After 20+ years of creating exclusively for educators, I'm expanding into some new creative spaces, and I want to tell you about them.

In this episode, I share the "why" behind my new YouTube channel ("So What Are We Doing Here?"), my Substack publication, my free guided meditations on Insight Timer, and some other fun new places to find me.

I also talk about how my own work has shifted more toward adults, and why so much of what I've always talked about on this podcast (productivity, mindset, burnout, boundaries) goes way beyond the classroom.

Is AI using a bottle of water every time you make a query? Are you a bad person if you use it in your classroom? Should schools ban it entirely—or go all-in?

If you've felt confused or conflicted about AI ethics, this conversation is for you.

I sit down with Dr. Karen Boyd, an AI ethics consultant who works with schools and nonprofits, to get real answers about the environmental impact of AI—and to talk through the much bigger ethical questions educators are wrestling with.

In this episode, we cover:

• The truth about AI's water and energy use (spoiler: Netflix is way worse)
• Why "just don't use it" isn't realistic anymore in 2026
• The spectrum from AI enthusiasts to conscientious objectors—and why most of us are somewhere in the middle
• 6 strategic stances beyond refusing: wait and see, constrain, compensate, rethink the work, and shape the ecosystem
• How to identify which specific values feel threatened to you (intellectual property? authenticity? effort and craft?)
• Practical ways schools can build ethical AI policies through knowledge sharing instead of top-down rules
• Different ways to use AI beyond shortcuts: as a thought partner, adversary, assistant, or accessibility tool
• Why understanding how AI works matters even if you choose not to use it

Karen offers a nuanced, inclusive approach that validates different perspectives while helping educators move from "this feels icky" to "here's exactly what bothers me and what I can do about it."

This isn't about convincing you AI is good or bad. It's about having the informed, thoughtful conversation we all need to be having.

Resources mentioned:'

Get the shareable article/transcript for this episode here.

Dr. Karen Boyd's Mission First AI Starter Kit (free vendor rubric for schools): https://drkarenboyd.com/blog/introducing-the-free-mission-first-ai-starter-kit

Get the sustainability chapter of Karen's book for free at ddrkarenboyd.com/freechapter No sign up is required, but you can get updates on AI in mission-driven work in your email about once per week if you select "sign up for news and updates" there.

My "Stay Human: Protect Your Brain Power in an AI World" curriculum (mentioned in this conversation) https://shop.truthforteachers.com/products/ai-literacy-lessons-teaching-students-why-writing-and-thinking-matter

Each time we decide which history gets a full unit and which gets a mini-lesson…

Each time we choose whose stories to showcase in classroom libraries while others gather dust on shelves …

Each time we select which family structures and cultures to represent in class and which we quietly pretend don't exist …

We're teaching whose voices matter, what counts as normal, and how power works. That's the hidden curriculum. And it's been operating in classrooms since the first schools were founded.

This episode is about uncovering the hidden curriculum in your own teaching, so you can make conscious choices about the values you're reinforcing.

And, it's about empowering public schools to be unapologetic in their stance about a core piece of the hidden curriculum that should be underlying our work:

Every child who walks into our classrooms deserves to see themselves reflected there, to have their existence treated as welcome, and to leave knowing their life has inherent value.

This episode is a call to remain steadfast in your commitment to care for (and be actively inclusive of) all families in your school community.

We need to proudly own our commitment to teaching kids empathy, curiosity, and the ability to understand–and collaborate with–people who are different from them.

This episode is a rebuke of a coordinated attempt to paint these values as controversial, "political" or "a radical left wing agenda." They are not.

They are educational best practices, backed by long-standing research, that teachers have implemented for decades in schools across the country. It's time to stop playing defense and speak plainly about how we do what's best for kids.

Get the shareable article/transcript for this episode here.