Grab a notebook, because we?ve got a mini PD session coming at you for the next three episodes all about classroom discussions and ways to teach important speaking and listening skills. In part one, our focus is on possible goals and strategies for student-generated classroom discussions. As with many things, if you want to get the most out of it, you need to do it often!

You can tune in next week to hear how to troubleshoot challenges that come up in discussions.

This season is ?supposed? to be incredible and filled with Hallmark movie moments. But, when you add in COVID, flu season, work overwhelm, and pressure from family, it often ends up being super stressful instead. This year, we invite you to prioritize the things that are meaningful to you so that you can spark joy rather than dread over the holidays. Consider this our ?Marie Kondo Your Holiday Calendar? episode!

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/home/teacher-work-life-balance

There's so much to celebrate during the season of Fall. Pumpkins, apple picking, sweaters, lattes, and YOU. Today's episode is a reminder to take a breath, reflect on how things are going for you, and to indulge in the season by doing things that make you truly happy. We'll share our definition of self-care and why we like to focus on the small moments of joy throughout our day. Let us know how you're celebrating the season by sending us a message on Instagram @bravenewteaching!

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/home/teacher-self-care-for-fall

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/classroom-design-with-betsy-potash

Today's episode is a re-run of one of our very favorite episodes where we share the voices and ideas of some of our favorite teachers out there. We recruited six phenomenal English teachers to share their favorite ways of taking inspiration from the season to create engaging, challenging, and fun lessons for their students. We hope you are inspired by their ideas and can implement them in your classroom this season (or any time of the year, really!).

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If you haven't checked out our previous episode [episode 66] go check that out! This is part two of our banned books discussion. We're looking at what to do when the professional decisions you've made in regards to text selection are challenged by parents and/or administration. How do you respond without getting defensive? How can you be well prepared for questions you're bound to get throughout the year? We're covering it all!

REGISTER FOR THE FREE BNT FALL FESTIVAL ON TEACHING DYSTOPIA: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/dystopia

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/banned-books-part-2

In celebration of banned book week, we are addressing what our role is as a teacher when it comes to challenged books. In the first part of this two-episode series, we discuss the decisions we have to make when selecting texts, what to consider if a text or author is challenged, getting our students involved in the conversation, and more! 

REGISTER FOR THE FREE BNT FALL FESTIVAL ON TEACHING DYSTOPIA: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/dystopia

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/banned-books-part-1

It?s no secret that we are so passionate about inquiry. Inquiry is more than just questioning. It?s a whole view of how to approach teaching. Today we?re doing a deep dive into what inquiry is and what it isn?t, and why we use inquiry to drive curriculum. Better yet, we?re sharing how inquiry can decentralize the text and the teacher, and in turn allow students to take control of their own learning.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE BNT FALL FESTIVAL ON TEACHING DYSTOPIA: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/dystopia

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode65

As the great Ms. Frizzle says, take chances, make mistakes, GET MESSY! The same rings true when using a makerspace in your classroom. You name it, it?s possible in a makerspace. In this episode, Amanda is sharing how to get started with building a makerspace, simple materials you can use, and specific examples of activities to try out. She also walks through one of her favorite projects she implemented with her students and what both her and her students gained from it. 

REGISTER FOR THE FREE BNT FALL FESTIVAL ON TEACHING DYSTOPIA: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/dystopia

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode64

Does giving your students choice come easily to you? For some teachers it does, but for others it can be extremely difficult to release that control! Incorporating choice requires a major mindset shift as you learn how to navigate your students all doing something different. In this episode, we're showing you how you can allow students to have choice without letting go of having a central focus and common skill that everyone is learning.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE BNT FALL FESTIVAL ON TEACHING DYSTOPIA: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/dystopia

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode63

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.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE BNT FALL FESTIVAL ON TEACHING DYSTOPIA: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/dystopia

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode62

Listen to our most recent episode!

If you aren?t already on the dystopian band wagon, we?re fairly confident that you will be after this episode. We?ve taught dystopia for YEARS, and it hasn?t lost any steam along the way. Can you say that for other genres?

So, why is dystopia as a specific genre so gosh darn exciting? Why is it something we believe should be in every single ELA classroom? We couldn?t even begin to count the reasons, but to begin, it helps kids understand the society they are growing up in. More importantly, it allows them to begin to build their own options and questions around society. How cool is that?

Today we?re making three solid points on why dystopia is something you need to get behind. Tune in to hear us dive into each of these points:

2. It?s popular and engaging?hello Hunger Games!

3. It has limitless possibilities 

Join Curriculum Rehab: curriculumrehab.com/course

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode61

Kids have a magical way of looking at the world. Sadly, overtime this magic begins to dim. But what if it didn?t have to? What if you could play a part in holding on to that joy of discovery? Our guests today are going to help you do just that. We are joined by Ashley Bible, Jenna Cooper, Abby Gross, and Staci Lamb. They are the powerhouse team from Keeping the Wonder. 

Ashley, Jenna, Abby, and Staci connected in 2018 through a mutual love of teaching, engaging, creating, and learning. They have since hosted four live workshops, launched a library of virtual Keeping the Wonder sessions, and wrote a collaborative book that both informs and inspires. We?re so excited for you to hear this interview as they make a case for wonder, specifically in secondary classrooms.

Join Curriculum Rehab: curriculumrehab.com/course

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode60

Grab your pen and paper because you may want to take notes on the magic that happens in today?s episode. We?re doing a LIVE essential question workshop, which we haven?t done since last year (by the way, doesn?t last year feel like a decade ago?). 

The point of this workshop is for Marie to plan and prepare essential questions for an upcoming 12th grade literature course. The end goal is to help students begin to find ways to recognize all the various parts of themselves through characters in texts. 

Lucky for all of us, Amanda is absolutely incredible at writing and thinking through essential questions. Together we?ll talk through the themes we want to cover and the outcomes we want students to have as we craft an engaging and thought-provoking question.

The essential questions writing process is SO much more enjoyable when you can go through it with someone else. It truly is a process and you have to say the bad ideas out loud before you can get to the good ones! As you begin to create your own EQs this year, just keep in mind that students thrive on predictability and routine. In other words, keep it simple!

Join Curriculum Rehab: curriculumrehab.com/course

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode59

Imagine stepping into your classroom at the beginning of the new school year. What do you feel? Excitement? Overwhelm? Maybe all the Pinterest images you?ve been staring at all summer start to run through your head. Whether you?re stepping back into your old room, a new room, or your FIRST EVER classroom, it?s your space and it?s important to feel good in it. 

Before you go and make a zillion trips to the Target Dollar Spot, slow down and really think about what truly matters when it comes to your classroom. Do you really need those paper lanterns or more book boxes? If the answer is yes, then go for it! With so many distractions, the key is to be intentional and create a space that is functional. As we like to say, have your room do the work for you. If you have absolutely no idea what that means, don?t you worry. We?ll tell you all about it in this episode.

Just remember that decorating your classroom should be fun. But there?s also a lot of pressure. How you do, or don?t, decide to decorate your room does not make you a good or bad teacher.

Join Curriculum Rehab: curriculumrehab.com/course

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode58

Look, we?re not going to sugarcoat it.  Your first few years of teaching are TOUGH. It?s the beginning of a new career and it takes some time to find your footing. Don?t even get us started on the constant meetings that you can?t even pay attention to because you?re SO overwhelmed. There?s a reason why more teachers leave this profession in their first three years than any other point in their career. Those first three years are a make or break time. We want to help you prepare for it!

Hopefully you?re feeling excited about the upcoming year, but it?s also okay to be nervous! Or, if you?re anything like we were, you may be waltzing into your first year with the highest confidence thinking you know it all! Regardless of how you?re feeling about this new adventure, you need support as a beginning teacher. You need a mentor. But not just any mentor! You need someone who will help you focus on the practical things rather than all the fluff. 

PS - This conversation is just as relevant for veteran teachers. We are all responsible for taking care of new teachers. They are coming in with a fresh perspective, and we can all learn from each other!

Join Curriculum Rehab: curriculumrehab.com/course

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode57

Well hey there podcast besties! It?s been a hot minute, but we are back in action for season three and could not be more excited! Lately we?ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be brave. As teachers, there will likely come a time when you have to make big career decisions that aren?t easy to make. It takes a ton of bravery to envision yourself doing something other than being in the classroom. 

Over the past year, we have learned a lot and things have really been put into perspective. Today we?re sharing all about the fun (and maybe even a little scary) changes going on in our lives. Amanda has some especially BIG and exciting news! So push play and get brave with us!

Join Curriculum Rehab: curriculumrehab.com/course

SHOW NOTES: bravenewteaching.com/episode56

In this week's episode, we take a look back at the first year of Brave New Teaching & reflect a bit as we move forward to the end of this school year. We've learned, grown, and changed in surprising ways... Enjoy!

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This week's episode is a walk-through of the absolute best formative assessment you'll ever give your students. It asks students to synthesize their understanding of content, explain that understanding through concise writing, and can be adapted to ANY CONTENT AREA. That's right. Any subject. Enjoy!

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This week's episode takes more of our listener questions - this time about grading, the most enticing of all education topics - and answers them with philosophies, routines, and practices we employ in our own classrooms. Any grading conversation is just the tip of the iceberg, so let's dig in! Enjoy!

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This week's episode answers some listener questions about curriculum planning, specifically backwards planning. Here are some of our best tips, strategies, and habits to make backwards planning successful for you and your classroom! Enjoy!

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This week we have another unit recap, this time from Marie, talking through her unit where she teaches two Shakespeare plays... and not just any two plays - Hamlet & Macbeth! In one unit. Over the course of a month. Enjoy!

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We are back at it with another episode about Shakespeare, and this time we talk through some of the most commonly taught plays and the essential questions we explore when we teach them in our own classrooms! If you haven't registered for the FREE Shakespeare Teacher Festival, click here to do so!

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This week's episode is a re-run of one of our most-listened-to episodes - #16 "To Find Supplemental Texts." We've had so many conversations with colleagues and fellow teachers lately about how so much of our curriculum is getting lost in the shuffle of pandemic teaching, so we wanted to provide a good resource for materials! Enjoy!

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This week marks nearly one year to the day that lockdown from the COVID-19 virus began. On this episode, we hear from educators from all over about what they wish their communities, school boards, families, students, administrators, and politicians knew. If we have learned anything over the past year, it is that listening to, recognizing, and holding space for others is one of the most important things we can do as educators and as humans. Enjoy.

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This week 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!

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This week's episode is all about the Bard! We took listener questions about Shakespeare - planning, teaching, assessing, and more - and answered them in the nerdiest teacher way we could! PLUS a big announcement - registration is now open for the 2021 Shakespeare Teacher Festival (April 5-10, 2021). This free festival includes our best teaching tips & strategies for including Shakespeare in your classroom, and you won't want to miss it! Go to www.bravenewteaching.com/shakespeare to register!

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This week on the podcast, Marie is sharing her 3 best secrets for creating a unique culture and community among each class of students we have - EVEN THROUGH VIRTUAL LEARNING! Enjoy!

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This week's episode tackles the two big grading myths we teachers believe, and it gives you some great tips and strategies along the way for saving your time and energy. Grab a notebook and a pen, because you'll want to take some notes! Enjoy!

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**This episode had a sound glitch when we first uploaded - you might need to delete it, then download again for the correct audio ;) **

Today, we bring you yet another exciting COLLABISODE with listeners to the podcast! Valentine?s Day is a fun ?holiday? to celebrate in the classroom and we thought we?d bring some new ideas your way by handing off the microphone to six amazingly creative teachers. These six teachers have ideas that will help you brainstorm your own take on a Valentine?s celebration ranging from week-long kindness activities, to poetry lessons, and more!

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It's time for another episode in our series celebrating diverse voices - in celebration of Black History Month starting February 1, we have some author suggestions and teaching ideas for bringing your students more opportunity to hear a diverse collection of voices (even when you have prescribed curriculum!). Make sure to head to the show notes for links to all the resources we mention in the episode, including the FREE DOWNLOAD to use with your students! Enjoy!

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You asked and we delivered! These are a few of our favorite things - from tried and true weeknight dinners to our favorite novels to teach to seniors... This is an eclectic bunch of tips and favorites to be sure! Enjoy!

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This week we are all about pacing - not so much pacing a curricular calendar or even a unit, though... Let's talk about how to pace a single class period, from bell to bell.  Now, we can say goodbye to those end-of-class "Oh no! We didn't finish!" moments! Enjoy!

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Welcome to Season 2!!! We are so excited to continue this podcast with our AMAZING listeners and community! 

This week's episode is a timely one as we look ahead to the year that is just beginning, but not quite the cliche New Year's Resolution episode we've come to expect out of January - let's talk about being realistic in our classrooms, with our students, and in our lives outside of school... Enjoy!

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Today's episode is our first season closer, an open letter to this amazing Brave New Teaching community - WE SEE YOU. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! This episode is a re-run of one of our most popular episodes to date where we workshop essential questions for Marie's current school year. It is a raw and unfiltered work session where we throw things against the wall to see what sticks, and is a great window into our own creative process. Enjoy!

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In this minisode, we express how truly grateful we are for you, the Brave New Teaching Community! We also wanted to let you know about an opportunity that is coming up in just a couple days - the doors to Curriculum Rehab will open again for a limited time! Also, make sure you don't miss the HUGE Black Friday Sale we are having... Click the link below for more information!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

This episode is like a conversation with an old friend - warm, inviting, and thought-provoking in all the right ways. Symantha Outwater is in her 8th year teaching, and we discuss all sorts of topics from her early years in the classroom, to teaching at-risk populations, to her philosophy that teachers are there for "creating better humans." Enjoy!

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In this BONUS minisode, we share with you some of the ideas we have been discussing and using with our students to give them breaks from their screens while doing classwork. This is one of those moments where simplifying and giving students choice is really the best way to go!

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Buckle down - this episode is a long one and it is FULL of all the things we love to bring to your ears! Philosophy? Check! Practical strategies? Check! Real-life classroom examples? CHECK! Join us as we talk to educators Jeffrey Wilhelm and Christopher Butts about their extensive research and experience in the field of inquiry-driven curriculum, and their new book, Planning Powerful Instruction. Enjoy!

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This episode is the second in our series celebrating diverse voices and authors - in honor of Indigenous Peoples' Month, we bring you a long list of Indigenous writers to bring into your classroom. We discuss how we have incorporated the writers and texts we have in our own classrooms, ideas for pairing these texts with existing curriculum, and more. Enjoy!

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In this episode, we express our gratitude for YOU, our wonderful listeners!! We put our minds together and came up with 15 prompts & activities to use with students in order to foster gratitude - use them as they are, alter them to make them work for you, whatever! We use these prompts as bellringers during the first 3 weeks in November, but any classroom could use a little dose of gratitude at any point in the year!! Enjoy!

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We have another interview with an amazing educator - Kyle Etheridge, who began his teaching career with none other than out own Amanda as his teacher mentor. In today?s interview, Kyle recounts his journey through troubleshooting inquiry-driven curriculum design and teaching as well as an on the spot design of an essential question. Kyle and Amanda are totally honest about their struggles and successes in the classroom and offer some insight that can make your journey that much more inspired.

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In this episode we interview teaching powerhouse Iris Crankfield who is currently in her 23rd year of teaching high school English. This is one of those conversations that makes you feel like you've known the person forever, because everything she says is so poignant, insightful, and caring as she shares her experiences and lessons learned as a classroom teacher who holds her students to high expectations with warmth and empathy - we are sure you'll be nodding your head along as you listen. Enjoy!

GET YOUR GRATITUDE BELLRINGERS HERE

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In this week's episode we share our top 4 strategies for simplifying and streamlining classroom management. These are the strategies that have COMPLETELY CHANGED OUR CLASSROOMS FOR THE BETTER, and we are excited to share them with you! We also put these strategies into a handy pdf to keep on hand - head over to our show notes to get your hands on it!

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Today's episode is one of our favorite kinds because we get to share the voices and ideas of some of our favorite teachers out there. This month, we recruited six phenomenal English teachers to share their favorite ways of taking inspiration from the season to create engaging, challenging, and fun lessons for their students. We hope you are inspired by their ideas and can implement them in your classroom this season (or any time of the year, really!)

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On this episode we are joined with our good friend Amanda Werner from Amanda Write Now, who talks to us about her journey into practicing mindfulness regularly, introducing mindfulness practice with students, and all the ups and downs in between. Enjoy!

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This week's episode takes you through what we are both currently planning and teaching in our respective classrooms. We are dealing with the same essential question in completely different courses, teaching different materials and texts, but still using very similar techniques - namely, text pairings. There is a LOT here, so grab your notebook and enjoy!

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