The Broken Copier: Recent Episodes

The Broken Copier

Veteran teachers discuss their work in the classroom in order to collaborate, respond to important ideas in education, and share in a community of educators who understand their classroom practice through a lens of social justice & change. 568174

thebrokencopier.substack.com

Today’s Broken Copier conversation centers around the idea of teacher agency—the trust and freedom afforded to teachers to make choices in designing and facilitating the learning that takes places in their classrooms.

Joining this conversation is Dylan Kane, a National Board Certified Teacher in Colorado who has written extensively about his work in the math classroom on his Substack Five Twelve Thirteen—and who had his own “teacher agency” featured in The Atlantic in an April article, “What Happened After a Teacher Ditched Screens.”

Some questions that we explored in this conversation:

Do we sometimes undervalue “the basics” in our classrooms?
What matters more in a school: teacher agency or teacher consistency?
How do we stay focused on student learning amidst all the other things going on?
Teacher agency can also add pressure to teachers—how can it be sustainable?

As always, feel free to offer your own feedback and perspective about these questions and the topic of teacher agency overall in the comments, and definitely check out Dylan’s writing on his Substack if you’re intrigued by what he shared in this conversation!

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

With a new school year on the near horizon for many teachers across the country, we’re taking a bit of a pivot with today’s Broken Copier episode: a brief reflection on the tendency in education to focus on and celebrate what is new—sometimes in a way that leads us to take for granted what is already good.

And a reminder, too, that what makes something good is what ultimately matters, no matter how long it has been around.

For the comments: what is a practice or strategy in your work that is not “new” but still is creating good in your classroom or space?

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

There are many conversations happening in education around AI, but what impact are those conversations actually having on the classroom? And is there a way to make these AI conversations better for students and teachers alike?

In this conversation, teachers Mike Burns, Sam Collins, and Matt Hicks join The Broken Copier to talk about a unique conference next week—Humans First: Adolescent Education in the Age of AI Conference—that is aiming for a different type of AI conversation: one that centers the stories and perspectives of those in the classroom, and one that does not try to point towards a particular outcome. This episode serves as a sort of preview of the type of conversations around AI and education they hope to have at the conference next week and, more importantly, the type of AI conversations they hope will become the norm going forward.

As mentioned in the episode, all three of today’s guests have written more at length for Jane Rosenzweig’s The Important Work, so if you want to explore more of their thoughts on AI, that’s a great place to start:

Shifting My Thinking about AI in the Classroom by Michael Burns
Prove to Me You Aren’t a Robotby Samantha St Lawrence Collins
Unmasking the humanity in the Humanitiesby Matt Hicks

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

A lot of the discussion around AI in education is around the idea of widespread adoption and integration: teachers using AI to enhance their own planning and preparation; students experiencing it as a tool to potentially support their learning; assessments integrating AI-driven scoring and feedback to improve efficiency.

Of course, there is little consensus around any of this—and in many cases, quite a bit of disagreement.

What would happen, though, if an elective class was designed for students who wanted to learn about AI—not just how to use it as a tool, but also to consider its impact on education and beyond?

Mike Taubman joins The Broken Copier in this episode to share about his experience doing just that: designing and facilitating a semester-long AI Literacy course with a colleague at his high school. In this conversation, Mike shares about the overall design of the course as well as specific moments and lessons within it—and how he feels about the place of AI Literacy going forward.

To follow Mike’s ongoing work around this topic, you can subscribe to his own Substack AI Waypoints or connect with him on LinkedIn. Also, here are some specific posts from Mike that pair great with this episode:

Why I think AI literacy is necessary (Part 1)
Why I think AI literacy is necessary (Part 2)

Also, this AI Literacy course was recently featured on The Daily podcast from The New York Times, which includes student interviews about it—so that’s a great additional listen to go with this!

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Students walk into the classroom as individual learners, and every single student deserves to not only “access the learning” but to feel included and empowered.

Unfortunately, this does not happen in nearly enough in our classrooms—but there are things we can do to move in a better direction.

Dr. Nicholas Emmanuele has been teaching high school English since 2007, mainly co-teaching in inclusive 9th and 10th grade courses. Also an adjunct instructor at Gannon University’s School of Education since 2014, Nicholas just finished his doctoral program with a dissertation that focused on the experiences of students with specific learning disabilities, reading identity, and how they experience special education services in our schools.

This conversation explores Nicholas’s work and then steps back to consider what it could look like to create classrooms and schools where students were more supported and included individually as learners. It also offers a reflective lens for you as a teacher or educator in your own space: what can you do differently or better in this work? (If you’re willing, feel free to share in the episode comments!)

Finally, if this conversation resonates with you, Nicholas has generously shared access to his actual dissertation work for further exploration:

Open-access link to his full dissertation
Video presentation of his dissertation
Dissertation presentation slides (to go along with video)

(And if you had further questions or wanted to connect with Nicholas, the best place is on Bluesky!)

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Without question, it is immensely important to build connections and community in the physical spaces where you work.

However, for many teachers and educators—including those who may have stumbled across The Broken Copier!—there is also an online education space, one to not only navigate but to potentially learn from and build connections. This space, though, has shifted considerably in recent years, and for anyone who has been trying to interact with other teachers and educators online of late…

Well, it’s been a bit difficult, right?

Today’s conversation considers what that online education space is right now. We are joined by Sara Candela, an educator with expertise in navigating different online education platforms and building community amongst teachers and educators, to reflect on how things have changed over the past half-decade in online educator spaces, the ripple effects of those changes, and what a path forward might be.

You can connect with Sara on LinkedIn and Bluesky, and also the new Ditch That Textbook community she has been a part of building!

And for the comments: what has your experience been navigating online education spaces? What has been challenging lately—but also what has been good?

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Yes, we can always talk more about what can be done in classrooms to better support students—but what about those doing the supporting? Those looking for not just learning but leadership? Especially in these uncertain times?

This is an episode that centers that focus on the way teachers and educators move through our work. Angela Stockman is a writer who also brings decades of experience as a teacher and facilitator, including myriad roles working with and support educators. One of the most intentional, reflective educators out there, in this episode Angela shares more about her own work, what she believes needs to be prioritized more, and the best way to move as educators through this current moment.

You can follow and connect with Angela on Instagram, LinkedIn and Substack as well as her website, www.angelastockman.com.

Here is the resource Angela mentioned in the episode: Angela’s Digital Documentation Notebook

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

This moment education is rife with conversations around learning science, and within these conversations the vision of the classroom often consists of students who are mostly-passive recipients of the learning—told what they need to know and then asked to regurgitate it.

Christian Moore-Anderson, author of the new book Teaching Meaning: What Works When Telling Isn’t Enough, argues in this conversation that there is a better way of moving forward. A biology teacher with nearly two decades of classroom experience, he offers not just a vision but also a path towards a classroom in which students have agency in participating in the meaning-making.

In other words, the type of classroom all of us should want for all students, right?

To explore more of Christian Moore-Anderson’s work, everything can be found at his website: https://christianmooreanderson.com/

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

There are many exhaustions to navigate as the school year comes to a close. But amidst those exhaustions, there can still be a lot of good—and that is what this episode is: a brief reflection on a really hopeful ending to this year’s classroom, and a reminder of why we need to reject the visions of our classrooms that do not make space for what is possible within them.

Question for the comment section: what has given you hope as a teacher or educator over the last stretch of your school year?

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, keep letting us know how we can continue growing and improving with this Broken Copier community, and take care of yourselves this summer!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

There is nothing easy about saying goodbye to a classroom.

Yet so many teachers and educators have their own experience with departing a classroom. They know that how a teacher says and shows goodbye matters. It matters a great deal.

So we should talk more about what it’s like, right?

Thankfully, last week Adrian Neibauer generously wrote about his own “goodbye” experience as he transitions to a new teaching position next school year—and he was willing to join The Broken Copier to share about how it went, intentional choices he made throughout the final stretch, and how he feels about this classroom departure as he reflects back on it.

Here are the links to the two pieces from Adrian’s Newsletter referenced in this conversation:

“With a Servant’s Heart”
“Commencement, Continuation, Convocation”

Also, feel free to leave a comment and share about one of your own “classroom goodbye” experiences: what was it like, and what choices did you make to try to make it positive and meaningful—for students as well as yourself?

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week everyone! For what is now becoming a Broken Copier tradition, Chanea Bond joins the podcast for a reflection on all things teaching.

This conversation covers, well, a lot: what we appreciate and love about this work of teaching; what is difficult about this work, especially in this moment; and what it means to support our students as well as the teachers around us—while also taking care of ourselves.

As always, feel free to share in your circles, leave a review wherever you listen, and of course leave feedback if you’re willing—including about what you appreciate about teaching right now! (And also, if you want, what is challenging in your work, too.)

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

With Teacher Appreciation Week forthcoming, today’s episode is very simple in its concept: sharing one good story from the classroom that is really two good stories—along with a reflection on why these stories mattered.

A core belief with this Broken Copier project continues to be the importance of sharing and uplifting the good stories in our classrooms and schools.

Given that, here’s an invitation: what is a good story from your school year?

Seriously—if you have a story you’d be willing to share, go for it! Here are three ways:

As always, feel free to share in the comments!
If you want, you can also head over to Edutopia’s new Teacher2Teacher page, where I’ve posted the same invitation.
Or, if you’re open to leaving it in audio form, I’d definitely love to include it in a future episode! Here is a link where you can do just that.

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In the opening essay of Good Teaching: a Provocation, Zach Czaia writes that, collectively as a country, we have “reduced what it means to be a teacher, let alone a good teacher.”

But what does “good teaching” even look like? In today’s conversation, Zach shares his thoughts within and beyond his new collection of essays and poems—and in doing so invites all of us to consider what our own definitions are, where they come from, and how they collide with the current discourse around teaching.

To follow more of Zach’s writing and work:

Good Teaching: a Provocation
One Subject Press(mentioned at end of episode!)
Zach’s newsletter, Teacher/Poet
His recent essay, “I Don’t Teach Like a Champion”

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Whether you are a student, teacher or even a building leader, there is too often a shared experience of how individuals feel within our education system, no matter their role.

Stressed. Drained. Overextended. Burnt out. Depleted.

Ruth Poulsenbelieves there is a better path forward. An international school leader and author of the Regenerative Schools newsletter, Ruth is focused on the ways we can shift our mindsets and systems not only to better support educators but also, as a result, to create schools that do more for the students within them—now and going forward.

Referenced within this conversation:

Burning the Math Workbook(from Ruth’s newsletter)
Boundaries Create Culture(from Ruth’s newsletter)
The End of Education as We Know It: Regenerative Learning for Complex Timesby Ida Rose Florez

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

There’s a lot of conversation about which books students should be reading these days and how many—but too little, perhaps, about how to make their actual experiences with books in the classroom better.

Today’s guest is Kate Roberts, a former middle school ELA teacher who now works with teachers all over the country to strengthen the reading that takes place in their classrooms. This conversation goes a lot of places: considering the many paradoxes ELA teachers have to balance with books in their classrooms; discussing strategies and mindsets that can elevate those reading experiences; and imagining what a better vision of reading might be for this current moment.

To follow Kate’s work, the best place is https://www.kateandmaggie.com—and here are links to both of Kate’s books that were discussed in this episode:

The Heart of Fiction: Reading for Character, Theme and Craft
A Novel Approach: Whole-Class Novels, Student-Centered Teaching, and Choice

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

A Novel Approach: Whole-Class Novels, Student-Centered Teaching, and Choice

Many teachers and educators have strong feelings about “no-zeroes” or minimum grading policies. Quite often of late, strong negative feelings.

A few weeks ago, Matt Brady wrote a piece for his newsletter called “The 100-Point Scale Is a Design Flaw,” which outlined not just the thinking about his own classroom policy but why it was working so well for his students.

“The room is not more permissive,” he wrote. “It is more hopeful.”

A high school science teacher in his second decade of teaching, Matt joins The Broken Copier in today’s episode to share more about this policy, and—because almost all conversations that on the surface are about grading ultimately are about the mindsets and values undergirding them—so much else about teaching overall in this moment.

To follow Matt’s work, you can (and should!) check out his two newsletters—Teacher, Teacherand The Science Of—and also, especially if you’re a Rick and Morty fan, his science book around the popular television show.

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The Science of Rick and Morty: The Unofficial Guide to Earth's Stupidest Show

Surveys show students increasingly turning to AI as a tool for their school work. Teachers who want to limit AI usage during instructional time still have many options on table—but what should they do about homework and other assigned out-of-class essays and projects?

Given that the topic of homework already has been quite controversial before bringing AI into the conversation, this felt like a good time to exchange ideas about what it can and should mean to assign work outside of the classroom right now. Joining this conversation is Brett Vogelsinger, another high school English teacher who sees things around this topic quite a bit differently than Marcus—which hopefully is the makings of a meaningful discussion.

Brett is the author of two books, Poetry Pauses and Artful AI in Writing Instruction, and is also starting a new Substack newsletter: Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, Explanatory. (If you follow The Broken Copier, this is definitely something you should consider subscribing to!)

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

After a couple quieter months, we are back and rolling with The Broken Copier. Today’s Unjammed episode is built around a simple-if-implausible idea: what happens when teachers are given enough time to do their work.

It’s not just about having enough time to complete all the items off the to-do list, either. (Though that does matter!) More importantly, it’s about what it means for teachers to step into a classroom as their best selves—a win for teachers, yes, but more importantly a win for students.

Two writings directly referenced in today’s episode:

Burning the Math Workbook by Ruth Poulsen
This is Air by Adrian Neibauer

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.)

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The conversation about reading across education has taken a front-and-center position in many places, so it felt like the right time to have a conversation about it—especially since Adrian Neibauer recently wrote a thoughtful reflection on the topic called “The Sanctity of Literacy.”

In this conversation, Marcus and Adrian talk about their experiences as teachers of reading in their respective classrooms; about the broader conversation over the Science of Reading and its current impact on education; and about how we can create space to help students foster a more-sustainable love of reading in our classrooms going forward.

Some resources mentioned at the beginning of the conversation:

Adrian’s piece on “The SLIME Method”
John Spencer’s website/resources

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Given that we are at the finish line of a very-busy 2025 with The Broken Copier, the goal of this short episode is first and foremost to express gratitude for what has been an incredible year of conversations and community-building—and also to share an update that over the next few months, we are going to slow down just a bit.

2025 was an incredible year with The Broken Copier, yet the pace we’ve been at in terms of written posts and recorded conversations sort of runs smack dab into the paradox of our goal: we deeply value an education conversation that centers the voices of classroom teachers, but prioritizing what it takes to be a full-time classroom teacher? As so many of you know from personal experience, it takes a lot.

Toss in being parents of little ones, and “a lot” can quickly become “too much”—especially in terms of making this a sustainable project going forward. So for the short term, we are going to be generous towards ourselves in adjusting the pace.

This is why you’ll see fewer posts and fewer conversations for these first few months of 2026. We aren’t going away! Instead, the goal is to prioritize sustainability and even more importantly authenticity—as we continue to believe in the importance of telling the good story of what the classroom is and can be.

And that’s exactly what we plan on doing going forward with The Broken Copier, even if that means taking a little time to learn and listen more in the short term to make that storytelling more meaningful in the long run.

One final note: thank you to all those who continue to listen, engage, and share these conversations—as it continues to be sincerely affirming to see the different ways The Broken Copier has resonated with teachers and educators. As we say: this is community work, it always has been, and—more than ever—it will continue to be.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we enter into 2026!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

It is a very easy word to say in education, right? Full-stop: everyone wants to be supported and everyone wants to be supportive.

However, making that support a reality that is experienced and sustainable in our classrooms and schools? For students and teachers alike? Much more complicated.

Today’s conversation with Nathan Parham is 100% about this. Nathan is in his first year as a special education administrator at a trauma-informed alternative school after a decade of his own classroom experience. Given his unique perspective in transitioning into a role where he is now responsible for supporting teachers along with students at his school, Nathan has a lot to share about what support can and should look like in this moment.

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The Broken Copier began a little over three years ago with a very simple idea: we wanted to uplift the type of conversations that happen so often between teachers in the margins of the school day: in the hallway between classes; in each other’s classrooms after the school day ends; in the faculty lounge while trying to collaboratively finagle a solution to far-too-frequently broken copiers.

This is exactly one of those conversations.

Lisa Gates is a retired high school English instructor with 34 years of teaching experience who just cannot just seem to quit teaching. Currently, she works as an Instructional Mentor supporting early-career classroom teachers in Virginia and also supervises teaching interns for the University of Mary Washington.

In other words, Lisa is literally a teacher’s teacher.

This conversation dives into the joys of what reading can be in the secondary classroom as well as the challenges, with Lisa sharing observations from her own career teaching as well as what she is noticing now that she is in many classrooms supporting teachers. This is a conversation that goes a lot of directions, but at its heart is driven by a love of reading and, more importantly, a deep belief in a student-centered classroom and the work it takes to make that possible.

Some points of reference from the conversation:

The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
Critical Encounters in Secondary English by Deborah Appleman
“Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors” by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop
#SundayMacbethChat on Bluesky Homepage

Thanks, as always, to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Over time, school years can fold into each other, in a way, with each eventually becoming indistinguishable from the next. This is why the goal of this episode, quite simply, is to pause before the month of November comes to a close and ask a simple question:

What has this school year taught us so far?

For this reflective conversation, we invited on one of our favorites: Adrian Neibauer, a 5th grade teacher who writes weekly about his own classroom with his Substack, Adrian’s Newsletter.

Along with listening to Adrian and Marcus share their own answers to this question at this point in the school year, we invite you to join in: what lesson have you learned so far?

Feel free to reply in the comments, send us a longer email reflection, or even record your own learning for a future episode! We would love to include more perspectives and voices around this question going forward. As we say often at The Broken Copier, teaching is community work.

What better way to live that out than by sharing our learnings with each other?

Links to follow-up with Adrian’s work:

“Now Spinning”(mentioned at the beginning of the conversation)
“The Redress of Teaching”(mentioned at the end of the conversation)

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

“What happened to helping them interrogate what it means to be human?”

In his book Teaching without Teaching, Scott F. Parker makes a case for re-centering teaching around core human values—and away from what he calls “the whole charade” of the transactional system students and teachers alike are too often confined within.

In this conversation, Scott shares his observations and reflections from his own writing classroom at Montana State University while contemplating more broadly where we are at in education—and why there might be a better direction to reorient ourselves towards.

To get a copy of this book or follow more of Scott’s work:

One Subject Press’s page for Teaching without Teaching
Scott’s personal website: www.scottfparker.com

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

There is a lot of conversation happening in education around the topic of AI—but is it the right conversation? Recently Stephen Fitzpatrick wrote a piece around this, arguing that instead of two different AI conversations in education that seem to be talking past each other, what we need “is a third conversation grounded in intellectual humility.”

Today’s conversation attempts to be just that. A full-time classroom teacher, Stephen brings over three decades of experience into this conversation alongside his own extensive research and experimentation with AI as a practitioner in recent years—which he has documented thoughtfully and generously with his newsletter, Teaching in the Age of AI.

In this conversation, Stephen shares his own journey towards researching as much as he could about AI and its potential intersection with his work as a teacher, his experiences and learnings along the way, and his current perspective on where we are at with AI in education.

To follow more of Stephen’s work or potentially connect with him:

A link to his recent post about a better conversation (quoted above): AI Whiplash: Every Breakthrough Comes With a Disaster
His post on The Important Work: Reading With a Custom GPT
His newsletter: fitzyhistory.substack.com
His email: sfitzpatrick@hackleyschool.org
His LinkedIn to connect on that platform, too

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

This is the third episode of our new Unjammed series, with a topic that a lot of teachers still are struggling with in their classrooms: chronic student absences and the consequent empty desks in the classroom.

In this episode, he shares how difficult it can be as a teacher to encounter so many of these “empty desks”—and in particular how much it takes as a teacher to build and maintain a classroom that is motivating and purposeful for those there and taking care of business while also being a welcoming, affirming space for students who have been absent, sometimes quite regularly.

Straddling this daily as a teacher? It is really difficult—and it felt like it deserved space for reflection in this episode.

Also: have your own potential Unjammed reflection you’d be willing to share or have a conversation about?

Email thebrokencopier@substack.com and let us know what it’s about! We would love to bring different teacher experiences and perspectives into this space.
You can also share your reflection directly at this Fanlist link—and you never know, it could show up on a future episode! (Note: we would reach out first to let you know and get permission.)

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

For our second episode of our new Unjammed series, the focus is on a pattern Marcus was noticing in his own responses in the classroom this school year: finding himself losing his patience a bit more quickly than in previous years.

In this episode, he talks through what it is like to notice yourself as a teacher losing your patience in the moment as well as after the moment; what might be the reason this is happening more frequently this school year; and, most importantly, what he is reflecting on as he thinks forward as a teacher in response.

Also: have your own potential Unjammed reflection you’d be willing to share or have a conversation about?

Email thebrokencopier@substack.com and let us know what it’s about! We would love to bring different teacher experiences and perspectives into this space.
You can also share your reflection directly at this Fanlist link—and you never know, it could show up on a future episode! (Note: we would reach out first to let you know and get permission.)

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

After over twenty Kicking The Copier episodes that focused on specific teaching strategies and mindsets, we’re going to make a slight pivot this school year.

While still designed to be shorter, single-topic episodes, this new Unjammed series instead will feature a specific stories around a problem in the classroom—not necessarily one that was necessarily “solved,” but rather one that led to a worthwhile reflection.

One worth sharing.

Today’s episode? An experience Marcus had after trying to celebrate and also challenge a student in a communication home—a well-intended “move” as a teacher that, unfortunately, didn’t quite land the way he hoped it would.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.)

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

This is a conversation between two teachers who noticed the same thing early into this school year: it feels heavier than usual.

After Adrian Neibauer wrote a piece in his newsletter around this idea, he joined The Broken Copier to reflect collaboratively with Marcus about how the school year is going, what is creating the “heaviness” they both are feeling, and moving forward what a lighter, more-hopeful path could look like for their respective classrooms.

Links to follow-up with Adrian’s work:

“The Redress of Teaching”(mentioned many times in this conversation)
Adrian’s Newsletter(the Substack to follow Adrian’s work—subscribe!)

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

With the school year underway, the word “assessment” is front-and-center in many classrooms—so what can we do as teachers to shift our thinking and practices around assessment to be more responsive to and uplifting for students?

In today’s conversation, high school math and science teacher Melissa Dean joins to talk all things assessment—sharing her own surprising journey into the classroom, how she aspires towards a better, more-authentic type of assessment in her classroom, and why she is so enthusiastic about the ongoing work of teaching pedagogy as a veteran teacher.

(In other words: if you’re a teacher and like to nerd out listening to other teachers talking about teaching—this is a conversation for you!)

To follow more of Melissa’s work:

Her own SubstackUnravelling: deanofmath.substack.com
Her book Unravel School: Reimagine Classrooms, Reinvent Assessment, & Revive Learning: https://www.amazon.com/Unravel-School-Reimagine-Classrooms-Assessment/dp/199056612X

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

None

In his newly-released book Learning Environment, Jared Fox writes, “I found that incorporating my passion for the natural world into the classroom was always worthwhile.” This is fitting, as the book explores the many ways that the classroom environment itself can be reimagined—including beyond the physical walls of the classroom!—and in doing so reminds us how necessary it is to pursue a “passion-driven pedagogy” as teachers.

In today’s conversation, Jared and Marcus go back and forth about a variety of topics: the best Magic School bus book; Jared’s early experiences exploring outside his physical classroom and what he learned in those explorations; how to make interdisciplinary learning happen tangibly; and even a discussion about where AI might fit into all of this.

To follow more of Jared’s work and potentially get your own copy of his book:

His website: www.jaredfox.education
His book: www.jaredfox.education/learning-environment-the-book

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

With a new school year just getting underway for some and about to begin for others, it is a time of hoping and imagining for what the classroom can become—but what happens when reality hits? How do you hold onto those initial hopes and imaginations as a teacher throughout the day-to-day grind of the school year?

In this Kicking The Copier episode, Marcus makes the case for picking a date approximately six weeks into the school year to revisit those initial plans and imaginations. To consider how reality matches up—and then to recalibrate and reimagine, as necessary.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.)

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In this current moment, there are perhaps few things more valuable for students than the ability to confidently and skillfully navigate conversations. So how do we make those conversations a reality in our classrooms?

Today’s guest has some ideas. Not only is Joe Ferraro in his third decade of teaching, but he also has hosted three-hundred conversations on his podcast One Percent Better and now consults others on communication skills with his company Damn Good Conversations. In this episode, Joe shares how this value and priority of conversation shows up in his classroom while “talking shop” with Marcus heading into another school year.

To follow more of Joe’s work, check these resources out:

His website:https://www.damngoodconversations.com
Two podcast episodes referenced in this episode (all available here!)
His interview with Mitch Albom
His podcast episode “Reverse Mentor”

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In this Kicking The Copier episode, Marcus shares his current thinking and plans for AI as a teacher heading into this new school year with six things he either is or is not going to do—at least for now.

The goal of this reflection is not to suggest what the “right answer” is for any other classroom or context regarding AI. Rather, it is shared in hope that we can move toward more teachers sharing more experiences and perspectives in order to figure out collectively what the best path forward is for our students and schools with AI in our classrooms and schools.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.)

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Almost every teacher wants their classroom to be a place where discussion amongst students thrives. Yet the reality is, unfortunately, that classrooms do not always live up to that vision of what they can be in terms of academic, purposeful discussion on a regular basis.

Today’s conversation is with Matt Kay, a veteran teacher and coach and also the author of a book on this subject: Prompting Deeper Discussions: A Teacher’s Guide to Crafting Great Questions. In this conversation, Matt shares more about the urgency within this present moment to elevate what discussions look like in our classroom along with reflections on his own experiences as a coach, teacher and leader.

To follow more of Matt’s work and/or purchase his books:

Matt’s website
Prompting Deeper Discussions: A Teacher’s Guide to Crafting Great Questions
Not Light, but Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Not Light, but Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom

In the previous episode, Jim and Marcus shared about their own experiences with Teach For America—both their motivation for entering into teaching through this program and then their experiences as corps members over their first two years of teaching in rural Arkansas.

That led to this second part of the conversation, which this episode features: a back-and-forth about different critiques of Teach For America and the program’s impact on education more broadly, with Jim and Marcus considering how they feel about each critique given their own respective experiences as corps members along with their current perspective now as teachers still in the classroom.

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim’s back!

And he wasted no time in recording a two-part episode that has been on the docket for some time: a conversation about Jim and Marcus’s experiences coming into teaching through Teach For America and then, in follow-up episode that will come out later this week, about how they feel about Teach For America’s broader impact on education.

In this initial part of the conversation, both Jim and Marcus explain how they ended up joining Teach For America and what those initial years of teaching were like for them—what was good and also, of course, what was difficult.

Later this week there will be a Part 2 of this conversation in which Jim and Marcus go back and forth about how they feel now looking back on their experience and Teach For America as an organization overall. (Spoiler: they don’t 100% agree!)

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

What can a school be? This is a question that today’s guest Carla Meyrink has had to consider constantly since co-founding The Community For Learningin 1998, a school Carla and two others started in Santo Domingo to live out the values of education they believed were best for students.

In this conversation, Carla shares about how The Community For Learning school began and the ways they continue to live out the value of community in all facets: student-centered classrooms built around inquiry; responsive professional development amongst teachers; and an ongoing, collective imagining of how school can be better going forward.

(Note: there are a few snippets of wind chimes at points in this episode, so feel free to enjoy the summer-themed, very-organic background music!)

In order to learn more about Carla and her work, you can follow her journey at her blog, The Teaching Experiment.

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Last month Tyler Rablin wrote a blog post with a quite-lengthy title: “The Bandaids and Backflips of Surface-level Equitable Grading Practices That Avoid Meaningfully Equitable Grading Reform”

That thought-provoking and important post on grading led to this conversation: a discussion that ranges across numerous “grading topics” such as minimum grades, late penalties, and retakes—and considers grading philosophy more holistically, too, making it a great opportunity for teachers and educators to consider their own perspectives, too, as they listen along.

In order to find more of Tyler’s work:

Tyler’s website
Tyler’s book: Hacking Student Motivation: 5 Assessment Strategies That Boost Learning Progression and Build Student Confidence

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

None

With the help of several really thoughtful questions from listener and readers—including some from those about to go into the classroom for the first time this upcoming school year!—Adrian Neibauer and Marcus had a chance to reflect on their own perspective as teachers and offer advice on several different topics:

How to establish systems in the classroom, what to do if they aren’t working—and what to do if you feel like the systems in your school building don’t align with your own philosophy of what is best for your students?
Navigating “imposter syndrome,” particularly as an early-career teacher—but also, as Marcus and Adrian note, reckoning with the perpetual dilemma of not feeling as knowledgable as you want to about your content when standing in front of students.
The intersection of “imposter syndrome” and AI, and more broadly how that lens of novice v. expertise is a potentially-helpful way of unpacking different views on AI technology more broadly as far as its utility.
The age-old and always-important question of what to do when you feel overwhelmed by the behavior of students in your classroom.

Thank you also Jared Fox, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Sara Love, and many others for tuning into this conversation! (Oh, and if you aren’t subscribed to Adrian’s Newsletter, I highly recommend you take care of that ASAP!)

Finally, this is a new format, so feel free to leave feedback in the comments (or email us directly!) to let us know if this is something we should aim to do more often with The Broken Copier!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

A lot of education conversations focus on what is happening in elementary schools and high schools, along with whatever is driving discourse in higher education at the given moment.

What gets left out of the conversation too often? Middle school.

Fortunately, today’s conversation is with award-winning middle school teacher Joe LaTorre and his vision of what middle school can be for students in the present moment as well as a foundation for what is ahead of them. Both with the work Joe does in his own classroom and school along with his leadership outside of it with the Bridges Program he co-founded, Joe leans into the values of joy and community—and this conversation is a reminder of why we all should continue to dream big about what is possible for our students.

If you’re interested in following up with Joe after hearing about his work in this conversation, the best place is his websiteor email: josephlatorredirect@gmail.com—and you can also find him on most social media platforms, too!

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Larry Ferlazzo has been a leading voice in education for quite some time. With a weekly advice column for Education Week, 13 different books on education (and a 14th in the works!) as well as his own blog on teaching, Larry has again and again offered guidance and shared his perspective with educators in myriad ways as an award-winning classroom teacher who always centers that classroom perspective in his work.

However, this school year was Larry’s final school year in the public school classroom! Fortunately, in his first official week of retirement he was willing to hop on The Broken Copier to share more about his journey, what it is like to be at the classroom finish line, and his perspective on education in this current moment—include some wisdom for those of us still in the classroom.

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

There is a ton of conversation out there about AI in education right now—but too often, very little of that conversation centers the exploration and learnings of actual teachers from their own classrooms.

That is why this conversation is built entirely around the work of Brett Vogelsinger, a current teacher with over two decades of experience in the classroom who just published his second book: Artful AI in Writing Instruction. In this episode, Brett shares what he has learned through his exploration in the classroom with AI as a tool for writing, including conversations and perspectives from his own students as well as other teachers. (Note: Marcus is one of those teachers interviewed for the book.)

For those who are curious about Brett’s work who want to read and learn more:

Brett’s first book, Poetry Pauses, which is mentioned in the conversation
Brett’s website, where you can find almost all of his work
You can follow Brett on LinkedIn as well as several other social media platforms

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

For our 20th (!!!) Kicking The Copier episode, the focus is very much singular: the importance of being transparent as a teacher, particularly in your classroom with your students. Not only because of the consequences of failing to be transparent, but more importantly because of the rewards that come with doing so. (Especially in the closing stretch of the year!)

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.)

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Teacher Appreciation Week 2025 is here! With that in mind, we wanted to have a conversation around what exactly it means to be a teacher in this moment.

Joining that conversation? Chanea Bond, a teacher who has for some time now been an influential, important voice amongst teachers all over—advocating for what students need and deserve, and challenging educators to rise the occasion of our work.

In today’s conversation, Chanea discusses her own path into the classroom, how she sees herself as a teacher at this point in her career, and what she believes is most important to consider when thinking about one’s place in the classroom.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email us at thebrokencopier@substack.com and let us know if you have ideas for future episodes! (And feel free to share this episode in your spaces and/or leave a review wherever you listen!)

Thanks for listening and have an amazing Teacher Appreciation Week!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Recently, Adrian Neibauer wrote a reflective piece about his experience with standardized testing that began with these words: I’m a hypocrite.

In today’s episode of The Broken Copier, he shares more about the conversation with his own children that resulted in these words—along with the myriad, contradictory feelings he has about testing in this current moment.

Also: how do you feel as a teacher when it comes to standardized testing? Feel free to answer in the Substack comments or, if you’re inspired, to leave an audio message via Fanlist that we may respond to on a future episode.

Finally, thanks, as always, to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

After opening with a note of gratitude for our listeners and readers, today’s Kicking The Copier shares a simple, powerful strategy you can use at any time as a teacher: a classroom pulse check.

Five minutes of classroom space, way more than five minutes of impact.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.)

Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators—now more than ever.

Subscribe for free to join this community of teachers talking teaching!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In January 2021, Nick Covington was a social studies teacher in Iowa fully-immersed in his classroom and students. Successful, purposeful, and thriving. A year later, after being swept up into the culture war against educators and facing targeting and harassment for doing his job, he handed in his resignation later in February 2022.

Once he finished out that school year, Nick moved into his position as a leader of the non-profit he cofounded, The Human Restoration Project—an organization doing the increasingly-important work of moving towards an education system that centers the humanity of all-involved, but most especially students.

In today’s conversation, Nick shares about his experience in the classroom, his exit from it, and why he is more resolute than ever about the importance of and hope within the work he is doing now. (Seriously: if this is your first time hearing about it, go check it out!)

Links to check out from the conversation:

HumanRestorationProject.org
Third Coast Learning Collaborative
“Current Events Do Not Belong in History Class”(the original Medium post detailing Nick’s experience leaving the classroom)

Also: how do you feel as a teacher right now in this current moment? Feel free to answer in the comments or, if you’re inspired, to leave an audio message via Fanlist that we may respond to on a future episode?

Finally, thanks, as always, to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The little solutions in the classroom can often create big impacts for the classroom—and today’s Kicking The Copier is very much one of those examples: a simple question you can begin occasionally including as a teacher to better support students in the way they deserve to be supported.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, too!

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves as educators. Especially right now.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The idea of “100% engagement” is a loaded one in education, particularly when it comes to the expectations and implications for the classroom. Adrian Neibauer tackled this idea with conviction but more importantly humility in a recent post on his Substack called “The Scary Teacher”—and he was generous enough to hop back on The Broken Copier to expand on this reflection and discuss his views on the idea of “100% engagement” more broadly, particularly when it comes to how teachers should move in their classrooms.

For more of Adrian’s writing, check out Adrian’s Newsletter. Plus, a few other resources from the conversation:

“The 100% Participation Myth” by Trevor Muir
Teach Like a Champion blogon 100% by Doug Lemov
Teach Like a Champion video on 100%

What do you think about 100%? Feel free to answer in the comments or, if you’re inspired, to leave an audio message via Fanlist that we may respond to on a future episode? (note: Adrian is one a multiple guests now who first jumped into The Broken Copier via that Fanlist link!)

Finally, thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Today’s conversation is with Courtney Eddleman and Don Sturm, two educators who have been an integral part of an ongoing, district-wide partnership with MagicSchool AI. Rather than asking teachers to navigate this potential paradigm shift with AI on their own, Courtney and Don share a much-different experience that is taking place right now in their school district—including the feedback they have received from teachers and students alike.

If you’re curious about learning more beyond this conversation, Courtney and Don went into further detail in a series for their podcast Through the Educational Looking Glass—so that’s a great place to explore further if you’re intrigued! You can also reach out to Don here and can find both Courtney and Don on BlueSky.

(Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments as well!)

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Today’s conversation features John Warner, author of the new book More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI—a book that explores how ChatGPT and other large language models force us to reconsider what writing means in education and, more broadly, in society overall. (Also: this conversation ends with one of our favorite ever shout-out’s to a former teacher since starting this podcast—so make sure not to miss it!)

You can follow more of John’s writing at either of his Substack newsletters, Engaged Educationor The Biblioracle Recommends; additionally, if you’re looking to learn more his ideas about how to improve writing in the classroom, you definitely should check out his two previous books, too: Why They Can’t Write and The Writer’s Practice.

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Sometimes our Kicking The Copier episodes are more teacher-centered in terms of habits and strategies—but today is very much the opposite: a specific, student-centered strategy that you can use tomorrow in the classroom, if you want!

(Seriously: Marcus uses this pretty much every day in some sort of way, no matter the class. Try it out!)

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, too!

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves as we move into this second half of the school year!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

For our 16th Kicking The Copier episode—our continuing series focused on specific mindsets and strategies that can be helpful for teachers and educators—Marcus shared about a ritual that he has come to find considerable value in each year as a teacher—and why he believes finding and leaning into rituals as a teacher can be incredibly affirming and restorative especially within the grind of a school year.

As is noted in the episode, please don’t hesitate to reply in the comments to share your own ritual, too, and what it means to you—or to record a reflection at fanlist.com/brokencopier, if you feel inspired. (Maybe it’ll end up in a future show!)

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, too!

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves as we move into this second half of the school year!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

After their months-long, slow-read journey through Becoming an Everyday Changemaker, Adrian Neibauer joined Marcus in this episode to talk with the author, Alex Shevrin Venet, about this transformative book she has written for educators. In this conversation, Alex shares her intentions behind the book and responds to both Adrian and Marcus’s questions at end of their respective reading journeys through it.

To learn more about Alex’s work, you’re encouraged to check out her website www.unconditionallearning.org—and if you’re interested in this book we’ve spent so much time with, here’s a link of where you can get your own copy!

Also, two resources from the conversation we promised to include in the notes:

On Trauma-Gatekeeping: “If Everything Is Trauma…”
“Banishing “Siberia” and Student Seclusion: Leading Trauma-Informed Systems Change in a Rural School”

Finally, remember that you can follow Adrian’s work at his Substack, too!

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

For the last Broken Copier episode of 2024, Marcus was able to speak with Jireh Keys, an early-career elementary school teacher in Fordyce, Arkansas—who also just happens to have been a freshman back in the first English class Marcus ever taught back in 2012.

In this conversation, Jireh shares about her path into the classroom, the experience of returning to teach in the community that raised her, and all the meaning she has found in her new identity as a teacher.

(And yes, you can imagine Marcus smiling wide this entire conversation as he listened to his former student talk about absolutely thriving in the classroom as a teacher herself!)

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Marcus and Jim sit down to talk (again) about AI, since it looks like it’s not going away. Jim shares what he’s doing with AI in his planning and feedback process as a teacher. Marcus shares his hesitations and frustrations around AI in education more broadly. Some agreement, some disagreement—and a conversation that both felt was worth having.

Two writers referenced in the conversation:

Marc Watkins: Rhetorica Substack
John Warner: The Biblioracle Recommends Substack

As always we’d love to hear your thoughts! You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

fanlist.com/brokencopier

Want to be a guest on the podcast? Click here to sign up. We may be delayed in our responses, but we definitely want to start inviting more teachers to come on & share their stories.

Finally, thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

This 15th Kicking The Copier episode is a simple one: a single daily habit—one that takes less than a minute before you head home for the day—that, at least for Marcus, has shifted the way he looks at his classroom in a considerable way.

Our gratitude, too, for those who continue to listen and response and share, as the community at The Broken Copier keeps finding new ways to grow (especially now with Bluesky)! Also, please don’t hesitate to reply in the comments with any or your own habits or strategies that you have found meaningful this year, too—or to record a reflection you can go to fanlist.com/brokencopier.

(You never know, it might end up on a future episode!)

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, too!

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Pretty simple summary here: like many teachers and educators out there, we have a lot of thoughts about the election and what it means for our classrooms and students—so we decided to take some time to talk about what we’re thinking two weeks later.

Not our normal type of episode, but we’d rather be authentic about what’s on our mind in this moment. (Note: we recognize and respect this might not be the episode for you right now, but it was the conversation we both wanted to have as friends and teachers.)

The articles and posts mentioned in the episode are linked here:

a link to the video Jim references regarding President Trump’s threat of “severe consequences” for teachers and school officials
the NY Times interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders mentioned by Jim with the Sanders’s takeaway from the election
the article detailing the Ohio principal being placed on leave for assuring staff that they would continue to value and celebrate diversity
the Inside Higher Ed piece by John Warner emphasizing the need to prioritize “the work” over the job in this moment

As always, we are always open hearing your thoughts! Along with commenting or emailing us, you even also leave us an audio message to be featured on a future episode: fanlist.com/brokencopier

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! As

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Marcus and Jim are back to talk about reading—more specifically, the broader discourse in education that students aren’t reading nearly as much as they used to.

In this conversation, Marcus and Jim begin by reflecting on their own reading identities (06:05) before discussing the article “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books” (16:52) and their initial reactions to it, how severe they think the problem actually is (23:07) and what it means in their classrooms now and going forward.

Heads up: there are a few audio glitches early on before it smoothes out, so just be patient—and also keep in mind that this is a bit more of an authentic, classic Marcus-and-Jim conversation where they go back and forth quite a bit (amicably, of course) in trying to figure out where they want to land on this, respectfully.

Feel free to rate and review wherever you listen, and also to hop in the comments on the Substack to give your take on this topic!

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In our 14th Kicking The Copier episode, Marcus reflects on what he is keeping in mind as a teacher over this final stretch of election season, sharing three priorities that he finds helpful to center as an educator.

This isn’t an episode suggesting any specifics of what educators should say or do—that would be the most foolish of enterprises!—but rather to transparently share what one teacher is trying to center in this moment and why.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The hot seat is back for today’s episode, but this time Jim is the one asking Marcus for his immediate thoughts on a handful of education “buzzwords”—with the conversation jumping from Standards-Based Grading to Social-Emotional Learning to Critical Thinking (with some other topics in between).

If you want to play along, during the episode you can pause and think about what your thoughts are on these topics before Marcus and Jim dive into quick exchanges on each—and then, if you want, leave a comment with your thoughts or disagreements with their answers.

Thinking about what we think as educators is a worthwhile enterprise, right?

Also, as promised in the episode, three SEL resources that are far more in-depth than anything Marcus and Jim talk about in this conversation:

“How to Help Students Without Being a Savior” from Cult of Pedagogy
“A Pathway to Better Social and Emotional Learning” from Edutopia
“Systemic Social and Emotional Learning” from Human Restoration Project

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

After a great conversation at the beginning of summer about what the 5th grade classroom is like, Adrian Neibauer was generous enough to return to the podcast to share about the mindset he is taking into this school year and the incredible community that is already building in his classroom.

In this conversation, Marcus asks him about the choices he made in preparing over the summer and especially in the opening weeks of his school year—and then they dive into some deeper questions about the idea of “loving teaching” more broadly.

Two pieces by Adrian that are referenced in this conversation (also, you can find everything he shares here on his Substack, which we highly recommend!):

“Turn the Lights Back On” (Aug 12)
“Adrian’s Top Five” (Sept 2)

Additionally, Marcus mentions a recent Cult of Pedagogy podcast featuring Elena Aguilar, which you can check out here.

And as always, we love to hear your thoughts! Along with emailing or commenting, you can leave us an audio message for the next episode: fanlist.com/brokencopier

Finally, thanks as always to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Have feedback? email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Big news: Jim’s back! In this episode, Jim catches up with Marcus and fills him in on how the first few weeks have gone—which, in turn, gives Marcus a chance to reflect on his upcoming school year.

A big focus for both Marcus and Jim this year, they realized: making this work in the classroom sustainable going forward, and that is where this conversation ultimately goes.

Links to what we mentioned in the conversation:

“We Need to Reclaim Slowness” by Marc Watkins
“Damn Good Conversations” by Joe Ferraro

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In the 13th Kicking The Copier episode, Marcus shares how the umbrella works as a perfect analogy for him in thinking about the “bigger picture” of feedback in his classroom—and how, at the end of the day, feedback is really about the trust students have in us as teachers and the purpose they see in what they are learning.

Tall orders, yes, but ones worth aspiring toward. Umbrella in hand.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Most of us educators have thought a lot about school cell phone policies in recent years, but very few of us have experienced them in different contexts. Education journalist Paige Tutt, however, has done exactly that: she visited numerous school communities that had implemented cell phone bans and interviewed myriad building leaders, teachers, students and families in her research for what became a must-read article for Edutopia: “3 Schools, 3 Principals, 3 Cell Phone Bans.”

In this conversation, Paige shares what she observed from across her research, the differences as well as the similarities she noticed across the various schools, and overall what she thinks can be helpful for all of us when thinking about the impact of policies around cell phones in school communities.

For those looking to explore more of Paige’s work, you can check out her profile page at Edutopia—and she also recommends subscribing to their new technology newsletter for educators, The Wired Classroom. (One of the pieces mentioned in our conversation comes from this newsletter, too: “Why I’m Banning Student AI Use This Year.”)

Finally, thanks as always to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Have feedback? email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Given that summer is coming to a close for many teachers out there—or, for a handful, already has!—we decided to focus on that “thing” that we all go through as educators this time of year and that we all have our own opinions about: professional development for teachers.

In this episode we’re joined by Trevor Aleo, a full-time teacher and doctoral candidate who spends a lot of time thinking about, designing, and delivering professional development. The conversation focuses on what keeps “Teacher PD” from being a positive experience far too often as well as what “better” can and should look like. (Including what teachers need to bring to the table, too.)

For those looking to explore more of Trevor’s work, the best place to access it is at his website www.trevoraleo.com. We also recommend checking out his podcast Conceptually Speakingand the book he co-authored, Learning That Transfers: Designing Curriculum for a Changing World.

Finally, thanks as always to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Have feedback? email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Learning That Transfers: Designing Curriculum for a Changing World (Corwin Teaching Essentials)

Another guest interview today on The Broken Copier: Marc Watkins, professor at the University of Mississippi, Director of the Mississippi AI Institute, and author of the blog Rhetorica—a go-to resource for thinking about artificial intelligence through the lens of education, particularly as classroom instructors. (Seriously: go check it out!)

In this conversation, Marc shares his thinking and strategies around AI through a teaching lens: the challenges that educators are encountering, the advice and practices he shares in his work right now, and the mindset he believes is best for education going forward.

For those looking to read more of Marc’s writing on this topic, we highly recommend his recent series Beyond ChatGPT—with the first piece focusing on the missed conversation around AI’s impact on reading.

And as always, we love to hear your thoughts! Along with emailing or commenting, you can leave us an audio message for the next episode: fanlist.com/brokencopier

Finally, thanks as always to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Have feedback? email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

We’re excited to continue our shift on The Broken Copier with more conversations with more listeners today, as Dr. Julie Arnold joins the podcast to talk about her work around assessment and the ways we can do better in our classrooms to make assessment part of the learning experience—as well as the barriers we encounter in that work. (Dr. Arnold also is gracious enough to offer her Australian perspective on what the “American classroom” must be like based on the different television shows she has seen!)

If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Arnold’s work around assessment as a learning experience, check out this link!

And as always, we love to hear your thoughts! Along with emailing or commenting, you can leave us an audio message for the next episode: fanlist.com/brokencopier

Also, do you have interesting in being a guest on the podcast? Click here to sign up. We may be delayed in our responses, but we definitely want to start inviting more teachers to come on & share their stories.

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

It’s summer and a time for rest and restoration for teachers, so Marcus figured, why not talk about something that riles pretty much every teacher up the moment you mention it?

That’s right: differentiation.

In this twelfth installment of our Kicking The Copier series of individual reflections, Marcus shares about what he believes made the difference in a more-successful experience with differentiation in his classroom this past year—and also why he is at least somewhat concerned about what that means for the education landscape going forward.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Marcus finally gets a chance to talk with Adrian Neibauer, a 5th grade teacher who just finished his 21st year of teaching and also happens to be the author of Adrian’s Newsletter—probably Marcus’s favorite weekly read on teaching out there.

In this conversation, Adrian reflects on his path into the elementary classroom; what it was like to leave the classroom for a different role and then return with a new perspective; and what his classroom looks and feels like at this point in his career. Towards the end, Marcus also asks him about some points from two of his recent newsletter articles:

“Have I Become Richard Vernon?” (May 13)
“I’m not an Entertainer” (May 20)

We definitely recommend you checking out Adrian’s writing and subscribing to his content. If you like the reflections here on The Broken Copier, it definitely could be for you!

And as always, we love to hear your thoughts! Along with emailing or commenting, you can leave us an audio message for the next episode (Adrian was the first one to take us up on this several months back, by the way): fanlist.com/brokencopier

Also, do you have interesting in being a guest on the podcast? Click here to sign up. We may be delayed in our responses, but we definitely want to start inviting more teachers to come on & share their stories.

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

It’s been awhile, but our series of “Kicking the Copier” episodes is back—and this one is about a strategy, literally but also figuratively, that might help you center your “wins” of the school year more intentionally. (Especially before summer arrives!)

Another note: congratulations to those getting near (or even across) the finish line of your school year. I think it is fair to say to pretty much anyone that it has indeed been a year.

Also, if you want a link to FutureMe.org for those future emails to yourself mentioned in the email, here you go!

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim sits down with Cyndi Mahne, a veteran teacher and instructional coach from St. Louis. They talk about her experiences moving around different schools, running a student TV station for ten years, and especially her insights on trust and relationships as an instructional coach supporting teachers.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

fanlist.com/brokencopier

Want to be a guest on the podcast? Click here to sign up. We may be delayed in our responses, but we definitely want to start inviting more teachers to come on & share their stories.

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Recent reporting from the New York Times details how school absences have “exploded” in just about every school district. On this episode, Marcus and Jim talk about how difficult this can make things for both students and teachers, and dig into the many challenges that arise in and outside the classroom as teachers try to navigate this new, disturbing trend in school absences.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

fanlist.com/brokencopier

Want to be a guest on the podcast? Click here to sign up. We may be delayed in our responses, but we definitely want to start inviting more teachers to come on & share their stories.

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The tenth episode of “Kicking the Copier” is all about how we as teachers tend to respond to “bad vibes” in our classroom (this time of year especially) in a way that sometimes makes those “bad vibes” even worse.

In Marcus’s experience: by retreating from classroom community rather than leaning into classroom community.

Today’s reflection, then, is about a realization he had in his own classroom around this tendency; how he shifted in response; and what he wants to take from this learning going forward.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Lots of schools are trying out different approaches to grading, often met with mixed emotions from teachers. Mastery-based and minimum grading policies are popular, and this week Marcus and Jim were able to discuss how they see some of these ideas playing out. Grades are very important–to both high school students and teachers–as important vehicles for feedback, motivation, and recognition. As a result, striking the right balance with your gradebook can sometimes be a real challenge, especially when people have different ideas about how to do it best.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

fanlist.com/brokencopier

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The ninth episode of “Kicking the Copier”—and the first of 2024!—is centered around the value of reflecting on our own past “mistakes” as teachers: practices and mindsets that existed in previous versions of our teaching that we no longer believe are the best for our students.

This isn’t about being hard on ourselves—growth is a part of this work! Rather, Marcus makes the argument in this episode that reflecting on how we have previously changed as teachers can allow us to remain humble in the present moment and also open-minded towards different perspectives and future growth.

The work of teaching is always ongoing, after all—never about a fixed destination. And thinking about past versions of ourselves as teachers and how we’ve changed since then is important to not lose sight of where we need to go moving forward.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.
Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.
Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Welcome to 2024! As many of us are in a moment of reflection & adjustment, we were finally able to sit down & reconnect for this latest episode. We continue to be grateful for your support, especially since our recording schedule has become a little sparse in 2023–but we assume our audience of educators can understand a busy schedule, so thanks for sticking with us! Thanks to Adrian Neibauer Colorado for sending in a great audio clip from Colorado! Adrian helps us reconnect to the college conversation we had in October. We spend most of the episode responding to Adrian, as well as thinking a bit about what we’re hoping to see as the new semester begins.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, and no idea is too small! You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

fanlist.com/brokencopier

Thanks, as always, to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email us here: thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The eighth episode of “Kicking the Copier” begins with a question: as a teacher, do you understand how your students see themselves as learners in the classroom?

If not, the first step is asking them—and this episode briefly dives into the why before moving through three different quick ways to begin this shift in your own classroom.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

This seventh episode of “Kicking the Copier” is very simple: a reflection and reminder about the value of a good classroom—how it can feel too often like it doesn’t matter in the broader scheme of things when it very much does matter.

That’s all this episode is, really: a brief message about why the classroom matters and a thank you to all those who are doing what they can to make it a good place.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

This sixth episode of “Kicking the Copier” is a reflection on how teachers so often are asked to do things beyond the basic responsibilities of their classroom—and how “saying no” to these above-and-beyond requests can be really challenging.

Still, being intentional and confident in when and why to say “no”? That can be an underrated, important factor in a sustainable, positive teaching career. In this episode, Marcus offers his thoughts on why.

As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

It’s time to write recommendation letters again, which any teacher of seniors will tell you is the spookiest part of the entire season. As our students have an eye on all these college applications, we’ve seen a lot of different stories floating around about the value of college. Some of the more disingenuous politicians take pleasure in attacking the mere idea of college for political gain, throwing wrenches into an already complicated system that they don’t understand. On the other hand, there is some very compelling reporting about the changing attitudes we (Americans) have about college. We think these attitudes and assumptions are at the very foundation of our work, and are worth digging into during a time when education seems to be changing so quickly.

We’d love to hear your thoughts & ideas that help you make grading efficient, fair, and do its most essential job–provide meaningful, actionable feedback for students to improve. You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

podinbox.com/brokencopier

Thanks to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In this fifth episode of “Kicking the Copier,” Marcus responds to one of our own reader’s questions about how to build a culture of accountability in the classroom without relying on late penalties. Marcus begins with a brief explainer on why he’s against late penalties and then shares two separate strategies for still maintaining a culture of accountability without relying on late penalties at all.

This is something we’d love to do more of, too: responding directly to our readers and listeners and giving our own thoughts on situations and challenges facing teachers in this current moment—so feel free to keep sending in thoughts and questions!

As always, too, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In this fourth episode of “Kicking the Copier,” our series of shorter solo episodes, Marcus reflects on how he has reacted in the past when a student walks in having a tough day—and how he tries to do better nowadays with a simple strategy: writing that student a note.

Thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim already had his first day of school, and Marcus is about to start. Whether you’ve got your Q1 seating charts locked in, or are just starting to dust off the work laptop, we’re all getting ready for another exciting year in the classroom. In this episode, Marcus asks Jim about his thoughts on what makes for a strong start to the year, and Jim talks about a new exit ticket strategy that’s already working wonders.

We’ve also hit a few milestones with our little teacher pod over here. First, it’s been a full year for Marcus & Jim podcasting together on TBC, so happy anniversary to us! And, better yet, we’ve officially crossed 5k podcast downloads. Pretty small compared to the pros, but not bad for a few teacher hobbyists. Thank you to everyone who has participated in this community, and who keeps doing the good work in schools.

Thoughts or advice? You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

podinbox.com/brokencopier

Thanks to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In this third episode of “Kicking the Copier,” our series of shorter solo episodes, Marcus reflects on how shifting the way teachers return our feedback to students can make a substantive impact on the culture of growth in our classrooms—and he offers three different steps to make for what he believes is a better feedback-return system.

As always, thanks to the following: Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

This is the second episode “Kicking the Copier”: a series of shorter solo episodes where we offer not a solution necessarily but rather an idea for teachers, akin to a copier kick, based on our own experience and thinking. These won’t be long, under 10 minutes, but we hope they can be valuable in offering ideas and also potentially beginning conversations around topics worth having conversations about. Because sometimes kicking the broken copier works, right?

Today’s topic: a reflection by Marcus on two questions he intends to ask himself daily going into the new school year—questions that he believes can help cut through all the responsibilities and distractions a teacher has to navigate within the classroom. And two questions that, if answered, make the classroom much better for students.

As always, thanks to the following: Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

This past week a report from the Center for Reinventing Public Education received a lot of coverage—including as fuel for a WSJ editorial—and then subsequent reaction for its targeted blame towards…you guessed it: teachers.

Needless to say, Jim and Marcus weren’t happy about this at all—especially after digging into the rather-barebones report and seeing how disconnected the framing and coverage of it was from the actual “data” it was built upon. In this episode, Jim and Marcus discuss not only the contents of the report but also the way it has been covered and, more broadly, the implications of how quickly and haphazardly narratives can be formed in the current moment.

Spoiler: buckle up for two not-happy-at-all teachers.

Links to referenced report and coverage articles:

Full CRPE report link
Education Week article covering report
Wall Street Journal editorial based on report

Thanks to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

This is the first episode “Kicking the Copier”: a series of shorter solo episodes where we offer not a solution necessarily but rather an idea for teachers, akin to a copier kick, based on our own experience and thinking. These won’t be long, under 10 minutes, but we hope they can be valuable in offering ideas and also potentially beginning conversations around topics worth having conversations about. Because sometimes kicking the broken copier works, right?

Today’s topic: a reflection by Marcus on why being overly concerned with trying to catch students cheating—particularly with the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence tools in education—might not be the best mindset for teachers to hold.

As always, thanks to the following: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The dog days are in full swing, and we wish all the teachers out there a wonderful, restful, well-earned July. In this episode, Marcus and Jim connect to talk about how they solicit and respond to student feedback, especially as they look forward to the fall. Using Marcus’s recent Edutopia article, they discuss how this type of feedback process looks in their classrooms, and the importance of bringing students into curricular decisions in meaningful ways.

SPOILER ALERT: Around 33 minutes, they also talk about season 2 of FX’s The Bear, since they’re both big fans of the show, and thought there are tons of interesting ways the different characters, conflicts, and themes in the show intersect with teaching.

We’d love to hear your thoughts & ideas that help you make grading efficient, fair, and do its most essential job–provide meaningful, actionable feedback for students to improve. You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

podinbox.com/brokencopier

Thanks to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

In this episode, Brett Vogelsinger joins the podcast to talk about his new book, Poetry Pauses: Teaching with Poems to Elevate Student Writing in All Genres. Brett shares about the background of his book as well as the numerous benefits he has found in “pausing for a poem” in the classroom—especially as a way to improve student thinking and writing in a much broader sense. This isn’t just an episode for English teachers, either. Brett and Marcus talk about what it means to bring something “new” into any classroom, and how leaning into a new, innovative system can open myriad doors for students and teachers alike.

Interested in getting the book yourself? You can find it at the publisher’s website, https://us.corwin.com/books/poetry-pauses-282912

Thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

As always, you can email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

A conversation between Jim and Marcus about how their classrooms came to a close to finish the school year as well as some “teacher takeaways” from the year overall as they look forward. Though at times it dips into the weeds of HS English pedagogy and particulars, this episode tries to dive into the thinking and reflection of two different teachers about how to best “end” a classroom community—and then moves into a broader reflection on wins from the year that they will try to carry into the next school year. (After a much-needed summer break, of course.)

Thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

As always, you can email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim welcomes back Elizabeth Jorgensen with Dr. Lucy Park for a conversation about teaching Sijo–a traditional Korean poetry form. Similar to Haiku, Sijo offers students an accessible poetry structure to learn, play with, and develop their own creative voices and identities as writers. Liz and Lucy have recently published an award-winning book, Sijo: Kore’s Poetry Form, that offers teachers background of the form, beautiful collections of famous Sijo, award-winning student samples, and lesson plans.

"SIJO: Korean Poetry” (Edited by Lucy Park and Elizabeth Jorgensen) is sold on Amazon.

Also, complimentary copies of this book are available for educators who teach SIJO in classes in the USA. Send an email to sejongculturalsociety@gmail.com.

Online Sijo course for teachers: https://www.sejongculturalsociety.org/events/sijo/online.php

Sijo poems are going to the moon in The Polaris Trilogy. Learn more in this YouTube interview.

We’d love to hear your thoughts & ideas that help you make grading efficient, fair, and do its most essential job–provide meaningful, actionable feedback for students to improve. You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

podinbox.com/brokencopier

Thanks to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

None

We’ve finally made time in between walking the dogs, cooking, parenting, attempting to work out every once in a while, and our wildly easy teaching jobs with tons of flexible time built in. Seriously though, folks, there’s more to say about grading. In this episode, we took a deeper dive into some of our thinking around grading policies like late work, extra credit, and the no-zero discourse, and have returned to a familiar place: sometimes, it’s just not that simple.

We’d love to hear your thoughts & ideas that help you make grading efficient, fair, and do its most essential job–provide meaningful, actionable feedback for students to improve. You can leave us an audio message for the next episode:

podinbox.com/brokencopier

Thanks to:

Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

What’s the best way to grade student work? This is one of those questions that seems like it should have an obvious answer, but once you do a little digging, it turns out the answer is far from easy. Not only are schools entirely misaligned when it comes to grading practices and norms, but the more we ask why, the more it seems like nothing really makes sense at all. Marcus & Jim are starting a longer conversation on the podcast about grading, and all of the complications that follow: what to grade, whether to accept late work, if grades are even useful for learning at all, and more.

Article: “The End of Grading,” by KC Cole. Wired, February 9, 2023. https://www.wired.com/story/the-end-of-grading/

Want to be featured on the next episode? You can leave us an audio message:

podinbox.com/brokencopier

Thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

We’re getting into the swing of things now, as most of us have started a new semester. Marcus and Jim check back with each other about writing instruction in general, and continue the conversation around what AI might start to mean for classrooms. They talk about culture through content, and what authentic learning might start to look like in the next era of the internet. How are schools responding, and how should they respond? If ChatGPT represents a new era of learning tools, how do we go adjust in order to keep things fair, and most importantly focused on learning and curiosity?

Want to be featured on the next episode? You can leave us an audio message:

podinbox.com/brokencopier

Thanks to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music. Thanks to Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Gwen Jorgensen became the first American to win a gold medal in the triathlon at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. Her mother, Nancy, and sister, Liz, wrote about her inspiring journey in their book, Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete. The book targets an important gap for middle grade nonfiction books–especially the importance of telling heroic stories about women and mothers achieving great big dreams. Jim was excited to sit down with Liz and Nancy, both veteran educators themselves, to talk about the book and why it’s such a great story for classrooms and sports teams. If you’re looking for your next fantastic nonfiction unit, this episode is for you!

Buy the book on Amazon: Gwen Jorgensen: USA's First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete

Link to purchased signed copies: https://www.booksco.com/signed-copy-gwen-jorgensen

Free educator guide:

https://download.m-m-sports.com/extras/GwenJorgensen/Teacher_Guide.pdf

For author visits, email nancy.l.jorgensen@gmail.com or elizabeth.jorgensen@gmail.com

Want to be featured on the next episode? You can leave us an audio message:

podinbox.com/brokencopier

Thanks to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music. Thanks to Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

None

It’s a new year, and for many of us, Q3 is either starting or has already started. Marcus and Jim are excited to get back to recording after holiday travel, a little bit of the sniffles, and a whole lot of grading. They talk about what the end of their first semesters looked like, and what they wish it could look like instead.

Want to be featured on the next episode? You can leave us an audio message:

podinbox.com/brokencopier

Thanks to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music. Thanks to Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

A new AI writing tool, ChatGPT, has K12 teachers and college professors alike scratching their heads and revisiting a fundamental question: Why do we need to write stuff? Derek Thompson’s recent article in The Atlantic has explored this question, and while the professional world might be excited at the possibilities this opens up for their bottom line, teachers are now suddenly faced with the prospect that their students might not need to think very hard at all in order to submit an essay that earns top marks on whatever rubric you want to use. What’s the role of the writing teacher in this new age of AI writing? Do we block, defend, accept, incorporate, or do something else entirely? Is it time to scrap the Chromebooks and write everything by hand? How do we really prove that we know something, anyways?

Classroom teachers will be facing some fundamental questions in the coming months as students become more aware of the ease, accessibility, and quality of AI language models, and we’ll need to be smart about how we talk to them. Plus, Jim’s dog Lucille interrupts the episode. At first he was going to edit her out, but then he thought it was funny and left it in. Happy planning!

Thanks to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music. Thanks to Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Want to get a shout-out on the next episode? Tag us on Instagram or Twitter @thebrokencopier.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

How will AI writing tools impact education? When is writing original? How should teachers incorporate–or avoid–what seems to be an inevitable push towards faster, better, and more nuanced writing tools like AI language generators? Teachers are constantly balancing the world we live in against the world our students will inhabit. We’re often quick to lean into fancy new technologies in service of preparation and equity, but is there a point at which they’ll become too much of a crutch for students that allows them to avoid practicing and developing core literacy skills for themselves? After seeing some very successful and compelling AI writing tools becoming more and more available for students, Marcus and Jim try to reason this out for themselves and their English classrooms. Let us know what you think!

Thanks to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music. Thanks to Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Want to get a shout-out on the next episode? Tag us on Instagram or Twitter @thebrokencopier.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

How many new buzzwords have you had to memorize in the past few years? How many times have you had to… um… tweak… a lesson plan to ensure that it does, in fact, demonstrate XYZ? Especially when the person looking for XYZ has little (read: no) context for your classroom culture, systems, and goals. New buzzwords and acronyms fly around schools all the time. Sometimes they can be a useful way to get everyone on the same page. However, more often than not, they can lead to a renewed energy around box-checking for the sake of pleasing district consultants instead of authentically serving teachers and students. Marcus and Jim are pleased to announce their top 5 picks for Worst Education Buzzwords of 2022. Snake Draft style. May the worst team win.

Thanks to Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music. Thanks to Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro.

Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Want to get a shout-out on the next episode? Tag us on Instagram or Twitter @thebrokencopier.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

How many students are allowed out of the classroom? What happens when you only let one student out at a time, but another teacher lets two? Should there be a difference between going out to your locker and going out to visit the nurse? What if one student is out in the bathroom, but another student suddenly needs to go fix their contact lens? This week, we talk about the idea of collective efficacy–how hard it can be for all teachers across the school to uphold and enforce rules in a consistent way. It’s much harder than it sounds, and can cause a real headache for everyone when things feel unfair. As we move out of the excitement and positivity from the beginning of the school year, the daily grind has set in, and the full weight of upholding all the rules all the time is starting to take hold.

NEW RULE! If you share a post on social media and tag @thebrokencopier, we’ll give you a shout out at the top of new episodes! Unless, you know, we aren’t as consistent as we’re supposed to be.

Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design, Casey Roberts for writing and recording original intro music, and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of, “Woodstock,” from their 2020 album, Garden, available now on Spotify.

Check out Tom’s work: uncivilizedtom.com

Email thoughts, ideas, and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Who is responsible when students fail? If students aren’t meeting the bar for learning, what should the response be from the teacher? What is the appropriate balance of accountability and opportunity, especially for taking a risk, when the stakes are so high for students? Now that they’re both treading water a little bit better with the start of a new school year, Marcus and Jim are happy to be back talking shop. In this episode, they react to the New York Times story of a Chemistry professor being dismissed because, according to students, his class was too hard. There’s a lot to think about here, but one thing seems pretty clear: we don’t seem to be aligned on grading standards even a little bit. Have a listen & let us know what you think!Link to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/us/nyu-organic-chemistry-petition.html

Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design, Casey Roberts for writing and recording original intro music, and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of, “Woodstock,” from their 2020 album, Garden, available now on Spotify.

Check out Tom’s work: uncivilizedtom.com

Email thoughts, ideas, and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim has had students for just over a week, and Marcus is getting ready to go back. They debrief how the first few days of school have been, talk about some tough in-the-moment decisions teachers have to make on a daily basis, and Marcus gives Jim a hard time about his beloved practice of covering textbooks in brown paper bags. Are you a textbook fan? Let us know! Jim apologizes for accidentally recording on the wrong microphone, and wants you to know it won’t happen again.

Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design, Casey Roberts for writing and recording original intro music, and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of, “Woodstock,” from their 2020 album, Garden, available now on Spotify.

Check out Tom’s work: uncivilizedtom.com

Email thoughts, ideas, and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

As another first day of school approaches, Marcus puts Jim on the spot with a new game: Wise or Unwise. Marcus shares some common advice that we’ve all heard about starting a new school year, and Jim shares his hot takes about them. They circle back to the omnipresent jeans debate, and Jim talks a little bit about his penchant for conspiracy theories.

Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design, Casey Roberts for writing and recording original intro music, and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s song, “Woodstock,” from his 2020 album, Garden, available now on Spotify.

Check out Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com

Email thoughts, ideas, and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim is able to sit down with one of his old friends from the St. Lawrence University admissions office, Mx. Sam Gradess. Sam has worked in education all over the world, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Afghanistan. Currently, they are a school leader at South Bronx Classical Charter School, serving students in grades K-8. Sam talks about how their experience abroad has shaped their work in New York, and reflects on their experience as a non-binary principal. Jim and Sam hash it out over the oft-debated jeans debacle, and put it to rest once and for all.

Thanks to Courtney Milavec for graphic design, Casey Roberts for writing and recording original intro music, and Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s song, “Woodstock,” from his 2020 album, Garden, available now on Spotify.

Check out Tom’s work here.

Email thoughts, ideas, and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com We hope to hear from you soon!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

It seems like every summer, teachers have to go through the same song and dance routine around standardized testing, what the numbers actually mean, and whether they made any impact whatsoever that year. Fun, right? Marcus & Jim sit down and talk through how they process getting test scores back every year, and offer up what they hope are some healthy ways to process the scores without feeling like a failure.

Episode links in bio.

Thanks to @courtney.milavec for graphic design, @bowieroberts for writing and recording original intro music, and @uncivilizedtom for allowing us to use his band’s song, “Woodstock,” from his 2020 album, Garden, available now on Spotify.

See Tom’s work here.

Email thoughts, ideas, and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com We hope to hear from you soon!

podcasts #podcastshow #teaching #education #hobby #edtech #audio

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Welcome to The Broken Copier, a conversation about teaching.

Marcus and Jim are excited to get back into recording after taking some time to redesign a bunch of aspects about the podcast. We think we’ve got some good systems up and running, and we’re excited to learn and grow as the show evolves. In this episode, we took some time to discuss the new law in Arizona, which allows people to teach even without a bachelor’s degree. We discuss our personal reactions to this, as well as what it might take to create strong, sustainable pathways into the classroom that don’t play games with the only chance students have at their public education.

Thanks to @courtney.milavec for graphic design, @bowieroberts for writing and recording original intro music, and @uncivilizedtom for allowing us to use his band’s original song, “Woodstock,” from his 2020 album, Garden, available now on @spotify. Recorded with @Riverside.fm. Email thoughts, ideas, and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com We hope to hear from you soon!

podcasts #podcastshow #teaching #education #hobby #edtech #audio

Garden link:

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

During teacher appreciation week, Jim published this essay called "Build the Compound." Marcus points out that compounds aren't exactly where young, idealistic, fresh new teachers want to spend their time, and for an essay in which the central thesis is that you should quit your job to be a classroom teacher, might not have been the smartest title choice. Jim agrees, and would like to take some time here to distance himself from the Marxist design aesthetics associated with compounds and other sorts of over-regulated government architecture. Still, they talk about this essay in this episode, and hopefully you like both!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

After a long hiatus from recording, Marcus and Jim are finally able to sit down and check in about how the school year is starting to wind down. They focus on some of the big picture reflections they've had coming out of this year, especially in regards to how students feel ownership and agency in the classroom decisions that impact their learning. Marcus attacks Jim for being too autocratic in his classroom, and not valuing what students think, say, or feel. They're still friends, though.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Mr. P is back! After strenuous negotiation with our record label, Brandon was granted paternity leave from the pod to help care for his new baby girl! On behalf of the entire @realPDpod family, we'd like to say congratulations to the entire Piasecki family - especially to the newest big brother in our fanbase, Langston. In the midst of balancing teacher life with dad life, Jim and Brandon are finally able to sit down and talk a little shop. Brandon shares some insight into how he approaches all the fun 5th grade science questions he gets on a daily basis with the long term goals of his curriculum (you know, why not stop a lesson to talk about how you could walk on water?), and shares a little insight into a well-known struggle for many teachers: how to balance the demands of being both a parent and a full time teacher.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Marcus & Jim sit down to talk about The Great Education Resignation. Teachers are quitting mid year, creating viral social media content about how to transition out of the classroom, and we're just getting the sense that after this school year is over, a lot of teachers are going to leave their jobs. We talk through how that's impacting our classrooms right now, what we think some of the causes are, and what - if anything - we can do looking ahead.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

After a short brush with viral Twitter fame, Jim heard from all kinds of different people. One of them was Joseph Maffey, who didn't email about the infamous bus tweet, but rather to let Jim know that not only had he listened to the podcast, but that he actually liked it! The two teachers are finally able to connect and talk about their classrooms, what's been going on in Joseph's district around mask policy, when and how to teach fiction, and the age old question of how you can hold a teenager's attention long enough for them to read an entire book. Enjoy!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

As many state legislatures are drafting and passing legislation aimed at requiring teachers to be more transparent about their curriculum, especially out of fears of indoctrination and the idea that teachers are "teaching Critical Race Theory," Marcus & Jim dive head on into a conversation about how they approach politics in the classroom. Should teachers talk about politics with students? When is it appropriate? What's the line between being authentic with yourself and allowing students to think for themselves? As always, feel free to reach out with feedback & follow us on TikTok & IG @realPDpod. Enjoy!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim and Marcus sit down with Dr. Chris Jones to talk about his run for Governor of Arkansas. After a viral campaign launch video that took Twitter by storm (currently with 5.3 million views), Dr. Jones has been clear that education in Arkansas is a top priority in his campaign. He's got a tough road ahead of him: he's running against Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House Press Secretary for President Trump, and daughter of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. But his calls for empathy, innovation, and systemic change are refreshing for two tired teachers. Dr. Jones shares about his journey in the classroom as a graduate of Morehouse College and MIT, as well as leading a 9th grade Algebra classroom of his own. He shares his vision for education in Arkansas, what he thinks the stakes are for this election, and the impacts that arguments about Critical Race Theory are having on students and teachers.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim and Marcus debrief the recent report from The Teacher Salary Project, "Teacher Salaries and Teacher Shortages: The View from the Classroom." They walk through their reactions and experiences around compensation in both rural and urban contexts, and discuss the role they think salary plays in teacher retention from both a systemic and personal lens. Since they recorded the episode on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, they also close with a reflection on how they approach talking about the day with their students, and how as white teachers they think about decolonizing and diversifying their own curriculum beyond single a single holiday or a single month.

Link to the report: https://www.teachersalaryproject.org/uploads/1/3/9/1/139153593/tsp-report-final.pdf

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Marcus & Jimmy catch up after all the hustle & bustle of the holidays, and discuss how they're thinking about their jobs in the midst of some really serious questions emerging about the relationship we should have with work itself.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim interviews Matt Wright, the Superintendent of the Marked Tree School District. Matt was Jim's principal when he started teaching in 2011, and has been a significant mentor for him throughout his career. In this episode, Matt shares some insight into how he led his district through the transitions around shifts to remote learning during the pandemic, and how he approached some critical decisions as a school and community leader during the onset of COVID-19.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim talks with his former Master's thesis advisor, Dr. Patrick Comstock, about his own journey in education and some of his current research on mindfulness in the classroom.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim & Marcus return to the conversation about pivoting from remote instruction.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jimmy, Brandon, and Marcus talk about their goals and mindsets as they go back in person into an uncertain school year.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim reconnects with his old college friend and track teammate, Whitney Koch, to talk about her journey in the classroom. Whitney dives into her own process of discovering her love of teaching a few years into her teaching career, some of the people who helped her along the way, and her current efforts teaching high schoolers about sexual health, identity, relationships, and wellness. They also discuss some of the overlap with literacy skills in science classrooms, and how Whitney thinks about her job as a literacy teacher in STEM.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Hosts Jimmy and Brandon dive deeper into their remote learning discussion (since there's a lot to talk about).

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Brandon and Jimmy reflect on their transition to remote learning, how that felt, and the ways in which they had to adapt during the pandemic.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jimmy welcomes Marcus Luther as another host to the show. They talk about some of the big things on their mind as they look to the fall after a year of remote learning, how the current political climate around education is shaping their thinking, and geek out a little bit regarding best practices for English teachers.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim interviews one of the people who first inspired him to become a teacher, and somebody who has always encouraged his journey in the classroom: Mr. Bonfiglio, his high school English teacher. Joe walks Jim through his own journey into the classroom, what it was like to be a teacher making less than $6,000 a year, what educational practices he thinks have staying power over the years, and why the classroom is such a sacred place.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Jim, Brandon, and Marcus describe what the podcast is all about.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Hosts Brandon and Jimmy introduce themselves & discuss what they want for the podcast.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com