Jake and Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook dive into the power of AI’s imperfections as a teaching tool. They explore how the quirks and mistakes in AI-generated content, like extra fingers or misshapen images, can sharpen students’ critical thinking, media literacy, and observation skills. Instead of fearing AI’s flaws, teachers can turn them into opportunities for deeper learning and classroom engagement.

Matt shares how he uses AI-generated images in his Spanish classroom to help students develop AI literacy and train their ability to "check the weirdness." Jake builds on this idea, discussing how engaging with AI critically can strengthen students' ability to discern fact from fiction. This episode is all about flipping the script: AI isn’t a threat to critical thinking: it’s a tool to refine it.

• AI-generated errors can be powerful tools for teaching observation skills.
• Encouraging students to "check the weirdness" fosters critical thinking.
• AI literacy is essential in today's classrooms.
• Engaging with AI helps students become more skeptical and analytical.
• Classroom discussions on AI weirdness can lead to broader conversations about media literacy.
• Discerning fact from fiction is a critical skill in the digital age.
• Educators should embrace AI as a learning tool, not fear its impact.

• "Check the weirdness!"
• "AI is highly fallible."
• "Training our BS detector."
• "AI’s mistakes are teaching gold."

• Matt Miller’s Website
• AI for Educators by Matt Miller
• Leave us a voice message on SpeakPipe
• Follow What Teachers Have to Say on your favorite podcast platform

Have you tried using AI-generated weirdness in your classroom? How are you helping students think critically about AI? Share your story! Leave us a message on SpeakPipe or connect with us on social media. Your insights might be featured in a future episode!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it helps us reach more educators and keep the conversation going.

Can you be excellent at your job without letting it consume your life? The education system thrives on unpaid teacher labor, but at what cost?

In this episode, we discuss cruel optimism—the idea that if teachers just work harder, they can fix systemic issues. Spoiler: They can’t. More hours don’t equal better teaching, and burnout isn’t a badge of honor.

Hans Tullman kicks off the discussion with a hard truth: the system depends on teachers working for free. Jake unpacks how setting boundaries, leveraging AI, and using EduProtocols can help teachers reclaim their time—without sacrificing excellence.

Key Takeaways:
🔹 Cruel Optimism—Pushing through systemic problems won’t fix them, it just keeps them going.
🔹 More Hours ≠ Better Teaching—A well-rested teacher is more impactful than a burnt-out one.
🔹 Unpaid Labor—Other professions wouldn’t tolerate it. Why should teachers?
🔹 Set Boundaries—Excellence doesn’t require self-sacrifice. Protect your time.
🔹 AI & EduProtocols—Work smarter, not harder. Reduce workload & focus on what really matters.
🔹 School Leaders—Admins must redefine what “excellence” looks like and actually protect teacher time.

Join the Conversation!
Got thoughts? Rants? Questions? Leave us a voicemail!
📞 SpeakPipe:

https://www.speakpipe.com/whatteachershavetosay

Resources Mentioned:
🎤 Hans Tullman – hanstullman.com
📚 Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant
⚡ EduProtocols & AI Tools – Reduce your workload & increase efficiency

🔥 Final Thought: You can be an excellent teacher and have a life—in fact, you’ll be a better teacher because of it.

👉 Share this episode with a teacher who needs to hear it!
🔗 Follow us on social media & keep the conversation going!

We’re back! Our real-talk educator dynamic duo, Jake & Nathan are back in action: complete with career and life updates and a return to form discussing real life uses of AI tools to beat burnout and have more fun in your classroom tomorrow!

Visit https://www.mrcarrontheweb.com/ and sign up with your email for Jake’s newsletter to receive a PDF guide on when students should and should not use AI in the classroom.

Resources discussed in the episode:

Jake’s ELA Edition Edu-Protocols Book

Adam Grant’s Re-Thinking Podcast with Sam Altman on the future of AI and humanity

Artificial Intelligence tools mentioned in the episode that you should familiarize yourself with:

ChatGPT — for the left brain!

Claude.ai — for the right brain!

Google Notebook LM — create AI podcasts on demand of learning materials? What?!

Brisk — ultimate instant feedback hack

SchoolAI — use “Spaces” to easily create content-focused chat bots with full back channel, student overview, and NO student account needed

MagicSchool — SO MUCH stuff on here!

Learning Genie — new soon-to-be EduProtocol-embedded lesson plan partner

Reach out to us on What Teachers Have to Say SpeakPipe to get in on the conversation with what YOU have to say, teachers!

Are we really preparing students for their future? Educators are tasked to teach state standards, but are we also teaching the skills that students really need to be successful in the “real world”? State standards and standardized tests often test rote memorization more than real world application. The struggle is real and how will they get a job when they can’t turn in homework on time?!?! is a common refrain in the staff room, but what are the real life skills we need to be teaching?

Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company recently put forth a report on the “56 foundational skills for the future of work” they refer to as: future-citizen skills. While meant for the business world to guide global leaders and captains of industry, Jake & Nathan explore how these skills are reflected in an educational environment. Does what we teach translate into real world outcomes in the lives of our students?

Stay to the end for tips on how you can start teaching these skills in your future-focused classroom! Using EduProtocols as a framework, our hosts consider the popular EduProtocols: Wicked Hydra (One of Jake’s own! From his upcoming book!), Iron Chef, and Sketch & Tell and align the classic pedagogical approaches embedded in these lesson frames to McKinsey & Company's 56 real-world, business-approved, future-citizen skills. You can build self-confidence and real-world-skills in students. Join us as we pull back the curtain on the “foundational skills” that are crucial to our students’ future success.

Resources Mentioned in the episode:

McKinsey & Company: Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work

EduProtocols

EduProtocols: ELA Edition by Jacob Carr COMING SOON! Sign up here for updates!

EduProtocols: Social Studies Edition by Dr. Scott Petri & Adam Moler

Find Adam Moler’s work at Moler's Musings

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Move into the weekend with an incredible, inspiring, hope-filled conversation about the immense cultural value teachers have as problem solvers and keepers of democratic ideals. Don't wait for acts of Congress, act with your conscience.

Dr. Fred Mednick is a teacher changemaker, global educator, thought leader, and founder of Teachers Without Borders. Awarded the Champion of African Education Award, the Luxembourg Peace Prize, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Prize for Peace. Professor Emeritus from Johns Hopkins and Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Jake & Nathan have an incredible conversation about the idea of the classroom—your classroom—as a laboratory of democracy. This educator calls Dr. Jane Goodall a close friend and mentor, and his new book In the Small Places: Stories of Teacher Changemakers and the Power of Human Agency describes the stories of local heroes who are working on some of the world's most challenging issues: education in emergencies, peace and human rights education, and the education of girls.

With a title borrowed from the following quote, this book portrays teachers as the human center of social change—"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Resources mentioned in the episode:

⁠In the Small Places: Stories of Teacher Changemakers and the Power of Human Agency⁠ Amazon Link⁠

In the Small Places: Stories of Teacher Changemakers and the Power of Human Agency Website

Teachers Without Borders

Pat Yongpradit is a nationally recognized computer science education advocate and thought leader working at the policy level to make sure ALL students have the opportunity to learn computer science. You can't talk CS in education without talking CODE.org! Pat has been at CODE since the beginning and is currently the Chief Academic Officer.

Before CODE, Pat was a high school computer science teacher. At CODE, he made it his mission to reshape the way that computer science is taught. He has been instrumental in developing the computer science curriculum that is used by tens of millions of students worldwide. He has dedicated his career to making computer science education accessible to all students, regardless of their background.

We discuss the current state of K-12 computer science education, why it's so important for all students to have the opportunity to learn CS, and what parents, teachers and policymakers can do to continue expanding access as AI tools fundamentally change the way we educate.

While we talk some valid concerns and potential pitfalls, our focus is on the future. Together we can create edtech-infused classrooms where students are empowered to use AI tools with teachers to enhance their learning. We need to work as a "vanguard" team of innovative educators and lead the way. Stay to end to hear about Pat's secret mission!

... and come say "Hi!" to Jake & Nathan, Pat from CODE.org, and Bill Nye the Science Guy (!!!) at the ASU+GSV AIR Show in San Diego, CA — April 13th-15th. It's a FREE event! REGISTER HERE to attend!

Resources mentioned in the episode:

CODE.org

CODE.org's AI Resources

Teach AI — Sign up for their mailing list!

AI for Education — AI implementation resources for teachers and school districts!

EduProtocols Community | Facebook Group

Jake & Nathan are joined by Tracey Allen, Janet Brownell, and Anna Johnson from the Butte County Office of Education to talk about the future of Computer Science in schools. BCOE has been innovating in the sphere of EdTech integration in Northern California for years and has a VERY successful, cutting-edge library model with their EdTech Exchange so that all educators and all students can access creative, innovative, and engaging EdTech tools to use in their classes.

Did you know there are "new" Computer Science state standards in California that you may not even be aware of? We talk Seasons of CS, EWIG, CS First, and the CSTA to find resources and professional development opportunities to integrate EdTech in ALL classrooms and subject areas in ways you might not expect. Computer Science can transform your entire workflow, even as an ELA teacher! Join this crew to dig into why Computer Science IS NOT just one more thing.

Resources mentioned:

CSTA Resources Library

Seasons of CS | California's Year-Round Computer Science (CS) Professional Learning Program

BCOE Educational Technology Exchange⁠

Register Here! for the Spring in CS Summit (Redding, CA)

(05:30) CS is for Everyone

(18:00) CSTA Resources

(19:00) CS First with Google

(21:00) Tips from an EdTech Coach

(24:00) Computer as a Tool

(25:00) Coding Robots in ELA

(28:40) Minecraft Farms

(29:00) Basic CS Skills Across Content Areas

(32:00) Transcend Your Lesson

(35:00) EdTech Exchange Library Model

(42:40) Importance of Libraries

(44:00) CS is in Everything

(46:30) Where are we headed?

(49:00) Future Careers with CS

(50:45) Seasons of CS

(52:15) Natural Language as Coding Language

(59:30) CS in SPED with Piper

(60:01) Next year?

If you want to be on the bleeding edge of current AI+Education discourse, this episode is for you!

Jake & Nathan break down Stanford's 2024 AI+Education Summit held by Stanford HAI (Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence). Follow the link to explore a selection of recorded sessions from the day and get in on the conversation.

AI promises us limitless potential to shape our students' educational experiences, and personalized learning is more possible than ever: but at what cost? Is AI inherently biased against students-of-color? Will AI make coding skills obsolete? What will legislation look like? What will the national rollout look like in terms of AI-powered ed-tech tools and teacher training? These questions (and many more) are being thoughtfully considered by current thought-leaders in the field.

This landmark event, held in the heart of silicon valley, brings together members of academia, industry, media, and practicing educators to advance current discourse on the use of AI+education. Stay to the end for our one-word takeaway! Hint: does it spark joy?

"Not long ago, the Internet was an escape from the real world. Today, the real world is an escape from the Internet" — Ge Wang