Rain doesn’t wash the geek away, so I put together a short tutorial on the difference Claude Cowork has made in mitigating this situation:

Video not loading?

I’d love your thought on the use cases in the video, what YOU would have tested out, and what you think AI might be capable of doing in another two years should we get yet another flood.

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PS did you know Google is already engaging AI as a flood prediction tool?

You can see what their tool ‘Flood Hub’ has to say about the region you live in.

Try it out here

Stay dry out there kids!

Thanks,

Tricia

Triple J is my all-time favourite YouTube channel, let me try to make it yours too:

Amazing right?

Enjoying a truly phenomenal cover song is a great way to think about the moment we are in with generative AI.

In the version of ‘Who Can it Be Now?’ above, what original thinking do you hear and see at work?

In that cover, what skills, what collaboration, and what emotional literacy is put into play?

A cover isn’t a copy, it is a new layer of complexity that pays homage to the original.

Every educator is a teacher of creative thinking, and that’s why I think conversations about what different cover songs do has big value.

In the Triple J recording studio, I can bet that nobody was worried if their version would be deemed ‘original.’

We all know the original. And somehow that takes the pressure to be creative off, which ironically makes it easier to flourish.

What does this have to do with assessment?

A lot.

What is graded is all too often the final recording of thinking, when actually the magic is in the rehearsal room.

Think of all the conversations, decisions, and tests the band had to conduct before they recorded their version.

Consider the other influences they wanted to blend in.

That’s why Triple J always hosts a companion video to the cover where they go behind the scenes.

Too often we ask students to ‘make something original,’ rather than to demonstrate how all ideas are built on existing ideas and frameworks.

We could do with a reframe where we ask learners to document a new arrangement that answers a question.

And I know, you think that sounds abstract, and I have a tool to help you make it crystal clear.

Meet COVER:

Open the COVER tool

They are beautiful, kind, and fun creatures.

When we walk together, we turn heads.

Photo by Laura Cosgrove on Unsplash

Large breed dogs often do that.

I’ve been telling multiple school leaders to start thinking about AI Literacy the same way we would think about adopting a large breed dog as a puppy.

When my Bernese mountain dog friends were just puppies, they weren’t yet going to be able to knock over a large adult.

They weren’t yet capable of being frightening to children.

They didn’t quite need as many walks or as much mental engagement as they do now.

And yet, their ‘fur parents’ had to be prepared.

With a large dog breed, the training has to begin immediately.

You want a dog that will eventually weigh over 100 lbs to know what it means to behave safely before it hits that size.

Right now, some schools are still avoiding having the conversations about the socio-technical implications of AI.

Earlier today, I posted on LinkedIn about the research I discussed at an event about AI and Spirituality (the post is here if you're curious).

I left that event feeling worried that in K12 we have not come to terms with just how quickly AI is already changing some of our most fundamentally human experiences.

Put differently, we are waiting for the puppy to double in size before we teach it to walk safely in public.

So how do we get ready?

The way we always prepare: one conversation at a time.

To help you with that, I put together a free conversation guide to accompany one of our recent episodes of Shifting Schools, where we reflect on the academic year in order to prepare for the next one.

Check out the resource

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Have you seen Euphoria?

And for years, despite being asked many times, I hadn’t.

But finally, I decided to check it out, and ok, now I understand why so many young people encouraged me to do so.

I’m still just in season one, but the show has been so profoundly engaging that I had to head to academia.edu to see what research has been done about it.

I stumbled onto this:

Check it out yourself

This research connects media studies and digital humanities by showing how representation can be studied not only as story, but also as pattern. Masanet, Ventura, and Ballesté’s close reading of Jules in Euphoria examines voice, space, intimacy, danger, visual style, and narrative focus to argue that the series moves beyond the “trans fact” by presenting Jules through complexity, recognition, and comfort (Masanet et al., 2022).

From there I dug into this paper:

Read more

I thought about how I could take these resources and put together an interactive dashboard, specifically for IBDP Theory of Knowledge students and teachers.

With Claude Cowork, I generated this:

Explore the dashboard

Would I have been able to create that without the merger of human-to-human conversation and my own independent research time?

No.

The point is what we can make with human interaction and independent reflection alongside generative AI.

The feeling of being able to get more creative with AI…well, that’s a certain feeling of euphoria too.

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To demonstrate the power of vibe coding, I vibe coded (with Claude code) a debrief page for teams to use:

Check it out

Would you like to join us for a bespoke workshop on vibe coding in the weeks to come?

We are still designing that session, let us know what you would want from it:"

Leave a comment

Play for yourself

I get a lot of questions about my garden.

It used to be one big lawn.

Over the course of the past three summers, I have totally rewilded the space to transform it into a pollinator’s haven.

As of the time I am writing this, I’ve already spotted my first Monarch butterfly enjoying it.

Last year when I grew my first pumpkin patch there were a lot of questions.

So I put up a QR code that took folks to a bespoke chatbot so they could learn more.

It was popular with the older crowd…but more than a few kids told me it was boring.

With Claude Code I have mapped out a little game that will help people learn about the various pollinator value of plants and flowers.

I’m hoping the kids won’t call it boring, but I will be sure to update you.

I’m sharing this to invite you to consider the local worlds you might want to build out as simulations to spark more curiosity.

What comes to mind?

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I know I can’t, and I’ve watched it five times already.

Humans are incredible, and when we come together we do remarkable things.

Now a choir is the perfect example of how we can do something deeply beautiful when we have different approaches and a common goal.

This is exactly the way I think we need to think about AI Literacy in schools right now.

Are you a tenor?

Good, be a tenor.

Do you excel at body percussion?

Fantastic, that’s your contribution.

If you lead in a school, stop demanding every member of the team be the same, and invite people to contribute to the common goal from their point of strength.

The thing is, to do this well, you need that common goal to be refined, clear, and truly goal-worthy.

At Shifting Schools, this is exactly why we have developed and employed the B.A.K.E. framework.

Want to learn more about bringing it to your campus?

So I decided to clean up my mess of notes from all around the house.

Dozens and dozens of sticky notes, plus several of my yellow legal pads, plus a desktop folder optimistically named “to synthesize,” plus voice memos I recorded walking the dog and have never once played back.

Every meeting, every workshop, every brainstorm ends the same way: more notes.

So many ideas I haven’t checked in on.

Sound familiar?

Basketball has been on my mind a lot lately and here’s the thing the game keeps teaching me: the assist matters.

So I built a playbook of thinking assists to make with the notes we take.

Meet Your Starting Five

Your team of distinctive experts, each one a complete copy-ready prompt, each one designed to read your messy meeting notes differently:

• The White Space Strategist finds the open lane — the opportunities nobody on your team has spotted yet.

• The Systems Designer sees the whole floor and drafts a small-scale blueprint.

• The Data Analyst lives in the stat sheet and briefs the decision you’re actually facing.

• The Improv Coach plays off-script and stages a scenario your team can rehearse.

• The Resilience Facilitator keeps the team in the game when everyone is gassed.

The bonus pass (this is my favorite part)

Each expert comes with a second prompt, I’m calling the bonus pass.

And because I know most of us didn’t keep our systems-theory flashcards handy: every bonus pass asks the AI to teach you the theory in plain language first. You learn the idea while you use it.

Wanna test it out?

The whole page is free, copy-ready, and no signup needed:

The Ball is in Your Court

If one of the experts and follow-up passes is useful to you, I’d love to hear about it:

Leave a comment

The highlight reel makes it look clean.

But a season is messier than that.

There are turnovers.
Bad calls.
Game plans that have to change.

That’s why I loved this conversation with Meredith Walker, co-founder of Smart Girls with Amy Poehler and author of Be Yourself and Other Bad Advice.

We tell young people to “be yourself” all the time.

It sounds kind right?

But what does that actually mean when you’re still becoming?

What does it mean when you’re still figuring out your role, your voice, your confidence, your people, your boundaries, and your next move?

Our conversation had me thinking about what we need to make time for at the end of the year, and that is critical conversations that help us wind down this season, and plant the small seed for learning in next season.

What do I have in mind?

Try this with students:

Ask students to think of the school year as a basketball season, not a single final score.

Invite each student to take a shot (pun intended) at one question from this lineup.

1. The Highlight Reel
What is one moment from this year that looked like a win from the outside?

2. The Box Score
What skills, habits, or efforts helped make that moment possible?

3. The Turnover
What is one mistake, awkward moment, or hard lesson you learned from this year?

4. The Assist
Who helped you this year in a way that deserves more credit?

5. The Timeout
When did you need to pause, reset, ask for help, or change your approach?

6. The Bench Minutes
What is something quiet or behind-the-scenes that helped you grow?

7. The Full-Court Press
Where did you feel pressure this year? How did you respond?

8. The Next Season
What is one small thing you want to bring with you from this season into next year and why?

Looking to take this list of questions and transform it for YOUR context specifically?

Try this full megaprompt out:

You are a public radio producer. You will review a list of questions. Your job is to revamp the list of questions, making them much more context-specific for the students I teach. In order to complete your task you will ask me three questions, one at a time.

Only after I have answered those questions will you give me the new list. You’ll take care of building a new menu that provides distinctive options and also authentically engages thinking.

Avoid questions that feel cheesy, or questions that a young person would find patronizing. Aim to be very creative, and impress.

The list of questions to work with is here: (copy questions from above).

I just tested the prompt out, inviting it to revamp for a Grade 8 Math class, and I have to admit I think it dunked on my original list of questions big time:

Here’s what ChatGPT came up with:

Grade 8 Math Reflection Menu: The Season You Actually Played

Choose the questions that help you tell the truth about your year in math. You do not need to pretend everything was easy. Strong answers can be about confusion, effort, patterns, help, frustration, recovery, or a small moment when something finally made more sense.

1. The Replay Booth

Think of one math moment from this year you would want to watch again in slow motion.
What was happening? What did you understand then, and what do you understand differently now?

2. The Problem That Wouldn’t Leave

What is one type of problem, unit, or skill that kept showing up as hard for you?
What made it difficult: the steps, the language, the numbers, the pressure, the pace, or something else?

3. The Hidden Work

What is something you did in math this year that other people may not have noticed?
This could be rereading, erasing and restarting, checking an answer, staying quiet but thinking, trying again after getting it wrong, or paying attention even when you felt lost.

4. The First Crack in the Wall

Describe a time when something in math moved from “I have no idea” to “I might sort of get this.”
What caused that shift?

5. The Misread

What is one mistake you made more than once this year?
What was your brain doing that made the mistake make sense at the time?

6. The Useful Confusion

What is one moment when being confused actually helped you learn something?
What did the confusion force you to notice?

7. The Person Who Changed the Angle

Who helped you see a math idea differently this year?
What did they do: explain it another way, ask a good question, sit with you, show their own thinking, or make it feel less embarrassing to try?

8. The Pressure Possession

When did math feel stressful this year?
What happened to your thinking under pressure, and what helped you get some control back?

9. The Strategy You Didn’t Trust at First

What is one strategy, tool, or habit you resisted at first but eventually found useful?
Why did it feel awkward or unnecessary at the beginning?

10. The Almost

Describe a time when you were close to understanding something but not fully there yet.
What would have helped you cross that last bit of distance?

11. The Evidence File

What is one piece of evidence that you grew in math this year?
Do not choose only a grade. Look for evidence in your work, your habits, your explanations, your corrections, or your willingness to keep going.

12. The Next Season

What is one thing you want your next math teacher to understand about how you learn?
What helps you think clearly, and what gets in the way?

I’m not going to apologize.

Instead, I’m here to invite you to a three-part cohort that kicks off this coming September with AAIE:

Learn more

In short, the lesson looked at what we can try to forecast when we gather together a ton of data.

And we have a ton of data about our media, specifically about film and tv.

So we explored what can be known about the current state of comedy in order to think about what we will laugh about in the future.

Why does this inquiry matter?

Well, we can learn quite a bit about who we are, and what we dealing with when we look to our popular media.

Wanna check out the dashboard I built out for this learning?

Open dashboard

What I want to make clear is that generative AI has supercharged our ability to have deeper more informed conversations about who we are as a society.

Pre-AI, I would never have been able to assemble so much data, and my students would not have been able to interrogate the data in so many ways in such little time before.

But this new superpower means nothing without our ability to redefine the way we approach inquiry-based learning.

Again, again, and again, I keep begging people to understand that Futures Literacy is the key to open up our new convergence of superpowered literacies.

I am honoured that IFSEL hears that message loud and clear.

At The Nueva School this July, you can join us for a Summer Institute where gigantic questions will be spotlit and supported.

Learn more

If you have questions about our Future of Comedy lesson, drop it here, I’d love to talk more about a lesson that generated a lot of learning (and laughter).

Leave a comment

I think about that literally, and how the Deli I went to after school as a kid was at the central intersection in town.

And I think about that metaphorically: how the best way to engage a literacy is to intersect it with another one.

At Shifting Schools, we often get asked to do sample student lessons for other practitioners to observe.

Teaching is absolutely an art, and I have long thought we gain a lot by learning from the way others approach it.

I often begin by wanting to do something surprising.

So when I was asked to deliver a lesson on how Media Literacy can be interdisciplinary, I spent some time thinking about a question that would be a little different.

I landed on this question:

How might we predict the next blockbuster comedy film?

We used AI to analyze data about the past five years of comedy.

We realized we had to ask better questions about why certain comedy films are popular, and what forces shape what is deemed ‘funny’ in different times.

We also realized we had to better understand the role of nostalgia and the seasons in which comedy does better.

What I want to underscore is that with the use of generative AI, we were able to use the data like a sculptor might use clay.

And the students began to realize that data, when moulded differently, can offer different insight: that’s the point, you have to experiment.

The class came to a final conclusion that I think is fascinating:

Comedy is getting sadder.

They pointed to the rise of Inside Out 2, Shrinking, Ted Lasso, The Bear, Hacks, and The Holdovers.

We dug into the data on IMDB on the breakout comedy hits in recent years, and according to our analysis, a shift in the way a comedy succeeds is how it integrates mental health issues, and how it incorporates sadness.

Now, we grappled with how much more research we would need to do in order to be more confident, and we acknowledged we could be wrong.

Of the top ten comedies, the only film we had all seen was Barbie, and the consensus was that many of us found it to be equal parts funny and sad.

From there we looked at a few thumbnails in the comedy section of Netflix to see if they were coded as offering the viewer both laughs and tears.

We didn’t end up with a final prediction, instead we had more questions about how the role of comedy may be evolving, and how we can use the intersection of media and data literacy to better understand that shift.

If you try a version of this with your own students, I’d love to hear what they sculpt.

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An interesting way to think about this is via Taylor Swift.

While the law tries to keep up with our changing world, a question emerges:

What parts of a person’s identity should require explicit permission before AI can imitate them?

Can a celebrity or public figure maintain any semblance of privacy?

Many of our big concepts as humans will see their boundaries tested in the new era(s tour) of AI.

Identity is just one…International is another.

That’s why I’m hosting a new Futures Literacy cohort this coming September with the amazing team at AAIE.

Limited seats learn more

To think differently about the future means we must engage with different strategies, if you would like to do both, join me and school leaders from around the world in a research-rich Futures Literacy experience this September.

That’s precisely why my framework for schools supporting families begins with ‘awareness.’

From improving at modelling problem-solving to having more open conversations about Companion AI, my framework includes templates you are more than welcome to try out and refine.

Every school needs to have custom-made resources, because every school community is unique.

With that in mind, the A.S.K. framework offers a starting point that so many of us say matters: our humanity.

Ready to try it out?

Yes, please!

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How many times have you heard someone say ‘well, they can never replace teachers,’?

The reality is, people are already experimenting with education without educators as we know them.

Perhaps you’ve heard of Alpha Schools?

If you haven’t, the premise is that students learn with an AI tutor. The adults in the room are ‘Guides’ whose primary role is to emotionally support the students.

And if you follow the news about Alpha… you’ll see it is growing quickly.

I point this out not because I think we should replace teachers, but rather we have got to have a more blunt and honest conversation about what schools must do to think differently about delivering learning that matters to today’s young people.

For all the headlines asking us if ‘AI will rob us of our critical thinking,’ I want us to look at education as it currently stands and really talk about how robust the current state of critical thinking is.

We can and must do better.

And one of my favourite places to go to see and imagine what better might be is the world of art.

Consider what Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst have done with their AI music project:

This is a project that is communal, civic-minded, and super creative.

These are the types of projects that are within our grasp because of AI.

And a project like this one points us to what is becoming possible for us to try.

If we insist on just maintaining the status quo, I have no doubt we will see the launch of many more Alpha like-institutions.

Why?

Because our status quo no longer engages young people today, because they know timed writing essays are no longer relevant (and haven’t been for a long while).

If you’d like to take this conversation further, there is still time to join the final CEESA session happening tomorrow:

Register now

And that’s true.

But how often do you hear the phrase, ‘you do know what you don’t know’?

These are our ‘known unknowns’ and when it comes to AI I’d like to pay more attention to them.

In K12, we know some of the parents and caregivers in our schools do not know what’s happening with AI and their child.

We know this because multiple surveys show us, including a great one courtesy of PEW:

Full research report

There is also a gap between parents’ perceptions and what teens are actually doing. When we asked teens themselves, 64% of U.S. teens reported using chatbots. This is 13 percentage points higher than what their parents say.

Anyone who knows teens, is not going to be surprised by the gap between what the parents say their teen is doing, and what the teen says they are doing.

Teens and their parents aren’t always speaking the same language, and that’s, in a way, a comforting, unchanged trend in today’s world of chaotic uncertainty.

The gap that is concerning is seeing where, in the PEW findings, many parents do not want their child to use a chatbot for companionship, and comparing it to what we know children and teens (and adults, for that matter) are doing, and many of them are indeed seeking emotional support from generative AI.

Children describe turning to chatbots to fill gaps in their socio-emotional lives, particularly during periods marked by loneliness, worry, or emotional vulnerability.

- European children’s use and understanding of generative AI: EU Kids Online 2026

I believe one of our biggest challenges in K12 will be addressing the impact AI will have on our concepts of identity, friendship, and care.

The challenge is a tough one because we adults always struggle to see childhood redefined.

We are nostalgic by nature, and we struggle to see childhood as adaptive.

But, it always has been.

I get to wrap up the CEESA AI Leaders cohort this coming Wednesday, where we will look deeper at ways to understand how to better listen and learn so that parents can better support and care for their children.

There’s still time to register, and if you missed the previous four sessions, you can still join us for the finale.

Spots are limited.

Register now, and I'll see you soon!

And the comments and emails have come back to surprise us.

Why?

So many of our listeners had not heard about Plant Wave.

We forget, we are so deep into geeky nature stuff that not everyone is following the plant sonification movement.

You can hear us talk about Plant Wave specifically right around min 8:30.

I think what is resonating with listeners is the idea that with a tool like Plant Wave, we can see that art, nature, and technology can intersect in beautifully powerful ways.

Want an example?

Meet clover music:

Pretty amazing right?

Well if you end up listening to the full conversation with Jeff and I, you’ll hear him pitch me the idea of making Pumpkin Patch Radio a thing this summer.

Challenge accepted.

If you are curious to learn more about the Science behind Plant Wave, you can learn more here.

I hope it inspires you to think about the multitude of possibilities for us to bridge science, music, nature, wellness, civics, and more.

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The organizers were in their late twenties, obviously a lot cooler than me, and we all knew it.

So our first discussion was them walking me through how they do meet-ups differently.

Rule number one? The meet-ups are no phone zones.

This got me curious about how widespread a trend this is.

And it is a big thing!

Concerts are going no-phone zones, restaurants, retreats, and more are telling people: no photos, no phones.

Gen Z has had it with being constantly photographed and with people posting their images all over the web without their consent.

I recently discussed this trend with a group of high schoolers, and they told me it is one of the things they hate most about family gatherings.

This got me thinking about my own teen years, and the time when I was in my twenties.

For sure, I am very glad that privacy still existed.

This is why in part I’ve stopped the practice of taking a huge group selfie when I present.

I can’t reasonably ask the entire group for their consent, and I’m aware that, even if I did, I’m not really asking under conditions that make it easy to opt out.

I’ve talked about this before with other facilitators, and they’ve bristled.

“But we’ve been doing that for years!”

Sometimes ‘experience’ isn’t proof that what we are doing is truly great for all.

I loved the no-phone meet-up.

And honestly, I think many folks my age would benefit from more no-phone zones.

We are great at criticizing the younger folks for being too online, too distracted, too attached to their phones, and yet, this event, put together by younger folks, is the first no-phone zone professional get-together I’ve attended.

Would you be more or less comfortable at a no-phone event?

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It is, after all, a really mighty way to gain a flicker of insight.

I was curious what could be gained by seeing how frequently the word ‘fun’ appeared in fiction and non-fiction English books across decades.

Apparently, the ‘fun’ conversation peaked in the year 1999.

Maybe Prince was onto something….?

The thing to remember is that using Ngram doesn’t mean people were having more fun, but just that, in English-language books, the word was more prevalent that year.

What next research move would you take?

How about your students?

How about a person from the past?

Researchers have spent a massive amount of effort to make a thing exist.

Meet ‘Talkie,’ a large language model trained on only on historical text, to simulate a person from the 1930’s.

I asked it how it would define ‘fun,’ and here is the response:

talkie-1930

Fun is sportive amusement; it is something to be laughed at. The primary signification of the word is a joke, and a joke implies two persons at least to partake of it. Fun, therefore, is social enjoyment; it presumes a circle of merry companions, and it may be participated in by any number above one.

This got me thinking…do people of today believe the ‘fun’ must have at least more than one person collaborating?

Is ‘fun’ primarily experienced today as social?

Does it matter?

If questions like these interest you, join me tomorrow for a free 45 minute session to talk(ie) more about the future of fun.

May 4th 7am EST

Their response: ‘absolutely nothing.’

We talked more about where some of the missed opportunities were, and we realized what we are looking for:

More meaningful questions.

And honestly, that resonates with many of my conversations with people about the current state of LinkedIn:

We are tired of tired questions, and empty so-called ‘thought leadership.’

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

I think, interestingly, educators and students alike are feeling this way.

We have these amazing new opportunities to better understand concepts and ourselves, and yet, the dominant narrative around AI is still either sickeningly sweet or so over-the-top alarmist…

There are so many voices out there trying to tell educators what is going to happen, and yet, when pushed about the research they are doing to back their statement up…often it is a few headlines, or just ‘a hunch.’

That is 100% unacceptable.

As a member of the Association of Professional Futurists, I see people conducting deep research that yields profoundly nuanced questions.

This isn’t the stuff that reading a headline or two comes out of.

Expertise is hard work, and transformative conversations emerge out of sustained thought.

Within that community, empty, unsupported hot takes get push back, as they should.

Why?

Going deep into a topic means looking long and hard.

Creative work happens because a person tried, tried, and tried again.

For all the cries of ‘we must save and preserve the friction in learning,’ we need to demonstrate that we, the adults in the room, do that too.

Want an example?

Here are twenty signals about the future of fun.

Join me May 4th for nuanced questions that aren’t tired because they’ve been intentionally designed for an audience who is wide awake.

I'm in!