Teacher Talk with Paul and Jay

Paul Kelly

Paul and Jay discuss literature and ideas from the perspective of their years in the high school classroom. Teachers and students alike will learn a great deal from their lively and insightful discussions. Join us for the discussions as we work to grow a community readers, writers, and educators.

  1. 06/14/2025

    "Ozymandias" and the Romantic Vision

    If you cover Romanticism in your English literature class, you should include Shelley in your discussions, and "Ozymandias" is a great place to start. Think through this short but powerful poem with us as we continue our examination of the Romantic movement.

    36 min

  2. 05/31/2025

    The Hush of Nature: Learning Romanticism from Coleridge

    As a busy teacher, we don't always put in the time to learn about authors and movements in the way that we should. A movement like British Romanticism is vast in its reach and complex in its identity. Nevertheless, reading its defining texts gives us and our students the opportunity to learn Romanticism in the most authentic way. In this episode, we explore Romanticism by taking a close look at Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Frost at Midnight." The work is essential reading in Romanticism and better than any Wikipedia page for defining the movement. #teachertalkwithpaulandjay #english #englishteacher #classics #classicalliterature #pedagogy #highschoolenglish #literature #theodyssey #odysseus #howtoread #howto #reading #readinghelp #summary #summaries #shorts #shortvideo #greekmythology #mythology #EdChat #Humanities #TeacherLife #HighSchoolTeacher #EduTwitter

    56 min

  3. 05/21/2025

    Preface to the Lyrical Ballads: Teaching Romanticism

    If you teach British Romanticism to your high school students, you should work William Wordsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads into your prep. Jay and Paul dig through the Preface and talk about its importance to teaching the Romantic Movement. Jay opens with a pitch perfect poem, Seamus Heaney's "Digging", a Wordsworthian poem if there ever was one. #EdChat, #Humanities, #TeacherLife, #HighSchoolTeacher, #edutwitter #teachertalkwithpaulandjay #english #englishteacher #classics #classicalliterature #pedagogy #highschoolenglish #literature

    51 min

  4. 04/30/2025

    How to Organize Your High School English Class

    In this episode of "Paul Talks" from "Teacher talk with Paul & Jay", Paul lays out the bones of every humanities classroom: its rhetoric and dialectic all the way down. In practical terms, that means reading, writing and dialectic. Every day for every thing. #highschoolenglishteacher #classical #classicaleducation #homeschool #literature #pedagogy

    4 min

  5. 04/16/2025

    How to Teach William Blake

    If you are going to teach the Romantics, you should start with William Blake. Blake is the the first of the Romantic poets, the most outlandish and through and through Romantic in all aspects of his work. Paul suggests starting students with his astounding art; Jay begins with an immersive outdoor reading exercise. Whichever way you choose, you'll get good ideas and lots of inspiration for Blake from this episode.

    57 min

  6. 04/16/2025

    Intro to the Romantics

    Paul and Jay dive into the Romantic era, that great era of British literature with a review of the main ideas in the movement and two poems that they like best. This episode will help you think about teaching Romanticism -- and especially its poetry -- in your high school classroom. Jay opens the episode with a beautiful poem by Tony Hoagland.

    53 min

  7. 03/31/2025 ·  Bonus

    They're Not Listening, Because You're Talking

    You might find real transformation in your classroom this week by trying something that sounds sophisticated -- "anagnorisis" -- but is in reality quite simple. What it boils down to is listening -- even when you don't really think it will make a difference. Check out all the details in this weekend post.

    4 min

  8. 03/27/2025

    Teachers Talk Teaching: Christopher Westrate

    Paul & Jay invite long time literature teacher, Christopher Westrate, to join them for a discussion about the methods and values he associates with teaching classics to high school and college students. This is one of those episodes where you learn a lot about how to think about teaching. Please enjoy -- and let us know what you think in the comments. #classics #teacher #highschoolenglish #highschoolenglishteacher #homersodyssey #odyssey #homer #homeschool #humanities

    1h 9m
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Paul and Jay discuss literature and ideas from the perspective of their years in the high school classroom. Teachers and students alike will learn a great deal from their lively and insightful discussions. Join us for the discussions as we work to grow a community readers, writers, and educators.

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