I’m thrilled to be sharing this special episode with you, the Season 5 Finale of Progressively Incorrect.
I’m joined by Dr. Anita Archer, one of the most influential voices in explicit instruction and effective teaching. For decades, Anita has helped educators translate learning science into practical classroom routines that improve student success, and her work has shaped the instructional practices of schools around the world.
Our conversation explores what great teaching actually looks like in practice. We discuss how expert teachers plan lessons, sequence learning, reduce unnecessary cognitive load, and make complex ideas accessible through clear explanations, guided practice, and carefully designed questioning. Anita explains why effective instruction is far more than simply presenting information—it requires deliberate decisions about examples, pacing, responses, feedback, and opportunities for students to experience success.
We also take a deep dive into explicit vocabulary instruction, discussing how educators can move beyond definitions to help students develop durable, usable word knowledge. Anita shares practical routines for introducing, reviewing, and reinforcing vocabulary while explaining why repeated, meaningful encounters with words are essential for long-term learning.
Finally, we discuss the enduring principles behind explicit instruction, how those principles continue to evolve alongside advances in the science of learning, and what teachers can expect from the upcoming NIFDI Institute. Whether you’re new to explicit instruction or have spent years refining your craft, this conversation is packed with practical wisdom from one of education’s most respected instructional experts.
Last Call!
Love what you heard? Come to The Explicit Teaching Institute—a five-day deep dive into the science of learning and the highest-leverage moves in explicit instruction – in New York City this summer.
We’ll spend our mornings unpacking the research, our middays studying expert teaching on video (courtesy of Steplab!), and our afternoons rehearsing the moves that make instruction clear, efficient, and reliable—so you leave with a practical toolkit you can use on day one.
NYC | July 27–31, 2026
Learn more + register here: 
Explicit Teaching Institute registration
Check out my latest book, Just Tell Them: The Power of Explanations and Explicit Teaching.
and subscribe:
