Brave New Teaching: A Podcast for High School and Middle School Teachers The World is on Fire! What Can We Actually Control Right Now? - BNT Team Meeting [Ep 290]
Mar 19, 2026
A pep talk on focusing only on what you can control in chaotic times. Tackles student anxiety around course selection and how post-COVID habits affect resilience. Uses a bank-account metaphor to weigh goals, trade offs, and where to invest time and energy. Shares choices for sustaining a program amid scheduling chaos and tiny actions teachers can make to protect their energy.
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Post-COVID Do-Over Habit Alters Student Resilience
- Post-COVID grading flexibilities created a generation less practiced at accepting one-shot consequences and learning from failures.
- Marie Morris observes students expect do-overs and lack iterative practice because online learning reduced repeated assessment cycles.
Students Oscillate Between Avoidance And Obsession
- Marie contrasts two student reactions to course request season: avoidance versus unhealthy obsession over schedule prestige.
- She reassures students that differences between honors and regular classes rarely determine long-term life outcomes.
Frame Course Selection As A Budgeting Decision
- Treat course and college planning like budgeting: identify the goal, research requirements, and map what you must invest now.
- Marie frames students' schedules as a bank account and asks what time, energy, and classes they will deposit toward desired programs.