreaking ideas with top scholars, aimed at sharpening our thinking. With her guests, Dr. Vaughn dives into a world of profound insights and intellectual adventure. Our journey to getting smarter starts here.
Host Dr. Margaret Vaughn interviews Dr. Judith Green, a UC Santa Barbara education professor known for research on teaching-learning relationships, socially constructed disciplinary knowledge, and classroom discourse, and founder of the Santa Barbara Classroom Discourse Group focused on equity and access. Green recounts growing up in an intergenerational, bilingual Yiddish-English home, formative school experiences including a sixth-grade teacher who shifted her academic trajectory, and how the Sputnik-era move toward skills-based instruction affected her brother’s reading support. She describes her teacher education at Berkeley, work across diverse schools, development of “pull-in” reading support, critique of standardized testing that ignored classroom language diversity, and graduate study comparing discourse frames with traditional observation systems.
18 Feb 2026
S03E05.Michèle Foster, Ph.D.
In this episode of 'Getting Smarter,' Dr. Margaret Vaughn talks with Dr. Michèle Foster, an esteemed scholar whose work resides at the confluence of language, culture, and the experiences of Black educators and students. Dr. Foster's extensive career includes teaching in Boston's public schools during the desegregation era, developing multicultural curricula, and conducting significant research into Black teachers' pedagogical insights. Her foundational work illustrates the importance of culturally relevant pedagogy and the necessity of viewing Black students' linguistic and cultural backgrounds as assets in learning. Dr. Foster emphasizes the need for a multidisciplinary approach in academia, one that values old and new research while encouraging students to develop unique scholarly voices. The conversation is rich with anecdotes from Dr. Foster's career, insights into effective teaching practices, and provides listeners with a broader understanding of the complexities and opportunities in educating Black students.
14 Jan 2026
S03E04.Alfred W. Tatum, Ph.D.
In this episode of Getting Smarter, Dr. Margaret Vaughn speaks with Dr. Alfred W. Tatum, Executive Director of the Literacy Research Center and Clinic at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Dr. Tatum shares his journey in education, driven by a deep calling to improve literacy among African American youth. He reflects on his experiences as a teacher, researcher, and leader, highlighting key projects like the African American Male Summer Literacy Institute and community engagement work.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
9 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 36 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
40
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
77
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