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Real world connections answer "Why do we have to learn this?" They make every subject relevant and boost student engagement, says Dr. Annalies Corbin, author of Hacking School: Five Strategies to Link Learning to Life. We talk about practical ways to help students know why what they are learning matters to their lives. This is a great episode for teachers who feel like "because I said so" isn't cutting it anymore. Annalies founded the PAST Foundation to help link learning to life, and she shares how we can connect real world learning to the standards we already teach. What you'll learn: What math researchers say to do in the first minute of every class Big real world problems you can bring into science, math or history How an ecosystems theme and a zoo trip can run all quarter How the businesses your students drive past every day can shape your next unit What changed for middle schoolers who said "I want to be a nurse" during a summer prog...

Reward charts, stickers, and systems might get students to do the work, but what if a long term use of rewards in this way ultimately backfires? Dr. Özgür Bolat says rewards can have the opposite effect if we're not careful. Dr. Bolat is a Fulbright scholar with a Harvard master's and a Cambridge PhD, and his book on rewards was a best-seller in Turkey before coming out in English as The Reward Trap. I asked him when rewards are ok and what his research shows about helping kids become intrinsically motivated. What you'll learn: Why a valedictorian with a perfect GPA ended up anxious, and what he traced it back to What a sticker chart quietly tells a child about the work Why three stars eventually have to become five The question to ask before you ever offer a reward How a World War I homework assignment can spark curiosity My sourdough cinnamon roll confession, and his answer What a horse-riding instructor teaches us about using rewards If this episode helps you...

Peer mentoring can improve your graduation rate. So can other interventions, but Cara Vienna, 2026 NASSP National High School Assistant Principal of the Year Finalist says it starts in ninth grade. In today's show, she shares all of the ideas, the surveys, the vision, and how the whole school came together to work and help everyone graduate. Cara shares 24 ideas to improve your graduation rate based on what they have done in her school that achieved a 100% graduation rate. You should find several to talk about with your school as well as programs full of ideas to help shift things culturally at your school. What you'll learn: Who struggling ninth graders listen to even more than their teachers and how to harness that relationship to help them improve and grow The ninth-grade class that teaches students how to email a teacher for help How often her team checks D/F lists, and what happens next The most common reason students slip through the cracks Why her counselors meet...

Teacher burnout is sometimes much much more. Burnout and depression can hide inside a teacher who looks like she's doing everything right. Now, I want to be careful with this episode. These are some hard things that a teacher dealt with in the classroom. Content note: this episode talks about depression, a student's suicidal thoughts and child abuse. Nicole Terrizzi taught for four years through Teach For America in Kansas City and then in Oakland, and has spent nearly 15 years in nonprofit work that serves education. She wrote her story in the memoir Learning in Free Fall. In today's episode, Nicole pulls back the curtain on the trauma that happened in her classroom, her own struggle to make it right (with an administrator that she believed didn't back her up), a hospital stay, and the treatment she says saved her life. She also tells the story about the principal whose hard conversation pointed her toward a new path. This is Nicole's story, shared so other te...

So many things have happened in the past week that impact schools: lots of Gemini Notebook updates, ChatGPT for Teens' harsh review from Common Sense Media, suspected freezer hacks at US military bases and confirmed ones in France, a university's chief academic officer resigning over undisclosed AI use in published materials, and a new heart study that our coaches need to hear about. I also recorded some bonus material for "geeks" or more advanced people that you can listen to for the last three minutes if you like. Oh, and much more. I ended up with 17 news stories plus 7 new features from Gemini Notebook and some notes for administrators about the repercussions of these stories. This isn't the first change to hit the world, but it seems to be the fastest. AI is impacting everything but it is more than AI being discussed this week. Every source is linked in the show notes. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the cafeteria freezer belongs on your school...

Can you lead with love and be a successful principal? Jason Johnson, principal of Orange High School in Hillsborough, North Carolina, shows us that you can. I found some of the things he does shocking (but refreshing, actually). Jason is the 2026 US National High School Principal of the Year. So, what does he do that is shocking? He once read all the mistakes he made one year at the last faculty meeting of the year. He tells brand-new teachers to make mistakes (and how he works with them). If kids want to drop an AP course, he wants them to talk to him personally. In his 29 years in public education, most of them in Orange County Schools, he has built a school where the state performance grade climbed from a C to a B, and proficiency rose for every student group. Jason also shares the one thing his principal said to him when he was a teacher that caused him to immediately go get an application for grad school to seek to be a principal. He also shares his ideas for giving effect...