Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

Right now, teachers are getting pulled in two completely opposite directions on tech use, particularly with artificial intelligence. Your admin may want you to use it to plan lessons, save time, stay current. And on one hand, it does save time, and we want to take advantage of the tools we've got, especially if theyre free. But a lot of us also have this nagging feeling that something about it isn...

Everyone has an opinion about AI in classrooms right now, but very few of those opinions are grounded in what we actually know about how kids learn. In this episode, I sit down with Erin Mote, CEO and founder of InnovateEDU and co-founder of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School, to cut through the noise and talk about what the evidence actually shows about AI as a learning tool. This isn't a convers...

Teaching gives you a lot of opportunities to look back and wish you'd done it differently, and most of us carry those regrets way longer than we need to. In this episode, I'm sharing what I learned from Daniel Pink's book The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, and how his research applies to the unique kind of regret that teachers carry.  I'll walk you through the four categor...

Food writer Bee Wilson has been in classrooms across the UK, and what she's discovered is startling: many children have completely lost their sensory connection to real food. They know the peach emoji but not the fuzzy feel of actual peach skin. They recognize mint from shampoo but have never smelled a fresh mint leaf. When asked where food comes from, kids used to say "the supermarket." Now they...

Most of us are walking around in a low-grade state of fight-or-flight all the time, and we don't even realize it. It looks like the tight jaw in the morning, the exhaustion that doesn't lead to sleep, or the feeling of being on edge even on a good day.  These are signs of a nervous system that never got the signal that it's safe to come down. In this episode, I'm sharing a lesson from my new free...

When the world feels this heavy, this broken, it can feel almost frivolous to make space for art. And in the classroom with so much content to cover, can we really slow down enough to create and take an artful approach to learning with students? Who has time to write poems or pause over a beautiful image when we're al barely keeping our heads above water? But think about what we're left with if we...

I picked up my phone to check the weather the other day, and twenty minutes later I was still standing in my kitchen, having bounced from app to app through a chain of perfectly legitimate tasks that I never actually chose to do in that moment. I wasn't scrolling mindlessly. I was checking my steps, signing up for a yoga class, responding to my husband's text, following up on a bank alert. And I s...

We've been taught to think of the brain as the control center, the part of us that really matters for learning. But the body isn't just along for the ride, carrying our brains from place to place. Caroline Williams, science journalist and three-time author (including of the book Inner Sense) has spent years digging into the research on how our brains and bodies actually work together. Turns out th...

After 20+ years of creating exclusively for educators, I'm expanding into some new creative spaces. In this podcast episode, I share the "why" behind my new YouTube channel ("So What Are We Doing Here?"), my Substack publication, my free guided meditations on Insight Timer, and some other fun new places to find me. I also talk about how my own work has shifted more toward adults, and why so much o...

Is AI using a bottle of water every time you make a query? Are you a bad person if you use it in your classroom? Should schools ban it entirely—or go all-in? If you've felt confused or conflicted about AI ethics, this conversation is for you. I sit down with Dr. Karen Boyd, an AI ethics consultant who works with schools and nonprofits, to get real answers about the environmental impact of AI—and t...

Each time we decide which history gets a full unit and which gets a mini-lesson… Each time we choose whose stories to showcase in classroom libraries while others gather dust on shelves … Each time we select which family structures and cultures to represent in class and which we quietly pretend don't exist … We're teaching whose voices matter, what counts as normal, and how power works. That's the...

When he got his ADHD diagnosis at age 30, the first thought Andrew Gardner (https://www.agardner.com/about) had was, "Okay, now what? I'm still an idiot." That negative voice had been with him his entire teaching career, driving him to work 80-90 hour weeks trying to prove he wasn't failing at the basics everyone else seemed to handle easily. In this conversation, Andrew walks us through what it's...

"If AI can write my essay in 30 seconds, why should I spend 30 minutes doing it myself?" I believe students asking this question deserve a thoughtful response ... or even better, an invitation to think critically about their own values and personal philosophy around artificial intelligence. In this episode, I'm offering some tools to help you facilitate these conversations with students, breaking...

Growing up, every report card comment and parent conference involved my teachers expressing some version of the following: "Angela is smart, but not working to her potential." "Angela needs to focus and apply herself." "Angela is a capable student but does not put forth effort." "Angela could do the work if she wanted to but she appears lazy and unmotivated." I shared a little of this story a few...

It's the final episode of the 2025 season, and I want to leave you with something meaningful. I'm sharing some personal thoughts as I prepare to step away for my December internet sabbatical. I'm thinking deeply about alignment, presence, and what it means to move forward with clarity and purpose. If you've been feeling the tension between what you have to do and what you're called to do … this ep...

"The adults in the building need healing just as much as the kids do. Self-compassion isn't soft. It's the most radical act of self-preservation an educator can practice."  That's a quote from my guest in this episode, Marisol Quevedo Rerucha. She's the author of Beyond the Surface of Restorative Practices and the CEO of Heartset Consulting Group. A former teacher, principal, and district leader,...

Metacognition — "thinking about your thinking" — is one of the most powerful skills we can teach students, and it doesn't require adding anything new to your already packed schedule. In this episode, you'll learn four simple, one-minute routines you can weave into your daily classroom flow to help students notice, analyze, and adjust their own thinking. We'll explore: How to use attention checks s...

"Giving kids, and yourself, language to wrap around the idea that we have an inner leader (our kindest, best self) is transformative." Join me as I talk with Lily Howard Scott, a NYC-based parent, educator, and author, who shares insights from her book The Words That Shape Us: The Science-Based Power of Teacher Language. We're exploring how our internal self-talk shapes our perceptions of students...

How much effort is enough—for you and your students? In this episode, I'm weaving together three listener questions about navigating effort, expectations, and balance. We'll explore how to recognize whether you lean more toward Type A (overextending) or Type B (holding back) tendencies, and how to make small, mindful adjustments so you're not burning out—or stagnating. You'll hear practical advice...

Engagement is not the same as "fun." It's the foundation for meaningful and lasting learning. Join me as I talk with Katie Powell, author of Boredom Busters: Transform Worksheets, Lectures, and Grading into Engaging, Meaningful Learning Experiences. Katie shares simple yet powerful strategies that help teachers transform their classrooms into spaces where students thrive. Whether you're trying to...

Time blocking sounds simple… but if you've ever sat down during your prep period with a plan and still ended the day feeling behind, you know it's not always that straightforward. In this episode, I'm walking you through a flexible, teacher-centered approach to scheduling your time. This isn't about squeezing more into the day—it's about protecting time for what matters and letting go of the guilt...

How can you meet the needs of every learner in your classroom while keeping your workload manageable? In this episode, Robert Barnett shares how self-paced learning can transform your teaching and create a more personalized, effective, and sustainable experience for both you and your students. We dive into the Modern Classrooms approach, breaking it down into actionable steps that any teacher can...

One of the most exhausting parts of teaching is the constant decision-making. You're answering questions like: Where do I turn this in? Can I go to the bathroom? What do I do when I'm done? My pencil broke—what now? Over and over. All day long. You're managing behavior, passing out materials, troubleshooting tech, resetting the room, redirecting energy, keeping everything afloat. And underneath al...

We often assume students should already know how to stay organized, manage their time, and start tasks independently—but these are skills that need to be taught, modeled, and practiced.  In this episode, I'm talking with Mitch Weathers, a former high school teacher and creator of Organized Binder, about how a consistent daily routine anchored by a physical binder can help students build the habits...

In this summer reflection episode, I'm sharing a small story—just a quiet moment at an airport breakfast counter—that brought me back to the kind of person I want to be. It's a simple action, one that no one asked for or expected. But it reminded me that our small choices matter… especially now. Because let's be honest: it's not always clear what the "right" choice is anymore. Social norms are shi...