Episodes

  • How to Organize Your High School English Class
    Apr 30 2025

    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

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    4 mins
  • How to Teach William Blake
    Apr 16 2025

    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.

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    57 mins
  • Intro to the Romantics
    Apr 16 2025

    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.

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    53 mins
  • They're Not Listening, Because You're Talking
    Mar 31 2025

    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.

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    4 mins
  • Teachers Talk Teaching: Christopher Westrate
    Mar 27 2025

    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

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • How to Teach Poetry: The Suspension of Disbelief
    Mar 12 2025

    Teaching poetry to high school students is not easy. If you to do it well, it will take work. Paul talks through crossing the first hurdle.#podcast #literature #poetry #secondaryeducation #pedagogy #highschoolenglish #highschoolenglishteacher #highschool #english #englishteaching #englishgrammar

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    5 mins
  • The Odyssey Book 24: Order in Ithaca Through Piety & Strength
    Feb 19 2025

    Odysseus wakes up to the final challenges to his household and to Ithaca. With the help of his son and his father, and conceding as always to Athena, he finds an unlikely resolution. We end our coverage of Homer's epic with this final episode. Thanks for listening and let us know what you think.

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    58 mins
  • The Odyssey Book 23: The Intimacies of Love and Death
    Feb 17 2025

    Follow along with Jay and Paul through one of the most satisfying episodes in Odysseus' journey. Back home, having faced down his mortal enemies, he finds himself face to face with the deepest test of all. Penelope removes herself from the narrative shroud and takes the stage, pushing Odysseus further than any other challenge has thus far. Jay opens with Ken Nye's "The Marriage Bed Poem", which couldn't be more apt.

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    46 mins