Podcast
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
Hosted by Jeff Utecht & Tricia Friedman · EN
Shifting Schools is a thought-provoking podcast that explores the latest trends, strategies, and tools in K-12 education. Hosted by educators Jeff Utecht and Tricia Friedman, the podcast provides a platform for teachers, administrators, and education thought leaders to share their experiences and insights on how to improve teaching and learning. From innovative approaches in classroom management to leveraging technology for personalized learning, Shifting Schools tackles the most pressing issues facing K12 educators today. Whether you are a seasoned teacher or a new educator, this podcast will inspire you to think outside the box and shift your educational approach. Tune in to Shifting Schools to gain new perspectives, share ideas, and join a community of passionate educators who are committed to making a positive impact in the lives of their students.
Follow us at @shiftingschools on Twitter and @shiftingschoolspod on Instagram and Tiktok
44episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
AI Literacy Is Problem-Solving Literacy
Yesterday00:13:44Tap to summarizeTricia Friedman shares a real-life story about a flooded basement, an insurance claim, and what it revealed about AI literacy. After a major storm in Ottawa caused basement flooding, Tricia found herself facing the kind of problem many people recognize: too many damaged items, too many documents, too many decisions, and a process that can quickly become overwhelming. But this time, compared with a similar flood two years earlier, the experience felt different. Using AI tools, Tricia organized photos of damaged belongings, created an insurance-ready inventory, reviewed policy details, searched for replacement costs, identified relevant local supports, and built a project plan for the weeks ahead. She also used AI to think through communication with the insurance company, plan around disruption at home, and even create a small family recipe resource in the middle of the chaos. The point is not that AI made the flood easy. It did not. The point is that AI changed Tricia's capacity to respond. For educators, that distinction matters. Too often, school conversations about AI focus on shortcuts, cheating, prompt-writing, or which tool to use. This episode asks us to widen the frame. AI literacy is also about helping students become stronger problem solvers. That means knowing how to break down a complex situation, gather evidence, ask better questions, compare options, verify claims, communicate clearly, and decide what to do next. This kind of AI literacy belongs across the curriculum. A flood insurance claim can become a math problem, a media literacy problem, a civics problem, a consumer rights problem, a writing problem, a design problem, and a wellbeing problem. That is the real invitation here: bring AI bigger problems, not just cleaner prompts. In this episode: Tricia explains how AI helped her organize a flood-related insurance claim. She reflects on the difference between using AI for a task and using AI to manage a complex problem. The episode explores why AI literacy should include verification, judgment, documentation, and communication. Tricia makes the case that schools need to help students practice using AI in realistic, interdisciplinary situations. She also raises an equity question: if AI can help people navigate systems like insurance, consumer rights, city services, and legal language, then every student deserves to understand how to use it responsibly. For educators, this episode asks: What kinds of real problems are we inviting students to bring to AI? Are students learning how to check AI outputs against evidence, policy, data, and lived context? How might AI help students see connections across math, language, civics, research, and design? What does it mean to teach AI literacy as a form of agency, not just technical skill? Big idea: AI literacy is not mainly about knowing how to use a chatbot. It is about knowing how to think with a tool when the problem is complicated, consequential, and real.
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Jerry Spinelli: What Young Writers Need to Know About Stories
2d ago00:17:56Tap to summarizeNewbery Medal-winning author Jerry Spinelli joins the podcast for a conversation about writing, perseverance, childhood, and the stories that stay with young readers. Known to many elementary and middle school teachers through books such as Maniac Magee, Stargirl, Wringer, and his latest book, Fifth Grade Top Dogs, Spinelli reflects on the long road to becoming a published author. Before his first book found a home, he wrote four novels that were rejected and spent nearly twenty-five years working toward publication. His story offers a useful reminder for K–12 classrooms: writing is not only about talent. It is also about patience, attention, revision, and staying with the work when it gets difficult. In this episode, Spinelli talks about why stories matter, why a writer's first job is to pay attention, and why childhood remains so recognizable across generations. Haircuts, clothes, slang, and games may change, but children's feelings about friendship, fear, belonging, rivalry, and being understood remain deeply familiar. For educators, this conversation connects directly to writing instruction, read-aloud culture, social-emotional learning, and the classroom power of books. Spinelli shares how he begins with noticing, moves into pages of notes, and then faces what he calls the difficult middle of a story. That process gives teachers a practical way to talk with students about creative stamina and the normal struggle of shaping an idea into finished writing. The conversation also includes a moving story about a teacher whose students chose to keep listening to one of Spinelli's books instead of going outside for recess. For anyone who has seen a read-aloud transform the energy of a classroom, that moment will feel familiar. Listen for: Jerry Spinelli's twenty-five-year path to publication. Why perseverance matters for young writers. How noticing becomes the foundation of storytelling. What teachers can say to students about the hard middle of a writing project. Why books help students understand themselves and one another. How classroom read-alouds can create lasting reading memories. Featured book: Fifth Grade Top Dogs by Jerry Spinelli. Optional chapter markers: 00:00 — Jerry Spinelli on rejection, resilience, and becoming a writer 02:37 — Why stories matter 04:15 — Fifth Grade Top Dogs, siblings, and understanding childhood 08:07 — Paying attention as the first job of a writer 13:00 — The Newbery Medal, reader letters, and the classroom power of read-alouds
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Colin Woodard on Civic Identity, Trust, and the American Story
3d ago00:18:18Tap to summarizeIn this Fourth of July weekend episode, Tricia Friedman speaks with Colin Woodard, director of Nationhood Lab at Salve Regina University's Pell Center, about national identity, civic trust, polarization, and the stories that shape how people understand belonging. Woodard's work asks a question that belongs in every civics and history classroom: What story holds a nation together? Drawing from his background as a historian, journalist, and researcher, he explains why national identity is not abstract. It shapes how people understand who belongs, what freedom means, how communities make decisions, and what kind of future they believe is possible. The conversation explores two competing visions of the United States: one rooted in civic ideals and the promise of equal freedom, and another rooted in exclusion, hierarchy, and inherited identity. For K–12 educators, this framing offers a powerful way to help students examine founding ideals without simplifying the conflict, contradiction, and struggle embedded in the American story. Woodard also discusses polarization and why Americans may agree on more than they realize, even while political systems and media environments often push people into opposing camps. The episode closes with a look at social capital: the local relationships, associations, clubs, faith communities, civic groups, and shared spaces that help people know and trust one another. This episode is especially useful for history teachers, civics teachers, humanities educators, curriculum leaders, and school communities preparing for America 250. It invites educators to help students think about national stories not as slogans, but as living civic questions: Who belongs? What do we owe one another? What makes trust possible? What kind of community are we trying to build? Suggested classroom connections include civic identity, polarization, primary source inquiry, constitutional ideals, national myths, media literacy, local community research, social capital, civil discourse, and student reflection on belonging and responsibility.
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Teaching the Declaration Beyond the Fourth of July
3d ago00:23:12Tap to summarizeIn this Fourth of July weekend episode, Tricia Friedman speaks with historian and author Katie Kennedy about her new book, The Declaration Decoded, and the stories behind America's foundational documents. For history and civics educators, this conversation offers a timely reminder: founding documents are not static artifacts to memorize. They were written by real people, shaped by conflict, compromise, risk, contradiction, and imagination. Kennedy helps bring those documents back into the realm of human storytelling, where students can see both the courage and complexity behind the words that continue to shape civic life. This episode is especially relevant for K–12 educators looking for ways to make history feel alive without flattening it. Rather than treating the Declaration and other founding texts as finished products, Kennedy invites us to examine the conditions, debates, choices, and tensions that produced them. That approach can help students move beyond dates and quotations into deeper questions about power, voice, evidence, freedom, belonging, and responsibility. Listeners will come away with ideas for helping students read historical documents with curiosity, care, and critical attention. The conversation also offers a useful entry point for educators preparing lessons around Independence Day, civic identity, primary source analysis, or the upcoming America 250 conversations. This episode is a strong fit for history teachers, civics teachers, humanities educators, librarians, curriculum leaders, and anyone interested in helping young people understand how the past continues to shape the choices we make in the present. Suggested classroom connections include primary source inquiry, civic discussion, historical thinking, document analysis, media literacy, and student reflection on how national stories are created, preserved, questioned, and revised.
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What 600 Letters Can Teach Us About WWII
1w ago00:28:27Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Tricia speaks with Jan Cress Dondi about the years-long research journey behind her USA Today bestselling WWII book. What began with the discovery of hundreds of family letters became a much larger act of historical reconstruction, combining personal correspondence, military records, National Archives research, firsthand family memory, and deep attention to the emotional lives of the people who lived through war. Jan shares how she pieced together the stories of two young airmen connected to the Ploesti campaign, one of the most dangerous Allied efforts to disrupt Nazi Germany's fuel supply. She explains how her background in legal research helped her organize evidence, verify details, and shape a true story with the pace and emotional pull of a novel. Along the way, she reflects on why letters mattered so deeply to servicemen, how small clues can open major research paths, and why war becomes too abstract when we lose sight of individual human lives. This conversation is especially rich for educators, history lovers, family historians, and anyone interested in how primary sources can help us understand the past. As schools and communities prepare for the U.S. 250th, Jan's work offers a powerful reminder that history is not only found in textbooks. It can also live in letters, family stories, archives, unanswered questions, and the persistence to follow a clue wherever it leads. In this episode: Jan's discovery of 500–600 family letters and how they shaped the book Why the Ploesti campaign mattered during WWII How personal letters and official military records can work together
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AI in Schools Is Changing: What Leaders Need Now
2w ago00:17:39Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Shifting Schools, Jeff and Tricia reflect on the 2025–2026 school year and what they are seeing as schools move into a more mature phase of AI work. The conversation moves beyond tools and prompt tips into the deeper questions now facing educators and school leaders: AI companions, student wellbeing, shadow AI use, schoolwide expectations, sustained professional learning, and the need to rethink pedagogy for a world shaped by information overload. Jeff and Tricia discuss why AI support in schools can no longer be limited to one-off workshops. They share what they are hearing from school leaders, counselors, teachers, support staff, and districts that are beginning to ask for longer-term help. The episode also explores why honest, nonjudgmental conversations matter, especially when students and adults are already using AI in personal, social, and emotional ways. 00:00 — Opening reflection on the 2025–2026 school year Jeff welcomes listeners and invites Tricia to reflect on the year in AI and schools. 00:37 — AI companions become a serious school conversation Tricia shares why this was the year more school leaders became open to talking about AI companions. 02:39 — Companionship, loneliness, and parasocial relationships Tricia connects AI companion use to broader human patterns of connection, including parasocial relationship theory. 04:54 — Why school counselors need to be part of the AI conversation Jeff and Tricia discuss students turning to AI for advice and support, and how counselors can respond without dismissing students' experiences. 06:23 — Shadow AI use in schools Jeff explains why schools need to name the AI use already happening among staff, students, and support teams. 08:58 — Honesty, openness, and nonjudgmental conversations Tricia highlights what has not changed: the need for trust, honesty, and open dialogue. 09:18 — The "large breed puppy" problem Tricia explains why waiting to address AI is risky, using the analogy of training a large dog while it is still small. 10:00 — From one-off PD to sustained AI support Jeff describes a shift in what districts are asking for: longer-term cohorts, yearlong support, and multi-year planning. 11:49 — What can schools retire now? Tricia and Jeff discuss the chance to move away from outdated practices and ask more complex questions. 12:57 — From information scarcity to information overload Jeff argues that schools were built for a world where information was scarce, but students now need to be assessed on sense-making. 15:00 — New possibilities for learning Tricia points to opportunities for students to tell familiar stories in new ways and work with more complex problems. 15:28 — Summer episodes and favorite replays Jeff previews upcoming summer reflections and replays from the past year.
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The Father's Day Gift of Curiosity: Brian Boone on Trivia, Memory, and Connection
3w ago00:19:14Tap to summarizeLooking for something thoughtful, funny, curious, and conversation-starting for Father's Day weekend? This episode may be just the thing. We are welcoming back Brian Boone, a writer, researcher, and storyteller whose work reminds us that trivia is not really about random facts. It is about memory, meaning, surprise, and the pleasure of sharing something unexpected with someone else. That makes this conversation especially fitting for Father's Day weekend. Trivia has a way of bringing people together across generations. It can turn into a car ride conversation, a dinner-table debate, a story you have heard before but somehow still want to hear again, or the kind of small shared fact that becomes part of a family's language. In this episode, Brian talks about the research behind his work, the fandom that has gathered around it, and why his latest book could make a particularly good Father's Day gift for the dad, granddad, uncle, mentor, or curious person in your life who loves facts, stories, pop culture, puzzles, or simply knowing things no one else in the room knows. This is a Father's Day weekend episode for anyone who has ever bonded over a weird fact, a favorite movie, a sports stat, a music memory, a book, a question, or the sentence: "Wait, did you know this?" In this episode, we discuss: Why trivia is not trivial How curiosity becomes connection Why odd facts often carry personal meaning The research and storytelling behind Brian Boone's work The fandom around his books and writing Why trivia makes such a good Father's Day weekend gift How shared knowledge can spark family stories, laughter, and conversation Featured Guest: Brian Boone, writer, researcher, and author Check out his book: https://bathroomreader.com/
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Will this be the summer of vibe coding?
3w ago00:26:32Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Shifting Schools, Jeff and Tricia talk about vibe coding: the emerging practice of using AI tools to help turn prompts, sketches, hunches, and half-formed ideas into working prototypes. They look at what this shift means for educators, students, school leaders, and anyone trying to understand how AI is changing the relationship between imagination and production. This is not a conversation about replacing technical skill. It is a conversation about what becomes possible when more people can test ideas, build small tools, and learn through making. Jeff and Tricia explore the promise, the messiness, and the limits of vibe coding. In this episode, Jeff and Tricia discuss: How vibe coding changes the entry point into programming and prototyping. Why prompting, testing, revising, and debugging still matter. How AI-assisted creation can support curiosity, experimentation, and iteration. How vibe coding connects to design thinking, computational thinking, and digital humanities. Questions to discuss if you use this episode as a team meeting resource: What should students understand before, during, and after using AI to help them code? How might vibe coding give more students access to building tools, games, simulations, websites, or data projects? Where might you experiment with vibe coding in one small way this summer? For educators: This episode can be used as a conversation starter for teams thinking about AI literacy, computer science, project-based learning, media literacy, or assessment. It also connects directly to digital humanities work, especially when students use code to explore stories, archives, maps, texts, timelines, or cultural data in new ways. Possible staff discussion prompt: If students can now build working digital projects before they have mastered traditional coding, what do we want them to learn from the process? Listen for: The difference between making something that works and understanding why it works. Links we refer to: https://triciafriedman.com/comedy-as-evidence-a-media-and-data-literacy-look-at-what-we-watch/ https://nextturnleadership.site/
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Meredith Walker on Why "Be Yourself" Isn't Enough
Jun 800:17:36Tap to summarizeWhat do we really mean when we tell young people to "be yourself"? In this episode, Tricia Friedman speaks with Meredith Walker, co-founder of Smart Girls with Amy Poehler and author of Be Yourself and Other Bad Advice. Together, they question one of the most common phrases young people hear from adults: "be yourself." It sounds kind. It sounds simple. But for many young people, especially those still figuring out who they are, the advice can feel vague, confusing, or even impossible. Meredith invites us to slow down and ask better questions. What does it mean to become yourself? How do young people sort through the noise of expectation, comparison, performance, and pressure? And how can adults offer support that feels more useful than a slogan? The conversation also explores one of Meredith's favorite mottos: "get your hair wet." It is an invitation to join in, to stop waiting until everything looks perfect, and to enter the messy, joyful, human parts of life. For educators, caregivers, and anyone who works alongside young people, this episode is a reminder that becoming yourself is not a polished final product. It is a practice. In this episode, you'll hear about: How Meredith Walker thinks about the phrase "be yourself" Why some well-meaning advice can leave young people without enough guidance What adults can do instead of offering vague encouragement How Smart Girls has helped shape conversations about curiosity, courage, and identity Why "getting your hair wet" is a powerful metaphor for participation, joy, and self-discovery How young people can begin defining identity on their own terms
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How to build a story one ingredient at a time with Keala Kendall
Jun 100:27:49Tap to summarizeJoin us as Keala Kendall, author of the compelling gothic novel That Which Feeds Us, takes us through her creative process, the importance of representation in storytelling, and how horror can serve as a mirror to society's fears and unresolved histories. This conversation uncovers the layers behind her work, blending culture, history, and genre to provoke thought and evoke emotion. Main topics covered: Kendall's artistic process and how the novel evolved from initial inspiration The significance of Hawaiian history, colonialism, and land in her storytelling How research and world-building influenced the succinct yet powerful narrative The role of horror in exploring societal fears and marginalized voices The creative benefits of genre fiction, especially horror, in addressing difficult truths Personal journey: reading influences, media inspiration, and her experiences as a Pacific Islander author The novel's reception, including selection by Reese Witherspoon's Book Club, and its impact on conversations about Hawaii The importance of representation and amplification of Pacific Islander stories in publishing How fiction can be a tool for education and social change Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to the novel That Which Feeds Us 00:30 - The inspiration and artistic process behind the book 01:25 - Use of horror to tell stories rooted in colonial history 02:16 - Hawaii as a gothic setting and its historical echoes 03:00 - How the novel balances brevity with depth and world-building 06:13 - Introducing the protagonist, Lihua, and her connection to Hawaii 07:03 - The significance of the book's title and themes of reciprocal land relationships 07:53 - The impact of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection 08:28 - What readers might discuss after reading the book 10:05 - Amplifying Pacific Islander voices and stories in publishing 11:17 - The concept of ghosts and history as a collective haunting 12:49 - Confronting Hawaii's dark history and media portrayals 13:17 - The influence of reading and media on her writing, including White Lotus and horror films 14:05 - Early ideas for the novel and Hawaiian cultural motifs in her stories 15:36 - How horror makes space for taboo topics and societal critique 16:24 - Early stories about sisters and the significance of land in Hawaiian culture 17:22 - Her transition from Massachusetts inspiration to homeland storytelling 18:07 - Influences from film and media, including Moana and Hollywood's depiction of Hawaii 19:02 - The intersection of media representations and authentic cultural narratives 20:58 - The pandemic's role in shaping her perspective on Hawaii's infrastructure 22:12 - Why horror's capacity for boundary-pushing makes it vital today 23:58 - The societal fears reflected in horror, from Godzilla to Get Out and Us 25:26 - The power of horror in sparking conversations and societal reflection 26:20 - Closing remarks and thoughts on the book's impact and importance Keala Kendall is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of How Far I'll Go and Nobody Gets Left Behind in Disney's A Twisted Tales series. Hapa Native Hawaiian, she is a co-founder of Pacific Islanders Publishing and a past organizer of the charity Books for Maui.
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