Teach Different
Conversation Skills for any Curriculum

The podcast

One quote. Two sides. A conversation worth having.

Co-founders Dan and Steve Fouts take a single quote and run it through the same four moves teachers use in class: claim, counterclaim, essential question, storytelling. Guests bring their own lives to it.

Every episode is paired with a conversation plan, so what you hear on a walk is something you can teach on Monday. The archive goes back to 2020.

Browse all 215 episodes

Listen on Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Overcast Pocket Casts RSS feed

How an episode goes

The same four moves, every week.

It is not a debate and nobody is keeping score. The structure exists so that the strongest case against your own position gets said out loud, by you, before anyone else says it.

01  Claim

The quote, taken at its word. What is it actually asking you to believe?

02  Counterclaim

The strongest case on the other side, made in full and made fairly.

03  Essential question

The question underneath both sides, the one that does not resolve.

04  Storytelling

A guest brings their own life to it, and the idea stops being abstract.

The archive

Every episode since 2020.

Search a quote, an author, or a year. Each episode opens onto its own page with the conversation plan that goes with it.

213 episodes

“All dreams spin out from the same web.” Attributed to Hopi Proverb “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” Attributed to Mother Teresa “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” Mark Twain “Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what the world needs is people who have come alive” Attributed to Howard Thurman “I never lose. I either win or learn.” Attributed to Nelson Mandela “Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.” Attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt “My response to racism is anger.” Audre Lorde “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” Greek Proverb “My humanity is caught up in yours.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu “You don't win a war by talking to the enemy.” Attributed to Margaret Thatcher “When you run after a coward for too long, you meet its courage.” Nigerian proverb “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins.” Attributed to Zechariah Chafee Jr. “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Blaise Pascal “If you fall behind, run faster. Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds.” Attributed to Rev. Jesse Jackson “People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become, and they pay for it very simply by the lives they lead.” James Baldwin “Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone, but if someone puts his hand on you, send them to the cemetery.” Malcolm X “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.” Attributed to Aristotle “Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” George Orwell “Fear is the mind killer.” Frank Herbert “Courage is the most important of all virtues.” Maya Angelou “It is better to be alone than in bad company.” Attributed to George Washington Re-air “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” Robert Louis Stevenson Re-air “Blind obedience to authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” Albert Einstein Re-air “We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.” Max De Pree “When there is love, you can live even without happiness.” Fyodor Dostoevsky “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” Attributed to Rumi “The measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members.” Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi “Never ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” John Lewis “It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” Epictetus Re-air “Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” Aldous Huxley “It hurts to be different, but I would rather hurt than be like my circumstance.” Jarvis Funches “Missing an opportunity because you lack the courage to jump hurts more than trying and failing.” Author Unknown “This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt “It is not a man’s duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong, but it is his duty at least to wash his hands of it.” Henry David Thoreau “In the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith” Attributed to J. William Fulbright “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Attributed to Benjamin Franklin “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” Booker T. Washington “Imagination is the only key to the future. With it, all things are possible.” Attributed to Ida Tarbell “I don't like that man, I must get to know him better.” Attributed to Abraham Lincoln “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.” Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi “The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.” Japanese Proverb “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” Attributed to Aristotle “Pride must die in you or nothing of heaven can live in you.” Andrew Murray “Acceptance is the key to peace.” Author Unknown “We can only be truly generous when we expect nothing in return.” Muhammad Ali “Trust is built with consistency.” Attributed to Lincoln Chafee “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” Attributed to Ernest Hemingway “When you really want something, all the universe conspires to help achieve it.” Paulo Coelho “It's better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in war.” Chinese proverb “When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” Attributed to Lao Tzu “He who feeds you, controls you.” Thomas Sankara “Even a sheep must learn to lead the flock someday.” Author Unknown “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” Attributed to Henry Ford “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Frederick Douglass “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” Henry David Thoreau “A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.” Attributed to Epictetus “Before embarking on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” Attributed to Confucius “If you are silent about your pain, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” Attributed to Zora Neale Hurston “It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.” Attributed to Confucius “The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” Marcus Aurelius “Be the change that you wish to see in the world,” Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi “Wisdom and peace come when you start living the life the creator intended for you,” Attributed to Geronimo, Apache “I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts more” Chief Joseph “Live your life so that the fear of death can never enter your heart,” Attributed to Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee Nation “Each person is his own judge,” Shawnee Proverb “And to suppress any truth is to give it power beyond endurance,” Audre Lorde “He who has a why can bear almost any how” Friedrich Nietzsche “The greatest glory in life lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall” Attributed to Nelson Mandela “You do not know what life means when all the difficulties are removed” Jane Addams “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood” Marie Curie “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” Attributed to Malcolm X “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” Attributed to Stephen Covey “Blind obedience to authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” Albert Einstein “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” Franklin D. Roosevelt “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done, because they want to do it.” Dwight D. Eisenhower “Home is not where you live but where they understand you.” Attributed to Christian Morgenstern “Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master.” Christian Lous Lange “When somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Maya Angelou “Loyalty to the country always, loyalty to the government when it deserves it.” Attributed to Mark Twain “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Evelyn Beatrice Hall “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.” W. E. B. Du Bois “It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.” Maya Angelou “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” Frederick Douglass “To lose patience is to lose the battle.” Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi “When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.” Attributed to Lao Tzu “Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are.” Attributed to Kurt Cobain “The true measure of life is memory.” Attributed to Walter Benjamin “It's better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.” Apache Proverb “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seamed with scars.” E. H. Chapin “Do not judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” Attributed to Nelson Mandela “It is better to be alone than in bad company.” Attributed to George Washington Re-air “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” Attributed to Herbert Spencer “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” James Clear “Leadership is a choice. It is not a rank.” Simon Sinek “If you are going through hell, keep going.” Attributed to Winston Churchill Re-air “The goal is not to be perfect by the end. The goal is to be better today.” Simon Sinek “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” Attributed to Søren Kierkegaard “People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.” John Maxwell “Try to be a rainbow in somebody's cloud.” Maya Angelou “What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Henry Stanley Haskins “I am because you are.” Ubuntu Proverb “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.” William Shakespeare “The first duty of society is justice.” Wendell Phillips “You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.” Navajo Saying “To handle yourself, use your head, to handle others, use your heart.” Attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Attributed to Booker T. Washington “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” Elbert Hubbard “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” African Proverb “Conscience doth make cowards of us all.” William Shakespeare “It isn't where you come from; it's where you're going that counts.” Attributed to Ella Fitzgerald “Each person must live their life as a model for others.” Rosa Parks “To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.” Attributed to Lao Tzu “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “A bend in the road is not the end of the road… Unless you fail to make the turn.” Attributed to Helen Keller “If you are going through hell, keep going.” Attributed to Winston Churchill “If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Shirley Chisholm “Begin with the end in mind.” Stephen Covey “Good leaders must first become good servants.” Robert Greenleaf “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Attributed to Aristotle “No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.” Attributed to Plato “Reject the tyranny of being picked. Pick yourself.” Seth Godin “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” Robert Louis Stevenson “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” Albert Einstein “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela “The greatest remedy for anger is delay.” Seneca “I knew that if I waited for permission, I'd never receive my turn.” Attributed to Shirley Chisholm “The measure of a man is what he does with power.” Attributed to Plato “We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” Seneca “The greatest teacher failure is.” Yoda “Wisely and slowly, they stumble that run fast.” William Shakespeare “The greatest effort is not concerned with the results.” Atisha “With self-discipline, anything is possible.” Author Unknown “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Attributed to Winston Churchill “Anger never helps solve a problem.” Dalai Lama “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.” Attributed to Malcolm X “If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.” Maya Angelou “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” Attributed to Albert Einstein “Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.” James Baldwin “Nobody is as powerful as we make them out to be.” Alice Walker “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” Marcus Aurelius “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Sun Tzu “A disciplined mind leads to happiness. An undisciplined mind leads to suffering.” The Dalai Lama “A happy soul is the best shield for a cruel world.” Atticus “If you wish to be out front, then act as if you were behind.” Attributed to Lao Tzu “You can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow.” Janis Joplin “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” Attributed to Margaret Mead “It's easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone.” Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi “Be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else.” Attributed to Judy Garland “You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” Marcus Aurelius “Self-trust is the essence of heroism.” Ralph Waldo Emerson “Knowing what must be done, does away with fear.” Rosa Parks “Nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank “Have no fear of perfection, you'll never achieve it.” Salvador Dali “What does not kill me makes me stronger.” Friedrich Nietzsche “You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.” Attributed to Indira Gandhi “We never shape the world. The world shapes us.” Toni Morrison “The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Mahatma Gandhi “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt “You've got to learn to leave the table when love's no longer being served.” Attributed to Nina Simone “With confidence, you've won before you've started.” Attributed to Marcus Garvey “If you have no critics, you'll likely have no success.” Attributed to Malcolm X “It's easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Attributed to Frederick Douglass “It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” Epictetus “Only you can control your future.” Attributed to Dr. Seuss “In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. “Men are born to succeed, not fail.” Attributed to Henry David Thoreau “Happiness depends on ourselves.” Aristotle “The function of freedom is to free someone else.” Toni Morrison “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.” Attributed to Stephen Covey “The only thing that I know is that I know nothing.” Attributed to Socrates Re-air “A friend to all is a friend to none.” Attributed to Aristotle “The best way to predict the future is to create it” Peter Drucker Re-air “Be mindful of the present, and the future will take care of itself.” Attributed to Lord Chesterfield “To the world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world.” Attributed to Dr. Seuss “All great achievements require time.” Maya Angelou “Character, not circumstance makes a man.” Booker T. Washington “To lead the people, walk behind them.” Attributed to Lao Tzu “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.” Mahatma Gandhi “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Michael Jordan “Truth is the only safe ground to stand on.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton “The secret to education lies in respecting the student.” Ralph Waldo Emerson “Our first teacher is our own heart.” Cheyenne Proverb “Independence is happiness.” Attributed to Susan B. Anthony “Respect yourself and others will respect you.” Attributed to Confucius “It does not require many words to speak the truth.” Chief Joseph “Your silence will not protect you.” Audre Lorde “The only thing that I know is that I know nothing.” Attributed to Socrates “A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” Attributed to Lao Tzu “In a dark time the eye begins to see.” Theodore Roethke “To do nothing is also a good remedy.” Attributed to Hippocrates “Oh the things you can find if you don't stay behind.” Dr. Seuss “Disobedience is the foundation of liberty.” Attributed to Henry David Thoreau “It is better to be alone than in bad company.” Attributed to George Washington “There is no success without hardship.” Attributed to Sophocles “Happiness is a direction, not a place.” Sydney J. Harris “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker “Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” Attributed to Benjamin Franklin “Every great dream begins with a dreamer.” Attributed to Harriet Tubman “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt “Isolation is a way to know ourselves.” Attributed to Franz Kafka “Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness.” Seneca “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.” Maya Angelou “The person with dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.” Attributed to Albert Einstein “The best fighter is never angry.” Attributed to Lao Tzu “He has the most who is content with the least.” Attributed to Diogenes “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.” Attributed to Helen Keller “You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.” Attributed to Martin Luther “Power must never be trusted without a check.” John Adams

From episode to classroom

The plan is the point.

Listening is the easy half. The conversation plan is what turns an episode into ten minutes of class: the quote, the claim, the counterclaim, the essential question, and storytelling prompts that get students talking about their own lives.

Members of the Teach Different community get the full library of plans, the printable student handout and teacher guide for each one, and the monthly live trainings where teachers work through them together.

See what membership includes Learn the Method

A new episode most weeks

Get the quote before the episode.

One email, the quote we are about to take apart, and the plan that goes with it.

Want to be a guest? Tell us about your quote.