NEW YEAR AT BNT: New Perspectives on Teaching and Education [Ep 242]

Starting a new year in education means facing fresh challenges (and opportunities) with a renewed mindset. In this episode, we’re diving into how ELA teachers can thrive amid changing expectations and pressures.

From prioritizing self-care to balancing the demands of teaching, we’re sharing practical strategies to help you navigate today’s complex classroom dynamics. We’re also unpacking how setting boundaries and fostering strong professional relationships are KEY for self-preservation in the teaching profession.

We’ve got tips for you on making timeless texts more accessible and relevant, like focusing on universal themes and providing modern supplements! Plus, we’re discussing the importance of proactive parent communication - because keeping families in the loop can prevent misunderstandings and build strong partnerships!

Want to dig deeper into how to implement these new perspectives? Join us in our Happy Hour community!

Show Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode239

Related Episodes:

• Episode 128, Unit Makeover: The Great Gatsby
• Episode 115, Unit Makeover: Transforming Frankenstein with a Novel in Verse
• Episode 107, Teaching Short Stories: Unit Makeover
• Episode 158, Modern Folktales: A Debrief & Unit Overview

Purchase your copy of Role Call here and then be sure to claim your free bonus here!

Transcript

Automatically Transcribed With Podsqueeze

Amanda 00:00:06  Here at the Brave New Teaching Podcast. We are always looking for the newest, most engaging and fantastic books for you, the teachers, to step up your game and enhance your practice. And we have a brand new book recommendation for you that we just couldn't wait for an entire episode to share. If you are looking for a professional development book that's going to serve you over this winter break, or maybe even as a gift to a fellow educator, we have got your next recommendation. You need to check out Roll Call by Dr. Jenna Cooper. As you know, Dr. Jenna Copper is one of the greatest friends we have over here at the podcast. You have downloaded her interview with Marie almost more than any other episode. So I know that a lot of you have heard Jenna and her work and what she's up to. So not only should you listen to that episode, But you need to check out Jenna's brand new book. This book is phenomenal. And as you know, Doctor Cooper is an education professor and former English teacher, so she's in everything from teaching students to teaching teachers.

Amanda 00:01:14  And she has written The Ultimate guide to creating lessons that will really and truly captivate your students while still meeting those all important standards. This book roll call is packed with practical strategies and innovative ideas that will transform your classroom, and for a very special bonus time. Jenna is offering an exclusive perspective plan toolkit absolutely free when you purchase Roll Call. It's going to be so awesome, and you are going to love all of the new ideas that you that you get. you can bet you can buy Jenna's book right now on Amazon, so head over to Amazon.com, find your copy of Roll Call, and then once you have your order, you're going to go to Roll Call bonus. That's roll call bonus or head to today's show notes and claim your free perspective plan toolkit. It's a freebie right now. When she's launching her book for the very first time, it's not going to linger around for very long. Your students will thank you, and you're going to thank you, because this is going to make you feel good about teaching and really amp up your energy.

Amanda 00:02:35  We're so excited for you to read it yourselves and let us know what you think. Talk to you soon and enjoy the show.

Marie 00:02:44  Well, hello and welcome back to Brave New Teaching. Hello, my friend Amanda.

Amanda 00:02:48  Hi, Marie. I can't believe we're already at episode for part four out of four. From this little series, I know.

Marie 00:02:56  Welcome back everybody. if you have missed any or all of the first three parts of this little New Year's series that we have, it's all like New Year. The first one was New Year, new books. The second one was New Year, New Tech. And then last week we had new year, new strategies. And here we've got new year, new perspective, perspectives, especially as teachers of literature as we are both English language arts teachers. There's just a lot of things going on in the world and in the United States, and just in life that are heavy and weighing, and we could use a little refresh of some new perspectives personally, and we figure we probably represent quite a bit of our colleagues out there.

Marie 00:03:44  So we wanted to chat about that today.

Amanda 00:03:47  I'm excited. I have a lot of thoughts about this, and this is one of the things that I specialize in when I do a lot of my PD, schools. This is a problem. This is a pain point for schools. is that they're creating these expectations and kind of constraints for teachers, and they're wondering why teachers are frustrated.

Marie 00:04:07  And unable to deliver, quite frankly, like it's there's only so many ways that you can bend before you break. And so, yes, I am very much personally not in need of new perspectives. I'm in need of talking about new perspectives and implementing them. Yeah. Yeah. Like really staying consistent and, like, sticking to perspectives. So yeah, I'm excited to talk about it today. Actually I think it's going to be good. And before we head to our intro music, I do want to talk about Happy Hour because we in this new year, have revamped our membership happy hour to be what we really always intended it to be, but we finally, like, hit the nail on the head.

Marie 00:04:50  It's a teacher work club, and we're going to talk about it quite a bit because we really do believe in community, especially for educators, especially for classroom teachers. That is the way that we are all going to. Not just survive, but thrive. In the landscape of especially public, because that's what we can speak to education in 2025 and beyond. Things are not going to get easier. Like we. Eyes wide open. Things are not going to get easier for teachers and for administrators and for paraprofessionals and for all educators, right? But if we work together, we can at least make it manageable and do what's best for kids and do what's best for us. So join us in happy hour, because we will talk today about new perspectives that we are going to implement and that we would like to help you all with. But we're really going to dig into actually like implementing any of these things in happy hour.

Amanda 00:05:46  I am so excited for this episode. I can't wait to talk.

Marie 00:05:50  Okay, let's let's do it.

Marie 00:05:51  All right, friends, cue the music.

Amanda 00:05:55  You're listening to Brave New teaching and we are so much more than a podcast.

Marie 00:05:59  We give teachers the inspiration, support and tools to challenge the status quo.

Amanda 00:06:04  I'm Amanda and I'm a former English teacher from Illinois.

Marie 00:06:08  And I'm Marie and I'm a high school teacher from Southern California.

Amanda 00:06:11  Join us after the show and happy hour to extend your VNC experience.

Marie 00:06:16  With instant access to our resources, workshops and courses.

Marie 00:06:20  Visit shop for new teaching. Com slash happy hour to join us today. We are so glad you're here. Enjoy the show. Yeah. Let's start this off. Amanda, with my new perspective is I have to take better care of my physical health in order to take care of the gaggles of children that are around me at all times. So while we record, I'm going to continue to sip my greens.

Amanda 00:06:44  Oh my gosh, when you say it like that, it makes me want to punch you.

Marie 00:06:47  It does. It makes me want to punch myself, but I won't because I'm not that hardcore.

Amanda 00:06:52  Okay, well, I'm glad you're not gonna punch yourself. I will say we've been around the block, right? We've been talking for a long time. We've been observing. We've been co-teaching. We've been parenting kids through all kinds of things.

Marie 00:07:05  Yes.

Amanda 00:07:06  And I think the thing that I keep coming back to, we talked about it a little bit in actually a little bit in every episode of this series. We got to figure out self-preservation. Sure. You just said it right. We need to take care of ourselves and I. Okay, so I came from and I don't know, I talked about this like, the very beginning of the podcast. I don't really talk about it that often, but like, my teaching career began at level obsession. Like, there was no there was no easing into teaching and education for me. I was obsessed with my job from before I got a job. Same.

Marie 00:07:46  Yes.

Amanda 00:07:47  When I was a senior in high school, I applied for a scholarship called Golden Apple.

Amanda 00:07:50  I got it, and so I basically spent all four years of college and all four summers.

Marie 00:07:55  Years.

Amanda 00:07:55  Of college, preparing to become an educator and being lit up by everything. Teaching completely and totally on fire. Now was a lot of that. Part of a very damaging savior mentality. Yeah. Was all of that. Kind of tying my worth to my job and my career? yeah. Did I neglect a lot of important things about taking care of myself as a human? Absolutely. So I have started at that place where I was already tangled up and being rewarded positively for how hardworking I was. AKA healthy obsession. So that's where things started for me. So what I'm about to tell you, what I'm going to tell you now. It's going to sound crazy. Well, there's.

Marie 00:08:38  Been a journey. The journey has led us here. Yes.

Amanda 00:08:42  But I know that there is a desperate need for all of us to come together. And this is a big reason why Happy Hour exists. Is to have people in your life that can help you with your yes and no barometer.

Amanda 00:08:54  Are you going to say yes? Are you going to say no? Are you going to let this bother you, or are you going to let this go? That is the first perspective we have to have is if you don't have it already, you need your people that are going to help you have that.

Marie 00:09:08  And if you're finding yourself in a place where the people aren't your people or you don't know how to connect to the people, to even find out if they are yours will be your people and it doesn't have to be live like that's why we're saying happy hour is a great place to come, because yeah, we will meet with you live sometimes, but like, we're right there with you. So just know that we will be constantly being able to support you in like minded ways, with strategies, with organization tools, with teaching materials, with listen.

Amanda 00:09:39  To your voicemails.

Marie 00:09:41  Yes, just the know how of like, yeah, I've been there, here's what I did or yeah, I've been there.

Marie 00:09:45  It sucks. You know, like that's that's what we're talking about. Self preservation. Shall we dig in to the literary part of I honestly, I I'm like not quaking in my boots, but I just have this dread of what, the coming years can bring, especially if I take what I've seen in the news cycle and soundbites on social media as any indication, and these sorts of emails that I've already started to get from not even really parents of my current students, but like random community members to my work email asking me about texts I'm teaching in. Very weird. And I say weird because it's like, what are you getting at? But these like pointed ways asking me about what's happening in my classroom. The texts we teach are going to be difficult in limiting. I have a feeling. So how are we going to what's our new perspective on that?

Amanda 00:10:46  Well, okay, so let's break it down. I think there's three things we can do. One is we should talk about our approach to the classics.

Marie 00:10:53  Because.

Amanda 00:10:53  Like it or not, that's what people who hate books want us to teach classics and don't really realize what they're asking.

Marie 00:11:01  I was just gonna say, don't know what's in the classics.

Amanda 00:11:03  Know what's in the classics.

Marie 00:11:04  Yes, when somebody has a but just quick to illustrate the point when somebody, a community member will call them, has an issue with a long way down and has no issue with Romeo and Juliet. You laugh and I go, right, but what? Or has an issue with Aristotle and Dante? Discover the secrets of the universe and has no issue with The Great Gatsby. And I go, what? What? Well.

Amanda 00:11:37  Point illustrated. Yes.

Marie 00:11:39  Thank you.

Amanda 00:11:40  So I think that that's part of this. Again, let's come back to the self preservation point. Let's acknowledge that this is the reality that we're walking into. Yes.

Marie 00:11:49  Exactly.

Amanda 00:11:50  We know that this we are going to go back to if you're not already in it. Yeah. Book battles. Book battles. Okay.

Amanda 00:11:58  What I'd like to say is these don't have to be battles we can prepare for them. This is kind of how I feel like my classroom management is. No, it is for everything. It all costs. Like be be ready for it. Like, I think when you're caught by surprise, that's when things start to really take away your energy. Even more so. And they feel worse. And they, they feel they feel heavier. I wanted to talk today about like things we can preempt as much as possible and.

Marie 00:12:23  Proactive I love it.

Amanda 00:12:25  Proactive. So okay, so approaching to the class, I want to talk about approaches to the classics. I want to talk about choice and what that can look like. And then I really want to talk about parents. I have some new thoughts on parents. Okay, now that I am one. Well, now that I am one of a child in a school, right?

Marie 00:12:40  Right right, right. No, I know what you mean.

Amanda 00:12:42  I've been a parent for a while, but not one with kids in schools where I feel like I have opinions to share.

Amanda 00:12:48  Right? Right. Okay. Classic. Should we start there?

Marie 00:12:51  Yeah, let's do it.

Amanda 00:12:52  We've done it before.

Marie 00:12:53  I mean, that's the thing. Yeah. This isn't anything new that you're hearing from us. Neither is abundance of choice. I mean, we've got many episodes, we've got unit makeovers. We've got all we've got. Essential question workshops about how to approach classics, because that's what's approved or available or, you know, acceptable or whatever in a school. We've also got different strategies for making sure that there's abundance of choice, either with like main texts or supplemental texts or questions or activities or like whatever it is to make sure that you can't. I mean, and that serves a lot of different things, not just book battles. But we will make sure to link a bunch of those episodes so that you can go down the rabbit hole from our previous episodes, but I think it does just kind of bear repeating in this moment to let your perspective be new approaches, let your perspective change be.

Marie 00:13:47  Maybe students get to choose things. And so we've got tons of strategies on how to do that in our archives. But this is just kind of like the placeholder of like, remember that's there.

Amanda 00:13:58  Well, and I think I don't know that we've said it directly in this context before, but one of the reasons that this is so important right now is it is about your energy. Yeah. If we are going to absolutely be returning to more classics than fine, I want you to prioritize your planning around refreshed or old X. I want you to focus on X that are going to do that heavy lifting for you if you can't control the texts, and there's a lot of things you can't control, I want you to focus on what you can control, and that is those threads. How are you going to thread things together so that kids are coming to their own conclusions about these big universal questions that we all want to know the answer to? How are they going to read whatever they have to read whatever they can read, whatever they choose to read? Your heavy lifting is on putting the pieces of the puzzle.

Amanda 00:14:56  You're laying the breadcrumbs right to get them where they need to go, and focusing on the skills that they need in order to tackle these things in their own way. And not only is that just good teaching. Yeah, but that takes the stress off of you for worrying about content, flags and all these other issues like sometimes and some books and some units. Maybe you're ready to and you want to fight that fight. And I say, go for it and we're here for you. But if you focus your energy on units that kill it because the EQ, the supplementals, and the way it's woven together is doing the work, you're going to be just as successful as you are right now in a whole new world.

Marie 00:15:41  I mean, and I feel like we need to make the point, because I think we've got quite a few newer listeners out there that it's not that we are sitting here saying that like classic literature is horrible and bad and kids have. No, it's not that at all. It's that we're practical.

Marie 00:15:57  And we know that showing a student a classic piece of literature nine times out of ten is going to end with an eye roll, a groan. Right? And it's exhausting. And it's so defeating being the one in front of the room being like, but it's so good. Or but there's so much you can learn from this character, because kids in 2025 are not all, not everybody. But like they're most of them are like, okay, their attention spans are there. Like there are so many things working against us. For a longer, older text, to be successful is really, really difficult. And so that's where our like, reluctance to teach classics comes from. It's a lot of and and there's the fact that a lot of classic texts are pretty problematic in a lot of ways and really non-inclusive and, and hard for kids to get into if they feel harmed by, or just not represented by all of the things that they see. And so that's that's where this comes from. Newer approaches to classics can absolutely fill those gaps and heal some wounds.

Marie 00:17:03  It's just a matter of doing the work to make it successful. Yeah, I'd say.

Amanda 00:17:09  A little teeny tiny little hack. I'm working with a school right now, and they said that the kids are having a hard time engaging with the textbook. And I said, oh yeah, of course they are.

Marie 00:17:19  Yeah. No kidding.

Amanda 00:17:20  And so, like, have you ever tried giving them a handout of the same material but like on a piece of paper rather than in a, in the book, it's night and day. The teachers came back, they're like, oh my gosh, I gave them the exact same thing in their book. And then the next day I gave them something different from the textbook. I just printed it on paper and it was so different. I was like, well, I know that's what you're paying me for.

Marie 00:17:42  Well, it's chunking, I know. Right? You're like, that's why I'm here.

Amanda 00:17:45  It is about visual signals. I mean, this is a visual generation.

Amanda 00:17:47  And they they see textbook and then they see something from the 1900s. Yeah. Which is apparently where I'm from.

Marie 00:17:55  May as well be on a mimeograph.

Amanda 00:17:57  Little things like that, right? Like, how do we deal with it? Yeah. Save yourself. Okay.

Marie 00:18:03  Talk to me about other things from the 1900s. Parents.

Amanda 00:18:08  Okay.

Marie 00:18:08  As you're starting to get into this. Our perspectives are pretty different in that I am now getting to a point where my friends, their kids are in my class, and their younger kids are friends with my kid. And so it's this like meshing of worlds where I'm starting to have families. And that's part of what I wanted was that sort of small town feel of like being in a school that is close to my high school and blah, blah, blah. And, you know, like every my kids are going to come to my school, but it's still this funny. Like, I better put my money where my mouth is when I am teaching, especially in this climate.

Marie 00:18:56  I am a teacher who I'm very passionate about what I do and making sure that my students feel safe and represented. And, you know, not everybody understands it on such an intimate level, the way that we do, because they're not working with hundreds of students every single day. And so, yeah, it's interesting. I will tell you that.

Amanda 00:19:15  It is interesting. And I feel like I have I mean, obviously being a parent has totally changed so many things that I would do in the classroom when when I go back. Totally. I definitely was intimidated and terrified of parents from day one. I parents were my worst nightmare and I now that I see it on the other end, it's it's just so much has changed. But I think in terms of what we're talking about here with books and choice, and I really think the best course of action is an abundance of transparency. Like I agree. Yeah. Annoying sense of parental involvement if we talk about getting ahead of things. Yeah. Let's invite parents to a summer book preview event.

Amanda 00:19:59  We're going to showcase all the books that are going to be taught in all the different grades, like let's be obnoxious about providing information, resources, surveys, and let's just give them all the stuff. I'm being a little bit dramatic here, but I think that one of the biggest issues and I'm not really talking about like censorship, but I think in general parents really do feel left out. They feel like outside of the realm of who's being considered. And I think that in a lot of circles, that sentiment is what kind of turns things nasty.

Marie 00:20:36  Yeah.

Amanda 00:20:36  And nasty.

Marie 00:20:37  Well, and some of that sentiment comes from now having a pre-teen. They shut down a little bit. And I mean, I've got a pretty sensitive pre-teen, so I know a lot about what's going on in his life. And like he's younger. So it's we haven't gotten to the full shutdown yet. But now I'm like, talk about a new perspective. I'm seeing where this comes from in parents like I. What exactly what you're talking about, that idea of being, like, feeling like you're cut off and shut out and it's like, no, but I have to be involved.

Marie 00:21:08  It really does come from a place of love, right? But it does. It can turn really nasty. And I've been on the receiving end of the real nasty.

Amanda 00:21:16  Yeah, yeah, I think parents really want to be involved and they, they want to know what's happening. And it might not sound that way with how they talk or how they act or whatever, but I really think parents just being invited to read along with your kid, or your parents being invited to X, Y, and Z with you or sending home like a template email, right? Like let's write, let's have ChatGPT or Google Gemini. Write us like six emails for the semester that are, you know, tips for reading at home with your kids. Yeah, even if they're kind of just newsletter style. I mean, I know that again, I'm I'm with the elementary side of things, but like my kid in particular, this is the first year that my son Hugo has like, taken tests and like, they're doing this new math and they're doing a new they're doing all these new things.

Amanda 00:22:11  I think what's been frustrating for me is, is there's been almost zero communication unless there's a problem. Yeah, we know the story. Right. And like that has set up and made things very difficult for me because I don't want to only be involved when things are hard. Yeah. I also don't want to be overinvolved, but I feel like with the lack of information, I've had to be overinvolved to get the baseline of information that I need to help my first grader. You know, like like, I don't know when he's having a test, but I do know that he has test anxiety. So how am I supposed to help get him ready for that test if I don't know when it is? Like little things like that. I mean, we already talked about. I'm, like, going to die on the Google classroom Hill. Like, little things could be avoided. Like strategically. Yeah. But I really just think parents appreciate being in the loop, even if they don't tell you. And I did a terrible job of that when I was in the classroom, like.

Marie 00:23:06  It's hit or miss. For me, it depends on the season.

Amanda 00:23:09  But I think in the long run, right, we catch more honey with flies. All right. Flies with honey.

Marie 00:23:14  I don't know how much honey you're trying to catch, but I don't. Yes. Flies with honey. Yes.

Amanda 00:23:19  Flies. Honey, whatever. Let's be nice to them. And, like, maybe a little bit obnoxious.

Marie 00:23:25  I like it nice, but a little bit obnoxious. And that is going to be our parting gift to you friends. You're welcome. Yes. Listen, it's. I have a feeling that our friends are starting to listen to this episode. Probably went okay. Great. We're gonna get new texts. And then we delivered. None of that, but perspective, perspective, new perspectives. But we do have. Starting next week, we have a whole new series about where you're going to hear us talk about new texts. We're going to talk about teaching novels in verse. We've got a whole series of, I think, five episodes, if I remember correctly, coming your way.

Marie 00:24:00  So make sure that you are ready, that you have subscribed to Brave New Teachings so that you have it. Download in your app immediately when the episodes drop. Because we're we're talking about novels in verse, and we're talking about the style of text that could be considered novels in verse and how to bring some new and exciting things into your classroom that might just be supplementing a new approach to classics. Right. You're with us here. New perspectives. Here we are. I mean.

Amanda 00:24:29  Yeah, also, we really want to focus on the poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, which is a book that's banned at your school. So it's fine.

Marie 00:24:35  No. It's true. Absolutely. So if nothing else, we'll just learn it together.

Amanda 00:24:40  It's great religion. There's sex. There's all kinds of things that are going to be called grumpy.

Marie 00:24:46  Yes. Listen, it's going to be great. All right. So, yeah, make sure that you are back here with us next week. And if you are thinking about joining Happy Hour, this is a great time to do so.

Marie 00:24:55  Just head to Brave New. Com slash happy hour. And we've got all kinds of good stuff for you right now as this is coming out. We're rounding out our first month of 2025 and our new format of Happy Hour. And next month we've got all new things, some different strategies and materials for you, and we're really excited. So make sure that you check it out. And yeah, thank you so much for joining us and have a wonderful.

Marie 00:25:18  Week at school. We'll see you next time.

Amanda 00:25:23  Thanks again for listening to Brave New Teaching.

Marie 00:25:25  We'd love to keep the conversation going over on Instagram.

Amanda 00:25:28  And while you're there, check out the links in our bio for the most up to date events going on in Happy Hour and the brand new teaching community.

Marie 00:25:35  Thanks for being here and.

Marie 00:25:37  Have a great week at school!