Answers May Vary: Recent Episodes
Three Heads
Listening to our podcast will leave you feeling ready to tackle your next day, week, or year of teaching. We’ve spent a lot of time in the classroom, and we’re sharing our experiences with teachers just like you.
We left the classroom a little more than a year ago and are reflecting on what we've learned and new perspectives we have gained as a result of our mental, physical, and emotional distance from the classroom. Whether you're thinking about leaving the classroom yourself or wondering how it feels to have stepped away, you'll want to give this episode a listen.
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As a teacher, deciding which plays to teach is a rite of passage all its own. Will you stick to the classics or branch out and try something new? Will you transform your classroom into a mini-theater and have students perform scenes? Will you have students read parts or will you show the pretty faithful film adaptation? It's not easy and where you're at in your career, how much you enjoy student performances, and quite frankly how large your classroom is, will all contribute to the decisions you make.
In this episode, inspired by Kate's 5th grade son's newfound love of Shakespeare, we talk about the plays we enjoyed teaching (and one we felt a little meh about) and what we liked to focus on in our approach to them.
Episode we mentioned:
Novels We Love and Hate to Teach
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In this episode of the podcast, we're discussing whether traditional ELA instruction provides our students with the skills they most need outside of high school, or if we're long overdue for an update. We don't think we're out of step with most ELA teachers in saying English classes are in need of an update, while also recognizing there are ELA skills that are still completely relevant in today's society.
What changes are needed and who's responsible for making them? Well, there's a lot to discuss there.
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Ideally, we'd like to have all of our students participating in class discussion. When too many students aren't participating, we start wondering if the discussion is a waste of time or if anyone is learning anything. In this episode, we're talking about class discussion strategies you can use to get everyone in class participating. We've got ideas for those who are shy or lacking in self-confidence, as well as suggestions for those who aren't participating because they didn't come to class prepared for discussion.
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The difficulties posed by challenging students and classes can really wear a teacher down. Our misery will often make us desperate and open us to all kinds of classroom management ideas and suggestions in the hope we will find the magical "cure" to our woes, but sometimes we don't want solutions; we just want to commiserate with those who also know the "challenging" student struggle so we feel a little less alone.
Enter this week's dilemma. A teacher in the midst of a "the struggle is real" moment (probably more accurately, "year") wrote in with this dilemma:
“I have an incredibly challenging class this year. There are so many behavior problems and so many student needs, and it is wearing me out. I know classroom management strategies, but I think I just want to know that I’m not alone. What did you learn from your most challenging classes?”
We're sharing the lessons we learned from our most challenging classes and students. Give it a listen and see if our experiences resonate with your own.
Related Content:
Looking for some classroom management strategies to help you deal with your most challenging students? Check out this blog post.
In this YouTube video, we're sharing some classroom management strategies you can use at the secondary level for all your classes.
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Do you dread those days when you're expecting your students to read in class? If your students don't like to read: not independently, not collectively, not at all, it's likely they lack reading stamina. They can't stay focused on a text for any length of time, they're easily distracted, and those who are easily distracted distract others.
While it may feel like an uphill battle to turn a nonreader into a reader at the high school level, we can make progress by helping them improve their reading stamina. Ever the realists, though, we also think sometimes needs must, and you need to meet students where they're at in order to make any reading-based progress throughout the school year.
Check out the FREE First Chapter Friday offer we mentioned to help build interest in engaging books!
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How do you feel about your level of parent-teacher communication? Is it something you've got down? Is it your teacher superpower? Or, are you like this week's listener, who feels overwhelmed by the level of communication parents (and probably administration) expect and struggles to find time to fit it in to an already bursting-at-the-seams schedule? We're sharing our thoughts on parent expectations, the reality about the amount of time we can reasonably devote to parent communication, and offering up a few suggestions as to how you can manage this important, but time-consuming, part of the job.
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March is, arguably, the worst month for teachers, though October certainly puts up a good fight for itself. We’ve been teaching the same students for eight months, high-stakes exams may be approaching, everyone is tired, and somehow we have a 31-day month WITH NO HOLIDAYS?!?! No wonder the memes and gifs of bedraggled-looking teachers clinging desperately to their mugs of coffee are flying this time of year. If you relate, you are not alone! In this episode, we’re helping a teacher who isn’t sure she can make it to Spring Break by sharing some of our favorite mindset, curriculum, classroom management, and self-care strategies.
In this episode, we also mentioned our 20 minute block strategy. Check out this YouTube video (all cued up and ready to go) if you're interested in learning more.
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Many students are overwhelmed by the seemingly insurmountable task of writing a research paper and emerging writers often shut down because there's just too much to think about. As secondary teachers with nearly 40 students in each class, we, too, were overwhelmed. How could we make sure our students learned the skills they need to perform research if we didn't create a situation that enabled students to fulfill specific parameters for the assignment?
We decided on the two skills we wanted to focus on developing with our students and created an assignment that would give them an opportunity to practice and develop proficiency while also giving them the element of autonomy we've often come to equate with the yearly research paper project.
In this episode, we share the career research website we used as a foundational, required resource for our career research activity. Here's the link to the CareerOneStop website for you!
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Do you feel like you’re trying strategy after strategy to improve your students’ writing . . . and none of them is really working? You’re not alone.
Teaching writing is one of the most challenging (yet most important) things we do as English teachers. There are so many resources and strategies available, and it can be overwhelming to know where to start and frustrating when these highly-touted resources don’t seem to work for your students.
In this episode, we’re tackling this dilemma and sharing what ultimately worked for us: a structured paragraph format that reinforced the claim-evidence-commentary foundation that is essential for academic writing.
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Have you found a NEW text that you want to add to your curriculum? First of all, congrats! Introducing students to books (they will hopefully love) is one of the most exciting things about being an English teacher! But if this is the first time you’re preparing to do this, you may be wondering where to start when it comes to getting approval from an administrator. We’ve got you covered. In this episode, we’re sharing tips and tricks that will help you successfully get your new text approved by your school administrators (and ensure you’re covered in the case of parent complaints).
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This week's dilemma will be a familiar one for any teacher who has been teaching the same prep for a few years: “I want to change the novels I’m teaching second semester: I need a break from the ones I’ve taught the last few years. Any suggestions on what to add? What to avoid?”
We’re attempting to address this week’s dilemma by sharing books we’ve enjoyed teaching . . . and books we haven’t enjoyed teaching. So much of what we choose to read with our students is based on the texts our school has access to, the texts our district has approved, and maybe (sometimes more than others) our own personal preferences. While, spoiler alert, we don't have the magic book all students love to read and all teachers love to teach, sometimes it’s nice to know how a text landed with someone else’s students as we’re making the (hopefully right) decision.
What's a favorite novel or play you look forward to teaching each year? What makes you die a little inside at the thought of having to teach AGAIN? Reach out and let us know!
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Traditional grading, standards-based grading, grade floors, it’s all enough to make any teacher’s head spin. What does a student's grade represent? What does it measure? How do we find a balance between student mastery and effort when we’re assigning grades? We want to reward those students who work hard, but we also want our grades to be a reflection of how prepared students are to meet the demands of college-level work.
We’re tackling this increasingly controversial conundrum on this episode, and sharing some strategies we’ve used to account for both student effort and mastery.
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We've all been there before. At some point during the fall semester, the wheels started coming off the bus, the train went off the tracks . . . fill in your favorite metaphor to describe the feeling of losing control of one (or more) of your classes here. You decide the only hope you have for making it to the end of the year is a hard reset. Whether you're looking to refocus your students, or just to stop dissolving into tears as you drive to school each day, we've got some suggestions as to how you can make the best of a situation that has left you feeling hopeless. We've got ideas about classroom management and making your workload more manageable. We hope you give it a listen, even if this year has been smooth sailing and no reset is needed (lucky you!).
Here are a few blog posts related to starting a new semester that you may find useful, especially if you're planning a semester reset:
Starting a New Semester: Engaging Students with High Interest Lessons
Working Through Goal Setting with Students
How to Create a Helpful Rubric (includes access to a daily assignment rubric template)
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Grades. Pressure. Anxiety. For us, these three words were inextricably linked with December (and May) for years. We started to feel the nasty pangs in late November (or late April) and by mid-December (or mid-May), we were complete wrecks! In this episode of the podcast, we’re responding to a teacher who is feeling under pressure to “fix her grades” (as though they are "hers" and can be "fixed") in these last weeks of the semester. We're sharing some tips for how to deal with the situation (and still feel like a good teacher) based on the many years we found ourselves in her difficult position. So grab a mug of cocoa (if it's December or January) or an iced coffee (if it's May or June) and give this one a listen.
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Cheating in the classroom is as much a part of the school experience as bad cafeteria lunches and popular cliques you're not a part of. It doesn't make your life any easier or more enjoyable.
While most schools have policies for cheating on tests and essays, lots of administrators will ask (or quietly beg or loudly shame) you to take a different approach with day-to-day assignments, homework, or work they don't deem "that important." This can be a hard pill to swallow. Especially when you've taken time to create an assignment or activity you believe merits effort and academic honesty! In this episode, we’re talking about strategies we came to rely on to combat cheating in our ELA classroom and how we shifted our approach to take back some control of the situation.
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A lively and engaging whole class discussion. We imagine ourselves sitting perched on a stool, steaming cup of coffee in hand, listening to our students share thoughtful, relevant insights about challenging works of literature. And then reality hits. We realize a third of the class isn't actually participating and two students can't say something even remotely correct if their lives depended on it; we've got to make some sense of this book before the end of the week when the class is supposed to write an essay using an AP English Literature released prompt and you're thinking it's unlikely half the class could even write an intelligible summary. Please tell us this sounds familiar. It can't be just us! We've gone through a lot of trial and error to find a whole class discussion strategy that works for us. We're sharing what matters about class discussion and a little about our strategy for leading productive discussions.
In this episode, we mentioned our class participation system and the part it plays in our whole class discussions. Learn more about it in this YouTube video.
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Whether it comes from parents, students, counselors, or administrators, as a teacher, you will inevitably hear criticism about the decisions you make in your classroom. Depending on who is doing the criticizing and how that criticism is delivered, it can be really hard to hear and we often feel our fight or flight response kick in. Before making any decisions, let's take a breath. We’re talking about strategies we’ve found work for us whenever we respond to criticism as well as what ultimately influences our decision to compromise or stand our ground.
Here's what else we've got on and around this topic:
Blog Post: Teacher Life: Building Professional Relationships at Work because feeling like someone's looking out for you (even in the smallest of ways) can make a big difference!
Blog Post: You Will Make Mistakes. Apologize and Learn from Them. Sometimes, and we don't like to admit this, we get it wrong. The criticism is merited. Here's one example of how we handled it.
Podcast Episode: Why We Left the Classroom because sometimes you have to make really hard decisions.
YouTube Video: How to Know: It's Time to Go because you can't fight forever.
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Managing the grading load is one of the worst parts of teaching, especially in the ELA classroom where the stacks of essays seem only to grow the longer you procrastinate grading them. After years of trial and error, some failures and some successes, we’re ready to share our best strategies for grading papers without losing your mind!
Related Blog Post: "How to Create a Helpful Rubric"
Related YouTube Video: "Tips for Teachers: Keeping Up With Grading"
Come find us on Instagram @threeheads.works, Pinterest, and Teachers Pay Teachers!
The flipped classroom model has a lot to offer teachers and can be a great benefit to students, but many are reluctant to give it a try. We get it; we were, too! While we didn't do a full flip, we did find a happy medium that we believed worked best for our students. In this week's episode, we talk about ways flipping our classrooms helped our students be more productive, allowed us get more one-on-one time with students, and made us feel better about ourselves as teachers.
Episode referenced in this show: "Why We Stopped Assigning Homework"
Related Blog Post: "What is a Flipped Classroom"
We may not always like it, but assessments are an important part of what we do as classroom teachers. But in an ELA classroom, it’s sometimes hard to come up with ideas for what a meaningful assessment looks like, especially in middle school and high school. In this episode, we’re talking all things classroom assessment, from our attempts to prevent cheating to the mistakes we made (so you don't have to 😣).
Related Blog Post: How to Design a Solid Multiple Choice Assessment
An often ignored topic for middle school and high school teachers is classroom management. If we get any training, the strategies and ideas are geared toward much younger students. On this episode, we’re tackling the topic of classroom management for secondary teachers.
Related Blog Post: Coping with Especially Challenging Students
Teachers cannot do it all, nor is it reasonable to expect them to! Let's normalize purchasing lesson plans, unit plans, and resources because, newsflash, teachers still have to put in some effort to make sure what they purchase fulfills their vision and meets the needs of their students. Hopefully what you spend your hard earned cash on is almost exactly what you need it to be (especially if you're buying from Three Heads 😉). In our experience, what we've purchased (or found for free) on the Internet has been a live saving (well, certainly time saving) starting point for creating student materials. In this week's episode we talk about how we turn these already existing resources into exactly what we and our students need.
Joining a PLC is like joining a family. Sometimes you fit right in and it feels like you were born into it. Other times there are growing pains and dynamics need to shift. Joining a PLC that has been working together for several years can be challenging, whether you're a brand new teacher of just a new member of the group. In this episode, we talk about what you can do to ensure you are an effective contributor in your PLC. We focus primarily on being a new member of the PLC, but we also threw in a few helpful reminders for veteran members as well.
Did we get it right? What did we miss? Answers may vary, so we expect you might have opinions that differ from our own. DM or email us and let us know your thoughts!
Related YouTube Video: The Value of Norming Your PLC
Part of teacher self-care is knowing what you realistically can and cannot be responsible for, and blurring those categories is one of the quickest paths toward burnout. In this week’s episode, we’re sharing what we’ve learned over the years about what we can and cannot do.
We talked about our decision to move away from assigning homework in this episode. You can check out more about our decision in our "Why We Stopped Assigning Homework" podcast episode and our YouTube video, "Strategies for a (Mostly) Homework Free Classroom."
Are you looking for Back to School Night ideas for your middle school or high school classroom? In thisepisode, we share our experience making the event more interactive and collaborative for parents and students.
Related YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/6LXYVfJ2zN8
The first few weeks of school are an important but frantic time, and we’ve found high-interest activities that introduce or review foundational skills are a great way to start the year in a middle or high school ELA classroom. On this episode, we share some lessons and units we’ve found helpful at the beginning of the year.
Related Blog Post: "Using the Art of Norman Rockwell to Introduce Interpretation"
Take a look at our high interest theme review: Disney Pixar Theme Review Activity Lesson Plan
The first week of school is an important one, yet it can also be awkward and feel overwhelming trying to find an approach that works for you. There are those who focus on developing community and relationships with students, and those who say we should dive right in to content. We discuss our approach to setting ourselves and our students up for success.
Related YouTube Video: First Week of School: Avoiding the Danger Zone with Icebreakers and About Me Assignments
Related Blog Post: Making the Most of Back-to-School Professional Development
You've used Google Classroom, but now you want to try something more robust. You've tried Canvas, but are feeling a little intimidated. This week we're talking about the benefits of using a more robust learning management system: how it can help you and your students to work more efficiently and effectively.
Here's a link to the website we use to generate embed codes.
Want to make your Canvas home page more engaging and user friendly? Check out this playlist on YouTube for help.
It's just about Back to School time here in California. It's a fresh start for students and teachers, and Answers May Vary. Welcome to Season 2! (Our episode numbers will continue numerically for easy reference.)
Many people are surprised to learn that many teachers spend their own money on classroom supplies. On this week’s episode, we discuss why we were willing to make the sacrifice instead of depending on the district. Consider it an investment . . .
Related You Tube Video: Back to School Shopping: Closet Updates
Related Blog Post: Our Back to School Teacher Shopping Lists (We've got all the essentials covered!)
It’s no surprise that growing numbers of teachers are quitting, in large part due to teacher burnout. In this week’s episode, we share what led us to leave the classroom.
Related YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/XrxTyqupx-U
Related Blog Post: https://www.threeheads.works/blog/when-youre-headed-toward-burnout
Teacher self-care is never going to fit into our busy schedules unless we are proactive about making space for it. In this week’s episode, we discuss the importance of taking care of yourself to avoid teacher burnout.
Related YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/lJBQldoxI1w
Related Blog Post: https://www.threeheads.works/blog/you-cant-be-a-perfect-teacher
Keeping your classroom organized is one of the first steps toward preserving your sanity. No matter what grade you teach, we’re sharing organization tips and tricks that help us feel more in control of our school year.
Related YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/ttyXk3tBoZw
Related Blog Post: https://www.threeheads.works/blog/supplies-to-help-you-stay-organized
Independent reading is an important part of any ELA classroom, but it can be challenging to find meaningful activities to engage students and hold them accountable. In this week’s episode, we discuss the challenges of independent reading in a secondary classroom.
Related You Tube Video:
https://youtu.be/TNilrOBTqxo
Related Blog Post:
https://www.threeheads.works/blog/fcf
Grammar, vocabulary, literary devices, college application essays (if you're teaching seniors) plus our regular ELA curriculum - how are we supposed to fit it all in? In this week’s episode, we share how we addressed this dilemma in our high school classroom.
Related YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/gtTCnNMr-CE
Related Blog Post:
https://www.threeheads.works/blog/literarydevices
Textbooks and curriculums are often slow to change, and unless your school has funding (and a desire) to purchase supplemental curriculum and texts, it can be a struggle to get your students to engage. In this week's episode, we talk about a few different ways we have found success in getting our students to engage with texts that may feel completely irrelevant to them.
Related YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/Z5dt3or_DFo
Related Blog Post: https://www.threeheads.works/blog/tvepisodes
This week we're talking about the dreaded textbook dilemma: "Help! I don't like my curriculum." Not all of us have the option to go rogue and ditch a problematic curriculum entirely, so we offer some possible solutions to help you make the best of the resources available to you.
Related Blog Post:
https://www.threeheads.works/blog/8elements
Related YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/4iFlb5NHOl4
This week's dilemma: I created what I thought was a great assignment with a reasonable rubric / answer key, and students are not doing what I wanted and/or are scoring terribly! This has been our dilemma more times than we care to count. Over the years we have discovered there are several things you can do to help your students be more successful in your classroom.
Related blog post:
https://www.threeheads.works/blog/craftingquestions
Related YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/V4OwJu91IdM
While homework has long been a traditional part of the middle school and high school English class, we moved away from assigning homework to something more closely resembling a flipped classroom model. We discuss how and why we made the change.
Related Blog Post:
https://www.threeheads.works/blog/studentconversations
Related YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/oOfLtxZ1HtQ
Give your future fall self a helping by hand by completing some (or all) of these steps before you leave your classroom for the summer.
Related blog post:
https://www.threeheads.works/blog/summer
Related YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/i433Xr7ytzQ
It can be overwhelming to plan a brand new unit. In this episode we share what we do and talk about in our first "official" planning meeting for mapping out a new unit.
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We take a trip down memory lane and recall some of the mistakes we each made in our first year(s) of teaching. Does any of it sound familiar?
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In this not-quite-sode, we share how we came to the profession and how we started working together. Do you relate to the "gung ho [born] teacher" or the "reluctant teacher"?
Learn more about Three Heads