A look back at the year to see what sticks out. Observations, mysteries, gripes, frustrations, warm fuzzies. Probably more interesting than this sounds. Happy New Year!

It’s the end of the year and we’re making our lists for Santa. What do we want/need to make our teaching better and our jobs easier. Not a tech toy list, but a meta letter to Santa. What do you want Santa to leave under your tree this Christmas?

Mentioned in podcast:

Richard Feynman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman

Steve Wozniak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak

Presentation Zen, Garr Reynolds http://www.presentationzen.com

You start class and something is off. You try a reliable trick…and it flops. It doesn’t get better. We’ve all been there. Looking at those classes when it seems like you can’t catch a break, what you can do to prevent them, and what to do when drowning seems imminent.

Tablet or laptop? Which is the best tool for the classroom teacher? Spoiler alert: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . It still comes down to a whole lot of “it depends,” but it’s more complicated (and fun?) than you’d think. What’s your take?

The tools and workflows we use or have tried to help us cope with the many different kinds of writing we need to do in our teaching. From pens to Siri, from simple notes to dissertations, we try to cram it all in. See the web page for more info. https://twoteacherstalking.org

An attempt to identify and unravel the many ways our biases can affect what happens in the classroom. And then what to do about it. With special guests, the cicadas!

A leisurely lightning round (!) of things we learned or were reminded of in the past year or so. Pretty frank and honest introspection and coming clean on things forgotten, unknown, and re-learned. We both think this is a good one. Hope you agree–and let us know.

Mentioned: Taylor Mali on what teachers make (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGKm201n-U4

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Musings on why most classes are still being taught the old way and why change is so difficult to bring about.

Description - Questions we wish students would ask, the questions they do ask, and enough sidetracks, ratholes, and diversions to bring it all together. Kinda.

Trying to apply lessons learned from past years’ mistakes to make the coming year the BEST EVER. Trying, anyway.

Mentioned: Episode 69, 12/1/2015, Past our expiration date or improving with age?