The Broken Copier

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: [email protected].

Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)!

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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

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.

Here’s the link to one of the slide decks I used for this type of feedback!

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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

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 [email protected].

Thanks for listening!