The Broken Copier

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: [email protected].

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!

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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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 Poulsen believes 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 Times by 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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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, Teacher and 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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].