The Broken Copier

With the school year underway, the word “assessment” is front-and-center in many classrooms—so what can we do as teachers to shift our thinking and practices around assessment to be more responsive to and uplifting for students? In today’s conversation, high school math and science teacher Melissa Dean joins to talk all things assessment—sharing her own surprising journey into the classroom, how s...

In his newly-released book Learning Environment , Jared Fox writes, “I found that incorporating my passion for the natural world into the classroom was always worthwhile.” This is fitting, as the book explores the many ways that the classroom environment itself can be reimagined—including beyond the physical walls of the classroom!—and in doing so reminds us how necessary it is to pursue a “passio...

With a new school year just getting underway for some and about to begin for others, it is a time of hoping and imagining for what the classroom can become—but what happens when reality hits? How do you hold onto those initial hopes and imaginations as a teacher throughout the day-to-day grind of the school year? In this Kicking The Copier episode, Marcus makes the case for picking a date approxim...

In this current moment, there are perhaps few things more valuable for students than the ability to confidently and skillfully navigate conversations. So how do we make those conversations a reality in our classrooms? Today’s guest has some ideas. Not only is Joe Ferraro in his third decade of teaching, but he also has hosted three-hundred conversations on his podcast One Percent Better and now co...

In this Kicking The Copier episode, Marcus shares his current thinking and plans for AI as a teacher heading into this new school year with six things he either is or is not going to do—at least for now. The goal of this reflection is not to suggest what the “right answer” is for any other classroom or context regarding AI. Rather, it is shared in hope that we can move toward more teachers sharing...

Almost every teacher wants their classroom to be a place where discussion amongst students thrives . Yet the reality is, unfortunately, that classrooms do not always live up to that vision of what they can be in terms of academic, purposeful discussion on a regular basis. Today’s conversation is with Matt Kay, a veteran teacher and coach and also the author of a book on this subject: Prompting Dee...

In the previous episode , Jim and Marcus shared about their own experiences with Teach For America —both their motivation for entering into teaching through this program and then their experiences as corps members over their first two years of teaching in rural Arkansas. That led to this second part of the conversation, which this episode features: a back-and-forth about different critiques of Tea...

Jim’s back! And he wasted no time in recording a two-part episode that has been on the docket for some time: a conversation about Jim and Marcus’s experiences coming into teaching through Teach For America and then, in follow-up episode that will come out later this week, about how they feel about Teach For America’s broader impact on education. In this initial part of the conversation, both Jim a...

What can a school be? This is a question that today’s guest Carla Meyrink has had to consider constantly since co-founding The Community For Learning in 1998, a school Carla and two others started in Santo Domingo to live out the values of education they believed were best for students. In this conversation, Carla shares about how The Community For Learning school began and the ways they continue...

Last month Tyler Rablin wrote a blog post with a quite-lengthy title: “The Bandaids and Backflips of Surface-level Equitable Grading Practices That Avoid Meaningfully Equitable Grading Reform” That thought-provoking and important post on grading led to this conversation: a discussion that ranges across numerous “grading topics” such as minimum grades, late penalties, and retakes—and considers grad...

With the help of several really thoughtful questions from listener and readers—including some from those about to go into the classroom for the first time this upcoming school year!— Adrian Neibauer and Marcus had a chance to reflect on their own perspective as teachers and offer advice on several different topics: * How to establish systems in the classroom, what to do if they aren’t working— and...

A lot of education conversations focus on what is happening in elementary schools and high schools, along with whatever is driving discourse in higher education at the given moment. What gets left out of the conversation too often? Middle school. Fortunately, today’s conversation is with award-winning middle school teacher Joe LaTorre and his vision of what middle school can be for students in the...

Larry Ferlazzo has been a leading voice in education for quite some time. With a weekly advice column for Education Week , 13 different books on education (and a 14th in the works!) as well as his own blog on teaching , Larry has again and again offered guidance and shared his perspective with educators in myriad ways as an award-winning classroom teacher who always centers that classroom perspect...

There is a ton of conversation out there about AI in education right now—but too often, very little of that conversation centers the exploration and learnings of actual teachers from their own classrooms. That is why this conversation is built entirely around the work of Brett Vogelsinger, a current teacher with over two decades of experience in the classroom who just published his second book: Ar...

For our 20th (!!!) Kicking The Copier episode, the focus is very much singular: the importance of being transparent as a teacher, particularly in your classroom with your students. Not only because of the consequences of failing to be transparent, but more importantly because of the rewards that come with doing so. (Especially in the closing stretch of the year!) As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo...

Teacher Appreciation Week 2025 is here! With that in mind, we wanted to have a conversation around what exactly it means to be a teacher in this moment. Joining that conversation? Chanea Bond, a teacher who has for some time now been an influential, important voice amongst teachers all over—advocating for what students need and deserve, and challenging educators to rise the occasion of our work. I...

Recently, Adrian Neibauer wrote a reflective piece about his experience with standardized testing that began with these words: I’m a hypocrite. In today’s episode of The Broken Copier , he shares more about the conversation with his own children that resulted in these words—along with the myriad, contradictory feelings he has about testing in this current moment. Also: how do you feel as a teacher...

After opening with a note of gratitude for our listeners and readers, today’s Kicking The Copier shares a simple, powerful strategy you can use at any time as a teacher: a classroom pulse check. Five minutes of classroom space, way more than five minutes of impact. As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also T...

In January 2021, Nick Covington was a social studies teacher in Iowa fully-immersed in his classroom and students. Successful, purposeful, and thriving. A year later, after being swept up into the culture war against educators and facing targeting and harassment for doing his job , he handed in his resignation later in February 2022. Once he finished out that school year, Nick moved into his posit...

The little solutions in the classroom can often create big impacts for the classroom—and today’s Kicking The Copier is very much one of those examples: a simple question you can begin occasionally including as a teacher to better support students in the way they deserve to be supported. As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Cop...

The idea of “100% engagement” is a loaded one in education, particularly when it comes to the expectations and implications for the classroom. Adrian Neibauer tackled this idea with conviction but more importantly humility in a recent post on his Substack called “The Scary Teacher” —and he was generous enough to hop back on The Broken Copier to expand on this reflection and discuss his views on th...

Today’s conversation is with Courtney Eddleman and Don Sturm, two educators who have been an integral part of an ongoing, district-wide partnership with MagicSchool AI. Rather than asking teachers to navigate this potential paradigm shift with AI on their own, Courtney and Don share a much-different experience that is taking place right now in their school district— including the feedback they hav...

Today’s conversation features John Warner , author of the new book More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI —a book that explores how ChatGPT and other large language models force us to reconsider what writing means in education and, more broadly, in society overall. (Also: this conversation ends with one of our favorite ever shout-out’s to a former teacher since starting this...

Sometimes our Kicking The Copier episodes are more teacher-centered in terms of habits and strategies—but today is very much the opposite: a specific, student-centered strategy that you can use tomorrow in the classroom, if you want! (Seriously: Marcus uses this pretty much every day in some sort of way, no matter the class. Try it out!) As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former stud...

For our 16th Kicking The Copier episode—our continuing series focused on specific mindsets and strategies that can be helpful for teachers and educators—Marcus shared about a ritual that he has come to find considerable value in each year as a teacher—and why he believes finding and leaning into rituals as a teacher can be incredibly affirming and restorative especially within the grind of a schoo...