249: Will 2023 be the year of AI?
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
Release Date: 01/26/2023
Why Millions of Students Are Creating Together: Inside Crayola Creativity Week
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
What does it look like when creativity becomes a global learning movement—not an add-on, but a connector across every subject? In this episode of Shifting Schools, Tricia Friedman is joined by Cheri Sterman to explore Crayola Creativity Week, a free, cross-curricular program designed to help educators spark collaboration, confidence, and creative thinking in classrooms around the world. Together, they unpack how Creativity Week connects creativity to every subject and career, why celebrity partners—from the Property Brothers to NASA astronauts—volunteer their time to inspire students,...
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Holiday Gifting for Teachers: Tools for Wellness, Creativity, and Reflection
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
This special Shifting Schools holiday episode isn’t about trendy gadgets or generic gift lists. Instead, Jeff Utecht and Tricia Friedman share seven thoughtfully chosen gifts for educators—each matched to a specific kind of person and a specific kind of need. Some gifts are playful. Some are reflective. Some are deeply practical. All of them offer a meaningful boost during a season when educators are often running on empty. This episode asks a practical question: “What might actually support someone through their days?” Whether you’re shopping for a colleague, a school leader, a...
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What Makes a Family? Scott & Mark Hoying on Representation, Creativity, and Love
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
You know Pentatonix – the multi-platinum selling acapella group is the number one most listened to musical acct of the holiday season. Co-founder and Grammy winner Scott Hoying is currently starring in Season 34 of Dancing with the Stars. Scott Hoying and his husband Mark are now also authors of an innovative picture book which features text that doubles as lyrics to . FA LA LA FAMILY celebrates the spirit of Christmas with a look at nontraditional families. The reviews are loving their new book: "A fun and festive dive into...
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Why Interdisciplinary Learning Fuels Creativity: A Conversation with Alan Gratz
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
In this episode of Shifting Schools, bestselling author Alan Gratz joins Tricia Friedman to explore the craft of storytelling, the role of creativity in education, and why curiosity is the engine behind both great writing and great learning. Gratz shares how baseball has quietly shaped the structure of many of his novels, how he approaches character development with authenticity, and why understanding a character’s background is essential for emotional truth. The conversation also digs into the need for interdisciplinary learning in today’s classrooms and the value of teacher...
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Inside the Mind of a 4.1 Million-Follower Creator: AI, Internships, and the Future of Storytelling
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
In this episode of Shifting Schools, Jeff Utecht reconnects with Marcus DiPaola, a successful content creator and documentary filmmaker. They discuss Marcus's journey from working in news to becoming a prominent influencer on platforms like TikTok, where he has amassed over 4 million followers. The conversation delves into the challenges of content creation, the importance of writing skills, and the role of AI in enhancing creative processes. Marcus shares insights on his documentary work, including a recent project on protests and his upcoming film about food insecurity. He emphasizes the...
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The Rise of Micro schools: How Educators Are Reimagining Learning with David Richards
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
Are micro schools the future of personalized learning? In this high-impact episode of Shifting Schools, Jeff Utecht sits down with David K. Richards, CEO of ChangeMaker Education, to break down one of the fastest-growing movements in the education ecosystem: microschools. With over 125,000 micro schools and 1.5 million students already learning in small, relationship-centered environments across the U.S., this episode delivers a deeply practical and future-focused look at why educators, parents, and policymakers are paying attention. What You’ll Learn in This Episode What a micro school...
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Can we communicate with our pets? Leo Trottier on the Future of Interspecies Communication
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
What if our pets are communicating complex ideas—and technology is finally catching up? In this episode of the Shifting Schools Podcast, cognitive scientist and FluentPet founder Leo Trottier joins us to explore how breakthroughs in animal cognition, inter-species communication, and speech-button interfaces are reshaping the way humans understand pets. Trottier unpacks the science behind communication-enhancing tools for animals, drawing from research in cognitive psychology, comparative cognition, and linguistics to explain how dogs and cats may be expressing needs, feelings, and even...
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Crossing the Line of Falling Behind: Where Is Your School on the AI Curve?
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
Summary In this episode, Jeff Utecht discusses the critical importance of understanding where schools stand on the AI adoption curve. He emphasizes the need for leadership to actively engage with AI and for educators to integrate AI into their teaching practices. The conversation highlights the transformative potential of AI in education, urging schools to move from mere conversation to meaningful integration. Learn more about our amazing show sponsor: Takeaways AI adoption is crucial for schools today. Leadership must model AI usage and curiosity. Schools are on a curve of AI...
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How Generative AI Can Deepen Critical Thinking in K12, Not Replace It
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
Discover how educators are using generative AI not to automate, but to elevate critical thinking and collaboration in K-12 schools. In this episode of Shifting Schools, host Tricia Friedman shows how “disagreement by design” and intentional prompt-engineering transform student and leadership learning. What you’ll learn: What disagreement by design looks like in real classrooms and leadership teams How prompt engineering unlocks student curiosity and systems-thinking mindset in K-12 Why writing bespoke GPT bots might just be the 'new essay' of our times Who this episode is for:...
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Parenting, Picture Books, and the Practice of Wonder: Leadership Lessons in Creativity
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
A conversation that reminds us how curiosity, art, and iteration can reshape are necessary and may even be assets for our school leadership and the ways we nurture creative courage in young learners.... In this episode, Tricia Friedman sits down with author-illustrator Christy Mandin to explore what school leaders can learn from the creative process behind children’s literature. Together they unpack how curiosity fuels empathy, how messy iteration sparks innovation, and how embracing the dark and uncertain moments of creativity can make us more compassionate educators. What You’ll Learn ...
info_outlineJeff and Tricia talk about Chat GPT and other generative AI tools. The big question in this episode is: How might you use Chat GPT as a thought partner this year?
We asked Chat GPT to help us out with the intro for this show, to tell us more about what misconceptions there are about Chat GPT. What did it tell us?
- "ChatGPT is sentient or conscious: ChatGPT is a machine learning model, it does not have consciousness or self-awareness. It can only respond based on the patterns it has learned from the data it was trained on.
- ChatGPT is always correct: ChatGPT is a powerful tool, but it is not infallible. It may make mistakes or produce nonsensical responses if it is given input that it has not been trained on or if the input is ambiguous.
- ChatGPT can write any kind of text: ChatGPT is a language model, it can generate text based on patterns it has learned from the data it was trained on. However, its performance may vary depending on the specific task or genre of text. For example, it may not perform as well on poetry or creative writing as it would on news articles."
Jeff and Tricia also have a special offer for listeners: a big discount on the new 5-Day Generative AI Challenge. How might that challenge bring you a community-building learning experience?
Learn more about all of our AI support here.
We also have a special free guide to help your team learn more about tools like Chat GPT, click here to download it.
Do you want to share your thoughts about how generative AI tools will intersect with learning this year? Send us a voice memo, using the SpeakPipe button on our homepage: www.shiftingschools.com
Also discussed on this episode:
A collection of AI tools to experiment with:
https://theresanaiforthat.com/
Chat GPT for you and me via Wired: click here.
Learn more about ways to learn with Shifting Schools this year by exploring our full line up of professional learning pathways for K-12 educators by clicking here.