Angela Watson's Truth For Teachers

Even young students can learn how to understand and combat misinformation, and it's a key information literacy skill in 2024. In this episode, I'm talking to Melanie Trecek-King of Thinking is Power, because I love how her approach to the topic of misinformation is characterized by compassion and empathy.  Melanie emphasizes that everyone is susceptible to misinformation, and falling for it doesn't indicate a lack of intelligence. This perspective humanizes those who believe in conspiracy theories or disinformation, so we can view them as people who--like ourselves--have unknowingly accepted false information. Melanie and I discuss 3 primary reasons we fall for misinformation: Confirmation Bias: Our tendency to interpret information in ways that confirm our existing beliefs. Once we believe something, we see evidence for it everywhere, reinforcing that belief. Skepticism is crucial for protecting oneself from misinformation, but it's most challenging when information confirms our biases. Appeals to Emotion:

Yes, we’re talking about accommodations FOR TEACHERS… I recently asked educators on social media if neurodivergent staff were being offered any support, and folks had a LOT to say! In this episode I’ll share: What we mean when we talk about neurodivergence Why neurodivergence isn’t a deficiency, just a difference What teachers say about accommodations that are (and aren’t) happening in their schools The legal rights that U.S. teachers have under the Americans with Disabilities Act The types of supports you can request and the logistics of making them happen From there, I’ll share the commonalities and patterns in the response from educators about what’s been helpful and what’s needed. I’ll talk about the 5 ways schools can offer support to neurodivergent educators and what these recommendations look like in practice: #1: Allow for flexibility and autonomy, especially within breaks #2) Designate quiet areas and mitigate the effects of overstimulating environments #3) Communicate proactively about scheduling

"Transformative change means feeling different, having different experiences every day, not just little changes that feel like a band-aid." These are the words of today’s guest, Elena Aguilar, an instructional coach whose latest book is called Arise: The Art of Transformation Coaching. (https://amzn.to/3Srseot) Through her book and our conversation today, you’re invited to teach in a “human-centered, compassionate, wildly optimistic way.” Listen in as we discuss: What “transformation” looks like and how it applies to the work of classroom teachers Why transformation results from addressing the Three Bs: beliefs, ways of being, and behavior… and why that order matters Which conditions allow for beliefs to change and how we can implement them in our classrooms How our “ways of being” as teachers tie to transformation As we look toward the start of a new school year, I hope that Elena’s thoughts will help you reimagine what’s possible in your classroom, and create conditions for both student transformations an

Here’s an innovative way to get student buy-in for your cell phone policy, reduce distractions, and maximize class time. Today you’re going to hear from Ashly Hilst, a secondary teacher at North Clackamas Christian School in Oregon City, Oregon. Ashly has taught high school English for 7 years in both public and private schools.  For the 2024 Summit for the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek, Ashly unveiled her innovative approach to managing cell phone use in the classroom, and it was so impactful I wanted to make sure more teachers had a chance to hear about it. Her method focuses on conveying the message that "phones don't make good moments, people do," drawing from personal experiences to connect with students.  In this episode, you’ll learn from Ashly how to establish clear expectations and consequences for phone use while allowing flexibility and gentle reminders.  Discover for yourself how Ashly's approach reduces stress levels and enhances the teaching experience by promoting responsible phone habits in the cla

It seems like every tech tool we use has now integrated generative artificial intelligence. Open a Google Doc, you’re prompted to use Gemini to help you write. Read a post on Facebook, Meta prompts you to “ask anything” via their AI. It’s powering our phones and our email, and the customer support chatbots on nearly every website when shopping online and even with utility companies. AI is everywhere, and it’s designed to help save everyone time. So, why not let it help you in your role as a teacher, too? I talked at length in episode 304 about the pros, cons, and drawbacks of AI, so if you’re worried about AI, please make sure you listen to that episode for the context.  In this episode, though, I want to show you possibilities. That’s my job. Your job is to decide what’s right for you and your classroom. So let’s talk about possibilities.  Listen in for 5 easy ways I see currently for AI as a tool to automate teachers’ workloads: Differentiation Assessment Writing Tedious tasks Creative expression And if y

We know there’s potential…but let’s talk about the larger implications for the profession. In this episode, I’m sharing how AI has already transformed the way many teachers work, and exploring the ethics, best practices, and future trends for AI in schools. Listen in to hear: What surprised me in a survey about schools' AI policies 3 principles that guide my approach to AI Why educators MUST shape the direction of AI (and not leave this to tech companies) My favorite ways to use AI to streamline teaching tasks, including differentiation and assessment When you might want to use ChatGPT in place of a search engine My recommendations for the best free AI tools for teachers 3 crucial mindsets to develop as you plan how to incorporate AI in your work Let's explore the big picture overview of AI’s impact, its strengths and weaknesses as a tool for teachers, and specific ways fellow educators have used it to reduce their workload responsibly. Get the shareable article/transcript for this episode here. Learn abou

As an educator who's lived and taught in both the US and Denmark, Pernille’s story is a revealing look into two vastly different education systems. Let's unpack her journey and what it tells us about work-life balance, societal values, and teaching philosophies. You’ll hear: Why Pernille’s family moved to Wisconsin from Denmark when she was a teenager, how she became a teacher in the U.S., and why she and her American husband made the decision in 2022 to move with their four children to Denmark The cultural differences Pernille has noticed living in Denmark, particularly in relation to families, children, work, and school How the Danish school system is set up, including how students are not formally taught to read until the equivalent of 2nd grade in the U.S, and how high school (as Americans understand it) ends around age 15 so students can focus on career training What the school day looks like for Pernille, who is looping with her students through multiple grade levels, including how much instructional v

As the school year comes to a close, we’re taking a step back from practical strategies, and looking at the big picture of K-12 education. Until summer, there’s not a lot of time or mental bandwidth to consider questions like, “What are the larger factors impacting our work? How are other schools handling these challenges? How do we proactively prepare for what’s next and create a vision for where we’re heading, instead of just trying to put out fires all the time?” In an era of student disengagement and teacher disillusionment, it’s crucial for us to envision a better way of doing school and collectively work to make that vision a reality. So, in this episode, I’m sharing the statistics around teacher vacancies, student enrollment declines, and budget forecasts, along with the implications for schools. I’ll then analyze the trends and focuses that we’ll be seeing more of in education in the coming years. Topics covered include: Artificial Intelligence Student safety and mental health Rationalizing and conso

Bored with your curriculum or instructional routines? I’m talking with Betsy Potash of the Spark Creativity Podcast about easy ways to make things feel fresh and interesting again. Often we switch things up in our teaching to keep ourselves from getting bored. But, too much change can create unnecessary work for us. It can also waste class time for students as they spend more energy on figuring out how to complete an assignment than on practicing the skills we want them to learn.  So, Betsy’s identified 5 open-ended activities that you can add to your rotation of go-to strategies, and incorporate them in unique ways throughout the year. We’re talking about how to use the following in gr. 2-12 classrooms: • podcasts • stations • hexagonal thinking • escape room design • one-pager Betsy will definitely spark your creativity as you listen to these easy-to-understand activities which you can plug into the lessons you’re least excited to teach. These ideas will get students actively engaged in learning and boost y

This topic is definitely new territory for my Truth for Teachers podcast, and I was initially hesitant to include it because I didn’t want to overshare. However, as I began to talk to other women about this, I realized how many of us really didn’t have a good grasp on the way hormones impact our daily function. The experience is so individualistic, and no two bodies are alike. I realized that the more folks talk about this, the better informed we'll be. So in this episode, I’m sharing my own journey with perimenopause and brain fog. It took me many months to recognize what was changing in my body and why, and I misdiagnosed the brain fog as simply pandemic-related stress. At age 43, menopause wasn't on my radar yet, and I didn't know pre-menopausal symptoms were a thing. Once I sought guidance from my OB-GYN, I was able to find relief from my symptoms, and I want to help other women understand their options, too. So, I’ve invited Dr. Jen Gunter to shed some light on this topic for us. Jen is an obstetric

Do you refuse to throw anything out because you MIGHT need it one day, or find yourself holding on to worthless stuff “just in case” you need it? In this episode, I’ll share 10 things you can get rid of in your classroom this spring to make space for what you actually need and use. And, I’ll help you establish a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity, so you can approach spring cleaning with a perspective that will help you feel good rather than apprehensive about getting rid of the things you worked so hard to accumulate: I like to streamline and simplify how my classroom runs. I don’t keep things I don’t really need. I could still teach well with a fraction of the materials I’ve accumulated. If there is something that I need later and don’t have, I trust that I will be able to find it again, or borrow it, or be able to do without it just fine. The foundation of my classroom is my energy, enthusiasm, and know-how, not my stuff. I feel good about clearing away the things that drain my energy and enthusias

This episode features a sneak peek from one of the upcoming 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit sessions. You’ll hear from a teacher named June Link, whose session is called, “Clock out confidently: 5 tips to get out the door at contract time.” In this episode, June shares some helpful principles and mindset shifts, along with the exact process she used to carve out time for a new demand in her workload. June and her colleagues were supposed to implement a new socio-emotional learning curriculum, but needed to find time to explore it, write lesson plans, and figure out how to integrate the new materials into everything else they were doing. June shares how she estimated how much preparation time she’d realistically need in order to implement this new curriculum, which was 10 hours. Then she explains how she made time for that work during her contractual hours, instead of taking the new curriculum home to figure out on the evenings or weekends. Listen in to learn about that experiment and more. Then, save y

It's the only event focused entirely on saving teachers TIME! Learn from current K-12 teachers as they share their best tips for working more effectively, efficiently, and enjoyably. The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek program is an online course I first created in 2015 (with a total update in 2020), and we’ve now had tens of thousands of teachers complete the course. With so many different personality types and teaching contexts, the amount of new ideas to spring out of the course was inevitable. I’ve always been impressed by the tweaks, offshoots, extensions, and transformations teachers have done as they’d made my ideas their own. The Summit is an opportunity for you to learn more about them and their phenomenal work! The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit this April features: Opening and closing keynotes by 40 Hour founder Angela Watson (that's me) 30+ presentations by current K-12 classroom teachers No fluff, filler, icebreakers, or sales pitches Each session is just 15-20 minutes long The ability to chat

Teachers spend so much time giving feedback to students, but often kids don’t internalize it. They tune out the carefully-crafted written comments on their work, briefly register the grade they earned, and move on. So how can we help students care about improving their skills and take time to reflect deeply on their learning? In this episode, you’ll hear how two different teachers have reimagined their instruction to make that possible. It’s a sneak peek at two sessions from the upcoming 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit, a FREE event that is focused entirely on saving teachers time, and helping you do your job more effectively and efficiently. First up, you’ll hear from Andrea Clark. She’s presenting for the elementary Summit in a session called, “Feedback first: Shifting from traditional grading to reflection sessions.” As you’ll hear from Andrea’s description of her fifth graders’ reflection sessions, this is one of the most worthwhile ways she spends her time as a teacher because her students learn s

Have you ever noticed how breakthroughs often come when you're not actively trying to find a solution? That's diffuse thinking at work: a relaxed state in which creativity flourishes. On today’s episode of Truth for Teachers, I’ll share how stepping back can lead us forward. It turns out that intense concentration isn't always the best approach to problem solving, and we can instead let our minds wander through the meandering paths of diffuse thinking. Focused thinking is a bit like a flashlight—intense & concentrated. Diffuse thinking is like ambient room lighting—gentle & expansive. When you (or students) can’t concentrate, you can harness the power of diffuse thinking. This shift in mindset from focused to diffuse can spark innovation and creativity. Listen in to discover how to use diffuse thinking when you've pushed your limits in focused thinking, and harness the power of diffuse thinking overnight during sleep. (Your dreams can be a powerful tool for problem-solving, too!) You’ll also hear how

There has been a significant increase in mental health issues among young people in America since 2012, including anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide attempts, and suicide. Contrary to popular belief, these trends started before the pandemic, with rates of major depression among teens doubling between 2011 and 2019. Girls and young women are more likely to experience these issues, and the gender gap has been widening. The introduction of smartphones and social media around 2012 is believed to be a major factor in the decline of mental wellbeing, as it has led to less face-to-face interaction, increased sleep deprivation, and constant exposure to social media. Dr. Jean Twenge has conducted extensive research in this area. She’s a renowned psychologist and scholar who specializes in generational differences and technology based on a dataset of 39 million people, and has published more than 180 articles and books. In our conversation, Jean emphasizes the need for conversations about healthy phone and screen

“Making a conscious and intentional effort to tap into your own personal power and being courageous” is the way today’s guest defines “teaching like yourself.” I’m talking with Dr. Gravity Goldberg, whom you might remember from a 2019 interview I did, which ended up being one of the most downloaded Truth for Teachers episodes ever. It’s Episode 171, called “Teach like yourself: Why YOU are the person your students need most.” Gravity has over 20 years of teaching experience, including positions as a science teacher, reading specialist, third grade teacher, special educator, literacy coach, staff developer, assistant professor, educational consultant, and yoga teacher. Gravity holds a B.A. and M.Ed. from Boston College and a doctorate from Teachers College. As the founding director of Gravity Goldberg, LLC she leads a team that offers side-by-side coaching and workshops that focus on teachers as decision-makers and student-led instruction.  Since our last conversation, Gravity — who has authored 9 books on tea

Do you feel like self-advocacy among students is a pervasive problem? As in, if students don’t know what to do, they won’t ask questions or seek out more information … they’ll just sit there and do nothing. If something is challenging, they don’t seem to be interested in improving their skills, or learning for the sake of learning. They just give up.  In response to this, many teachers feel like they have to work harder than their students are working. They have to keep going the extra mile to make lessons personalized and engaging and put all these additional supports and interventions in place to help students be successful, all while many of their students are doing the bare minimum. I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years exploring this phenomenon, and why it’s becoming more and more common. The more that I learn about student disengagement, the more I am convinced that the solution is NOT to put the onus on teachers to make their lessons more engaging and personalized. An amazing lesson isn’t go

I’m back from my sabbatical and excited to share how I used my time off and what I’m planning for 2024! I’m sharing more about my personal daily art practice in December (which I plan to continue) and time with family over the holidays. I also discuss my approach for the new year, which is flexible intentionality. I want to be deliberate about where I invest my time while holding plans loosely and staying open to necessary adjustments. Additionally, you’ll hear what I’m working on for 2024, including:  Why I moved the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit to spring instead of summer and how the event is changing this year My vision for free online trainings throughout the year on Finding Flow Solutions (my curriculum line to help students manage their focused attention, time, and energy). The first workshops are happening in February for middle and high school teachers! The new 40 Hour AI course that will kick off this summer to help you feel confident about streamlining your work via artificial intelligenc

This episode is the last for 2023, and Truth for Teachers will be back in January.  If you want to learn more about my sabbatical process or how you can take one with me on your break, read or listen to episode 244. I thought carefully about the message I wanted to leave you with for the coming weeks, and sinceI’ve already talked about the logistics of a sabbatical in past years, I thought I’d focus this year not on how to carve out the time or what to do during that time, but on how we can direct our thoughts. With everything happening in the world and in our schools, this feels like a really important time for what I think of as “radical re-imagination.” This is the ability to imagine the world, life, and institutions not as they are or have been, but in an entirely new way, so that we can bring that imagination into reality.  In this episode, I’ll share: Why I think winter is the perfect time for dreaming and visionary thinking My beliefs on the inherent value of imagination and why we shouldn’t immediat