Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators

The beginning of a school year often arrives with a familiar message: do more, organize more, and somehow become a brand-new person before the first bell rings.
This episode offers a different invitation.
Instead of attempting a total wellness overhaul, we explore four small anchors that can help educators, students, colleagues, and families start the year feeling a little more grounded: sleep, movement, attention, and connection.
We talk about the habits that quietly shape how we show up—including where our phones sleep, how we build movement into an ordinary day, what helps us recover our attention, and the small acts of connection that make a school community feel human.
Along the way, we share some of the tools we've been trying to support better rest, breathing, mobility, focus, and time together. The goal isn't to add another obligation to your list. It's to notice what genuinely helps—and choose one small place to begin.
In this episode, we explore:
Why educator wellness shouldn't become another performance metric

The relationship between our own habits and what we ask of students

Simple ways to make sleep feel more restorative

"Movement snacks" that don't require a gym or workout plan

Screen-free tools for breathing, focus, and nervous-system regulation

Small, playful ways to strengthen connection with students, colleagues, and family

A four-week challenge that adds one manageable anchor at a time

You don't need to reinvent your life before school begins. Pick one category, make one small choice on purpose, and start there.
Explore the complete Start the Year Well guide, product recommendations, listener discounts, reflection prompts, and printable four-week tracker:
https://www.shiftingschools.com/start-the-year-well
A big thanks to the following brands for offering us a chance to test out their products, and offering listeners a discount:
SLEEP
Loftie Clock — code SHIFTINGSCHOOLS for 20% off
https://byloftie.com/discount/SHIFTINGSCHOOLS
Slip Silk Sleep Mask
https://slipsilkpillowcase.ca/collections/sleep-masks
TUO Fara Circadian Bulb
https://www.thetuolife.com

MOBILITY
Backpod
https://buybackpod.com
Naboso — Standing Mat + Neuro Ball — code SCHOOL for 20% off
https://www.naboso.com
Gokhale Stretchsit Cushion
https://shop.gokhalemethod.com/bbhqox

ATTENTION
Komuso — The Shift — code SCHOOL15 for 15% off
https://www.komusodesign.com
Pso-Rite — code SHIFTINGSCHOOLS for 30% off
https://pso-rite.com/shiftingschools
Moonbird & Moonbuddy — 20% off applied automatically at checkout (or code SHIFTING10 for 10% off)
https://moonbird.life/discount/?ref=wusymhxf&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=goaffpro

CONNECTION
Global Grub — code ShiftingSchools for 40% off (first 10 orders, through Sept 7)
https://globalgrub.com
eat2explore — code EE10 for 10% off
https://eat2explore.com
A note on transparency: Brands featured in this episode provided samples, and some of the links may be affiliate links or include listener discounts. We only share tools we genuinely use and would recommend to a friend.

What can ELA teachers learn from a bestselling suspense novelist who begins writing without knowing who the villain is?
In this episode of Shifting Schools, Tricia Friedman speaks with Lisa Gardner about the habits, questions, and research behind her novels. Their conversation offers ELA teachers a fresh way to think about character development, suspense, inquiry, and the creative conditions young writers need.
Lisa explains that she does not begin with characters divided neatly into heroes and villains. She gives each person layers, contradictions, motivations, and a moral code. As the story develops, she allows the characters to reveal who they are. That process offers a useful alternative to writing instruction that asks students to plan every part of a story before they have had a chance to discover it.
Lisa also shares how she researches fictional crimes by speaking with police officers, medical examiners, and other specialists. She does not ask only what would happen. She asks what highly capable people would notice, what they would try, and why their best efforts might still fail. For ELA classrooms, her process models research as part of imaginative writing rather than something reserved for essays and reports.
The conversation also considers the role of walking, daydreaming, reading, games, puzzles, and unstructured time in creative thought. Lisa describes writing as an individual craft supported by a community of other writers, researchers, readers, and even her three dogs.
In this episode, ELA teachers will hear ideas for helping students:
Create characters with competing motives and believable moral codes

Move beyond simple hero-and-villain categories

Use research to make fictional worlds more convincing

Treat unanswered questions as fuel for writing

Experiment with discovery writing before committing to an outline

Build suspense by asking why an obvious solution would not work

Use walking, conversation, and time away from screens to generate ideas

Give and seek feedback while preserving an individual creative voice

See reading, games, and puzzles as part of a larger writing practice

Lisa also introduces her latest novel, You'll Be Sorry, a suspense story involving a family that vanished 30 years ago, a small town filled with secrets, a mysterious couple who purchases the abandoned crime scene, and a dog who may know more than anyone else.
This episode invites ELA teachers to consider a different starting point for writing instruction: What might students create if they were not required to know exactly where their stories were going before they began?
Learn more about Lisa https://www.lisagardner.com/
Thank you to our show sponsor: Unfurl
Learn more with Unfurl: https://unfurl.sh/
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One lucky listener can win a pro account, be sure to subscribe to AI Forward to learn more:
https://k12aileadershipbrief.substack.com/

What can a board book offer a baby who cannot yet speak or even hold it independently?
Award-winning author, illustrator, and art therapist Sandra Magsamen joins Tricia to discuss Hello, Baby, her new board book created for children from birth to age three. With bright illustrations, melodic language, playful terms of endearment, and a mirror that places the baby inside the story, the book is designed to support far more than early literacy.
Sandra explains how reading with a baby can build connection, vocabulary, attention, curiosity, and a growing sense of belonging. She also shares practical advice for parents, grandparents, and caregivers who may feel unsure about reading aloud: hold the baby close, play with the words, welcome the giggles, and do not worry about delivering a perfect performance.
The conversation also considers what happens when adults treat books as objects children may freely touch, explore, drop, and even chew. Sandra and Tricia discuss why a home filled with accessible books and a healthy tolerance for "uh-oh" moments can help children associate reading with pleasure, discovery, and agency.
Sandra closes by reflecting on her own growth as an artist. After more than 25 years of creating for children and families, she explains why successful artists still need to experiment, how becoming a grandmother is opening new creative directions, and why our work should be allowed to change as we do.
In this conversation:
What babies notice in illustrations
How reading aloud supports bonding and early development
Simple ways to make board books playful and interactive
Why babies benefit from seeing themselves in a book
The connection between reading, safety, and belonging
Why children should be allowed to handle and explore books
What mistakes and mess can contribute to creativity
How Sandra continues to grow after a long creative career
Hello, Baby is written and illustrated by Sandra Magsamen and published by Cartwheel Books, an imprint of Scholastic. It is intended for babies from birth to age three and includes an embedded mirror on its final spread. Learn more from Scholastic.
Thank you to our show sponsor: Unfurl
Learn more with Unfurl: https://unfurl.sh/
Are you subscribed to AI Forward?
One lucky listener can win a pro account, be sure to subscribe to AI Forward to learn more:
https://k12aileadershipbrief.substack.com/

When schools picture a student leader, they often imagine the confident speaker, the high achiever, or the student who already understands how to succeed within existing systems. But what about the students who are rarely invited to lead?
In this episode, Tricia speaks with educator and author Rachel Thrash about expanding student leadership beyond the familiar few. Her book, Let the Learners Lead: Empowering Student Voice to Co-Create School Culture, presents leadership as something every young person can practice, not a privilege reserved for students who already fit a traditional leadership profile.
Rachel explains how educators can move from simply asking for student input to genuinely co-creating with learners. She discusses why adults need the courage to admit they do not have every answer, what students gain when educators resist solving every problem for them, and how shared responsibility can strengthen student agency, belonging, and school culture.
The conversation also offers practical tools schools can use to make student voice more authentic and inclusive.
In this episode:
Why traditional student leadership models leave many learners out

The difference between student voice, student agency, and student leadership

How co-creation changes the relationship between educators and students

Why adults should resist rushing in to solve every student problem

How uncertainty can become part of authentic leadership

Practical ways to create more inclusive leadership opportunities

How shared responsibility supports belonging and school culture

What it means to treat leadership as a practice rather than a title

This conversation is for teachers, school leaders, instructional coaches, and anyone seeking practical ways to increase student voice, agency, belonging, and participation in school decision-making.
Featured guest: Rachel Thrash, educator and author of Let the Learners Lead: Empowering Student Voice to Co-Create School Culture
https://www.routledge.com/Let-the-Learners-Lead-Empowering-Student-Voice-to-Co-Create-School-Culture/Thrash/p/book/9781041155713
Thank you to our show sponsor: Unfurl
Learn more with Unfurl: https://unfurl.sh/
Are you subscribed to AI Forward?
One lucky listener can win a pro account, be sure to subscribe to AI Forward to learn more:
https://k12aileadershipbrief.substack.com/

What happens when historical research uncovers a truth you are not sure you want to know?
In this episode of Shifting Schools, Tricia speaks with author Christine Kuehn and her husband and research partner, Mark Schiponi, about Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor.
Christine's investigation began with a startling discovery: members of her family had been deeply involved with the Nazi Party, and her grandfather had been convicted for his role connected to the attack on Pearl Harbor. What followed was a 30-year search through family testimony, declassified FBI files, National Archives records, historical accounts, photographs, and long-buried memories.
Christine and Mark describe the emotional strain of researching a painful family history and the many times the project was packed away because the discoveries became too difficult to face. They also explain how they compared official records with family stories, handled contradictions, organized years of handwritten notes, and decided what evidence could be trusted.
The conversation also examines the craft of making history readable. Christine and Mark wanted the book to reach people who might never choose a conventional work of World War II history. They discuss weaving the past together with Christine's present-day investigation, writing nonfiction with the momentum of a novel, and removing compelling material when it no longer served the larger story.
For educators, the episode offers a useful exploration of historical inquiry, source evaluation, inherited narratives, memory, and the role storytelling plays in keeping difficult history visible. It raises questions that belong in history, humanities, media-literacy, and ELA classrooms:
How do we respond when evidence challenges the stories we have inherited?
What responsibilities come with uncovering painful history?
How can writers make complex historical research accessible without weakening its accuracy?
What can students learn by comparing personal testimony, archival documents, photographs, government records, and published histories?
Christine also reflects on secrecy, shame, and the realization that people are not responsible for their ancestors' actions. They can, however, decide how honestly they will confront that history and what choices they will make in their own lives.
In this episode:
• The emotional cost of investigating a family's Nazi past
• Using declassified FBI files and National Archives records
• Comparing family memories with documentary evidence
• Turning 30 years of research into a coherent narrative
• Writing history for readers who do not consider themselves historians
• Confronting inherited shame and family secrecy
• Deciding what to remove when it no longer serves the story
• Teaching difficult history through human stories
• Responding to historical denial and misinformation
Timestamps:
00:00 The emotional and practical challenges of the research
03:49 Organizing decades of evidence and handwritten notes
07:20 Why confronting painful truths can matter
11:36 Sharing a private family history with the public
15:15 Historical storytelling and what comes next
18:55 Creating the book's past-and-present structure
21:48 Knowing when a powerful passage must be removed
About the book:
Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn combines memoir, archival investigation, World War II history, Nazi espionage, and the secret history surrounding Pearl Harbor. The book follows Christine's effort to understand her family's involvement and the effects that secrecy had on later generations.
Content note: This conversation discusses Nazism, antisemitism, the Holocaust, Pearl Harbor, family trauma, and inherited shame.
Resources mentioned:
Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn
Christine Kuehn's Politics and Prose conversation
The United States National Archives
Declassified FBI records and Freedom of Information Act research
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