The Broken Copier

There is a conversation about reading happening in our country right now, especially in the world of education—a conversation that is undeniably shifting what is happening in schools for teachers and students alike.

What do we make of that “reading conversation,” particularly given the impact that it is having in so many directions?

To answer that question, Jeffrey Austin, a literacy consultant and former award-winning teacher, joins today’s episode to reflect on what has taken place in recent years around reading inside and beyond the world education—and how we potentially can have a better conversation moving forward.

To follow Jeffrey’s work, you can follow him on Bluesky or LinkedIn as well as his website, www.jeffreyaustin.org. Three other pieces referenced in this conversation are available here, too:

* “The End of Reading Is Here” in The Atlantic by Rose Horowitch

* “The Claims of Close Reading” in The Boston Review by Johanna Winant

* The Rachael Reading Policy newsletter by Rachael Gabriel

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: [email protected].

Perhaps in this moment more than ever, there is a lot of conversation around grades and grading policy in our schools—in all sorts of directions, too, from Harvard faculty voting to place a cap on A’s to the University of Michigan withholding letter grades for their incoming class of freshmen, instead using a pass/fail system for the first semester.

So it felt like the right time to have a conversation around grading.

Joining this episode around grading is Susan Blum, an anthropology professor at Notre Dame and the author of many books around education and learning—including most recently Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic, Joyful Learning.

In this episode, Susan shares about her own journey away from traditional grading, her perspective on what is happening with grading in this moment, and what a potential better path forward could look like.

To follow Susan’s work, you can find more at her website www.susanblum.com as well as her Substack newsletter Susan D Blum Muses. Along with Schoolishness, these other two books by Susan might also be of interest for listeners to this conversation:

* Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead)

* “I Love Learning; I Hate School”: An Anthropology of College

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: [email protected].

What is your most important word going into this new school year?

Today’s reflection is one potential answer to that: signals.

In particular, the way that we are in a “messy” signal-sending environment in this education moment—around AI and all other things. What can be received quite-positively by one person might be taken the opposite way by someone else, no matter the intentions behind what was communicated.

The problem, though, is that the response by some to this complicated environment around communicating with each other is a retreat from conversation. Communication is really difficult right now, so people might be communicating…less.

Which is perhaps an even bigger problem.

For the comments, what is your “most important word” for this upcoming school year—and why do you say 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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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 Robot by Samantha St Lawrence Collins

* Unmasking the humanity in the Humanities by 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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].