State of Ed Podcast

Marc and Nick sit down with George Couros, former teacher, principal and district leader, and author of The Innovator’s Mindset and Innovate Inside the Box, to talk about his newest book, Forward, Together: Moving Schools from Conflict to Community in Contentious Times. George opens the book with what he got wrong, and this conversation runs the same way: honest, funny, and aimed straight at the people leading schools right now. George unpacks the educator paradox (tell me exactly what to do, but don’t you dare tell me what to do), why teachers aren’t afraid of change so much as afraid of having their time wasted, and the story of a Texas farmer who told him, “My friends call me Rusty. You have to call me James.” Afterward, James emailed George and signed it Rusty. George’s rule for every room he walks into: challenge me here, not in the parking lot. No community, no trust. No trust, no innovation. Guest Links: georgecouros.com X LinkedIn Instagram Forward, Together on Amazon The Innovator’s Mindset on Amazon The Innovator’s Mindset Podcast Follow Marc: marcisseks.com X LinkedIn Instagram TikTok YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com

Marc and Nick enthusiastically welcome back Dr. Tracey A. Benson, founder of the Anti-Racism Leadership Institute and co-author of Unconscious Bias in Schools, just weeks before the release of his new book, Antiracism Phobia: Overcoming the Fear and Getting to Work (Harvard Education Press). Dr. Benson shares his take on Nikole Hannah-Jones's essay about her daughter's education, a school funding experiment no one has tried yet, and why, even now, he refuses to lose his optimism about the future of America. Guest Links: antiracisminstitute.com LinkedIn Antiracism Phobia at Harvard Education Press Unconscious Bias in Schools on Amazon Research to Practice podcast   Mentioned in This Episode: Nikole Hannah-Jones, "In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?" (New York Times Magazine, 2026) Nikole Hannah-Jones, "Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City" (2016)   Follow Marc: marcisseks.com X LinkedIn Instagram TikTok YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon   Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com

Marc and Nick welcome back Katie Powell, Director for Middle Level Programs at the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) and author of Boredom Busters and Frustration Busters. Katie unpacks the middle school cliff, the steep fall in engagement that shows up between elementary and high school, and why it predates phones. She explains why every technology panic, from the printing press to AI, is the same fear in a different costume, why she is wary of abstinence models for screens in school, and why attention is a finite bank kids spend all day long.  Guest Links: teachbeyondthedesk.com X Instagram TikTok Boredom Busters on Amazon Frustration Busters on Amazon amle.org middleschool.org (AMLE for parents) AMLE Annual Conference Follow Marc: marcisseks.com X LinkedIn Instagram TikTok YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com

Marc and Nick open the 2026-27 season the way they rarely get to: just the two of them, eleven years and ninety-one episodes in, catching up on where September finds them. Then the conversation turns to the story every school is talking about, the one-year AI pauses announced by New York City and Los Angeles, and what a year actually costs a student. Mentioned in This Episode: New York City pauses AI use for elementary, middle school students (K-12 Dive) LAUSD restricts all students from using AI tools (K-12 Dive) Follow Marc: marcisseks.com X LinkedIn Instagram TikTok YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com

Marc and Nick sit down with Dr. Kristopher J. Childs, Chief Academics, Equity and Social Justice Officer at Open Up Resources, founder of K Childs Solutions, and author of Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice, Grades K-12: A Guide for Moving from Mindset to Action. This conversation covers what it actually means to teach math as a tool for sense-making rather than a system of rules to memorize, and why Dr. Childs believes every child who walks into a classroom is already a math person. Dr. Childs makes the case against the gradual release of responsibility model in math instruction, explains why the answer is the least interesting part of any math lesson, and introduces his popcorn analogy for understanding how and when students develop mathematical understanding. The conversation also covers what it means to be married to the content but never to the context, how mathematics for social justice starts not with controversy but with community gardens and credit scores, and why in-class teaching demonstrations are where Dr. Childs does his most important work. Marc and Nick also go deep on the calculator debate, grouping students in math, and why failing at a standardized test might actually be the least of anyone's problems. If you have ever been told your math department is the one place engagement strategies don't apply, start here. Guest Links: kristopherchilds.com @DrKChilds on X (Twitter) Dr. Kristopher J. Childs on LinkedIn Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice on Amazon Dr. Childs on Amazon (all books) Open Up Resources profile   Follow Marc: marcisseks.com @marcisseks on X (Twitter) @marcisseks on LinkedIn @edupyro on TikTok @edupyro on YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon   Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com

Marc and Nick sit down with Daniel Senn and Erlend Klouman Høiner, co-founders of We Will Write, the fast-paced, anonymous, team-based writing game already used by more than a million students worldwide. This conversation covers how two childhood friends from Oslo built a platform that is making students beg to write instead of avoiding it, and why the most important thing happening in the room might be the silence right after the timer starts. Daniel and Erlend walk through the design decisions behind We Will Write: the timed challenges that level the playing field for every writer in the room, the visual prompts that eliminate the blank-page barrier, and why anonymity unlocks student voice in ways traditional writing instruction never could. The conversation also covers the unexpected classroom culture benefits teachers are reporting, what the teacher dashboard reveals about individual student confidence, and the surprising finding that students who use the platform start calling themselves writers. If you are still trying to get students to care about writing, this one is for you. Guest Links: wewillwrite.com Daniel Senn on LinkedIn @dansenn on X (Twitter) Erlend Klouman Høiner on LinkedIn @erlend2000 on X (Twitter)   Follow Marc: marcisseks.com @marcisseks on X (Twitter) @marcisseks on LinkedIn @edupyro on TikTok @edupyro on YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon   Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com

Marc and Nick sit down with Dr. Sabba Quidwai, CEO and founder of Designing Schools, former education executive at Apple, lecturer at UC Irvine, and author of Designing Schools: How Design Thinking Makes You Irreplaceable in the Age of AI. This conversation covers what it actually means to lead schools through the current moment in AI, and why the fear of being replaced may be pointed in entirely the wrong direction. Dr. Quidwai reframes the AI replacement conversation from the ground up, makes the case that we are not facing a critical thinking crisis but an agency crisis, and explains what the schools getting AI right all have in common. The conversation also covers why AI should be understood as a teammate and not a tool, what happens to people who never learn the language of AI, why educators are the most natural design thinkers in any room, and why the pockets of excellence we celebrate need to be scaled, not just celebrated. If you are a school leader trying to figure out where to put your energy right now, start here. Guest Links: designingschools.org @AskMsQ on Instagram @AskMsQ on X (Twitter) Dr. Sabba Quidwai on LinkedIn Designing Schools on Amazon   Follow Marc: marcisseks.com @marcisseks on X (Twitter) @marcisseks on LinkedIn @edupyro on TikTok @edupyro on YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon   Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com

Marc and Nick, joined by guest co-host Kate Crimmins, high school English chairperson, sit down with Kristina Smekens, president and lead consultant at Smekens Education and one of the most in-demand literacy consultants in the country. Kristina has spent the better part of two decades helping K-12 teachers master reading and writing instruction, and this conversation zeroes in on a distinction that changes everything: the difference between modeling what to do and the think-aloud that makes invisible thinking visible. Kristina walks through the free throw analogy that stopped a room full of new teachers cold, explains why students can repeat every step of a skill and still fail the moment the context shifts, and unpacks what gradual release actually looks like when it is done with intention. The conversation also covers the planning that makes a 15-minute mini lesson look effortless, and why slowing down in September almost always produces faster, more independent learners by spring. If you have ever shown students exactly what to do and then watched them not be able to do it, this one is for you. GUEST LINKS smekenseducation.com @SmekensEd on X (Twitter) Kristina Smekens on LinkedIn Kristina Smekens on Amazon Launching the Writer's Workshop (Grades 3-12) Follow Marc: marcisseks.com @marcisseks on X (Twitter) @marcisseks on LinkedIn @edupyro on TikTok @edupyro on YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com

Marc and Nick sit down with Stephanie Clinise, a ninth-grade English teacher at Hatboro-Horsham High School in suburban Philadelphia, to talk about what happens when a teacher leads with the hook every single time. Stephanie found We Will Write, a gamified writing platform out of Norway, got her students engaged in meaningful writing on their first try, and ended up on the floor at FETC 2026 sharing the story with anyone who would listen. The conversation digs into the teaching philosophy underneath all of it: why context has to come before content, how a classroom timeline stretching from the Transcontinental Railroad to the birth of Taylor Swift unlocked Shakespeare and Roald Dahl for ninth graders, and how Stephanie is navigating AI in the writing classroom with real structure and genuine optimism. If you believe the lesson has to earn student attention before it can teach them anything, this one is for you. GUEST LINKS @MrsClinise on Instagram @MrsClinise on TikTok Stephanie Clinise on LinkedIn We Will Write (platform featured in episode) Follow Marc: marcisseks.com @marcisseks on X (Twitter) @marcisseks on LinkedIn @edupyro on TikTok @edupyro on YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com

Marc Isseks and special guest co-host, Karen Walsh sit down with Dan Thomas, a recently retired STEM teacher who spent his entire 32-year career at the same school he graduated from in Jamestown, New York. Now consulting and speaking under his Coach Thomas Tech brand, Dan brings a hands-on, PBL-driven philosophy to educators looking to make learning visible, meaningful, and yes, actually usable by Tuesday morning. This conversation covers a lot of ground: why AI has finally moved past the shiny-new-thing phase and into real implementation, how the Tuesday Test reframes professional learning (if you cannot use it tomorrow without hand-holding, what is the point?), and why AI may be the first tool that makes genuine differentiation possible at scale. Dan and Karen, a veteran English teacher known for her commitment to creativity and reinvention, bring decades of classroom experience to a discussion that is as practical as it is forward-looking. The takeaway: the teacher who embraces this moment has more power than at any point in the history of education. Follow Marc: Website X (Twitter) TikTok YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon LinkedIn Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com GUEST LINKS Dan Thomas | Coach Thomas Tech coachthomastech.com @coachthomastech on X (Twitter) LinkedIn: Dan Thomas (coachthomastech) The TechEd Clubhouse Podcast on Apple Podcasts The TechEd Clubhouse Podcast on Spotify