Brave New Teaching: A Podcast for High School and Middle School Teachers

Teaching and learning is not a one-size-fits-all, which is why we need to redesign our classrooms in order to meet the needs of all our students. Today’s guest will give you a dose of inspiration to help you thrive in today’s teaching climate. Kareem Farah, co-founder of the Modern Classrooms Project, is a former teacher who recognized the need for a teaching model that meets the diverse needs of...

Let’s paint a picture of a scenario that most of us have likely been in at one point or another. You have a list of literary terms that you want your students to learn. You’re teaching them over and over (and over) again.  You’ve given them the lists. You’ve played Kahoot and Jeopardy. You’ve done all the things, and yet, your students still can’t analyze literacy terms. Sound familiar? Well, have...

Brave New Teaching friends, you are in for a treat (and lots of laughs) today! We have Gaspare Randazzo on the show. Gaspare is a history teacher and comedian who you may know from TikTok or Instagram.  Gaspare shares his journey that led to teaching high schoolers, the importance of connecting with your students, and how his teaching experience has prepared him for stand-up comedy. Without a doub...

We recently hosted a live training session with members of the Brave New Teaching community and let’s just say, it was pretty awesome! During this training, we focused on teaching and guiding students through the process of synthesis writing. So today in this podcast episode, we’re bringing you part of that live session. You’ll hear us talking through writing a prompt, using essential questions, a...

Using picture books is one of our favorite strategies for opening up a unit or individual lesson. Without fail, it always  sparks interest and gets students excited to learn about the topic at hand! Tune in to hear us walk through a lesson plan using one of our favorite picture books to introduce a unit in Dystopia. Not only is leveraging picture books a way to level up your engagement, but it is...

What time is it? Dystopia time! We all know how important it is to engage our students with relevant and thought-provoking content, and dystopia is the perfect genre to do just that. Today we’re sharing three secrets to teaching dystopia that will help you get the most out of your units.  It’s not just about reading dystopian novels. Dystopia is a great opportunity for our students to dig deep, th...

Many of you have been eagerly waiting for us to dive back into the dystopian genre. You don’t have to ask us twice! We love any excuse to geek out over dystopian literature and that’s exactly what we’re doing today. We have a fresh book list update for you to help you rethink some ideas moving forward in your own dystopia units. Whether you’re looking for something that’s an all-class text, studen...

A few months ago, we sent out a listener survey to get a feel for what you wanted to hear more of on the Brave New Teaching podcast. The overwhelming consensus was that you wanted detailed lesson advice. We hear you and we’re ready to deliver with our new “lesson plan rescue” series! Today we’re zoning in on one of our favorite things to talk about - close reading. Have you ever been in a situatio...

It’s time for another reading update! We’re sharing what we read (and loved) this summer, and what we plan to read this fall. These updates seem to help us keep up with our reading and we hope it does the same for you. We have a variety of recommendations today from historical fiction, YA, and fantasy, to plays and musicals. You can see our recommendations below or shop our full lists here and her...

Whether you’re a first year teacher or a teacher with 20+ years of experience, we all make mistakes throughout the school year. These mistakes ultimately teach us how to pivot and do things differently in the future. We’ve made our fair share of mistakes, and today we’re sharing four that made specifically during the back to school season. From comparing student rosters to giving too much informat...

Happy back to school season, brave new teachers! This episode is kicking off season six of the podcast, and we’re introducing a new episode format. We’re diving into one of our favorite types of episodes to record…unpopular opinions! This time it’s hot takes about the back to school season. You may or may not agree with these opinions, but we will have explanations to back them up! Plus, today’s n...

It’s sad, but true. Camp BNT is coming to a close with this episode (at least for this year!). We’re wrapping things up with a debrief from our interview with Elizabeth Acevedo, author of Family Lore . If you haven’t already heard that episode, run and listen to it now!   You’ll hear us think through ideas in real time of how to use Elizabeth’s novels in your classroom. With a range of students, i...

When we started this podcast at the beginning of 2020, it stemmed from a desire to create a space for like-minded teachers. We wanted to have the conversations that you craved, but might not be getting at your schools. It’s turned into something bigger than we ever could have imagined. We appreciate you doing things to support this show like listening every week and leaving your reviews on Apple P...

Camp BNT is still going strong! If you’re new to this summer series, we have interviewed several authors to uncover highlights, takeaways, and reflections to help us have a more intentional approach to creating culturally responsive and equitable classrooms. Last week we interviewed the incredible Dr. Deonna Smith, author of Rooted in Joy: Creating a Classroom Culture of Equity, Belonging, and Car...

This summer, we’ve been having a blast at Camp BNT , where we’ve been hard at work looking at different ways to approach our classrooms in a way that honors culturally responsive teaching. Our series of interviews with authors have helped us to understand how we can serve our students and communities in ways differently than we’ve done before. Today we’re joined by another incredible author, Dr. D...

This week we're bringing you a rerun from very early in the podcast to help refresh our minds on some strategy.  Amanda had the pleasure of interviewing Betsy Potash from Spark Creativity . Their conversation centers on hexagonal thinking, and you'll want a pen and notepad handy for this one - so many good ideas!! Enjoy! CLICK HERE FOR SHOW NOTES "Send us a message - please include...

This summer we’ve been busy running the best summer camp around… Camp BNT! We’ve had the opportunity to host several authors on the podcast during this series, followed by a debrief episode with our takeaways and actionable ways that you can use each text specifically. It’s all part of our mission to support you in your culturally responsive and equitable teaching practices. If you are just now jo...

Inside episode 159 , we interviewed author and educator, Jo Chrona. This week, in true Camp BNT fashion, we are sitting down for a formal debrief of that conversation. We spent time talking to Jo about her why, her background, and her book, Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies – An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education 2022 . It’s a must read for non-Indigenous educators who are new to the c...

Did you know that British Columbia is home to the largest number of First Nations in the entire country? There are more indigenous languages spoken there than in the rest of Canada combined. We learned this and so much more from our interview with Jo Chrona. Jo is an educator, author, and advocate for indigenous education and is here to share her wealth of knowledge and experience with us. Through...

Have you listened to episode 157   yet? If not, go check that out before listening to this one! Inside that episode, we interview middle grades author, Diana López.  During our conversation with Diana, we discussed her career as a former middle school teacher, how she became an author, and how her stories were born from her own experiences growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas.  We also got to hear...

We’re knee-deep in our summer series, Camp BNT, where we interview authors and highlight ways to use their texts in your classrooms. Today’s interview is with Diana López who writes books specifically for middle school grades (which is most definitely not our specialty!) .  Diana is a former teacher like other authors we have connected with this summer. She shares in our mission of getting books i...

It’s time for a debrief of our incredible conversation with author, Yamile Saied Méndez. Didn’t hear the interview yet? You can catch up inside episode 155!   During Yamile’s interview, we focused on her young adult novel, Furia, a powerful coming-of-age story. Today we’re sharing our thoughts on the interview, details of Furia, and ways that you can teach it in your classroom. Specifically, we’re...

We are back with a new Camp BNT interview with the author of Furia , Yamile Saied Méndez. Yamile discusses the importance of representation in literature and why she created a strong female protagonist who defies expectations in her book. We found it so inspiring to hear about Yamile's journey to becoming an author and how she draws from her personal history to create compelling stories that...

Did you catch our two part interview series with New York Times Bestselling Author, Ruta Sepetys? If not, you can check out part one in episode 152 and part two in episode 153.  (Quick update: I, Amanda, have since met Ruta in real life on her book tour!) Now that the interview is over, we are dedicating this episode to two main things - a full debrief and to strategize how you can practically int...

Have you ever wondered how authors research and organize their ideas before writing a book? In part two of our conversation with Ruta Sepetys, we’re getting a glimpse into her writing process and so much more.  If you missed part one, you can catch it here ! Ruta shares how she gets her inspiration, how much time she spends researching, and even admits that her rough drafts are exactly that…rough!...