📋 The Ruckus Report

Quick take: Schools didn't gradually adopt tech — they surrendered to it. This episode is a wake-up call for leaders ready to reclaim learning, relationships, and childhood from screens.

🎓Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker

Emily Cherkin, M.Ed., The Screentime Consultant, is leading the fight for a Tech-IntentionalTM childhood. Emily works with schools, families, policymakers, and advocacy organizations to ensure the future of education prioritizes skills, safety, and relationships over screens, EdTech, and A.I.

Emily is an author, speaker, consultant, and associate professor of public policy at the University of Washington. She is also co-chair of Fairplay's Screens in Schools Action Network and the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against one of the largest EdTech companies in the world. Emily is also the creator of the UnPlug EdTech Toolkit.

🌱 Breaking Down the Old Rules

In this episode, Emily Cherkin challenges traditional education paradigms:

🧰 Key Insight #1: EdTech = Innovation

What's broken: Schools assume more devices = better learning.
The shift: Question the role of Tech through a child development lens.
Impact: Leaders prioritize cognition, focus, and real engagement over screen time.

🧰 Key Insight #2: Convenience Over Relationships

What's broken: Grade portals, emails, and AI replace human conversations.
The shift: Bring back friction — phone calls, dialogue, real connection.
Impact: Stronger trust with families and deeper student-teacher relationships.

🧰 Key Insight #3: Teach Tech Early and Often

What's broken: Giving young kids constant access to devices in the name of "preparation."
The shift: Later is better. Less is more. Skills before screens..
Impact: Students build communication, resilience, and critical thinking first.

🗣️ Quotable Ruckus

"If Tech is doing the thinking, your students aren't!" – Emily Cherkin

🧩 Your Do School Different Challenge

Ready to implement these ideas? Start here:

Tomorrow: Audit one tech tool on your campus — ask: Is it effective, safe, and necessary?
This Month: Reintroduce one human-centered practice (phone calls, in-person feedback, discussion-based learning)
This Semester: Build a campus-wide "tech intentional" philosophy rooted in relationships and skill development

🔗 Connect & Continue

🎯 Get the full episode transcript here

👩🏻‍💻 Follow Emily Cherkin:

💻 Website: https://thescreentimeconsultant.com

😎 The Unplug EdTech ToolKit https://thescreentimeconsultant.com/resources/unplug-edtech-toolkit

🤝 Emily speaking to UK Parliament: https://firstfish.substack.com/p/testimony-to-uk-parliament?r=250yb9

📕 Book: https://www.amazon.com/Screentime- Solution-Judgment-Free-Becoming- Tech-Intentional/dp/B0CB9JS5KB

Instagram: @thescreentimeconsultant
LinkedIn: @emily-cherkin
Facebook: @thescreentimeconsultant
Youtube: @thescreentimeconsultantllc6072
BlueSky: @emilycherkin.bsky.social
First Fish Chronicles: Unplug EdTech, Save Democracy http://firstfish.substack.com

📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act

If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning?

This show isn't about doing school better.

It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible.

🧠 Four Ways We Can Help You on Your Do School Different Journey

📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work:

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🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus:

https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind

✅ Every tool, community, and coaching program we offer is built to help visionary school leaders play the new game — one where leadership is creative, tech-enabled, and unapologetically student-centered.

The podcast is your starting point. The movement is just getting started.

🎙️ Today's RUCKUScast in Partnership with:

ODP Business Solutions®: Looking to create the kind of campus experience students never forget? ODP Business Solutions® transforms ordinary spaces into extraordinary learning environments.

🔍 Learn more: https://odpbusiness.com/education

IXL: Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance.

🔍 Learn more: https://ixl.com/leaders

Frontline Education: 1,000+ school leaders just weighed in on staffing, absenteeism, AI, and funding shifts. The 2026 K-12 Lens Survey Report gives you a national view of where the pressure is — and where momentum is building.

🔍 Learn more: https://frontlineeducation.com/leaders