Brothers Who Teach 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.