New Teacher Talk

Finding Your People in a New Building

Guest: Samantha "Sammi" Katschke

In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna present Samantha "Sammi" Katschke, district band director and music teacher at Chadwick-Milledgeville, about a challenge new teachers rarely get warned about: loneliness. You can know your content cold and still walk into a building unsure of who to turn to when a lesson falls apart or a day feels like too much. Sammi lays out where that support actually comes from, and how to build it on purpose.

In this episode:

• Why new teachers can feel isolated even surrounded by colleagues, and why nobody hands you a map for who to ask
• Staying connected to your undergraduate cohort, and why those relationships often become your first call when a lesson fails
• What formal mentorship programs are actually for: gradebooks, technology systems, and the daily operational questions nobody else has time to answer
• Why proximity matters: building relationships with the teacher next door or the colleague who shares your prep period
• The case for face-to-face connection over purely online ones, and why some conversations need someone across a table
• Building a network beyond your building: connecting with teachers in the same role across other schools and districts for repertoire, ideas, and perspective
• The friendships from outside education that Sammi undervalued in college and now counts on
• Staying in touch with former cooperating teachers and practicum mentors, and how those relationships can grow into long-term mentorship
• Why this whole network isn't a nice extra, it's protection against burnout and a direct benefit to your students

Key takeaway
Finding your people in a new building doesn't happen by accident. It takes deliberate effort across several circles at once: your cohort, your mentor, your neighbors, your role-alike network, your non-education friends, and your former mentors, and building that support system is part of the job, not separate from it.

#FindingYourPeople #NewTeacherTalk #TeacherSupport #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #TeacherWellbeing #TeacherLeadership #K12Education

Staying Calm and Staying Firm

 

Hosts: Dr. Beth Wilkins and Dr. Anna Quinzio-Zafran

In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna tackle the moment every new teacher dreads, the one where a student pushes and the whole room waits to see what you'll do. They reframe that test as a question rather than an attack, and show how the same core skills play out differently at every stage from pre-K through senior year.

In this episode:

•     Why a student testing you is rarely personal, and what they're actually asking: are you safe, are you steady, and do you mean what you say
•     Pre-K and kindergarten: the “you're not the boss” carpet standoff, and why a small choice beats a command with a flooded four year old
•     First and second grade: the warm broken record for the student who argues every direction like a tiny courtroom lawyer
•     Third through fifth grade: naming the eye roll or under-the-breath comment privately instead of publicly to protect a student's dignity and the relationship
•     Middle school: why defiance is almost always a performance for an audience, and why you should never hand a student a public stage to lose on
•     Deferring the power struggle instead of fighting on the student's schedule
•     High school: reading the quieter test, the head on the desk, the phone, the flat refusal, and why force backfires with older students
•     Getting curious, not controlling, and leading with respect to bring the wall down
•     The five-part through line that works at every grade: regulate yourself first, take the audience out of it, offer a way to save face, stay boringly consistent, and repair when you slip
•     Why an off ramp isn't letting students off the hook, it's the only kind of compliance that lasts
•     Why apologizing after you lose your cool builds authority rather than costing it

Key takeaway

Staying calm and staying firm isn't about never being tested, every good teacher is. It's about being the steady, predictable presence in the room when it happens, so students learn they can trust both your warmth and your limits.

#StayingCalmStayingFirm #NewTeacherTalk #ClassroomManagement #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #ClassroomCulture #TeacherLeadership #K12Education

Two Teachers, One Classroom

Guests: Leana Malinowsky and Paul Garcia

In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna introduce a conversation between Leana Malinowsky and Paul Garcia, two experienced co-teachers, about what it actually takes to make a shared classroom work. Leana, a teacher since 2008 and a structured literacy dyslexia specialist, and Paul, a 32-year special education veteran, built their partnership over five years of trial, error, and a dragon puppet named Furny. They break down the practical framework behind it: roles, routines, and respect.

In this episode:

• How Leana and Paul's partnership began: a transfer to second grade, a full day co-teacher, and an adjustment neither had made before
• The mindset shift that makes co-teaching work: "not your kids and my kids, but our kids"
• Why Paul wasn't there just to serve special education students, and how that changed the way the classroom ran
• The pandemic pivot: how a disengaged Zoom class led to Furny the dragon, and how that improvisation grew into a full classroom theme
• The six co-teaching models from Marilyn Friend and Wendy Murawski: one teach one observe, one teach one assist, station teaching, parallel teaching, team teaching, and alternative teaching
• Why "one teach, one assist" is often the default and why it quietly wastes a co-teacher's expertise
• How alternative and station teaching let Leana and Paul group students by need instead of by IEP status
• Paul's honest take on parallel teaching, including the real logistics of managing his own distractibility in a shared space
• Why clear routines for transitions, materials, and cleanup make or break a co-teaching model
• What general education teachers can do to welcome a co-teacher as a true partner, not an extra pair of hands
• Why building a strong co-teaching partnership takes time, patience, and forgiveness, and why five years in, Leana and Paul are still refining theirs

Key takeaway
Co-teaching isn't about dividing a classroom in half. It's about two teachers sharing every student, building routines that make collaboration visible, and respecting what each partner brings, so students get more than either teacher could offer alone.

#TwoTeachersOneClassroom #NewTeacherTalk #CoTeaching #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #SpecialEducation #TeacherLeadership #K12Education

Holding the Line on High Expectations

Guest: Dr. Carla Braun, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning in Westmont Community Unit School District 201

In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna invite Carla Braun to dig into a belief every new teacher holds and every new teacher gets tested on: that all students can succeed. Carla draws on years of classroom observations across districts nationwide to show how good intentions quietly slide into lowered expectations, and what to do instead.

In this episode:

• Why believing every student can succeed is easy to say and hard to hold onto in a difficult teaching moment
• The tension Carla sees again and again: teachers trying to support students end up limiting them without realizing it
• What "meet students where they're at" gets right, and how taking it too literally can stall progress instead of protecting it
• A pattern Carla has observed in struggling schools: classrooms quietly teaching below grade level, like a third grade class working through second grade content
• Why tier one instruction should always stay at grade level or above, and why it should make up the bulk of the instructional block
• Breaking down the three tiers: tier one as grade-level learning for everyone, tier two as extra support built around grade-level content, tier three as targeted support to fill specific gaps
• The Charlotte's Web example: why the answer to a struggling reader is scaffolding up, not swapping in an easier book
• Concrete scaffolding techniques, including chunking text, highlighting key phrases, pre-teaching vocabulary, discussion pauses, and read-alouds or audiobooks
• Treating scaffolds as temporary, built to be removed as students grow, not permanent accommodations
• The roughly 1% of students for whom adjusted goals genuinely apply, and why that number is much smaller than most teachers assume
• Why for the other 99%, lowering the bar is a limitation dressed up as kindness

Key takeaway
Students rise to the level of expectation set for them. Holding the line on grade-level instruction, and scaffolding up instead of differentiating down, is what turns high expectations from a slogan into daily practice.

#HoldingTheLineOnHighExpectations #NewTeacherTalk #HighExpectations #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #ScaffoldingNotSimplifying #TeacherLeadership #K12Education

What Your Union Card Actually Means

Guests: Dr. Amy Howerton, English Teacher and Department Chair, Oswego High School and Katie Popp, President of the Indian Prairie Education Association

In this episode, Dr. Beth and Dr. Anna invite Amy and Katie to unpack what union membership actually does for a new teacher. Katie brings 23 years in education and seven as union president to the conversation, and together they move past the dues line item to show what's really behind it: contract protection, legal cover, mentoring, and a voice in decisions that shape a career.

In this episode:

• What a union actually is: a collective voice working to improve conditions, benefits, and wages for its members
• Contract enforcement and how unions work with administration to interpret language and resolve issues before they become problems
• Legal and professional protection, including access to educational attorneys for situations like DCFS investigations, at no cost beyond dues
• Mentoring and professional development, from virtual discipline-specific coaches to building mentors who help new teachers learn the culture of a school
• Legislative advocacy at the state and national level, including the fight over Tier 2 retirement requirements and pension-Social Security protections
• What changed and what didn't after Janus: no more fair share fees, but Illinois unions kept exclusive bargaining agent status
• A concrete win: negotiating earlier paycheck distribution so new teachers aren't waiting until September 15 for their first check
• Why nearly 99% of teachers in Katie's district are union members, and what pushes the rest to join
• Building-level representation, professional learning communities, and cross-district networking as membership benefits new teachers often don't expect

Key takeaway
A union card isn't just a line on a pay stub. It's legal protection, a mentor, a voice in your contract, and a seat at the table, all working in the background before a new teacher ever needs to ask for help.

#WhatYourUnionCardMeans #NewTeacherTalk #TeacherUnions #NewTeachers #TeacherPD #EducationAdvocacy #TeacherLeadership #K12Education

Structure, High Expectations, and Real Connection

Guest: Chloe Lillie, first-year general music teacher

In this episode, Chloe Lillie challenges the idea that student behavior is a puzzle to be solved, arguing instead that authentic, human connection is at the center of good classroom management. She shares hard-won lessons from her first year in the classroom.

In this episode:

• Why interacting with students shouldn't feel artificial or like problem-solving
• The case for starting strict, and why clarity brings students comfort rather than stress
• Why structure matters for students still developing organizational skills
• How high expectations reduce students' fear of trying and failing
• Chloe's strategy of intentionally modeling mistakes to normalize the learning process
• A holiday classroom story: navigating a kindergartner's question about race and representation
• Chloe's framework: treat younger students like they're older, and older students like they're still kids
• Teaching first graders solfège and sheet music notation, with surprising results
• Why she gave middle schoolers holiday stuffed animals, and how they responded
• Why authentic, confident connection matters more than being a "perfect" teacher

Key takeaway:
Strong behavior management isn't about solving a puzzle, it's about building real, human connection while holding clear, consistent expectations.

#ClassroomManagement #NewTeacherSupport #FirstYearTeacher #TeachingPodcast #StudentBehavior #ClearExpectations #ClassroomStructure #HighExpectations #LearningFromMistakes #SensitiveConversations #AgeAppropriateTeaching #TreatYoungerStudentsAsCapable #LetOlderStudentsBeKids #HumanCenteredTeaching #NewTeacherTalk

The Warm Demander Secret to Starting Your Year Strong

Guest: Melissa Dudic, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, large suburban high school district

In this episode, Melissa Dudic explains how three fundamental elements, present in every classroom whether teachers realize it or not, shape the culture for learning: time, routines, and relationships. She draws on resources including Creating Cultures of Thinking by Ron Ritchhart and The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching by Brian Goodwin and Elizabeth Ross Hubbell.

In this episode:

• Why how teachers use class time communicates their priorities and values
• Specific feedback language that builds perseverance, resourcefulness, and independence
• The importance of wait time after posing a question
• Building in explicit closure and reflection time, even just 60 seconds
• Why classroom routines matter most for new teachers
• The "C3B4 me" routine for group work and student agency
• Why routines require modeling, practice, feedback, and reinforcement
• Relationships as the foundation of instruction
• The "warm demander" concept
• Practical ways to connect with every student daily, including quieter students

Key takeaway:
Intentional use of time, clear routines, and genuine relationships create classrooms where students see themselves as active participants in their own learning.

#ClassroomCulture #NewTeacherSupport #TeachingPodcast #InstructionalLeadership #TimeRoutinesRelationships #ClassroomRoutines #WarmDemander #MeaningfulFeedback #StudentBelonging #C3B4Me #IntentionalTeaching #TeachWithConfidence #HighExpectationsWarmSupport #NewTeacherTalk #NewTeachers #FirstYearTeacher

Classroom Management Part Two, Structure, Strictness, and Redirection

Guest: Abby Bartle, fourth-year English teacher, Oswego High School, Oswego, Illinois

In part two, Abby Bartle moves from big-picture classroom management into the daily habits and in-the-moment techniques that keep a classroom calm and focused. She emphasizes that classroom management is personal and that what works for one teacher may not work for another.

In this episode:

• Why classroom management style is personal and varies teacher to teacher
• Starting each period with clear materials routines
• Setting realistic attention span benchmarks (10-15 minutes) based on knowing your students
• Using movement breaks and brain breaks to refocus a class
• Creating a positive classroom environment through tone, personality, and decor
• Why misbehavior happens even with strong management, and why strictness early matters
• The "sacrifice a lamb" concept for establishing authority as a new teacher
• A redirection progression: praise, direct redirection, and non-verbal cues
• Why addressing behavior privately avoids power struggles and public escalation
• The difference between handling off-task behavior and students talking over instruction
• When to involve counselors, colleagues, or parents

Key takeaway:
Consistent routines and calm, private redirection do more to manage behavior than volume or punishment ever will.

#ClassroomManagement #NewTeacherSupport #TeachingPodcast #LessonPlanning #BehaviorManagement #StudentAttentionSpan #ClassroomProcedures #NonVerbalRedirection #TeacherExpectations #PositiveClassroomCulture #ProactiveTeaching #TeachWithConfidence #CalmClassroomStrategies #NewTeacherTalk

Classroom Management Starts on Day One, Not Later

Guest: Abby Bartle, fourth-year English teacher, Oswego High School, Oswego, Illinois

In this episode, Abby Bartle explains why classroom management can't be postponed while you settle into curriculum and school logistics. She makes the case for prevention over punishment and lays out a practical, proactive framework for the first weeks of school.

In this episode:

• Why classroom management must start on day one, not once things "settle down"
• Establishing routines and procedures before the school year begins
• Where to find inspiration: online teachers, school colleagues, student teaching experience, and your own education
• Why the second week of school often brings boundary testing
• Learning student names quickly through attendance, pronunciation practice, and icebreakers
• Building relationships without becoming "too friendly," and why that boundary matters
• The concept of being a "warm demander"
• Strategic desk placement and seating arrangements, including pods, pairs, and rows
• A step-by-step approach to building seating charts, from accommodations to friendships
• Why students shouldn't choose their own seats early in the year

Key takeaway:
Structure now creates freedom later. Prioritizing routines and procedures at the start of the year makes it possible to build in flexibility and relationship warmth as the year goes on.

#ClassroomManagement #NewTeacherSupport #TeachingPodcast #BackToSchoolPrep #WarmDemander #TeacherTips #ClassroomRoutines #BehaviorManagement #TeacherLife #PositiveClassroomCulture #TeacherProfessionalDevelopment #RelationshipBuilding #SeatingChartStrategy #TeachWithConfidence #NewTeacherTalk #TeacherPodcast

In this episode, Dr. Meg White explains why classroom setup is never just about aesthetics, it's a direct reflection of your educational philosophy. She walks through the difference between behaviorist and constructivist theory, teacher-centered versus student-centered classrooms, and what that means for how your room should actually be arranged.

In this episode:

• Behaviorist theory (B.F. Skinner): learning through repetition, rewards, and consequences, "learning by training"
• Constructivist theory (Piaget and Vygotsky): learning through hands-on problem solving and prior experience, "learning by building"
• The fishing analogy: teacher-centered classrooms "give a fish," student-centered classrooms "teach to fish"
• White's first-year teaching story about bulletin boards, construction paper, and a principal's hard lesson in priorities
• The "renting versus owning" framework for information retention
• Practical classroom arrangement guidance: desk placement, traffic flow, sight lines, and material accessibility
• Four fundamental principles of classroom behavior management
• A three-strike system built on student choice, featuring the "Roberto" scenario
• Why frequent punishment is usually a sign of a management problem, not a discipline problem

Key takeaway:
Thoughtful classroom design isn't decoration. It's a foundational teaching decision that shapes participation, collaboration, behavior, and learning. 

#BehaviorismVsConstructivism #TeacherCenteredVsStudentCentered #ClassroomArrangement #TeachingPodcast #LearningTheory #ClassroomDesign #ProximityControl #ThreeStrikeSystem #IntentionalClassroomDesign #RentingVsOwningLearning #TeachWithConfidence #StudentResponsibility #NewTeacherTalk