First, Dr. Jason Martin calls the podcast to give his professional take on the previous episode's discussion regarding what makes a good apology. Dr. Martin is a professor of Marriage and Family Therapy and practicing psychotherapist specializing in couples therapy. He brings a wealth of knowledge in the field of relationships and talks about how people can help damaged trust through genuine contrition amends. He is also Kyle's older brother so he can also provide advice on how to give a good noogie

First year 9th grade English teacher Lily Auker joins the podcast once again to review her first semester as a full time teacher. She talks about what kinds of things she's learned, what she wishes she could do over and what kinds of changes she will make in the coming semester. The sexual harassment discussion from a previous episode is revisited and Lily gives her take on it as well as her own experiences being a female in a world full of immature 9th graders.

Seth and Kyle have a grand ole time chatting with Market Director for Big Brothers Big Sisters Abilene, Mark Rogers. Mark is also an expert in health and fitness and hosts the Simply Human podcast. Conversation ranges from appropriate sleep for students and how much better Mark is than Seth.

We interview Steve Schappaugh who is the Director of Community Engagement and National Tournament Director of Competition at the National Speech and Debate Association. We discuss how support organizations like the NSDA help engage communities and advocate for schools and the programs that most affect students at our schools.

The recent allegations and revelations of sexual misconduct at all levels of our society also affect those in education. Kyle and Seth discuss how teachers deal with these topics and how the culture at large effects the day to day lives of teachers and their ability to connect with students in healthy, appropriate ways.

Tress Kurzym is a former Texas High School theatre teacher who now lives in Illinois, just outside of St. Louis where she runs a business teaching theatre to kids and conducting corporate workshops. Kyle and Seth talk to her about her journey through theatre education and the challenges and joys of teaching theatre 1 to high school freshmen. 

For more information about Tress's business visit her website at www.stageplaylearning.com.

In this episode (the first part of the Hurricane Harvey episode we released on September 25) Seth, Kyle and Lily discuss how in the first few weeks of school, the honeymoon period of Lily's career as a high school freshman English teacher is coming to a conclusion. Seth and Kyle share their own struggles and strategies for classroom management over the years.

Seth and Kyle talk with educator Seth Rutledge who is piloting a new program in his Dallas, Texas area school district. The program encourages teachers to try new curriculums and lessons in classrooms that seek to connect with students in innovative and unique ways while also inspiring those teachers to grow in their craft.

Kyle and Seth talk with Tasha Kneis, a teacher at a high school in Corpus Christi, Texas who discusses the challenges and opportunities for schools affected by Hurricane Harvey, and returning to normalcy. 

Lily, as always, joins the podcast to recount the end of the "honeymoon phase" of her first year teaching.

On the second episode of The Finer Art of Teaching we get into a little bit of what we plan to accomplish in the first days of school, some lessons learned from a recent education conference we attended, and the importance of leadership in education.

Lily, first year teacher, joins us to fill us in on how her first week as a brand new teacher went.

We also discuss the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia and the implications of discussing tough, but important topics in the classroom.