New Teacher Talk

Elizabeth Wilkins and Anna Quinzio-Zafran

Are you a new teacher in an urban, suburban, or rural school? Or, are you an aspiring new teacher? We’re here to support YOU! This podcast channel is designed to help those new to teaching. We talk about the most common challenges educators face and how to find answers. On this channel, you will find a community of support as well as on our associated social media platforms: Instagram and BlueSky - @NewTeacherTalk.

  1. 2d ago

    Ep 222: Teaching in a Title 1 School

    New Teacher Talk welcomes back Dion Copeland, National Board-Certified Teacher and Assistant Principal, for a conversation that reframes what it means to teach in a Title I school. Dr. Beth Wilkins and Dr. Anna Quinzio-Zafran set the stage around a deliberate choice: leading with an asset-based view of students and communities rather than a deficit narrative. Dion starts by clarifying what Title I actually is, a federal funding designation tied to economic need, not a measure of student ability. From there he calls for a mindset shift, away from language like broken and at-risk and toward activating the potential already in the room. He lays out the professional profile that helps new teachers thrive: equity-driven practice, data literacy, adaptability, cultural competence, and instructional skill. At the center is his dual engine of student achievement, the idea that instructional rigor and relational trust have to run together. As he puts it, you cannot love students into poverty, but you can hold high expectations while supporting them through every mistake along the way. Dion also reframes data as a flashlight, not a hammer, something that reveals who is being served and who is being missed, and he offers the PDSA cycle as a practical rhythm for reflection across the year. He closes by connecting Title I teaching to long-term career growth, drawing clear lines between classroom skills and organizational leadership. What you will take away: Why Title I signals economic need and resource allocation, not ability The five competencies that make up a complete professional profile How instructional rigor and relational trust work as one system Using data as a flashlight to surface equity gaps, with the PDSA cycle as your guide How the skills you build in Title I classrooms translate into leadership Three questions Dion leaves you with: Which transferable skill are you developing fastest? How does your current data use support equity? And where is your biggest opportunity to shift from a deficit to an asset-based mindset? Connect with Dion on LinkedIn, and follow New Teacher Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Instagram, and Bluesky. #NewTeacherTalk #TitleI #AssetBasedTeaching #EquityInEducation #NationalBoardCertified #DataDrivenInstruction #TeacherLeadership #NewTeacherSupport #InstructionalRigor #RelationalTrust

  2. 4d ago

    Ep 221: Managing Extreme Student Behaviors

    New Teacher Talk welcomes Abigail Jarrett, an educator who specializes in managing extreme student behavior, for a candid conversation about what to do when a situation escalates past anything your training prepared you for. Dr. Beth Wilkins opens by naming something every new teacher needs to hear: when behavior reaches this level, it is usually not a reflection of your skill or your effort. Abigail describes the scenarios that can feel like a new teacher's worst nightmare, a student throwing chairs, screaming, hitting classmates, or bolting from the room, and reframes them as communication. Behavior like this usually signals a student who is overwhelmed, dysregulated, or out of coping skills in the moment. Understanding that matters, but as Abigail is clear to say, safety always comes first. Drawing on a firsthand account from her own first-grade classroom, she offers five concrete strategies you can hold onto when things escalate, along with the prevention and repair work that happens before and after the hard moments. What you will take away: Why extreme behavior is communication, and why safety still comes first How to stay calm and steady even when you are not feeling calm The difference between misbehavior and crisis behavior, and how to tell quickly Why relationships built before a crisis are your strongest prevention How to debrief afterward in a way that builds skills instead of shame Resources mentioned: The Explosive Child by Ross Greene, the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions model, and the behavior specialists, counselors, and special education teams already in your building. If this episode gave you something to hold onto, or there is a topic you want us to cover next, leave us a review. We read every one, and your feedback shapes future episodes. #NewTeacherTalk #ClassroomManagement #BehaviorSupport #CrisisResponse #NewTeacherSupport #StudentBehavior #TraumaInformedTeaching #CollaborativeProactiveSolutions #TeacherWellbeing #K12Education

  3. Sep 9

    Ep 220: What Interleaved Practice Teaches Us About Real Learning

    New Teacher Talk kicks off a special Science of Learning series with Dr. Ken King of Aurora University. In this first episode, Dr. King makes a case that may feel counterintuitive: the practice that feels easiest is often the practice that teaches the least. The focus is interleaved practice, the strategy of mixing different problem types and topics together rather than drilling them one block at a time. Dr. King explains why blocked practice, like twenty fraction problems in a row or fifty free throws before layups, creates quick, visible improvement that can fool us. It looks like learning, but it often fades. Interleaving feels harder, students make more mistakes, and they frequently believe they are learning less, yet it produces stronger retention and deeper understanding over time. Along the way, Dr. King unpacks the research behind why it works: how interleaving reduces discrimination errors by forcing students to compare similar concepts, how it builds storage strength by pulling information from long-term memory, and why these "desirable difficulties" lead to deeper processing. He closes with practical ways to bring it into your classroom at any grade level. What you will take away: Why strong performance during practice does not equal lasting learning The difference between blocked and interleaved practice, and when each has its place How mixing problem types forces students to decide what they are looking at before deciding how to respond Grade-level examples for elementary math, middle school science, and high school English A book recommendation to go deeper, Powerful Teaching by Agarwal and Bain If this episode gave you something to try, or there is a learning-science topic you want us to cover next, leave us a review. We read every one, and your feedback shapes the series #NewTeacherTalk #ScienceOfLearning #InterleavedPractice #EvidenceBasedTeaching #TeacherPD #InstructionalStrategies #CognitiveScience #NewTeacherSupport #PowerfulTeaching #TeachingStrategies

  4. Sep 7

    Ep 219: Finding Your People in a New Building

    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

  5. Sep 2

    Ep 218: Staying Calm and Staying Firm

    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

  6. Aug 31

    Ep 217: Two Teachers, One Classroom

    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

  7. Aug 26

    Ep 216: Holding the Line on High Expectations

    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

  8. Aug 24

    Ep 215: What Your Union Card Actually Means

    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

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About

Are you a new teacher in an urban, suburban, or rural school? Or, are you an aspiring new teacher? We’re here to support YOU! This podcast channel is designed to help those new to teaching. We talk about the most common challenges educators face and how to find answers. On this channel, you will find a community of support as well as on our associated social media platforms: Instagram and BlueSky - @NewTeacherTalk.

Information

  • Creator
    Elizabeth Wilkins and Anna Quinzio-Zafran
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    New Teacher Talk