Napcast

About Napcast

Napcast is a podcast designed to help you learn on the go, hear another perspective, spark debate, agree incessantly, and honestly, remind you that you’re not alone. We live in a complex world, so allow us to challenge your orientation with words, thoughts, advice, and the perspective of two male early childhood educators of color.

Publisher

Michael S Browne

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 Apr 2020

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

80 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026

   Napcast SpEp4 - Mike is a Monkey

   “Mike is a monkey! Mike is a monkey! Mike is a monkey!” It was supposed to be play. One question. One silly answer. One chant from a child and suddenly Mike found himself sitting with a much bigger question: What do we do when children’s play carries a racialized history? In this special Napcast episode, Mike and Nick take one tiny moment from the classroom and pull it apart. Not to decide who was right. Not to make a child the villain. Not to turn an everyday interaction into a crisis. But to get curious about intent, impact, power, race, relationships, and repair. We're not interested in turning a child's moment of play into a judgment of the child. We're interested in what we—as adults, educators, caregivers, and people in relationship with children—do when a seemingly innocent moment bumps up against something much bigger. Because sometimes the work isn't figuring out whether someone is “bad.” Sometimes the work is asking: What just happened here? What else might be underneath it? What are we carrying into this moment? And what does repair look like now? A monkey. A chant. A waiting wall. And a conversation that got a whole lot bigger than we expected. 🌿 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at napcast206@gmail.com (mailto:napcast206@gmail.com) and let’s talk. Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   Napcast Ep76: Guided by Plants: Bending Our Practice with Willow

   Willow bends. Willow moves. Willow stays rooted. So what can Willow teach us about working with young children? In this episode, we get into flexibility, adaptation, compliance, and the things we've been taught to bend around. We ask what we've trained out of children, what we've inherited ourselves, and what we might need to shed instead of simply adapt. And then we turn the question toward our environments: What if the child isn't the only thing that can change? We talk about bending the schedule, rethinking participation, making room for family and cultural knowledge, strengthening the web around children and families, and building environments that can respond instead of demanding that children constantly adjust. And because Willow doesn't grow alone, we bring the wisdom of our other plant relatives into the conversation and ask what happens when we weave it all together. Join us as we move from helping children become more adaptable to our environment towards building environments flexible enough to hold them. 🌿 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at napcast206@gmail.com (mailto:napcast206@gmail.com) and let’s talk. Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments. Theme Music: "Groovy Funky Soul" by Playsound (Yuriy Bespalov), courtesy of Pixabay.

3. 

   28 Aug 2026

   Napcast Ep75: Guided by Plants: Bay Leaf and the Things We Teach Without Saying a Word

   What if a bay leaf could teach us how to teach? For Mike, bay leaves aren't just an ingredient. They're tied to Caribbean kitchens, bush medicine, family stories, healing rituals, and knowledge passed from one generation to the next. In this episode of Guided by Plants, Nick and Mike explore what bay leaves can teach us about cultural memory, relational pedagogy, healing, belonging, and the quiet ways children learn through everyday life. Drawing from memories of being “underfoot” in the kitchen, family plant practices, and the ongoing work of reconnecting with heritage, this conversation asks what it means to teach through culture rather than to culture and what educators might learn from a plant that never needs to be the star of the dish to change the whole pot. We explore how educators can create opportunities for children to experience culture through plants, food, stories, rituals, place, and relationships and how reconnecting children with the living world around them can become a practice of belonging. Join us in remembering that some of our deepest learning happens when they’re steeped, shared, remembered, and passed down quietly in our kitchens, gardens, rituals, relationships, and everyday acts of care. Resources mentioned in the episode: The Healing Power of African-American Spirituality by Stephanie Rose Bird (we encourage you to find, borrow or buy this book from your local library, independent books, and BIPOC run book stores as opposed to businesses such as amazon). 🌿 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at napcast206@gmail.com and let’s talk. Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments. Theme Music: "Groovy Funky Soul" by Playsound (Yuriy Bespalov), courtesy of Pixabay.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

12 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

8 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 30 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

26

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

85

Contact Napcast

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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