If Teachers Ruled the World

Georgia teachers can remove disruptive students from class, but almost no one does. Leah shares the first-year moment that made her consider it, busts the "two removals" myth, and explains why Iowa's new SF 2428 may finally give teacher removal laws real teeth. 

Full show notes: leahcleary.com/can-teachers-remove-disruptive-students

A student's test answer clearly wasn't written in their own voice, and Leah had no way to prove it. That's the moment that sparked this episode on teaching synthesis skills in the age of AI. Leah shares what she now does, during and after note-taking, to build the one skill AI genuinely can't replicate for students.

Check out the show notes here: leahcleary.com/teaching-synthesis-skills-in-the-age-of-ai/

Leah didn't stay up all night to meet a deadline she set for herself, and it cracked open something bigger about teacher perfectionism and boundaries. This episode gets into a Sunday night, a classroom gamification system, and a famous stress study she used to teach and never fully applied to her own life.

Full show notes: leahcleary.com/self-imposed-deadlines-teachers-set/

Lessons are taking longer this year, and it's not just you. In this episode, Leah explores the connection between AI and student attention span, using story about a simple bellringer activity that kept resetting in students' minds week after week.

She digs into 2024 research on how this generation of students learns differently, then makes the case for why scaffolding versus rigor is a false choice. The real answer is teaching up while providing the heavy support kids need to get there, even when that support takes far more time and energy than expected.

Check out the show notes here: leahcleary.com/ai-and-student-attention-spans/

AI literacy mandates are landing in classrooms nationwide right now, and most of them show up without of funding attached (shocking, right?).

Leah breaks down the federal executive order, the state bills, and one line written into legislation that inspires a sense of 1:1 deja vu.

She's got a free a four-move framework for AI proofing any assignment you can grab along with the full show notes: leahcleary.com/ai-literacy-mandates-and-your-classroom/

Think differentiation means leveled worksheets? An observation ten years ago convinced Leah otherwise, and the research from Fisher, Frey, and Shanahan backs it up. She breaks down why scaffolding up beats leveling down, and walks through exactly what it sounds like in her classroom. 

Full show notes: leahcleary.com/differentiation-myth-scaffolding-not-leveling

Leah kicks off Season 2 talking about a late ADHD diagnosis, the masking that hid it for years, and a Friday afternoon where working late was warranted. She's teaching seventh grade ELA for the first time in over 20 years, and learning to let someone else hold the roadmap.

Full show notes: leahcleary.com/adhd-diagnosis-later-in-life-letting-go/

What happens when the research driving school technology bans doesn't actually apply to classroom technology? Adam Sparks, founder of Short Answer and former classroom teacher, joins Leah Cleary for a conversation about the edtech debate, the anti-technology movement in schools, and what's actually happening on the ground -- grants declined, district renewals paused, teachers whose plans for next year just hit a wall.

They get into the books fueling the backlash, why weaponizing screen time is misleading, what Short Answer does that paper can't, and how Adam keeps building intentional educational technology when the political winds are working against him. The season finale of the If Teachers Ruled the World summer series on technology in the classroom.

Check out the show notes here: leahcleary.com/the-edtech-debate-with-adam-sparks

Nine teacher voices on technology in the classroom (and not one said get rid of it). Leah Cleary hands the mic to nine educators across subjects and grade levels. A special education teacher, an ESOL teacher, a media specialist, science teachers, history teachers, and more.

She asks what they actually think about the current anti-tech movement in schools. What emerges is striking: every concern is about cell phones, implementation, or purposeless use, not classroom technology itself. This is the teacher perspective that's missing from the policy conversation right now.

Be sure to check out the show notes here: leahcleary.com/teacher-voices-on-technology

A student once accused Leah of writing with AI. The evidence was her em dash. One tiny but incredibly versatile piece of punctuation.

In this episode, she makes the case for why AI detection in the classroom's a losing game, why the adversarial stance it creates with students isn't sustainable, and what reimagining instruction around process over product actually looks like in practice.

From writing in class with devices away, to rubrics that weight thinking over polish, to a deliberate sequence for where AI enters the writing process and where it doesn't -- this one's practical and built for teachers heading into a new school year who want real strategies instead of a detection arms race.

Plus: a limited-time discount code for three teacher professional development courses, including the newly launched Reimagining Instruction in the Age of AI.

Check out the show notes here: leahcleary.com/how-to-reimagine-ai-in-the-classroom/