The Broken Copier

Over time, school years can fold into each other, in a way, with each eventually becoming indistinguishable from the next. This is why the goal of this episode, quite simply, is to pause before the month of November comes to a close and ask a simple question: What has this school year taught us so far? For this reflective conversation, we invited on one of our favorites: Adrian Neibauer , a 5th gr...

“What happened to helping them interrogate what it means to be human?” In his book Teaching without Teaching , Scott F. Parker makes a case for re-centering teaching around core human values—and away from what he calls “the whole charade” of the transactional system students and teachers alike are too often confined within. In this conversation, Scott shares his observations and reflections from h...

There is a lot of conversation happening in education around the topic of AI—but is it the right conversation? Recently Stephen Fitzpatrick wrote a piece around this, arguing that instead of two different AI conversations in education that seem to be talking past each other, what we need “is a third conversation grounded in intellectual humility.” Today’s conversation attempts to be just that. A f...

This is the third episode of our new Unjammed series, with a topic that a lot of teachers still are struggling with in their classrooms: chronic student absences and the consequent empty desks in the classroom. In this episode, he shares how difficult it can be as a teacher to encounter so many of these “empty desks”—and in particular how much it takes as a teacher to build and maintain a classroo...

For our second episode of our new Unjammed series, the focus is on a pattern Marcus was noticing in his own responses in the classroom this school year: finding himself losing his patience a bit more quickly than in previous years. In this episode, he talks through what it is like to notice yourself as a teacher losing your patience in the moment as well as after the moment; what might be the reas...

After over twenty Kicking The Copier episodes that focused on specific teaching strategies and mindsets, we’re going to make a slight pivot this school year. While still designed to be shorter, single-topic episodes, this new Unjammed series instead will feature a specific stories around a problem in the classroom—not necessarily one that was necessarily “solved,” but rather one that led to a wort...

This is a conversation between two teachers who noticed the same thing early into this school year: it feels heavier than usual. After Adrian Neibauer wrote a piece in his newsletter around this idea, he joined The Broken Copier to reflect collaboratively with Marcus about how the school year is going, what is creating the “heaviness” they both are feeling, and moving forward what a lighter, more-...

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...