Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

Do your students seem less and less able to sit with anything uncomfortable, whether that's boredom, confusion, frustration, or the feeling of not immediately knowing the answer?
The research backs up your anecdotal evidence: distress tolerance in young people is measurably declining.
In this episode, I dig into why this is happening and what teachers can actually do about it. 
We'll talk about the biology behind why comfort reduces resilience (and why that's not anyone's fault), why our students are more stressed than ever but building less capacity from it, and practical strategies for building distress tolerance in the classroom without being dismissive of real struggles.
I also get into how this applies to us as adults, because we're dealing with their own version of this.
Listen in to hear:
Why distress tolerance is declining in young people, and why it's a predictable biological outcome rather than a character flaw
The difference between chronic, overwhelming stress (which breaks people down) and acute, manageable stress (which builds capacity), and why modern life has gotten this equation backwards
How stress inoculation works in the classroom, including specific strategies for gradually building students' ability to sit with discomfort
The tension teachers feel between "tough it out" and "honor every feeling," and why both extremes fail
How to help students distinguish between "I can't" and "I don't want to"
Why normalizing the feeling of not knowing might be one of the most powerful things you can do
Where teachers can apply this same thinking to their own lives
Listen in. Or read the transcription here.

Right now, teachers are getting pulled in two completely opposite directions on tech use, particularly with artificial intelligence.
Your admin may want you to use it to plan lessons, save time, stay current. And on one hand, it does save time, and we want to take advantage of the tools we've got, especially if theyre free.
But a lot of us also have this nagging feeling that something about it isn't quite right, and we can't always articulate what exactly is bothering us. Is it what it's doing to student thinking? The privacy stuff? The way it's being pushed on us as inevtiable? The environmental cost?
Most of us are just absorbing that tension on our own, and trying to keep our heads above water. Instructional decisions about AI are often made as a series of small decisions in isolation, without ever getting the time or space to actually figure out where we stand, what we value, what's best for our specific students in our specific teaching contexts..
You're invited to carve out some time and space for that with me next week. 
Stay Human: Finding Your Ethical Stance on AI as an Educator is a two-day virtual training I'm running on July 13th and 14th, built around the questions that actually keep teachers up at night: not which tools to use, but whether to use them at all, and if so how much, and what it means for your students and for our society.
REGISTER HERE: https://courses.truthforteachers.com/courses/stay-human
Day one is about you as a teacher. We'll map the full spectrum from AI enthusiast to conscientious objector, work through how AI actually functions so you can evaluate it with clear eyes, and get into a six-stance framework for making consistent ethical decisions about your own practice. Rather than a rulebook, you'll have a way of thinking you can apply every time something new comes along and the pressure ramps back up.
Day two shifts to your students. We get into what the research actually says about AI and learning, why productive struggle matters and what happens when students shortcut, and what it looks like when AI pushes kids to think harder instead of thinking for them. You'll also walk away with 2 complete student mini-units on AI literacy, yours to use in the fall.
By the end of both mornings, you'll have a personal AI philosophy, a classroom policy grounded in your own values, and up to seven hours of PD credit. 
We meet 10am to 12:30 Eastern on Monday July 13th and Tuesday July 14th, so we're done by lunch both days with time in between sessions to let the ideas marinate.
Recordings are included, so even if something comes up, you won't lose access, and if you're listening to this too late, you can still take advantage of the training.
If you're a member of 40 Hour AI, this is included in your membership at no extra cost. If not, the early bird price for stay human is $47 through July 8th, then it goes up to $97. 
One more thing: if you're a curriculum director, instructional coach, or administrator and you're thinking your whole staff needs this conversation, I also offer this training in-person and virtually for school and district PD sessions. Just reach out to info@truthforteacher.com and I'll create a customized package for you.
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2 options for joining us on July 13th and 14th:
Free for 40 Hour AI members
$47 early bird pricing for non-members until July 8th (reg. price is $97)

Everyone has an opinion about AI in classrooms right now, but very few of those opinions are grounded in what we actually know about how kids learn. In this episode, I sit down with Erin Mote, CEO and founder of InnovateEDU and co-founder of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School, to cut through the noise and talk about what the evidence actually shows about AI as a learning tool.
This isn't a conversation about ChatGPT, cheating, whether to ban devices, or what kids are doing with AI at home on their own time (which are separate topics worthy of their own discussion).
We're talking specifically about AI-powered tools designed for classroom use that are being pitched to your district and showing up in your school, and whether they hold up when measured against what we know about how kids learn.
In this episode you'll hear Erin share her thoughts on:
Why "good enough" consumer tech is not good enough for students, and what to look for in tools that are actually built around learning
The difference between sycophantic AI and Socratic AI, and why it matters for student outcomes
What the early research is showing about AI as a learning tool, including what's promising and what we still don't know
What to ask for and advocate for at the school and district level so these decisions aren't made without you
If you've been feeling overwhelmed by the pace of change and unsure what to actually do, this episode will leave you with more clarity, and more confidence in what you already know about how kids learn.
Listen in. Or read the transcription here.

Teaching gives you a lot of opportunities to look back and wish you'd done it differently, and most of us carry those regrets way longer than we need to.
In this episode, I'm sharing what I learned from Daniel Pink's book The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, and how his research applies to the unique kind of regret that teachers carry. 
I'll walk you through the four categories of regret most people have, the difference between "if only" and "at least" thinking, and a three-step process for actually processing a regret instead of just ruminating on it at 2 a.m.
I'll also share the line from Pink's book that hit me hardest, the one that completely changed how I think about looking back:
If you know what you truly regret, you know what you truly value. 
Your regrets aren't proof you've failed this year. They're a map of what you care about.
If you've been carrying something from this school year and you're not sure what to do with it, this episode is for you.
Listen in. Or read the transcription here.

Food writer Bee Wilson has been in classrooms across the UK, and what she's discovered is startling: many children have completely lost their sensory connection to real food.
They know the peach emoji but not the fuzzy feel of actual peach skin. They recognize mint from shampoo but have never smelled a fresh mint leaf.
When asked where food comes from, kids used to say "the supermarket." Now they say "mommy's iPad."
This slow shift is revealing a new gap in child development that affects how kids observe, describe, and engage with the world around them.
In this episode, Bee explains what's lost when children grow up disconnected from real food. And she explains what can happen when you put fresh produce in their hands and simply ask: What do you see?
Bee shares how these lessons build scientific observation skills, spark rich oral language, and get even the most reluctant writers eager to put words on paper. Kids speak in vivid similes and metaphors. They notice details they've never noticed before. And, teachers report some of the most meaningful classroom experiences of their careers.
Bee is the co-founder of TastEd, a charity offering free sensory food education resources now used in over 1,800 UK schools: tasteeducation.com
She's a fascinating guest sharing practical ways any teacher can bring this into their classroom, including a simple lesson you could try tomorrow.
Listen in. Or read the transcription here.