The Broken Copier

Surveys show students increasingly turning to AI as a tool for their school work. Teachers who want to limit AI usage during instructional time still have many options on table—but what should they do about homework and other assigned out-of-class essays and projects? Given that the topic of homework already has been quite controversial before bringing AI into the conversation, this felt like a good time to exchange ideas about what it can and should mean to assign work outside of the classroom right now. Joining this conversation is Brett Vogelsinger, another high school English teacher who sees things around this topic quite a bit differently than Marcus—which hopefully is the makings of a meaningful discussion. Brett is the author of two books, Poetry Pauses and Artful AI in Writing Instruction, and is also starting a new Substack newsletter: Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, Explanatory. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

After a couple quieter months, we are back and rolling with The Broken Copier. Today’s Unjammed episode is built around a simple-if-implausible idea: what happens when teachers are given enough time to do their work. It’s not just about having enough time to complete all the items off the to-do list, either. (Though that does matter!) More importantly, it’s about what it means for teachers to step into a classroom as their best selves—a win for teachers, yes, but more importantly a win for students. Two writings directly referenced in today’s episode: * Burning the Math Workbook by Ruth Poulsen * This is Air by Adrian Neibauer As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. * Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.) Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The conversation about reading across education has taken a front-and-center position in many places, so it felt like the right time to have a conversation about it—especially since Adrian Neibauer recently wrote a thoughtful reflection on the topic called “The Sanctity of Literacy.” In this conversation, Marcus and Adrian talk about their experiences as teachers of reading in their respective classrooms; about the broader conversation over the Science of Reading and its current impact on education; and about how we can create space to help students foster a more-sustainable love of reading in our classrooms going forward. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

Given that we are at the finish line of a very-busy 2025 with The Broken Copier, the goal of this short episode is first and foremost to express gratitude for what has been an incredible year of conversations and community-building—and also to share an update that over the next few months, we are going to slow down just a bit. 2025 was an incredible year with The Broken Copier, yet the pace we’ve been at in terms of written posts and recorded conversations sort of runs smack dab into the paradox of our goal: we deeply value an education conversation that centers the voices of classroom teachers, but prioritizing what it takes to be a full-time classroom teacher? As so many of you know from personal experience, it takes a lot. Toss in being parents of little ones, and “a lot” can quickly become “too much”—especially in terms of making this a sustainable project going forward. So for the short term, we are going to be generous towards ourselves in adjusting the pace. This is why you’ll see fewer posts and fewer conversations for these first few months of 2026. We aren’t going away! Instead, the goal is to prioritize sustainability and even more importantly authenticity—as we continue to believe in the importance of telling the good story of what the classroom is and can be. And that’s exactly what we plan on doing going forward with The Broken Copier, even if that means taking a little time to learn and listen more in the short term to make that storytelling more meaningful in the long run. One final note: thank you to all those who continue to listen, engage, and share these conversations—as it continues to be sincerely affirming to see the different ways The Broken Copier has resonated with teachers and educators. As we say: this is community work, it always has been, and—more than ever—it will continue to be. As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we enter into 2026! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

It is a very easy word to say in education, right? Full-stop: everyone wants to be supported and everyone wants to be supportive. However, making that support a reality that is experienced and sustainable in our classrooms and schools? For students and teachers alike? Much more complicated. Today’s conversation with Nathan Parham is 100% about this. Nathan is in his first year as a special education administrator at a trauma-informed alternative school after a decade of his own classroom experience. Given his unique perspective in transitioning into a role where he is now responsible for supporting teachers along with students at his school, Nathan has a lot to share about what support can and should look like in this moment. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

The Broken Copier began a little over three years ago with a very simple idea: we wanted to uplift the type of conversations that happen so often between teachers in the margins of the school day: in the hallway between classes; in each other’s classrooms after the school day ends; in the faculty lounge while trying to collaboratively finagle a solution to far-too-frequently broken copiers. This is exactly one of those conversations. Lisa Gates is a retired high school English instructor with 34 years of teaching experience who just cannot just seem to quit teaching. Currently, she works as an Instructional Mentor supporting early-career classroom teachers in Virginia and also supervises teaching interns for the University of Mary Washington. In other words, Lisa is literally a teacher’s teacher. This conversation dives into the joys of what reading can be in the secondary classroom as well as the challenges, with Lisa sharing observations from her own career teaching as well as what she is noticing now that she is in many classrooms supporting teachers. This is a conversation that goes a lot of directions, but at its heart is driven by a love of reading and, more importantly, a deep belief in a student-centered classroom and the work it takes to make that possible. Some points of reference from the conversation: * The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera * Critical Encounters in Secondary English by Deborah Appleman * “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors” by Dr. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. You can email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 grade teacher who writes weekly about his own classroom with his Substack, Adrian’s Newsletter. Along with listening to Adrian and Marcus share their own answers to this question at this point in the school year, we invite you to join in: what lesson have you learned so far? Feel free to reply in the comments, send us a longer email reflection, or even record your own learning for a future episode! We would love to include more perspectives and voices around this question going forward. As we say often at The Broken Copier, teaching is community work. What better way to live that out than by sharing our learnings with each other? Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

“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 his own writing classroom at Montana State University while contemplating more broadly where we are at in education—and why there might be a better direction to reorient ourselves towards. Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 full-time classroom teacher, Stephen brings over three decades of experience into this conversation alongside his own extensive research and experimentation with AI as a practitioner in recent years—which he has documented thoughtfully and generously with his newsletter, Teaching in the Age of AI. In this conversation, Stephen shares his own journey towards researching as much as he could about AI and its potential intersection with his work as a teacher, his experiences and learnings along the way, and his current perspective on where we are at with AI in education. Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 classroom that is motivating and purposeful for those there and taking care of business while also being a welcoming, affirming space for students who have been absent, sometimes quite regularly. Straddling this daily as a teacher? It is really difficult—and it felt like it deserved space for reflection in this episode. Also: have your own potential Unjammed reflection you’d be willing to share or have a conversation about? * Email thebrokencopier@substack.com and let us know what it’s about! We would love to bring different teacher experiences and perspectives into this space. * You can also share your reflection directly at this Fanlist link—and you never know, it could show up on a future episode! (Note: we would reach out first to let you know and get permission.) As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 reason this is happening more frequently this school year; and, most importantly, what he is reflecting on as he thinks forward as a teacher in response. Also: have your own potential Unjammed reflection you’d be willing to share or have a conversation about? * Email thebrokencopier@substack.com and let us know what it’s about! We would love to bring different teacher experiences and perspectives into this space. * You can also share your reflection directly at this Fanlist link—and you never know, it could show up on a future episode! (Note: we would reach out first to let you know and get permission.) As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 worthwhile reflection. One worth sharing. Today’s episode? An experience Marcus had after trying to celebrate and also challenge a student in a communication home—a well-intended “move” as a teacher that, unfortunately, didn’t quite land the way he hoped it would. As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. * Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.) Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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-hopeful path could look like for their respective classrooms. Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 she aspires towards a better, more-authentic type of assessment in her classroom, and why she is so enthusiastic about the ongoing work of teaching pedagogy as a veteran teacher. Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 “passion-driven pedagogy” as teachers. In today’s conversation, Jared and Marcus go back and forth about a variety of topics: the best Magic School bus book; Jared’s early experiences exploring outside his physical classroom and what he learned in those explorations; how to make interdisciplinary learning happen tangibly; and even a discussion about where AI might fit into all of this. Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 approximately six weeks into the school year to revisit those initial plans and imaginations. To consider how reality matches up—and then to recalibrate and reimagine, as necessary. As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. * Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.) Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 consults others on communication skills with his company Damn Good Conversations. In this episode, Joe shares how this value and priority of conversation shows up in his classroom while “talking shop” with Marcus heading into another school year. Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 more experiences and perspectives in order to figure out collectively what the best path forward is for our students and schools with AI in our classrooms and schools. As always, thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for contributing their music to The Broken Copier podcast—and also Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden. * Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized. * Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. * Email thoughts and feedback to thebrokencopier@substack.com, and if you want you can record your own thoughts at our Fanlist that might show up on a future episode! (Feel free to also just toss your response in the comments.) Thanks for listening! Share or leave a review if you’re willing, and take care of yourselves as educators as we finish out the school year! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 Deeper Discussions: A Teacher’s Guide to Crafting Great Questions. In this conversation, Matt shares more about the urgency within this present moment to elevate what discussions look like in our classroom along with reflections on his own experiences as a coach, teacher and leader. Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com

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 Teach For America and the program’s impact on education more broadly, with Jim and Marcus considering how they feel about each critique given their own respective experiences as corps members along with their current perspective now as teachers still in the classroom. Email us here with feedback or any other questions as well: thebrokencopier@substack.com. Thanks for listening (and tell your friends)! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebrokencopier.substack.com