This one’s from a while back about a teacher who was so fed up with a student who was a huge “pain in the ass” that she wanted to quit. Right then and there.

And I’ll be damned if she didn’t turn that relationship around in the most dramatic way.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Joe and I talk about the difficult circumstances surrounding this teacher’s and this student’s situation and the hypotheses she and I came up with that helped her return to school and dig into their relationship. It’s kind of a miraculous story imho.

This story is relevant to non-teachers, too, in that it encourages openness to but also curiosity about behavior that might seem weird but might actually be an unnervingly pointed cry for help. Which some of us are in positions to respond to — without being nefarious saviors!

We discuss

* nefarious saviors

* furries and Joe’s and my amazingly limited knowledge of them

* why students might actually court negative attention

* doing aikido with super irritating students

* the fine line between caring too much and not caring enough

* Joe’s awesome alliterative axiom

Share your thoughts! Leave a comment! Share this episode! Share a story of your own with us! 413.239.4158. We love hearing from you!

And there's more…

I’m so eager to hear from you that my team and I have put together a survey to get a mid-season formative assessment from my listeners. I really want to hear what you like, don’t like, want to hear or read, etc. Please take a few minutes to give me your honest feedback! I’m a therapist, so I can take the truth.

As incentive, anyone who responds will have their email address put in a nice hat from which I will pull a winner — of a TTE “Stay in Your Effin’ Garden” T-shirt! I myself have one (as you might imagine), and I love it. Soft, perfect fit, extremely useful message. Get to that survey as soon as is humanly possible — we’ll pull the winner on Valentine’s Day. Wow! What a love-ly gift!!

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

God, I hate AI. And I love this interview. Jesse Dukes, producer of the magnificent podcast on AI in schools called The Homework Machine, discusses the findings his podcast team lays out about the complicated ins and outs of a “drunk guy” (as I put it) who has “crashed the party” (as Jesse and The Homework Machine puts it). Jesse (not the drunk guy) is so articulate and so sensitive to the information his team’s research gathered and reported that listening to him talk is just plain enjoyable! Whether you care about AI in schools or not!

But you should care.

This is a super important and complicated issue. Please listen. It’s food for thought we really need to digest.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We discuss

* multiple “disruptions” in schools (not just AI)

* how teachers are responding (and could be) to AI

* the shocking reality of how districts are responding to AI

* how students are responding to AI (you might be surprised) — and why

For our non-teacher teachers: Hear Jesse’s wisdom: If you want to feel hopeful, talk to a teenager. Right on!!

External links

Rand report: “AI Use in Schools Is Quickly Increasing but Guidance Lags Behind”

Stanford article: “Cheating: The AI Elephant in the Classroom”

Teaching Systems Lab, MIT

Teach Lab podcast

The Homework Machine

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

It’s a good thing when parents are involved in their children’s educations. When parents establish routines for getting homework done. When parents attend Back-to-School nights, parent-teacher conferences, and student performances. When parents contact teachers with concerns or questions about their children’s experiences at school.

But it’s a bad thing when teachers go all nuclear on their children’s teachers.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this episode, Joe and I chew on a teachers’ story of a parent who decided the right thing to do one night, right around dinner time, was to send an angry, accusatory email to their child’s teacher. Sound familiar? I fear it does to too many of you. In which case, this episode is for you!

We discuss

* what a ghost moose is

* possible explanations for reprehensible Mama Bear behavior

* why passionate (read “pissed-off”) parents are a gift

* how to engage with people you want to hate

This episode is helpful for parents, too, whether you have a child in school (and might be tempted to go ballistic on a teacher someday) or don’t (and might be tempted to go ballistic on someone else someday). Or if someone has gone ballistic on you! There’s good stuff for everyone in this episode.

I would love to hear about a time when you had to deal with an irate person who was spewing on you. Leave a comment! Leave a voice memo on the TTE hotline! 413.239.4158. Be in touch!

Thanks so much for listening.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout