New Teacher Talk

By Elizabeth Wilkins and Anna Quinzio-ZafranEducation

New Teacher Talk episodes

September 23Ep 224: A Veteran and a First-Year Teacher on Managing the Classroom
New Teacher Talk brings two generations of teaching into one conversation. Todd Leban, a 23-year veteran middle school educator in Oak Park, Illinois, joins his niece Abbey Leban, a first-year special education teacher serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Naperville, for a candid exchange on classroom management. Hosted by Dr. Beth Wilkins and Dr. Anna Quinzio-Zafran, the episode pairs seasoned perspective with a real-time account of navigating year one, so you get both the long view and the view from right where you are standing.
Todd's central lesson after more than two decades might surprise you: if it ain't broke, don't fix it can itself be the problem. The students in front of you are always different, so effective management asks for constant observation and a willingness to adjust. Abbey brings that idea to life from a first-year special education role, where she had to build her schedule around other teachers' timetables, hold multiple individualized approaches at once, and lean on routines as her steadiest tool. Together they land on the same truths from opposite ends of a career: consistency matters, flexibility matters, relationships carry you through the disruptions, and protecting your own wellbeing is not optional.
What you will take away:
Why what worked last year, or last semester, may not work now
Building individualized approaches alongside group systems like a simple star chart
How clear, predictable routines anchor students who need structure most
Communicating schedule changes in advance to keep student trust intact
Why relationships are the real foundation of classroom management
Pacing yourself instead of trying to over-impress, and leaving work at school
Todd closes with a line worth keeping nearby, attributed to Salvador Dalí: have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it.
If this episode gave you something to carry into your week, or there is a topic you want us to cover next, leave us a review. We read every one, and your feedback shapes future episodes.
#NewTeacherTalk #ClassroomManagement #TeacherWellbeing #SpecialEducation #NewTeacherSupport #FirstYearTeacher #VeteranTeacher #TeacherMentorship #K12Education #TeachingAcrossGenerations
13 min
September 21Ep 223: How to Get Involved
New Teacher Talk welcomes Abby Bartle, a fourth-year English teacher at Oswego High School in Oswego, Illinois, for an honest conversation about getting involved in your school community without running yourself into the ground. Hosted by Dr. Anna Quinzio-Zafran and Dr. Beth Wilkins, this episode is full of practical guidance from someone who has done a lot, running the school website, coaching, sponsoring clubs, tutoring, volunteering, and finishing a master's degree, and has learned where the limits need to be.
Abby walks through the many doors into school involvement, from coaching and sponsoring activities to simply showing up at student events like games, musicals, and poetry slams. She makes the case for committees and PLCs as a way to grow fast, sharing how joining a curriculum-rewrite committee in her first year became the best professional decision she made, even though it took time to find her voice among veteran teachers. She talks candidly about mentorship on both sides of the relationship, the realities of pursuing a master's degree, and how she funded hers through coaching. Throughout, she keeps returning to one idea: say yes on purpose, and protect the time that keeps you whole.
Abby’s Teacher-instagram account: @teaching_with_ms_b
What you will take away:
How to find coaching, club, and committee openings, and when to volunteer your way in instead
Why attending student events is one of the simplest relationship-building moves you can make
How committees and PLCs accelerate your growth alongside experienced colleagues
Making the most of mentorship, formal or informal, and eventually mentoring others
Practical thinking on a master's degree, from salary caps to summer classes
A burnout reset: name what is mandatory, what you enjoy, and what eats the most time, then adjust
If this episode gave you permission to be more intentional, or there is a topic you want us to cover next, leave us a review. We read every one, and your feedback shapes future episodes.
#NewTeacherTalk #NewTeacherSupport #TeacherBurnout #SchoolInvolvement #TeacherMentorship #PLC #FirstYearTeacher #WorkLifeBalance #TeacherCommunity #IntentionalTeaching
16 min
September 16Ep 222: Teaching in a Title 1 School
New Teacher Talk welcomes back Dion Copeland, National Board-Certified Teacher and Assistant Principal, for a conversation that reframes what it means to teach in a Title I school. Dr. Beth Wilkins and Dr. Anna Quinzio-Zafran set the stage around a deliberate choice: leading with an asset-based view of students and communities rather than a deficit narrative.
Dion starts by clarifying what Title I actually is, a federal funding designation tied to economic need, not a measure of student ability. From there he calls for a mindset shift, away from language like broken and at-risk and toward activating the potential already in the room. He lays out the professional profile that helps new teachers thrive: equity-driven practice, data literacy, adaptability, cultural competence, and instructional skill. At the center is his dual engine of student achievement, the idea that instructional rigor and relational trust have to run together. As he puts it, you cannot love students into poverty, but you can hold high expectations while supporting them through every mistake along the way.
Dion also reframes data as a flashlight, not a hammer, something that reveals who is being served and who is being missed, and he offers the PDSA cycle as a practical rhythm for reflection across the year. He closes by connecting Title I teaching to long-term career growth, drawing clear lines between classroom skills and organizational leadership.
What you will take away:
Why Title I signals economic need and resource allocation, not ability
The five competencies that make up a complete professional profile
How instructional rigor and relational trust work as one system
Using data as a flashlight to surface equity gaps, with the PDSA cycle as your guide
How the skills you build in Title I classrooms translate into leadership
Three questions Dion leaves you with: Which transferable skill are you developing fastest? How does your current data use support equity? And where is your biggest opportunity to shift from a deficit to an asset-based mindset?
Connect with Dion on LinkedIn, and follow New Teacher Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Instagram, and Bluesky.
#NewTeacherTalk #TitleI #AssetBasedTeaching #EquityInEducation #NationalBoardCertified #DataDrivenInstruction #TeacherLeadership #NewTeacherSupport #InstructionalRigor #RelationalTrust
14 min
September 14Ep 221: Managing Extreme Student Behaviors
New Teacher Talk welcomes Abigail Jarrett, an educator who specializes in managing extreme student behavior, for a candid conversation about what to do when a situation escalates past anything your training prepared you for. Dr. Beth Wilkins opens by naming something every new teacher needs to hear: when behavior reaches this level, it is usually not a reflection of your skill or your effort.
Abigail describes the scenarios that can feel like a new teacher's worst nightmare, a student throwing chairs, screaming, hitting classmates, or bolting from the room, and reframes them as communication. Behavior like this usually signals a student who is overwhelmed, dysregulated, or out of coping skills in the moment. Understanding that matters, but as Abigail is clear to say, safety always comes first. Drawing on a firsthand account from her own first-grade classroom, she offers five concrete strategies you can hold onto when things escalate, along with the prevention and repair work that happens before and after the hard moments.
What you will take away:
Why extreme behavior is communication, and why safety still comes first
How to stay calm and steady even when you are not feeling calm
The difference between misbehavior and crisis behavior, and how to tell quickly
Why relationships built before a crisis are your strongest prevention
How to debrief afterward in a way that builds skills instead of shame
Resources mentioned: The Explosive Child by Ross Greene, the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions model, and the behavior specialists, counselors, and special education teams already in your building.
If this episode gave you something to hold onto, or there is a topic you want us to cover next, leave us a review. We read every one, and your feedback shapes future episodes.
#NewTeacherTalk #ClassroomManagement #BehaviorSupport #CrisisResponse #NewTeacherSupport #StudentBehavior #TraumaInformedTeaching #CollaborativeProactiveSolutions #TeacherWellbeing #K12Education
10 min
September 09Ep 220: What Interleaved Practice Teaches Us About Real Learning
New Teacher Talk kicks off a special Science of Learning series with Dr. Ken King of Aurora University. In this first episode, Dr. King makes a case that may feel counterintuitive: the practice that feels easiest is often the practice that teaches the least.
The focus is interleaved practice, the strategy of mixing different problem types and topics together rather than drilling them one block at a time. Dr. King explains why blocked practice, like twenty fraction problems in a row or fifty free throws before layups, creates quick, visible improvement that can fool us. It looks like learning, but it often fades. Interleaving feels harder, students make more mistakes, and they frequently believe they are learning less, yet it produces stronger retention and deeper understanding over time.
Along the way, Dr. King unpacks the research behind why it works: how interleaving reduces discrimination errors by forcing students to compare similar concepts, how it builds storage strength by pulling information from long-term memory, and why these "desirable difficulties" lead to deeper processing. He closes with practical ways to bring it into your classroom at any grade level.
What you will take away:
Why strong performance during practice does not equal lasting learning
The difference between blocked and interleaved practice, and when each has its place
How mixing problem types forces students to decide what they are looking at before deciding how to respond
Grade-level examples for elementary math, middle school science, and high school English
A book recommendation to go deeper, Powerful Teaching by Agarwal and Bain
If this episode gave you something to try, or there is a learning-science topic you want us to cover next, leave us a review. We read every one, and your feedback shapes the series
#NewTeacherTalk #ScienceOfLearning #InterleavedPractice #EvidenceBasedTeaching #TeacherPD #InstructionalStrategies #CognitiveScience #NewTeacherSupport #PowerfulTeaching #TeachingStrategies
15 min
September 07Ep 219: Finding Your People in a New Building
Finding Your People in a New Building
Guest: Samantha "Sammi" Katschke
In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna present Samantha "Sammi" Katschke, district band director and music teacher at Chadwick-Milledgeville, about a challenge new teachers rarely get warned about: loneliness. You can know your content cold and still walk into a building unsure of who to turn to when a lesson falls apart or a day feels like too much. Sammi lays out where that support actually comes from, and how to build it on purpose.
In this episode:
Why new teachers can feel isolated even surrounded by colleagues, and why nobody hands you a map for who to ask
Staying connected to your undergraduate cohort, and why those relationships often become your first call when a lesson fails
What formal mentorship programs are actually for: gradebooks, technology systems, and the daily operational questions nobody else has time to answer
Why proximity matters: building relationships with the teacher next door or the colleague who shares your prep period
The case for face-to-face connection over purely online ones, and why some conversations need someone across a table
Building a network beyond your building: connecting with teachers in the same role across other schools and districts for repertoire, ideas, and perspective
The friendships from outside education that Sammi undervalued in college and now counts on
Staying in touch with former cooperating teachers and practicum mentors, and how those relationships can grow into long-term mentorship
Why this whole network isn't a nice extra, it's protection against burnout and a direct benefit to your students
Key takeaway
Finding your people in a new building doesn't happen by accident. It takes deliberate effort across several circles at once: your cohort, your mentor, your neighbors, your role-alike network, your non-education friends, and your former mentors, and building that support system is part of the job, not separate from it.
#FindingYourPeople #NewTeacherTalk #TeacherSupport #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #TeacherWellbeing #TeacherLeadership #K12Education
9 min
September 02Ep 218: Staying Calm and Staying Firm
Staying Calm and Staying Firm

Hosts: Dr. Beth Wilkins and Dr. Anna Quinzio-Zafran
In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna tackle the moment every new teacher dreads, the one where a student pushes and the whole room waits to see what you'll do. They reframe that test as a question rather than an attack, and show how the same core skills play out differently at every stage from pre-K through senior year.
In this episode:
Why a student testing you is rarely personal, and what they're actually asking: are you safe, are you steady, and do you mean what you say
Pre-K and kindergarten: the “you're not the boss” carpet standoff, and why a small choice beats a command with a flooded four year old
First and second grade: the warm broken record for the student who argues every direction like a tiny courtroom lawyer
Third through fifth grade: naming the eye roll or under-the-breath comment privately instead of publicly to protect a student's dignity and the relationship
Middle school: why defiance is almost always a performance for an audience, and why you should never hand a student a public stage to lose on
Deferring the power struggle instead of fighting on the student's schedule
High school: reading the quieter test, the head on the desk, the phone, the flat refusal, and why force backfires with older students
Getting curious, not controlling, and leading with respect to bring the wall down
The five-part through line that works at every grade: regulate yourself first, take the audience out of it, offer a way to save face, stay boringly consistent, and repair when you slip
Why an off ramp isn't letting students off the hook, it's the only kind of compliance that lasts
Why apologizing after you lose your cool builds authority rather than costing it
Key takeaway
Staying calm and staying firm isn't about never being tested, every good teacher is. It's about being the steady, predictable presence in the room when it happens, so students learn they can trust both your warmth and your limits.
#StayingCalmStayingFirm #NewTeacherTalk #ClassroomManagement #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #ClassroomCulture #TeacherLeadership #K12Education
12 min
August 31Ep 217: Two Teachers, One Classroom
Two Teachers, One Classroom
Guests: Leana Malinowsky and Paul Garcia
In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna introduce a conversation between Leana Malinowsky and Paul Garcia, two experienced co-teachers, about what it actually takes to make a shared classroom work. Leana, a teacher since 2008 and a structured literacy dyslexia specialist, and Paul, a 32-year special education veteran, built their partnership over five years of trial, error, and a dragon puppet named Furny. They break down the practical framework behind it: roles, routines, and respect.
In this episode:
How Leana and Paul's partnership began: a transfer to second grade, a full day co-teacher, and an adjustment neither had made before
The mindset shift that makes co-teaching work: "not your kids and my kids, but our kids"
Why Paul wasn't there just to serve special education students, and how that changed the way the classroom ran
The pandemic pivot: how a disengaged Zoom class led to Furny the dragon, and how that improvisation grew into a full classroom theme
The six co-teaching models from Marilyn Friend and Wendy Murawski: one teach one observe, one teach one assist, station teaching, parallel teaching, team teaching, and alternative teaching
Why "one teach, one assist" is often the default and why it quietly wastes a co-teacher's expertise
How alternative and station teaching let Leana and Paul group students by need instead of by IEP status
Paul's honest take on parallel teaching, including the real logistics of managing his own distractibility in a shared space
Why clear routines for transitions, materials, and cleanup make or break a co-teaching model
What general education teachers can do to welcome a co-teacher as a true partner, not an extra pair of hands
Why building a strong co-teaching partnership takes time, patience, and forgiveness, and why five years in, Leana and Paul are still refining theirs
Key takeaway
Co-teaching isn't about dividing a classroom in half. It's about two teachers sharing every student, building routines that make collaboration visible, and respecting what each partner brings, so students get more than either teacher could offer alone.
#TwoTeachersOneClassroom #NewTeacherTalk #CoTeaching #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #SpecialEducation #TeacherLeadership #K12Education
25 min
August 26Ep 216: Holding the Line on High Expectations
Holding the Line on High Expectations
Guest: Dr. Carla Braun, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning in Westmont Community Unit School District 201
In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna invite Carla Braun to dig into a belief every new teacher holds and every new teacher gets tested on: that all students can succeed. Carla draws on years of classroom observations across districts nationwide to show how good intentions quietly slide into lowered expectations, and what to do instead.
In this episode:
Why believing every student can succeed is easy to say and hard to hold onto in a difficult teaching moment
The tension Carla sees again and again: teachers trying to support students end up limiting them without realizing it
What "meet students where they're at" gets right, and how taking it too literally can stall progress instead of protecting it
A pattern Carla has observed in struggling schools: classrooms quietly teaching below grade level, like a third grade class working through second grade content
Why tier one instruction should always stay at grade level or above, and why it should make up the bulk of the instructional block
Breaking down the three tiers: tier one as grade-level learning for everyone, tier two as extra support built around grade-level content, tier three as targeted support to fill specific gaps
The Charlotte's Web example: why the answer to a struggling reader is scaffolding up, not swapping in an easier book
Concrete scaffolding techniques, including chunking text, highlighting key phrases, pre-teaching vocabulary, discussion pauses, and read-alouds or audiobooks
Treating scaffolds as temporary, built to be removed as students grow, not permanent accommodations
The roughly 1% of students for whom adjusted goals genuinely apply, and why that number is much smaller than most teachers assume
Why for the other 99%, lowering the bar is a limitation dressed up as kindness
Key takeaway
Students rise to the level of expectation set for them. Holding the line on grade-level instruction, and scaffolding up instead of differentiating down, is what turns high expectations from a slogan into daily practice.
#HoldingTheLineOnHighExpectations #NewTeacherTalk #HighExpectations #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #ScaffoldingNotSimplifying #TeacherLeadership #K12Education
10 min
August 24Ep 215: What Your Union Card Actually Means
What Your Union Card Actually Means
Guests: Dr. Amy Howerton, English Teacher and Department Chair, Oswego High School and Katie Popp, President of the Indian Prairie Education Association
In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna invite Amy and Katie to unpack what union membership actually does for a new teacher. Katie brings 23 years in education and seven as union president to the conversation, and together they move past the dues line item to show what's really behind it: contract protection, legal cover, mentoring, and a voice in decisions that shape a career.
In this episode:
What a union actually is: a collective voice working to improve conditions, benefits, and wages for its members
Contract enforcement and how unions work with administration to interpret language and resolve issues before they become problems
Legal and professional protection, including access to educational attorneys for situations like DCFS investigations, at no cost beyond dues
Mentoring and professional development, from virtual discipline-specific coaches to building mentors who help new teachers learn the culture of a school
Legislative advocacy at the state and national level, including the fight over Tier 2 retirement requirements and pension-Social Security protections
What changed and what didn't after Janus: no more fair share fees, but Illinois unions kept exclusive bargaining agent status
A concrete win: negotiating earlier paycheck distribution so new teachers aren't waiting until September 15 for their first check
Why nearly 99% of teachers in Katie's district are union members, and what pushes the rest to join
Building-level representation, professional learning communities, and cross-district networking as membership benefits new teachers often don't expect
Key takeaway
A union card isn't just a line on a pay stub. It's legal protection, a mentor, a voice in your contract, and a seat at the table, all working in the background before a new teacher ever needs to ask for help.
#WhatYourUnionCardMeans #NewTeacherTalk #TeacherUnions #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #EducationAdvocacy #TeacherLeadership #K12Education
19 min

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Are you a new teacher in an urban, suburban, or rural school? Or, are you an aspiring new teacher? We’re here to support YOU! This podcast channel is designed to help those new to teaching. We talk…

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