SEL and Organic Community Really Are This Simple - BNT Team Meeting [S7 EP. 281]

Listen to the full episode below:

Are you absolutely crawling through January molasses, too? I know I am! In this week’s Team BNT meeting, we’re talking honestly about what happens when students are exhausted, overwhelmed, and absolutely convinced they can keep everything “in their head”… even when it’s clearly not working. As we head into finals and the end of the term, I (Marie) share a few simple, repeatable routines I use to help students slow down, see what’s actually on their plates, and take back a little control of their time.

We walk through how a low-tech, on-paper breakdown of grades, missing work, and upcoming assignments can turn into a surprisingly powerful reset, for both academic clarity and classroom community. From creating a realistic week-at-a-glance to explicitly teaching students how to email teachers (yes, with sentence frames), these moments of direct SEL instruction ease anxiety and spark genuine connection. There’s something powerful about watching students breathe out, compare schedules, and even make plans to tackle work together.

We also zoom out to real teacher life: new terms, fresh starts, finals grading, Costco snack orders, and the mental gymnastics of resetting everything midyear. And before we wrap up, we share a sneak peek at what we’ve been working on behind the scenes - Brave New Teaching University - our upcoming space designed to organize everything we’ve created into something more usable, accessible, and supportive for real-life teachers in 2026 and beyond!

topics discussed:

  • End-of-term survival strategies and talk about student time management struggles

  • A low-tech, high-impact charting activity to organize grades, missing work, and the week ahead

  • Coaching students to actually use their schedules (and come to terms with their assignments)

  • Building SEL by teaching students how to email adults with sentence frames and rehearsal

  • Creating authentic community moments by problem-solving side-by-side

  • Pro tips for teacher survival: fresh snacks, delivery orders, and the “second first day” of school

resources:

check out other bnt episodes:

More about Brave New Teaching:

Join hosts Amanda Cardenas (Mud & Ink Teaching) and Marie Morris (The Caffeinated Classroom) in discussions about being brave, trying new things, and all things teaching! As seasoned classroom teachers, Amanda and Marie bring their experience, insight, energy, and oh, so many opinions and ideas... It's time for all teachers to take their classroom and teaching practice into their own hands!

Tune in on your favorite podcast apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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