The Learning Lasagna: What Sustainable Teaching Really Requires

About this episode

This episode explores sustainable teaching practices and the importance of relationships and intrinsic motivation in student learning.

In this episode of Agile Ed , we start with habits and end up somewhere much bigger: student learning, perfectionism, and what sustainable teaching really requires. From Duolingo streaks and guitar practice to classroom trust and unfinished assignments, we explore why all-or-nothing thinking can be so damaging and why relationships, scaffolding, productive failure, and intrinsic motivation matter so much. Along the way, we introduce a new metaphor for their emerging framework: the teaching-and-learning lasagna. We explore practical examples of embodying this type of approach in classes of any size. It’s an episode about practice, progress, and creating learning environments where students do not have to be perfect to keep moving. Attributions This episode references ideas related to habit formation discussed by Mel Robbins . The conversation also gestures to themes discussed in Huberman Lab around reducing friction and designing systems for action. Special acknowledgment to Jodie Medd for the inspiring work that harnesses relationships and showcases the value of relationship rich education. Jodie has shared many of the works that have gone into shaping her practice . The phrase…

People in this episode

Hosts: Dr. Lindsay Richardson, Dr. Ashley Thompson

Topics covered

• sustainable teaching
• student learning
• perfectionism
• relationships in education
• intrinsic motivation
• teaching frameworks
• productive failure

Keywords

• sustainable teaching
• student learning
• perfectionism
• teaching frameworks
• intrinsic motivation
• productive failure
• classroom trust

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Huberman Lab