10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher

When a principal and her school achieve amazing results, I find one thing stands out: the focus on helping students belong and grow. Student belonging is the first thing Sonia Ruiz builds. She is the 2026 National Middle Level Principal of the Year in the US. Incredibly but not surprisingly, her school's English learners and students with IEPs are making gains.

Sonia says she didn't feel like school was built for her, but now she leads Jane Addams Middle School in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The school has earned the state's Exemplary status three years in a row. For her, love and high expectations go together.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The two survey questions that get middle schoolers to tell adults what they really need
• What a school dance looks like when not every student likes noise
• The three questions Sonia's staff asks before any decision
• How a chronically absent sixth grader finished eighth grade mentoring younger students
• Why Sonia uses a rubric to evaluate changes so change doesn't feel personal
• The one small thing students say makes them feel they belong
• What Sonia wishes adults outside school understood about middle schoolers

Show notes, the full transcript, and the research behind this episode: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1006

Going screen-free is an emphasis right now, as is building emotional intelligence. Perhaps that is why bridge is really attractive to some kids. You can also teach math, focus, and teamwork, and you don't have to know how to play. Hall of Famer Patty Tucker created JumpStart Bridge, a free curriculum that has reached more than 12,000 students. It comes with scripts, videos, supplies, and a stipend for teachers who have never dealt a hand.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The one rule of bridge that teaches kids not to quit
• The grade levels Patty calls the sweet spot for starting
• What a teacher who doesn't play bridge gets for free, and how one teacher stays two weeks ahead of her class
• Why one school saw fewer tardies on bridge day
• How a Montana middle school outgrew its own bridge tournament and had to expand from one to three days
• What gifted-education teachers noticed about kids' social skills after the COVID years
• The line from an eighth grader's essay that sums up why face-to-face games matter

Show notes, the full transcript, and links to Patty's free resources: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1005

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ISTE+ASCD 2026 Board President Dr. Jeremy Owoh explains how his district runs toward AI instead of away from it. He also shares why AI can never replace a good teacher and his approach to encouraging innovation in the classroom.

So many teachers are tired of playing "AI whack-a-mole," but it is so helpful to hear how Jeremy helps his district make decisions that bring everyone on board. He says that schools should learn together and set clear expectations. He started as an English teacher in Little Rock, served as an assistant commissioner at the Arkansas Department of Education, and now leads the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District while serving as board president of ISTE+ASCD.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What did ISTE+ASCD CEO Richard Culatta say when he read Jeremy's technology policy?
• Why his district asked students to help rewrite the rules
• The AI tutoring pilot he calls "a game changer," and how he decided whether it worked
• What a former English teacher says matters more than grading the five-paragraph essay
• The one thing every superintendent should do before making AI decisions

Dr. Jeremy S. Owoh is superintendent of the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District in Arkansas and president of the ISTE+ASCD Board of Directors. ISTE+ASCD is now the International Society for Transforming Education. He began his career in 2003 as an English teacher at Parkview Magnet High School in Little Rock.

If this episode helped you, please leave a rating or review wherever you're listening. It helps other teachers find the show.

Full show notes, research, and transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1004

Sometimes we need to talk about hard things, like grief in the classroom. Because real life is hard, and real life is in our classroom every day. Our students and we as teachers — we all deal with death. I had to this past school year, and it was hard. It still is. And not everyone experiences it the same way. There's no one-size-fits-all.

On this show, first-grade teacher Haleigh Bresnan and school psychologist Rebecca Brigner share how to help grieving kids and yourself. Their precious children's book about grief, If You're Lucky Enough to Know a Unicorn, honors Kennedy, a baby girl who lived just four months.

I knew this show would be about grief, but it took such an honest turn that it became one of the most authentic conversations about grief in the classroom that I've ever heard. I'm glad we had this conversation and I hope it helps people better understand both what teachers have to help kids with and what we deal with ourselves.

A gentle note: this episode talks about the death of a baby and about miscarriage. If little ones are listening, you may want to save it for later.

When a student is grieving, do you bring it up or let them be? Some kids want to talk. Others just want a normal day with their friends. Haleigh and Rebecca are cousins who work in the same Connecticut school district, so their advice comes from the children they see every day.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How does grief show up in a classroom when a child never says a word about it?
• The one word a school psychologist says every teacher needs when a student is grieving
• Why Haleigh wrote a poem a few lines at a time for six years while rocking her baby son to sleep
• What it's like to show up for your students when you're grieving yourself, and why Haleigh says no one talks about it
• How Kennedy's family reacted when they first saw the book, and what happened the day the first copies arrived

Haleigh Bresnan teaches first grade in eastern Connecticut and wrote If You're Lucky Enough to Know a Unicorn. Her cousin, Rebecca Brigner, is a school psychologist in the same district and illustrated the book.

Full show notes, research, and transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1003

Dr. Patricia Dickenson, author of Smart Teaching in the Age of AI, shows how teachers can use AI to plan and differentiate without losing the heart of teaching. Relationship is still one of the top factors driving student success. Part of using AI is knowing when to use it and when to put it away.

Patricia has a third option for every teacher torn between using AI for everything and banning it altogether: let AI carry some of the planning load, so you have more time for what only you can do, which is connecting with your students. She spent more than 18 years in Los Angeles classrooms and now prepares new teachers, so her advice comes with examples you can use this week.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What did a fourth-grade teacher going through chemo teach Patricia about showing up?
• The custom GPT that tells a brand-new teacher what students should already know before the first lesson
• Never taught a student with auditory processing disorder? How AI can help you plan for the student you haven't met yet
• "Guess what? They're already using it." Her answer to teachers who want to ban AI and go old school
• The one thing Patricia's dissertation found best predicted whether students engage

Dr. Patricia Dickenson is an associate professor of teacher education at National University and spent more than 18 years as a teacher and math coach in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She is the author of Smart Teaching in the Age of AI and co-author of Technology-Infused Math Instruction.

If this episode helped you, would you take 30 seconds to rate and review the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast? It helps other teachers find it.

Full show notes, research, and the complete transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1002

Kathy Nimmer is the 2026 Helen Keller Achievement Award winner. Her story is so heartwarming that, to celebrate episode 1001, we're airing an extended episode focused on the heart of teaching. The story of her first year teaching is incredible and one we should all hear. If you've been there, you know how quickly a first-year teacher's confidence can shatter. For Kathy Nimmer, a blind high school English teacher, a classroom window shattered too, and it changed how she taught.

Kathy tells how a chaotic first year taught her to bring her authentic self to the classroom, how being blind helped her see her students from the heart, and about the teacher mentorship program she helped create with her district to improve teacher retention. Her positive observations are truly inspiring.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why hiding who you are backfires in the classroom
• How the SEEDS new teacher program supports teachers first and offers PD second
• Affirmative observations: an observation that records only what a teacher does well
• Why specific praise sticks and "great job" doesn't
• Two things to carry all year: you find what you seek, and remember the sunrise

Kathy Nimmer taught English at Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Indiana, for 29 years. She was the 2015 Indiana Teacher of the Year, a National Teacher of the Year finalist, and the recipient of the 2026 Helen Keller Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind.

Full show notes, resources, and the complete transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1001

Thank you so much! It was February 2017 when I took a day off school to "figure out" how to publish this podcast. I started by telling the story of "Sue and Mrs. Scruggs" and I had no idea what I was doing. I only knew that a 5-day-a-week podcast where teachers, administrators, and those who love kids could get a quick idea every day could be a really good service to education. There are so many amazing stories of teachers, and most of them are too busy or just not called to have a podcast. I didn't want another "talking head" show, as I just wanted to interview people!

So, this episode is not only a thank you, but it is also my son asking me questions. I let John, my son and editor, take this show where he wanted. He asked some pretty personal questions but that was ok. It is good to get the personal stories behind all of it, and here you go.

I'm so glad I get to do this work. I appreciate all of you who listen, share the show with your friends, and suggest people to come on. Without you, I wouldn't have a show. So, if you want to hear some stories and motivations behind the show, celebrate with us for episode 1000.

I also need to say thank you to my husband, Kip, son, John, and my daughter, Susan (she did advertising for me for a while). And our oldest son, James, has also rooted for the show. It is a family project and has blessed us so very much. And speaking of sponsors, thank you to all of the companies who have sponsored the show through the years. You have made it possible, and I'm excited about the many companies who I'm talking to now about sponsoring future weeks of the show.

OK, I guess I haven't thanked the academy yet (ha ha), but this isn't about the academy but about teachers and kids. I love teaching and love students and love getting to bring the stories that can help all of us be better. Thanks again. And I will see you later, educator!

Full show notes and the complete transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1000

Productive struggle is the sweet spot between too easy and too hard. Dr. Barbara Blackburn, author of more than 40 books on rigor and motivation, explains when to help a struggling student and when to hold back, so kids can wrestle with hard work without drowning.

On this Thought Leader Thursday, Barbara shares her structured definition of productive struggle, why students read too-easy work as a sign the teacher doesn't respect them, and the simple "count to 20" habit that keeps teachers from rescuing too soon. She walks through an upper elementary science task where students build the strongest bridge they can from classroom items, and she gives a strategy any teacher can use tomorrow: mischievous misconceptions.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What productive struggle is, and why it still includes scaffolding and support
• The two things that drive intrinsic motivation: value and success
• Why to count to 20 before you step in, and the "show me what you tried" check-in
• Why praising effort, not "you're so smart," keeps students working
• How to celebrate mistakes with mischievous misconceptions

Dr. Barbara Blackburn is a Top 30 Global Guru in Education and the author of Productive Struggle in the K–5 Classroom and Productive Struggle in the 6–12 Classroom.

If this episode helped you, leave a rating or review wherever you listen, and share it with a teacher friend.

Full show notes, resources, and the complete transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e999

New teacher advice from a three-time Teacher of the Year. Retired fifth-grade teacher Eric Hall spent 27 years in the classroom, and he says it starts with relationships before rigor. Build trust first, and the curriculum comes easier.

On this Wonderful Classroom Wednesday, Eric, author of Controlled Chaos: Lessons They Didn't Teach You in Teacher School, shares how he got to know students and families before the first day of school, why his first call home is always a positive one, and how he let students help write the classroom agreements. He also tells how a weekend plane ride brought a chapter of Hatchet to life, and how a French chef with a falling-off mustache finally taught his class adjectives.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why relationships come before rigor, and how trust makes the curriculum easier to teach
• How to connect with students and parents before the first day of school
• The "first call home is positive" habit, and how to find one good thing about every student in week one
• Why fair doesn't always mean the same, with breaks, pedal bikes, and wobble stools as tools
• How to reach a struggling student through their interests, and why taking teaching risks pays off

Eric Hall is a retired fifth-grade teacher from Cheboygan, Michigan, a three-time Teacher of the Year, and the author of Controlled Chaos.

Full show notes, resources, and the complete transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e998

Frustrated with AI? Make it interview you first. Dr. Jie Tao of Fairfield University explains why "prompt and pray" gives you brilliant answers one day and useless ones the next, and how a few simple habits get you consistent, reliable results.

On this Tech Tool Tuesday, Jie shares the interview pattern he calls the most powerful prompting technique he teaches, how a "scratch pad" keeps AI working only from your information, and what agentic AI means for teachers. He also explains how his research team used a language model to help clinicians spot signs of suicidal ideation on social media.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why "prompt and pray" frustrates teachers, and why consistent answers beat brilliant ones
• The interview pattern: tell AI "do not assume anything" and to ask you questions first
• How to use a scratch pad so AI works only from the information you give it
• Agentic AI vs. fully autonomous agents like OpenClaw, explained simply
• Why AI is an "overconfident intern," and how to test a tool before students ever see it

Dr. Jie Tao is an associate professor of business analytics and director of the AI & Tech Institute at Fairfield University's Dolan School of Business, and hosts the AI4U podcast.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US).

Full show notes, resources, and the complete transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e997