The Broken Copier

There is a conversation about reading happening in our country right now, especially in the world of education—a conversation that is undeniably shifting what is happening in schools for teachers and students alike. What do we make of that “reading conversation,” particularly given the impact that it is having in so many directions? To answer that question, Jeffrey Austin, a literacy consultant an...

Perhaps in this moment more than ever, there is a lot of conversation around grades and grading policy in our schools—in all sorts of directions, too, from Harvard faculty voting to place a cap on A’s to the University of Michigan withholding letter grades for their incoming class of freshmen , instead using a pass/fail system for the first semester. So it felt like the right time to have a conver...

What is your most important word going into this new school year? Today’s reflection is one potential answer to that: signals . In particular, the way that we are in a “messy” signal-sending environment in this education moment—around AI and all other things. What can be received quite-positively by one person might be taken the opposite way by someone else, no matter the intentions behind what wa...

Today’s Broken Copier conversation centers around the idea of teacher agency—the trust and freedom afforded to teachers to make choices in designing and facilitating the learning that takes places in their classrooms. Joining this conversation is Dylan Kane , a National Board Certified Teacher in Colorado who has written extensively about his work in the math classroom on his Substack Five Twelve...

With a new school year on the near horizon for many teachers across the country, we’re taking a bit of a pivot with today’s Broken Copier episode: a brief reflection on the tendency in education to focus on and celebrate what is new—sometimes in a way that leads us to take for granted what is already good. And a reminder, too, that what makes something good is what ultimately matters, no matter ho...

There are many conversations happening in education around AI, but what impact are those conversations actually having on the classroom? And is there a way to make these AI conversations better for students and teachers alike? In this conversation, teachers Mike Burns, Sam Collins, and Matt Hicks join The Broken Copier to talk about a unique conference next week— Humans First: Adolescent Education...

A lot of the discussion around AI in education is around the idea of widespread adoption and integration: teachers using AI to enhance their own planning and preparation; students experiencing it as a tool to potentially support their learning; assessments integrating AI-driven scoring and feedback to improve efficiency. Of course, there is little consensus around any of this—and in many cases, qu...

Students walk into the classroom as individual learners, and every single student deserves to not only “access the learning” but to feel included and empowered. Unfortunately, this does not happen in nearly enough in our classrooms —but there are things we can do to move in a better direction. Dr. Nicholas Emmanuele has been teaching high school English since 2007, mainly co-teaching in inclusive...

Without question, it is immensely important to build connections and community in the physical spaces where you work. However, for many teachers and educators—including those who may have stumbled across The Broken Copier !—there is also an online education space, one to not only navigate but to potentially learn from and build connections. This space, though, has shifted considerably in recent ye...

Yes, we can always talk more about what can be done in classrooms to better support students—but what about those doing the supporting? Those looking for not just learning but leadership? Especially in these uncertain times? This is an episode that centers that focus on the way teachers and educators move through our work. Angela Stockman is a writer who also brings decades of experience as a teac...

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 conve...

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 sec...

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. I t 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...

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—...

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 invitati...

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 definit...

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 c...

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 conversati...

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...

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 g...

After a couple quieter months, we are back and rolling with The Broken Copier. Today’s Unjammed episode is built around a simple-if-implausible idea: what happens when teachers are given enough time to do their work. It’s not just about having enough time to complete all the items off the to-do list, either. (Though that does matter!) More importantly, it’s about what it means for teachers to step...

The conversation about reading across education has taken a front-and-center position in many places, so it felt like the right time to have a conversation about it—especially since Adrian Neibauer recently wrote a thoughtful reflection on the topic called “The Sanctity of Literacy.” In this conversation, Marcus and Adrian talk about their experiences as teachers of reading in their respective cla...

Given that we are at the finish line of a very-busy 2025 with The Broken Copier , the goal of this short episode is first and foremost to express gratitude for what has been an incredible year of conversations and community-building—and also to share an update that over the next few months, we are going to slow down just a bit. 2025 was an incredible year with The Broken Copier , yet the pace we’v...

It is a very easy word to say in education, right? Full-stop: everyone wants to be supported and everyone wants to be supportive . However, making that support a reality that is experienced and sustainable in our classrooms and schools? For students and teachers alike? Much more complicated. Today’s conversation with Nathan Parham is 100% about this. Nathan is in his first year as a special educat...

The Broken Copier began a little over three years ago with a very simple idea: we wanted to uplift the type of conversations that happen so often between teachers in the margins of the school day: in the hallway between classes; in each other’s classrooms after the school day ends; in the faculty lounge while trying to collaboratively finagle a solution to far-too-frequently broken copiers. This i...