Michael Lubelfeld is a veteran superintendent, author, and outspoken advocate for public education as a cornerstone of democratic society. Since 2010, he has led Illinois’s North Shore School District 112, overseeing nine schools and serving thousands of students in the communities of Highland Park and Highwood. With decades of experience in school leadership, Lubelfeld has become a national voice on the challenges facing public schools—both visible and invisible.

In this conversation, Michael joins Thomas to demystify what it actually takes to run a public school system. He explains why the superintendent’s job is more “orchestra director” than instructional leader, what most people get wrong about school governance, and why political noise is one of the least glamorous but most consequential parts of the job. He also shares candid reflections on the future of teacher retention, the importance of school culture over salary, and why professional development is the most underrated line item in a school budget.

Along the way, they discuss the importance of student voice, what metrics really define educational success, how school systems can evolve beyond outdated age-based structures, and why collaboration across school types—public, private, charter, and micro—is essential. If you want to understand how schools really function and what it means to lead with humility, purpose, and clarity, this episode offers valuable insights from a true practitioner.

“Public education is the great equalizer. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect. It means it’s necessary.”

Read an enhanced transcript with helpful links at Eduaide.Ai.

Recorded 18 July 2025

Brandon Hendrickson is the creator of Science is Weird, a homeschooling program that aims to restore wonder and depth to science education. Blending the insights of philosopher Kieran Egan with his own experiences as a curriculum architect, classroom teacher, and autodidact, Brandon brings a rare clarity to debates about what learning is, and what it could be.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Brandon joins Thomas to explore why curiosity is not enough, what most people get wrong about progressive and classical education, and how stories, songs, riddles, and emotion shape cognition. They discuss why the trivium isn’t built for children, how literacy rewires the brain, and what’s missing in the way we teach science, history, and language.

The conversation also touches on Brandon’s experiences teaching from his apartment, his evolving view of homeschooling, his critiques of Montessori and Sayers, and his ambitious effort to build a new, Egan-inspired curriculum that reconnects students with the “shiny” richness of reality.

Read an enhanced transcript or the TL;DL summary at Eduaide.Ai.

Recorded 25 March 2025

Katie Davis—associate professor at the University of Washington, director of the UW Digital Youth Lab, and author of Technology’s Child—has spent two decades untangling how digital media shape young people’s learning, development, and well‑being.

In this conversation, Katie joins Thomas to probe the hopes and fears we project onto new technologies and how to ask more nuanced questions about our relationship with tech than “How much screen time is too much?”

Dylan Kane is a seventh-grade math teacher in Leadville, Colorado, and the voice behind "Five Twelve Thirteen" on Substack, where he writes thoughtfully about the craft and science of teaching mathematics. As an active classroom teacher with a deep understanding of how students learn, Kane brings practical wisdom to the ongoing discussions about math education.

In this conversation, Dylan joins Thomas to explore what makes for effective math instruction, why curriculum fidelity has become a concerning trend, and how teachers can balance procedural fluency with conceptual understanding. Drawing on his classroom experience and reflective practice, he discusses everything from the limitations of administrative oversight in education to specific teaching strategies like pre-teaching, choral response, and retrieval practice.

Kane also addresses why educational blogging has changed over the years, what schools get wrong about communicating with parents, and what Generative AI might mean for the future of computation and math education. Whether you're a math teacher looking for practical approaches, an administrator thinking about curriculum implementation, or anyone interested in how students learn mathematical concepts, you'll find valuable insights in this honest conversation about the realities of teaching.

Check out Five Twelve Thirteen here: https://fivetwelvethirteen.substack.com/

Read an enhanced transcript with helpful links at Eduaide.Ai.

Recorded 27 February 2025

Regan Gurung and John Dunlosky are shaping how today’s educators think about learning science, effective studying, and the craft of teaching.

In this conversation, they join Thomas to explore why strong research makes for better teaching, how to identify the most effective study strategies, and what it really takes to improve student success.

Drawing on their shared experiences as researchers, authors, and instructors, they discuss everything from overcoming common barriers to learning (like poor note-taking or misconceptions about memory) to designing courses that build in retrieval practice, spacing, and timely feedback. They also tackle how teacher training can benefit from a deeper understanding of cognitive processes, examine the promises and pitfalls of AI-enabled feedback, and address what personalized learning could look like when done well. Whether you’re teaching in a K–12 setting, designing higher-ed courses, or simply trying to study more efficiently, you’ll come away with powerful insights for turning learning research into real-world classroom practice.

Read an enhanced transcript with helpful links at Eduaide.Ai.

Recorded 09 December 2024

Richard Mayer is one of the most influential educational psychologists of the past half-century. His research on multimedia learning, instructional design, and cognitive processes has shaped how educators and designers think about effective teaching. Best known for his principles of multimedia instruction, Mayer’s work explores how students learn from words and pictures, how technology can enhance or hinder learning, and what cognitive science tells us about education in the digital age.

Richard joins Thomas to discuss what makes a well-designed PowerPoint, why transfer is so elusive in education, how to balance cognitive load in instructional design, whether AI-generated feedback can be effective, what virtual reality gets wrong about learning, how prior knowledge impacts multimedia instruction, why game-based learning often misses the mark, whether younger generations are better at processing digital media, how to separate education fads from real breakthroughs, what he’s learned from decades of collaboration, and what he’s working on next.

Read an enhanced transcript with helpful links at Eduaide.Ai.

Recorded 15 January 2025