DK Frye

Through the Undertow

Education EN ↓ 6 episodes

If you've ever swum in the ocean you know that it is not a neutral environment. It looks manageable from the shore. You walk in, it's fine, you're swimming, you feel capable. And then at some point you look up and the shore is further away than it should be. You've been moving. You just haven't been moving in the direction you thought. That's an undertow. An undertow is not a wave. It's not dramatic. It doesn't announce itself. It's a current running beneath the surface, moving in a direction opposite to where you're trying to go, and it is most dangerous precisely because you can't see it fro...

Author

DK Frye

Episodes

One Barney Tape at a Time 03.06.2026 11:21

Everyone's worried about kids on screens. The phones at the dinner table. The teenager who won't look up. But what if we're mad about the wrong thing? This episode traces the pipeline — from Cocomelon at the hair salon to the chatbot that thinks for you — and asks what we've quietly surrendered, one Barney tape at a time.

Nobody Blames the Plumber 19.05.2026 15:59

Nobody blamed the mechanic when the engine seized. Nobody blamed the plumber when the sewer backed up. Nobody blamed Amanda when the hair turned gummy. So why do we blame teachers when students make their own choices? This episode is about accountability — who has it, who gets assigned it, and why teachers may be the only professionals penalized for the outcome of other people's decisions. It...

Erase and Try Again 21.04.2026 20:01

About fifteen years ago a ninth grader presented a book talk on Animal Farm. He knew the plot. He knew the characters. He got to the conclusion — and described the wrong ending. Not Orwell's bleak, devastating final image of pigs indistinguishable from humans. The movie's ending. Napoleon overthrown. Hope restored. Wrong book. Wrong ending. Wrong medium entirely. This episode is about...

Iraq and Everywhere Like Such As 03.04.2026 20:49

My professor asked me to explain my data analysis out loud. In my own words. Notes right in front of me. I froze. That moment sent me back to my classroom with a question I couldn't shake — how many of my students are submitting work they couldn't explain out loud if someone asked? So I added one element to a summative assessment I'd never tried before. An oral defense. What happene...

The Drift Was Already Happening 24.03.2026 17:28

THROUGH THE UNDERTOW — EPISODE 2 SHOW NOTES "The Drift Was Already Happening" She charged me in the hallway and didn't even look up. January 2015. An iPhone 6 Plus, a yellow worksheet, and four students who "collaborated." That's not a cheating story. That's a design story. And it was ten years ago — long before AI was a phrase anyone used in a faculty meeting. E...

Learning to Read the Water 15.03.2026 27:49

What happens when a student submits an essay containing a word he can't pronounce, can't define, and can't defend — and still looks you in the eye and tells you that you must be a really good teacher? That's not a cheating story. That's a cognition story. And that's why Through the Undertow exists. In this pilot episode, we introduce the central metaphor of the show:...