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

With spring right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to revitalize your classroom, especially if everything is starting to feel a bit stale and overdone. It’s not quite time to throw in the towel yet, so let’s slap a fresh coat of paint on our strategies and bring things back to life!Today’s episode marks the first in a three-part series on teacher spring cleaning. To kick things off, we’re talking about spring cleaning our instructional practices and strategies. In the episodes to come, we’ll look at spring cleaning our texts and topics, and then spring cleaning curriculum and activities.These conversations are meant to breathe a little fresh air into your classrooms that will benefit both you and your students. If you try one of these strategies or have a favorite spring strategy, we’d love for you to share it with us. You can leave a voice message that we can feature on the podcast for other teachers around the world to hear. Don’t be shy! Click here to leave your message!Show Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode142 "Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

What type of reader have you been lately? Are you moving through books like crazy or barely getting through a chapter a week? Either way, we get it. Just because we’re ELA teachers, that doesn’t mean we always have the time or energy to read outside work hours.Back in episode 131, we shared our list of books we couldn’t wait to read in 2023, and well, let’s just say we haven’t gotten to them all! That’s why this week we’re sharing our reviews on what we have read recently, and what’s on our current TBR list for the upcoming months. Plus, you’ll hear some life updates - like the fact that Amanda finally got a new library card!Show Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode141"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Did you catch episode 139 with Dr. Jenna Copper? We talked all about independent reading and student choice at the high school level. Today we’re continuing our independent reading series with our friend, Abby Gross.This one is for all of our middle school teacher friends! Abby was a high school teacher who recently moved to middle school. This transition is what gave her the chance to wake up to a whole new set of possibilities for what independent reading could look like in her classroom.We have a feeling that this conversation with Abby will reinstate your love of independent reading and spark so many new ideas that you can take straight to your classroom. You’ll hear about the functionality of independent reading, ways to get your students curious and excited about different kinds of books, and we’re even addressing the big question of, how do you create accountability between you and your students with independent reading?Show Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode140 Support the show"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

When we decided to do a series on independent reading, the first name that came to mind was our friend, Dr. Jenna Copper. Jenna has just as much passion and excitement for independent reading and student choice as we do. Plus, she shares Marie’s love of YA fantasy books, which is just the icing on top!In this conversation, we talk about what independent reading has looked like in our classrooms. We also discuss a lot about the exciting ways to position units within your curriculum and how to approach student choice strategically. You’ll love hearing how Jenna uses backward design for her independent reading units and how this idea of ‘student choice’ has evolved for her over the years. Show Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode139"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

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 listener favorite rerun, we’re showing you how you can allow students to have choice without letting go of having a central focus and common skill that the whole class is learning.Show Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode63Join BNT Happy Hour: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/happyhourMentioned in this episode:Get more Brave New Teaching each week:Join BNT Happy Hour Here!"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

We're bringing you a re-run of one of our favorite episodes - an 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!CLICK HERE FOR SHOW NOTESMentioned in this episode:Teaching Memoir and Biography WorkshopJoin the Workshop Here!"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

We’ve got a lot of things to worry about as teachers, and now we get to add ‘plagiarized stuff that was written by a bot’ to the list! That’s right - it’s time to chat about ChatGPT.If you haven’t heard of ChatGPT, it’s an AI chatbot system that can be used to help you write all kinds of things. It’s building buzz quickly in the teaching world, and causing a lot of panic because students have used it for things like writing assignments and assessments. Before we all completely freak out, let’s take a look at what this AI technology really means for the world of education and ask the burning questions that are running through our minds.We’re even bringing on words of wisdom from Krista Barbour and Shana Ramin. They have some great insight about ChatGPT that will validate your feelings, but also give you some incredible ideas for how you can use this technology to your advantage.So, take a listen, and a collective deep breath with us. It’s normal to feel scared about the rise of AI in classrooms, but it’s also not going anywhere anytime soon. Let’s familiarize ourselves with it and determine how we can make it work for us instead of against us!Show Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode136Join BNT Happy Hour: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/happyhourMentioned in this episode:Teaching Memoir and Biography WorkshopJoin the Workshop Here!"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Welcome to part two of our series with Andrea Michelle. If you haven’t listened to part one yet, (episode 134) then push pause on this one, and check that out first! In this series, we’re doing a unit makeover on Night, by Elie Wiesel.Andrea has taught this unit before, but she wants to make some tweaks to improve the experience for her and her students. So, that’s exactly what we’re doing in this series! From the activities, to the essential questions, to assessments, and more, we’re looking at how we can really step things up. Inside part one of this series, we went through the unit makeover process with Andrea. If you aren’t familiar with this process, the idea is to take something that’s doing “fine” and give it a fresh new look to make it better.In our conversation today, we’re going to unveil our thoughts, suggestions, and what we would do to change and improve this unit. Buckle up because there’s lots of ideas and brainstorming ahead! You’ll gain insight as to how you can implement this process and take on your own unit makeover with your own team or department.Show Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode135Join BNT Happy Hour: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/happyhourMentioned in this episode:Get more Brave New Teaching each week:Join BNT Happy Hour Here!"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

If you’re a long-time listener of Brave New Teaching, then you know how much we love a good unit makeover. If you’re new to the show, then today will be a great introduction!We are joined by high school teacher, Andrea Michelle, who is sharing all about a unit that she has taught using the anchor text, Night. This episode will be part one of a two part conversation with Andrea.In part one, Andrea tells us all about how she taught this unit, including what her goals were, the themes explored, and what types of assessments were used. You’ll get to hear what went really well throughout the unit, and what didn’t go so well. Meet us back here next week where we will share our suggestions for how Andrea can give this unit a makeover before the next time it’s taught. We’ve got so many ideas for how she can make this complex unit even more engaging, memorable, and impactful for her students!Show Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode134Join BNT Happy Hour: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/happyhourMentioned in this episode:Get more Brave New Teaching each week:Join BNT Happy Hour Here!"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

We’ve officially entered into 2023, and you’re probably either feeling like you are ready to take on the world or feeling like you need [at least] another two weeks of winter break.Today’s episode is going to walk you through an exercise that will help you to feel prepared to take on the second half of the school year. We’re going to talk about how you can get things on your calendar now, and plan your future units accordingly, so that ‘future you’ will be way less stressed.So, grab your planner, school calendar, and a fresh set of pens, because we’re doing some backwards planning!Grab your FREE Backwards Planning Checklist: https://www.curriculumrehab.com/checklistShow Notes: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode133 Join BNT Happy Hour! https://www.curriculumrehab.com/happyhour Mentioned in this episode:Get more Brave New Teaching each week:Join BNT Happy Hour Here!"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show📚 BNT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES 👩‍💻 Join Happy Hour! Curriculum Rehab Down with the Reading Quiz Shop the BNT Resource Library Connect with us on Instagram @bravenewteaching Subscribe to our YouTube Channel