Oxygen for Educators™

What happens when the work itself becomes a source of well-being? Alex Campbell, the teacher at the center of the Prime Video docuseries Murder 101, has spent years creating classrooms where students don't just learn about real-world problems — they help solve them. In this conversation, Alex joins Michelle to talk about the philosophy behind that work: trusting young people with meaningful challe...

At 13, Casey Cuny learned firsthand how profoundly a teacher can shape a life. Decades later, the 2024 California Teacher of the Year has built his own teaching around a simple idea: rigor happens through relationships. In this conversation, Casey talks with Michelle about knowing students deeply, explicitly telling them we believe in them, creating classrooms where young people feel safe enough t...

What if some of the biggest challenges facing schools aren't problems we still need to solve — but problems research has already taught us something about? Dr. Jeannie Haubert, sociologist and Executive Director of LEARN, joins us for a fascinating conversation about the surprising distance between what research tells us and what actually makes its way into practice. Jeannie points to a frequently...

Chris introduces us to one of her favorite teachers, Chip Conley, who is the founder of the Modern Elder Academy (MEA). Chip has spent decades thinking about what helps people grow, adapt, and live with greater wisdom. In this conversation, Michelle talks with Chip about staying curious as we age, the dance between soul and ego, turning experience into wisdom through self-reflection, knowing when...

Money may be measured in numbers, but financial well-being is about much more. Patrick Means of Charles Schwab joins Michelle for a candid and practical conversation about the relationship we have with money, and how it shapes our stress, our choices, and the way we show up in the rest of our lives. Together, they explore the money messages we inherit, the trap of comparison, and why knowing our f...

Dr. John "Push" Gaines shares how caring educators became an address for hope, love, and possibility in his life, and why their influence often reaches far beyond what they will ever witness. In a conversation that moves from resilience to rest, John reflects on the cost of constant striving, the freedom of living according to our values, and why burnout should never be the price of meaningful wor...

In this capstone conversation to our 3 Vital Questions series, Donna Zajonc joins us to explore what The Empowerment Dynamic looks like when it becomes a lived practice. Together we talk about nervous system steadiness, the cost of over care, dynamic tension, baby steps, and Donna's signature question: Who do you want to be on the way to what you want? Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscriptio...

Sarah Brown Wessling, Director of the National Teacher of the Year Program, shares what she has learned from years spent alongside some of America's most extraordinary educators. Together we explore leadership, belonging, listening, and the conditions that help people grow.   Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscription to the magazine. ( https://oxygenforeducators.com/#read-the-magazine) Visit...

In this conversation, educator and community leader Nakia Douglas reflects on the people who believed in him, the power of community care, and why hope, purpose, and possibility matter in challenging times. He is a moving reminder that each of us has the power to transform lives by being unapologetic about our light.   Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscription to the magazine. ( https://oxyge...

In this episode, Michelle Kinder unpacks the third vital question — what actions are you taking? — through the lens of "dynamic tension," the gap between where we are and where we want to be. She shares the three common ways people try to escape that tension (and why two of them backfire), plus a personal story of navigating a health crisis by focusing on "what's next" instead of certainty. Opt in...

In a time marked by chronic stress, fear-based media, and nervous system overload, how do we create lives that feel steady, connected, and human? In this conversation, Tina Payne Bryson joins Michelle to explore cues of safety, co-regulation, play, predictability, and the small intentional practices that help adults stay grounded in difficult times. Together, they discuss why joy, laughter, commun...

Most workplace drama isn't created by bad people. It's created by good people trying to navigate stress, uncertainty, frustration, and fear. In this episode, Michelle explores the second of The 3 Vital Questions: How are you relating? Drawing on the work of David Emerald and Donna Zajonc, she examines the Drama Triangle, the Empowerment Dynamic, and the ways we can become trapped in cycles of blam...

Episode Summary: José Luis Vilson is an educator, researcher, author, and longtime advocate for teacher voice and educational equity. In this conversation, we explore what professionalism in education really means, why relationships are foundational to learning, the emotional realities educators are navigating, and how schools shape not just academic outcomes, but our capacity for empathy, citizen...

Many teams are exhausted not because people don't care, but because they're trapped in cycles of reactivity that feel productive but rarely create lasting change. In this first episode of a new three-part series on David Emerald and Donna Zajonc's 3 Vital Questions, Michelle explores how our focus shapes our inner state, our behavior, and ultimately the culture we create around us. This conversati...

Dallas ISD Chief Academic Officer Angie Gaylord brings an unusually vibrant and deeply human approach to educational leadership. In this conversation, we explore what it means to "leave a trail" instead of simply following one — from failing forward and building psychological safety to leading through complexity with optimism, high expectations, and heart. Angie shares why she believes strong team...

In this final episode in the Radical Hope series, we explore the idea of building a personal mental health map, learning to recognize our patterns, protect what restores us, strengthen supportive relationships, and create lives that feel more connected, sustainable, and fully alive.   Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscription to the magazine. ( https://oxygenforeducators.com/#read-the-magazin...

In this deeply human conversation, Kass and Cornelius explore what it means to teach—and live—as whole people inside systems that often make that difficult. Together, we talk about joy, listening, sustainability, identity, and the kind of community that helps both students and educators flourish.   Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscription to the magazine. ( https://oxygenforeducators.com/#re...

When everything feels like it's accelerating, toward uncertainty, fear, and fracture, what does it mean to hold steady? This episode explores how anchoring yourself, and becoming a source of steadiness for others, is not passive, it's a powerful way to navigate hard moments and shape what happens next.   OPT IN FOR THE OXYGEN FOR EDUCATORS MAGAZINE: Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscription t...

Most educators are trying to carry more than any one person can hold. Pernille Ripp explores what it means to be one meaningful part of a larger whole, and how letting go of over-responsibility can help you stay in the work without losing yourself. Pernille's Blog: https://pernillesripp.com/2026/04/03/reading-was-never-meant-to-compete/   Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscription to the magaz...

When the world feels heavy, joy and play can feel out of reach—or even inappropriate. This episode explores how small moments of lightness and freedom can shift our nervous system, expand our capacity, and keep us connected to what matters most.   Opt in HERE for a complimentary subscription to the magazine. ( https://oxygenforeducators.com/#read-the-magazine) Visit the Oxygen for Educators websit...

If you've ever wondered why you can't access your patience, clarity, or purpose when it matters most—this episode explains why. In this conversation, Deb Dana brings her deeply influential work on the nervous system into everyday language, helping us understand ourselves and others with more compassion and ease. DEB DANA WEBSITE:  https://www.rhythmofregulation.com/polyvagal-theory PERSONAL PROFIL...

Most of us aren't asking, "What is my purpose?" We're asking, "Does this matter—and how do I keep showing up when it's hard?" This episode explores where meaning actually lives, and how to stay connected to it in the middle of real life.   Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscription to the magazine,  or  copy and paste this link:  https://oxygenforeducators.com/#read-the-magazine     Visit the ...

As a child, Ricky Flores sometimes got detention on purpose — because staying after school meant he would get something to eat. What he didn't know then was that the teachers who saw him, believed in him, and pushed him would change the trajectory of his life. Today Dr. Rick Flores is a high school principal serving the very community where he grew up. In this conversation, he shares the educators...

We all want to belong. But in many environments, belonging can come with an unspoken cost: becoming slightly less yourself. In this episode, we explore the difference between fitting in and real belonging, why our nervous systems are wired to seek it, and how we stay connected without shrinking.   Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscription to the magazine,  or  copy and paste this link:  https...

Supporting students means supporting the people who care for them. In this episode, we talk with counseling leader Amanda Carroll about what it means to be a caregiver of caregivers—and how relationships, perspective, and small daily practices help sustain educators doing emotionally demanding work.   Opt in  HERE  for a complimentary subscription to the magazine,  or  copy and paste this link:  h...