Leadership matters. Velma Rose, who has been a long-time fan of attending school board meetings, can't sleep after the most recent meeting she attended. Velma's 5am journal entry gives us insight into the meeting where she was accosted and a student was booed for speaking. In this episode, hear about the increasing disconnect between district level leadership and teachers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When negotiations don't result in a contract, Portland School District goes on strike. Charlie Blackwood has never taken part in a strike, but they record their experience as the strike progresses through November. In this episode, hear about the impact of Teacher Unions on teacher well-being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The students are changing. Dan Morris, who is retiring at the end of this school year, never thought the kids were changing, but things have changed. In this episode, hear how student behavior is impacting the classroom and teachers' decisions to stay or leave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As routines fall into place, teachers show why they are experts in their field. In this episode, teachers talk about best practices, and we hear some of the ways that teacher expertise is devalued. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It’s hard to describe how it feels to be pulled into the momentum of a new school year. In this episode, hear how teachers from across the country navigate the excitement and anxiety of starting a new year, and meet Amber, a brand new teacher who doesn't quite know what to expect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Teachers are still leaving education at an alarming rate. In the new season of Those Who Can't Teach Anymore, we will get a look at a year in the life of a teacher. We will meet 15 teachers from across the country who volunteered to keep weekly personal audio journals of their 2023-2024 school year. These teachers recorded on their own at home on their couches, in their kitchens, in their classrooms, or on their drives to work. Teachers everywhere are all going through similar things. If we have...
Those Who Can't Teach Anymore presents a segment that Charles Fournier produced for the podcast The Modern West. In this segment, "One Size Does Not Fit All," you will meet Iva, an innovative teacher conducting scientific research with her middle schoolers on the Wind River Reservation. They even set up trail cameras! You can find other episodes from The Modern West wherever you find podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Those Who Can't Teach Anymore presents a segment from the podcast Those Who Can't Do, hosted by Andrea Forcum. In this segment, Charles Fournier talks with Andrea about teacher attrition, absurd dress codes, and what not to do in your classroom. To hear the whole episode and more episodes from Andrea's podcast, check out Those Who Can't Do wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Those Who Can't Teach Anymore presents the award-winning episode, "The Kids Are Not All Right," from This Changes Everything, a Cascade Public Media/Crosscut podcast. In this episode, producer and host Sara Bernard explores how the pandemic has exacerbated the mental health of students and teachers. In a moment when students and teachers are in need of support, the questions remain: What is being done and is it enough? To hear more about how the pandemic has impacted schools, check out the rest ...
Think about your favorite teacher. What were they like? What made them your favorite? Now, imagine if your favorite teacher quit their job before you had them in your life. What would you have lost? Think about what future generations of students will lose if more teachers leave because teachers don’t feel valued or trusted or fairly compensated. If things don’t change, more teachers will leave because they are realizing that they can. In this episode, we hear from former teachers who left educa...
The first step to solving the problem of teacher attrition is to admit that there is a problem. Some groups have already taken this step, and they are listening to teachers in order to create solutions that will retain teachers. These programs make a big difference, but their approach isn’t the norm. In this episode, we hear about successful efforts to keep teachers in education, and we’ll ask the question: Who should have the responsibility of keeping teachers in education? Music: Theme Song By...
Imagine that you are hiring a new English teacher. None of the people who apply have any of the qualifications to teach English. No teaching degree. No English degree. No experience in the classroom. Would you hire any of them? Probably not. Now here is the irony. Many of the people making curricular and legislative decisions about education don’t have the qualifications to be hired within education. This is a problem. In this episode, we hear how standardization, high-stakes testing, and policy...
What’s the purpose of education? If you were to ask 10 different people this question, you may get 10 different answers. Education shouldn’t be this complex, but getting people to come to a consensus on anything right now is a challenge. This can be a problem. If teachers are expected to meet ambiguous goals, it can lead to burnout and frustration. In this episode, we hear how conflicting values in education may be contributing to teachers’ decisions to leave. Music: Theme Song By Julian Saporit...
The most easily recognized teachers in our culture are on the big screen. So when we think about good teaching, it’s almost impossible not to think of Robin William’s character in Dead Poets Society standing on a desk and inspiring his students. This might be part of the problem. When teaching is associated with unrealistic Hollywood characters, it can create impractical or ridiculous assumptions about what teachers do. In this episode, we hear how the stereotypes of teachers may be contributing...
Many of the problems modern teachers are facing aren’t new, so we’re going back in time to find out how our education system became a system that teachers are currently fleeing. Come to find out, modern teachers inherited low pay, limited respect, and a system that strips communities of their cultural traditions. In this episode, hear how Indian Boarding Schools and the American Industrial Revolution have left traces on modern education, and how these traces are contributing to teachers’ decisio...
We are witnessing a mass exodus of teachers from education. My wife, Jennie, is one of those teachers that left. She, like many educators, was tired of not being treated like a professional. Even for me, a high school English teacher, the job is getting harder. So I go in search of answers. In this episode, we hear from Jennie and two other former teachers about why they left teaching. From struggles with mental health, to low pay, to a lack of autonomy in the classroom - they give insight into ...
Brilliant teachers are leaving education in droves, and they will continue to leave unless something changes. In February of 2022, the National Education Association reported that 55% of teachers were thinking about leaving education earlier than they had planned. The history and politics surrounding education, portrayels of education in pop-culture, and difficulty of teaching conditions have been feeding into why teachers want to leave. If we don't take time to listen to teachers and work towar...
