Brothers Who Teach

For our season finale, we've got Mom on the pod! Lydia Brenneman was a school psychologist in St. Marys, Ohio for 19 years. She talks to us first about the (8!) different colleges she went to and how she shifted from an interest in medicine to psychology (2:20). Then she shares about how, after serving for two years in Palestine, she began her work as a school psychologist: what it was like, how it changed over her career, and how it compares to private school (8:32). We also talk about the ways counseling and school psychology overlap and how teachers should handle students with learning differences, before getting to mom's career move to go to seminary and eventually become a chaplain (16:35). Mom tells us not a funny story but one of the many jokes she would use for comic relief in the hospital, and then Jameel has one last crack at the trivia question (25:00).

For Mother's Day, we got to talk to two sisters who are also mothers who also taught with Joseph. The Michalski Sisters (Bethany Tribbett and Deborah Rife) share their experiences as teachers and mothers: how they got started (2:50), what it was like teaching while pregnant (15:00), their decisions not to return to full-time teaching (23:15), and whether or not they might return (31:35). Then Deborah and Bethany share stories about a funny dress-up day and an inappropriate comment (35:55) before Joe tries to answer a Geography question.

The students are back! This time, Joseph brought on two students from his Algebra II class: Trix Franks and Xavier Rivera. We ask them all about life as a student: what time of the year is most busy for them (4:00), how they stay organized (8:45), how they spend their time at home (14:00), college plans (18:45), what they see students struggling with (21:35), and more. Then Xavier and Trix both share funny stories related to their involvement in the school play (39:10), and Joe tries to answer an astronomy trivia question. Trix and Xavier are both outstanding students, and we feel grateful to have had them on the show!

We aren't going to give too many details about this episode, because it's a pop quiz episode! Meaning Jameel and Joseph have come up with questions for each other, but neither knows what the other is going to ask. So we aren't going to tell you, either. You'll just have to listen to find out... Don't worry; we will still have a funny story and trivia at the end (30:50).

For the first time, Brothers Who Teach is talking to a student! Ty Besses graduated from Christ School in 2022, and he is a recipient of the Morehead-Cain scholarship, one of the most prestigious scholarships in the country. One aspect of the Morehead-Cain is its recipients take a gap year to travel the world, so Ty is joining us from Australia! We catch up on all the traveling he has been up to, before switching gears back to school (10:35), including his take on Christ School's unique aspects, being Black at school (14:35), and how teachers can do better to reach students (23:00). We finish with Ty sharing a funny experience from his travels, and Jameel tries to answer a movie-related trivia question.

Our guest this week is Dan Hawthorne, history teacher at Rensselaer High School. Dan was a mentor to Joseph during his first year of teaching, and we brought him on the show to talk to us about engaging with young teachers. After telling us about how he got to Rensselaer, Dan talks about the high rate of turnover at his school and how it can be combated at schools in general (6:00). Along that line, we talk about what responsibilities veteran teachers have in regard to helping their younger counterparts (17:09). Finally, Dan also tells us about his own mentor (24:45), how he keeps up with new trends, asks us a BBQ question(!) and then gives us a funny story about dealing with students who talk too much during discussions (35:57). We finish as always with trivia, in this case Joseph trying to answer a question about Greek mythology.

We might not want our bosses to listen to this one. This episode is all about the benjamins. We begin with the big question: are teachers underpaid? (2:40) Obviously, every teaching situation is different, but we get into the general areas where teachers are well-compensated (hint: summer) and areas where they are under-compensated (14:54). We don't get too far into the weeds, but Joseph does some math work to give us some dollar-per-hour estimates (17:30) and we discuss the complications of how to pay coaches who teach vs. coaches from outside the school (20:30). Then we shift to talking about side hustles: what jobs we've done or considered for a little extra cash to supplement that hefty (?) teacher's salary (26:06). Joe tells a story where he unknowingly played reverse matchmaker, and Jameel tries to answer an art trivia question.

In this episode, we talk about the dreaded interview process. We begin by looking back at our own interview experiences and if we would change anything if we could go back (2:50). Then we look forward to talk about what kinds of things teachers should think about when considering a school (11:15). After that, we get into the interview itself: what to do and what not to do, and why teaching demonstrations are vital (19:10). Finally, Jameel vents about being misled by his tennis players this week, and Joseph once again tries to answer a trivia question correctly (28:34).

Our second installment of Career Day features Jameel's barber who is also named Joe: Joseph Rollice and his wife Ashley run Clipper & Comb, quite possibly the best barbershop in Western North Carolina. Joe the Barber talks to Jameel about his high school experience and barber school (7:40), starting his own business with Ashley (28:00), and his curiosity about teaching (33:25). Joe's funny story is about a mistake he made in his early days as a barber (43:00), then Brother Joe comes on to share his thoughts on the interview and to offer Jameel a trivia question (45:55). Follow Joe the Barber on Instagram @clipperandcombbarbershop

Brothers Who Teach does not shy away from the hot topics! Some people have said the new AP African-American Studies course is indoctrinating. For this episode, we brought in someone who has actually read through the curriculum: James Uhler is assistant academic dean at Christ School, has worked with The College Board in helping design the curriculum for AP US History, and has taught his own semester-long African-American History course. We talk with him about Ron DeSantis' claims about AP African-American Studies: first, if Black history should be a standalone subject (4:40), then if the specific parts of the course that DeSantis criticized are problematic or not (9:18), and what if anything in the latest curriculum update could be used to provoke the culture war (19:45). We then take a step back from this specific course and talk about why courses like this, that focus on one identity or time period, are important (29:30), and why there is paranoia around school curricula in general (35:00). Then James tells us a story about students in his African-American History class learning a lesson from the real world (48:45), and Joe tries to change his luck and actually answer a trivia question correctly for a change (52:20).

Our previous State of the Arts episodes revolved around our former band teachers. This time, we're interviewing a former classmate: Marissa Lewis! Marissa teaches choir at Wapakoneta City Schools in Ohio. She begins by telling us how she got to her current position. Then we ask how her experience as a teacher has been similar and different to when we were students (9:05). Hint: Covid made things a lot different. Marissa also shares about a time when her job and a lot of the arts programs in St. Marys were under threat (16:00), before giving us her version of the ideal music program (18:35). We wrap up with a funny story where Marissa wanted to impart wisdom, but instead put her foot in her mouth (26:15), and Joe asks Jameel a ChatGPT-generated trivia question.

We are giving into the bitterness from all the LaCroix and taking this episode to vent. We get into the pet peeves we have as teachers, and the frustrations go beyond just the students. We go back and forth with our various peeves and weigh in about if the peeve is irrational or if we are totally in agreement. Joesph has a funny story about chess in math class, and then tries to answer a trivia question generated by ChatGPT.

Teachers usually have some, hopefully not many, students who struggle. They might struggle for all kinds of reasons: fatigue, apathy, learning issues. What do we do in these situations? How much time do we spend trying to help? We attempt to answer these questions, first for students who fall asleep (6:45), then for students who don't seem to care (17:00), and finally for students who do care but are not succeeding (24:15). Then Jameel tells a funny story from Arabic class and tries to answer the trivia question to give Joseph yet another LaCroix.

In this episode, Jameel gets to catch up on what he missed last week, and to pay homage to Mr. Newlove and Mrs. Anderson (who taught him the trombone in the first place). We exchange stories from our time in high school, including high points and regrets, and talk about how the schools we've been to since don't compare, band-wise. Joe provides a funny story from the week and tries to finally get the trivia question right.

This episode features some of our most anticipated guests: Mr. Dane Newlove and Mrs. Rebecca Anderson, our band directors in high school! These two provided over 60 years of music teaching not just at St. Marys Memorial High School, but for grades 5-8 as well. Jameel was not able to join for the interview, so Joseph handled this one on his own, beginning with their background in music and how they arrived as band directors, how they handled their huge teaching loads (6:55), what allowed SMABB, St. Marys All-Brass Marching Band, to thrive where other marching bands don't (10:25), and the non-marching band aspects of their teaching (16:50). We also ask how they see and are involved in music programs today (27:45). The Great Dane and Mrs. A also provide some funny stories from their legendary tenures (36:00). We will have a follow-up episode with Jameel so he can weigh in on this interview, as well as go over the trivia question for this week.

We brought in reinforcements for our battle with the bots: Jack Lynch, science teacher at Christ School, joins us to continue our conversation about ChatGPT. Jack begins by explaining what exactly sets ChatGPT apart from other iterations of artificial intelligence (6:20), and then talks about why he is optimistic about it, both in the classroom and for society in general (11:55). It turns out some of our fears regarding ChatGPT *might* have been overstated. As Jack explains, this technology may eliminate paperwork and drudgery and let people spend more time doing meaningful, enjoyable work (26:00). Jack wraps up our conversation by re-stating a point we hit on in the first episode: this is forcing teachers to re-evaluate how they evaluate their students (31:30). We get a funny story from Jack getting called out by a student using ChatGPT, and then Joe gives Jameel an animal trivia question.

You may be thinking "What is ChatGPT?" That's because 1) it's new, and 2) no one totally knows yet! But in a nutshell, it is a website where you can type in any kind of question, and it will answer with remarkable accuracy and eloquence for a machine. We spend this episode test driving it, with questions and requests like: - conjugate "to go" in Arabic (5:50) - what are the answers to exercise 1 in my Arabic textbook? (9:00) - what is the equation of the tangent line for a circle with a center at (3,5) and a radius of 5 at the point (7,8)? (10:30) - write a poem in Arabic (14:00) - explain ch. 1 of Pride and Prejudice (15:36) - write three paragraphs about the competition between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla (18:25) - write me a love song (30:00) - give me an idea for a startup company (31:45) And along the way we discuss some of the implications of all this. ChatGPT provided jokes for our funny moments section, and Joe attempts to answer a Star Trek trivia question. Try ChatGPT out for yourself: https://chat.openai.com/auth/login *Sorry for some sections of poor audio. We hope that this was a one-time issue.

It's our first installment of Career Day! The field is nursing, and our guest is Saji Kuttab, our cousin from California. We talked to Saji about his schooling and how he got interested in science and medicine (7:00), his experience with nursing school and standardized testing (17:30), and how nurses are educated “on the job” (29:00). We also asked what he would do if given the chance to design his own nursing school curriculum (32:30). Then Saji has a funny story from his time as an EMT, and he provides the week's trivia question, related to nurse demographics (38:00).

On this episode, we get into our strategies when it comes to planning. First, we talk about how far in advance we plan our classes. What happens if you get ahead of or behind those plans? (6:03). Then we discuss what our daily plans look like (11:50). Do we plan every minute out, or leave some room for flexibility? How much variety do we include within one class period? (17:45) And how much do we tinker from year to year, as opposed to having a class be a carbon copy of what was done the previous year? We finish by broadening out the topic: how can these lesson-planning strategies work for people outside of education? (27:25) Then, Joseph has a funny story about Slope Dude, and Jameel takes his first shot at the Question of the Day. Slope Dude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcSrJPiQvHQ&ab_channel=MathGivesYouPower Planbook lesson planning software: www.planbook.com

We're back with Season Two of Brothers Who Teach! For the first episode of the season, we want to catch you up on what the Brothers have been up to, including: 1) A Brothers Who Teach BBQ Crossover Episode from the summer: https://brennemanbbqtour.wordpress.com/2022/06/26/awards-show-2022/ 2) An article about the podcast in the Christ School Galax Magazine: https://bit.ly/3YbfBz5 3) Our focus for this season, which is to interview anyone with a non-teaching job. We want to talk about how they were trained (or train others) to do what they do. Let us know if you want to be on! We then talk about changes we have experienced from last school year to this one. Some changes are relatively small, like teaching different courses, and some are big, like moving to the East Coast! We start with Jameel's three biggest changes (7:00), and then Joe's (18:35), before getting to a funny story (37:00), and ending with the Question of the Day, which will be replacing the Numbers Game (38:25).

We have just finished the #brennemanbbqtour in Texas, and we wanted to talk about our trip, so we're using our other project, this podcast, for our discussion. We start with an overview of the trip, getting into stuff that didn't show up on the blog and answering some Q&A. Then our Awards Show begins at the 34:00 minute mark. Awards include best brisket, ribs, sausage, pulled pork, sides, and dessert. Then, we each rank our Top 5 Restaurants from the tour. All the results are at brennemanbbq.wordpress.com. Learn 'em good and smoke 'em if you got 'em!

For our final episode of Season 1, we brought back two guests: Jameel's wife, Dr. Amy Jonason, and our father, aka the original Mr. Brenneman! We wanted a big topic for our finale, so we boldly chose politics, debate, and controversy in the classroom. We start off with dad talking about how the relationship between students and politics has changed from when he was a teacher (3:40), that students in the US are more "politically engaged" than ever before, and we discuss whether or not this is a good thing. Amy then talks about academic freedom at the university level, which allows her to present and discuss topics she cares about, political or not (19:55). Along the way, we all give tips about how to guide students to work with controversial subjects and class debates: to be respectful of others, to back up one's own view with solid evidence, and to be open to changing in the light of new information. Dad gives a funny or bizarre story of a gun in school being used nonviolently, and we finish with a Brothers Who Teach-themed Numbers Game. We are looking ahead to Season 2, and we want to focus on how people in the workforce were trained to do their various jobs. So, if you work, worked, or will be working, and want to talk about your experience, we want to hear from you!

This is not our season finale (contrary to what the title may indicate), but we are approaching the end of our school years, so we thought we'd talk about the final week of school. We start with our experiences in high school (1:45) and college (7:30) and how we handled final exams and the big papers and projects coming due (with a sidebar about the music that helped us get to the finish line). Then we talk about how this works for us as teachers: what do our finals look like, if we have them at all, and what other traditions come with that last week of school. (15:55). Joe's funny story includes a special announcement, and twenty miles of running is on the line in a holiday-related Numbers Game.

It's Joseph's turn to have his wife on the show! Dr. Kate Brenneman joins us to talk about her experiences as a student, and an introverted one at that. This leads us to get into how we handle participation in our classes, and how we account for the different personalities we encounter. First, Kate shares from a class where she felt more comfortable than usual to participate (4:15), and a class that was particularly hard for her to engage in (12:17), then she gives us a sense of what is going through an introvert's mind while in class (18:20), and she addresses some misconceptions that might be out there about introverts (26:25). Jameel shares a funny story from Arabic class, and then Kate gives a scientific Numbers Game that throws both brothers for a loop.

The average attention span is 2-3 times a student's age. So with that in mind, how do you keep them from losing focus in a 90-minute class? This episode is all about how to use brain breaks and other strategies for maintaining focus. We start the episode discussing how long our classes are, and in the case of longer periods, why it is necessary to take breaks if you want students to stay productive, and why it's unrealistic to expect someone to be attentive for the duration of a class. We talk about the need for "predictable variety" as a way to keep students on their toes (9:00), before actually going over some brain breaks, which serve as "palette cleansers for the brain" (14:00). Then we discuss how to keep variety in the classroom even without breaks that go off topic (23:15). Joseph gives a funny story from coaching soccer, and then we play the Numbers Game with an incredibly close finish.

We've got a returning guest! Bobby Long, Director of Athletics at Crystal Springs Upland School in the Bay Area, comes back to talk to us about coaching at the high school level. First, we talk about how each of our schools handle coaching: how many of our coaches also teach at our schools, and what is expected of them (2:30)? Then we ask Bobby if bigger, more profitable sports should get special treatment (8:40). We also share stories of "coach-first teachers" whose classrooms were, let's say, not the most engaging (17:45), and how to make sure coaches are properly invested (24:10). Then, Jameel shares a funny sports moment and Bobby gives us a baseball-related Numbers Game.

How does a teacher know if their students learned anything? Did they understand the day's lesson, and will they be able to recall and use it in a week? A month? A year? We begin by talking about different types of formative assessments, which are used to see how well a lesson was understood (3:20), then about how to distinguish information from similar concepts that have different rules (9:45), and then how to keep the knowledge fresh months down the road (19:45). Joseph gives April Fool's Day stories, and then we play a Numbers Game about big cities.

Our father, Brice Brenneman, the original Mr. Brenneman, is on the show today! We do our best to retrace his 35-year career as a teacher: from being surprised and unprepared to be teaching psychology and sociology in his first year (5:45), to serving for two years as the director of Hope School in Palestine (12:40), to the reputation he felt he had (19:00), to dealing with changes in technology and curriculum (28:00). We don't ask him which son is his favorite, but we do talk about what it was like teaching his sons, as well as some other interesting tidbits and fun stories. The Numbers Game was our Elite 8 picks, which were identical except for one game: North Carolina vs. St. Peter's. One of us picked the Tarheels; one of us picked the Peacocks, and will be making brownies for the other as a punishment!

We continue our New Teachers series with guests Jack Fader and Wyatt Long. Jack and Wyatt teach at Christ School, and while both have been there for a few years now, they had very little experience before they arrived. But they've made it! More or less. So we are talking to them about how--despite the struggles--they have been able to succeed, and what veteran teachers can do to help their younger colleagues. Our guests share some fun stories from their time at Christ School, and we go over our Sweet 16 picks with a Dirty Dozen on the line. *Jameel was recording on the road for this one, so apologies for the occasional low-quality audio.

On this pod, we reveal the Brothers Who Teach Survival Kit! Forgot your computer? No Internet? Extra time with nothing planned? We tackle all of these situations and more. First we talk about some of the primary causes of these "oh crap" moments (2:30) and what our primary lifesavers are--textbooks, this should be you! (14:12). Online options include: Quizizz (that's how it's spelled), Kahoot, and Quizlet, which all have a lot of pre-made materials. Then we offer options when you don't have the Internet or the time to prepare things online (28:08), before moving on to general tips for when you realize things are not going according to plan (rule #1: don't panic!). Then Jameel offers a funny story from teaching poetry, and we reveal how our First Round March Madness picks turned out in the Numbers Game.

We're back, and with a guest! Caleb Sonneland, Jameel's former colleague, joins us from East Side Catholic in Seattle where he is an English teacher. Caleb is a department chair and wanted to discuss how each of our departments work and what we could change if we were in charge with no obstacles. We begin by focusing on Joe and math, since that is foreign to us English teachers (7:50). Then Caleb gives us an idea about retreats instead of shorter department meetings (18:10). After Joe talks about his ideal department, Jameel weighs in about the unique challenge of a world languages department (30:00). We also get to vent as we share our pet peeves (38:25). Caleb gives us a funny story from an eventful first weekend in his first year of teaching, and we play a March Madness-related Numbers Game.

Break room. Teacher's lounge. Empty closet no one knows about. Everyone has some place they like to go to get away from work. This week, we're talking about what those places are for us. First we talk about why breaks are important (3:00), what lunchtime conversations are like at our respective schools (8:20), and the importance of taking breaks with other people (15:30). Then we get into the politics of the teacher's lounge: what not to talk about, what not to put in the microwave, etc. (20:45). Then Joe tells a joke that may or may not count as a funny story (30:25) and we have our closest and most intense Numbers Game yet!

Our friend Luke taught for one year...and then quit. We brought him on the pod to share his story, including the different factors (many of which were out of his control) that led to Luke being a one-and-done teacher. Luke also offers a funny story from his teaching experience as well as a hunting-related statistic for the Numbers Game.

While we are both recently married, balancing work life and home life is a relatively easy task compared to our guests--Paul (art teacher!) and Shannon Monroe (PhD candidate!!)--who are parents of two very young children!!! We start by analyzing a recent tweet that says you cannot be a great teacher and have work-life balance at the same time (2:40). We also discuss the "unwritten rules of teaching," expectations that aren't in your contract but could lead to putting more time and stress into your work (9:00). Then we share about how getting married and/or having kids has affected work-life balance (22:00) and general tips for not letting work dominate life--like an in-home book-reading competition! (35:00). Jameel burns Joe with a funny story, and the weekly challenge ends on a cliff-hanger... Tweet quoted in the pod: https://twitter.com/drsteveperry/status/1477726477076598785

We have a PhD on the show! Dr. Amy Jonason joins us to talk about becoming a professor and her current role as a sociologist at Furman University (2:00), teaching sociology--and the importance of rubrics!-- (8:30), and sharing a curriculum vs. coming up with her own lesson plans (22:00). Then we talk about college students: issues freshman face when adjusting to university life and strategies to avoid getting overwhelmed. Amy also provides us with a funny, weird, story, as well as providing the statistic that serves as our Numbers Game for the week.

First, let's define some terms: what is a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset (3:10)? Then we talk about how each mindset manifests in the classroom or playing field, and why the fixed mindset can be detrimental (8:00). Joseph uses two professional basketball players as the epitome of a fixed and a growth mindset (23:00), and then we bring it back to how teachers can encourage growth mindset (34:49). Jameel has another “Funny Email” story (43:18), and we finish with a Wordle re-match.

This episode features our first guest ever! Bobby Long, Director of Athletics at Crystal Springs Upland School in the Bay Area, talked to us about how school and sports should work together. We begin by recounting our own experiences as student athletes (3:40), how coaching and teaching overlap (9:25), and then Bobby shares about what good school athletics programs should look like (17:25) and how things are changing. Joe shares a funny story about his co-host, and we try something different in place of the numbers game.

How is education depicted in TV shows and movies? We start with the "crimes" that are often committed in these depictions (4:15), then we move onto the shows and movies that get it right (19:50), and we talk about our favorite fictional teachers (28:52). For our funny moments, we talk about hilarious lines from two beloved shows, and brownies are at stake when we play the numbers game!

We begin first with a discussion about how we make our tests, and what we expect students to be able to produce. Then we get to the heart of the episode: state standardized tests (8:35). We talk about how they affect curriculum overall, how they accurately or inaccurately they measure success, and how they can be improved. Jameel has a funny story about email addresses, and our numbers game this week involves LeBron James.

How much homework do you give, and how do you assess it? Do you have a grading policy, and who sets it? We take on these questions, and their offshoots, as we begin to explore the differences between public and private school. Joe shares a funny story where a student misinterpreted his instructions, and we play the numbers game trying to guess how many public schools are in the USA.

In our first episode, we tackle one of the most common and most basic questions students ask: when will I use this? We answer the question generally, explaining how education is to the real world what weightlifting is to sports like football and basketball. We also explain that sometimes, the very thing a student is learning can directly improve their chances of success in the future, like being a good writer or learning a foreign language. We also talk about funny emails and Arabic sentences, and speculate about pet-owning families.