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Those Who Can't Teach Anymore

Charles Fournier 26 episodes Latest Sep 30, 2025

"Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore" is a Signal Award-Winning, Ambie-Nominated narrative series exploring why teachers are leaving education and what can be done to stop the exodus.

Episodes

Bonus: Signal Awards Sep 30, 2025 177 Those Who Can't Teach Anymore is a Finalist in this year's Signal Awards. Vote for us in the Education Category: VOTE HERE. Voting closes October 9. Thank you all for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11: June Sep 23, 2025 2410 In our final episode of Season 2: A Different Kind of the Same Thing, we look back at the 2023-2024 school year to think about what the future of education should look like in order to keep teachers in the profession. We will also hear from host Charles Fournier reflect on his own audio journals from the school year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10: May Sep 9, 2025 2886 It's the end of the year, and 4th quarter amnesia settles in as teachers reflect on their final weeks at school. Several teachers make plans to continue teaching, but a few decide to go another direction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bonus: Presenting Teaching Through Emotions Sep 2, 2025 1566 For today's bonus episode, enjoy Betsy Burris' podcast Teaching Through Emotions. In this episode, two teachers make sense of their feelings of overwhelmedness and confusion. They talk about * imagination in teaching and learning * the importance of emotional and relational data * creative solutions to overwhelming and confusing problems * the importance — and ways — of digging up assumptions

9: April Aug 26, 2025 2212 Once the school year hits, maintaining self-care can be a challenge. For Becca Swain and Ashley Clark, their understanding of self-care changes drastically once they leave the classroom. In this episode, hear what the challenges teachers face when trying to take care of their mental and physical health during the school year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8: March Aug 12, 2025 2500 If teachers decide to leave teaching by summer break, they have to start the job hunt early. Sofi Velazquez learns new skills, rewrites her resume, and starts applying for jobs. In this episode, hear how the steps to leave the classroom take time and are not always full of rainbows and butterflies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7: February Jul 29, 2025 2517 Velma Rose reflects on the impact of secondary trauma on teachers, and something happens that makes her feel unsafe at school. In this episode, hear about the culture of violence is seeping into schools and how this is contributing to teachers leaving the classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bonus: Featuring Meredith Paul's Original Oratory Jul 22, 2025 937 Episode 6: January featured excerpts from Meredith Paul's award-winning original oratory. In this bonus episode, hear the speech in it's entirety. Stick around at the end of this episode to hear a brand new song made for this season by our very own Julian Saporiti. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6: January Jul 15, 2025 1799 We might need to rethink education as a whole if we want to keep teachers from leaving the profession. This episode, hear a high school student's take on what education should look like, and hear about an example of what education could look like from middle school teacher Iva Moss Redman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5: December Jul 1, 2025 1791 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

4: November Jun 17, 2025 2176 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

3: October Jun 3, 2025 1701 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

2: September May 20, 2025 1842 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

1: August May 6, 2025 2305 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

Season 2 Trailer: A Different Kind of Same Thing Mar 19, 2025 120 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 classr

Bonus: Presenting The Modern West Oct 30, 2024 1958 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. Lea

Bonus: Presenting Those Who Can't Do Jul 19, 2024 1072 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

Bonus: Presenting This Changes Everything Jul 12, 2023 2828 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

7: Those Who Can't Teach Anymore Feb 22, 2023 3005 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 be

6: Those Who Stay Feb 8, 2023 2284 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

5: Education has a Tourist Problem Jan 25, 2023 3497 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 educati

4: Why Are We Here? Jan 11, 2023 2641 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

3: What Would Robin Williams Do? Dec 28, 2022 2574 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

2: Inheritance Dec 14, 2022 2555 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 Revolut

1: Fight, Flight, or Apathy Nov 30, 2022 2608 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 strugg

Season Trailer: Those Who Can't Teach Anymore Sep 23, 2022 191 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

Those Who Can't Teach Anymore

Episodes

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