Teach Different

What does it mean to be “at home”? The concept of home is more nuanced than it appears. On the one hand, we can think of home as a physical place of comfort and safety where needs for protection are met. But we can also think about home as a place where we feel listened to and where our humanity is acknowledged. Our unique definition of 'home' may change throughout our lives depending on w...

Join our community and attend our podcasts live. You can participate or just listen! How do we prevent technology from controlling our lives? Today, Steve and Dan Fouts tackle an engaging quote about technology from Norwegian educator and Nobel Peace Prize winner Christian Lous Lange. Through connections to World War I, artificial intelligence, social media, and more, we contemplate the proper rol...

How do we know when to give people a second chance? Join seasoned educators Steve and Dan Fouts as they delve into the profound wisdom of Maya Angelou's quote, "When somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time." In this thought-provoking discussion, they explore the application of Angelou's thoughts on personal relationships and the difficult decisions teachers m...

How do I know when to be loyal to my government? Today, Steve and Dan Fouts confront a thought-provoking quote from Mark Twain that explores the philosophical theme of loyalty. Join them as they discuss the delicate interplay between unconditional national allegiance to country and conditional loyalty to government. This conversation introduces a host of timely issues that relate directly to our r...

Should there be limits to free speech? Steve and Dan Fouts, founders of Teach Different and seasoned educators with over 50 years of experience, tackle the tension between free speech and social responsibility using a compelling quote from English writer Evelyn Beatrice Hall (referring to the French philosopher Voltaire): "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your righ...

How should a society balance individual freedom with the need for stability and control? Tune in with Steve and Dan Fouts, the innovators behind Teach Different, as they delve into the complexities of liberties and rights, inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois's poignant statement: "The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression." In this insightful episode, they navigate the equilibr...

When is forgiving somebody the right thing to do? True forgiveness can pave paths to healing and liberate us from hate.  But what about the need for justice and accountability of unjust actions?  Steve and Dan Fouts, founders of Teach Different and seasoned educators with over 50 years of experience, use the Teach Different Method to explore the delicate balance between forgiving and demanding acc...

What is the best way to persuade those in power to make concessions? Sometimes progress only happens when people demand change. Unless those in power are pressured to act in equitable ways, they will take advantage of their authority and pursue selfish ends. Sometimes, though, internal self-reflection of those who hold power can also drive transformative change. Progress often hinges on the dual f...

How do I know when to be patient? Patience, often overlooked, is a virtue of immense importance. It plays a pivotal role in our quest for achievement and success. When we forfeit patience, we grant others the power to provoke frustration, leaving us feeling powerless. However, there are instances where impatience serves us well, such as during emergencies when swift action is imperative. The ongoi...

What is the best way to get respect? We find contentment in being our authentic selves when we stop comparing or competing with others. It gives us a sense of inner harmony. Though respect is not solely dependent on self-acceptance and non-comparison but also on achievements, social status, or power. People who excel in life tend to command more respect in society. Ultimately, the quest for respec...

Everybody has unique talents, though it's hard to see them sometimes. We are often blinded by doubt, lack of confidence and a fear that we might embarrass ourselves. So, we turn away from ourselves, copy others, and bury our own potential. Yet, learning from others is essential for our own success and so we must embrace others' influence in a way that doesn't compromise our sense of se...

We find meaning and value through our memories. They offer reminders of our mistakes, heartaches and enduring accomplishments. They are like building blocks for our personal identity. Yet, meaning is also to be found in our future. When we look ahead, we embrace hope, and that confidence in the future brings us value of a different sort. And what about living in the moment without concern for the ...

How do we know when our actions will speak louder than our words? "Talk is cheap," as the saying goes. Talking about doing something is easy, but actually doing it is much harder. Doing things requires risk-taking, embracing uncertainty, and the knowledge that you just might be making mistakes along the way. Yet, depending on the person doing it, speaking also requires proactive risk, especially i...

What is the most beautiful way to reshape yourself through suffering? When we endure suffering, our character changes. Sometimes we grow weaker, less confident, and more resigned that life has it out for us. At other times, our character is strengthened. Suffering makes us resilient. It expands our capacity to persevere. We become empathetic, vulnerable. It crowds out our fears and opens our heart...

How should I be judged by other people? We all know the feeling of being judged. Many times others look to our accomplishments to judge whether or not we are living a worthwhile life. Our accomplishments are supposed to signify our success and happiness and worthiness for praise, but that often leaves us with an empty feeling, because it sidesteps an appreciation for the hardships we had to endure...

How do we know if somebody is good or bad? Kids are in the midst of making so many ethical choices about the types of people they should be hanging out with. There is peer pressure to spend time with friends who may make questionable life choices but whose approval is important for a child’s self-esteem. Friendship advice from parents, coaches and other authority figures often go unheard because t...

What is the purpose of education? Our society has always struggled to agree on the purpose of education. Some say the purpose is for students to acquire factual knowledge of subjects. Others argue that the real purpose should be to motivate action. In that sense the debate really comes down to a definition of what it means to be an informed citizen, and whether citizenship goes beyond just acquiri...

How do we create systems so that individuals can be successful? Success comes from a confluence of forces. Sometimes, it is the sheer will of the individual who, when faced with difficulty and challenge, rises to meet the moment. Riding alongside individual will is the system in which that individual operates. But no individual effort can overcome a dysfunctional system. The challenge here is to b...

What makes a great leader? Great leadership is about having influence. To get that influence, leaders use whatever tools they have. For some leaders, it's the moral choices they make which have the most enduring impact on followers. For others, it's their positional authority that commands people'srespect. Great leaders must find a creative way to use both of these tools to maximize their effectiv...

What is the best way to respond to hard times? Tough times greet all of us in varying degrees. The challenge is how to figure out exactly how we should behave when those tough times arrive. One plan is to push through the difficulties and emerge stronger at the other end. That way, our pain can be short-lived. We can also stop the pain and change direction so that we can avoid the hardship and dis...

What is perfection? Motivation looks different to different people. For some, striving towards perfection is the greatest motivator for excellence. For others, who take a more incremental approach, just getting better in little chunks and seeing improvement provide enough incentive to move forward. To live well, we must all strike that middle ground-- have aspirational big-picture goals but also b...

Which problems are worth solving? We are often told to be mindful of each other, our surroundings and ourselves. Implicit in this concept of mindfulness is the imperative to accept life as it is and try to the best of our abilities to enjoy our experiences and not spend time trying to fix things. The other way of seeing life is to think of our limited time on earth as an opportunity to solve probl...

Is it possible to get buy in to a vision if there isn’t buy in to the leader? There's a familiar saying "You can't teach kids until you reach kids." The idea here is that you have to develop a rapport with the people you lead; otherwise, they won't buy into your vision. It's all about the personal relationship. Yet, it is also true that if a leader doesn't communicate the 'why' behind their ideas,...

How do we support others without instilling a sense of dependency? Everybody has bad days. At those times what we all need is to have somebody pay a little attention to us and pick up our spirits so we can gain strength to move forward. Being a good teacher, friend and partner means supporting them in times of need. Help too much, though, and we instill feelings of dependency on others, which ends...

How do we recognize our power to live in the moment? Living in the moment is hard. There are forces acting against us. There’s the past which weighs us down and often causes depression and fear. And then there’s the future, which leads to anxiety and a different sort of fear - of the unknown. Living in the moment requires acceptance of what is and the courage to act based on our best knowledge of...