The Broken Copier

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: [email protected].

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: [email protected].

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 [email protected] or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

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: [email protected].

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

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 [email protected] or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

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: [email protected].

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

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: [email protected].

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

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 [email protected] or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!

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: [email protected].

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

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 [email protected] or leave feedback at fanlist.com/brokencopier.

Thanks for listening, and take care of yourselves!