Yea, this AI THING is not slowing down any time soon. And YES this means we have to be ever-vigilant when working with AI, when leading in this moment, and thinking about how it will impact our current generation of students.

This is why I’m so passionate about AI-Fluency. And why I released my new AI-Ready School Leadership Certification Program with Maven.

AI-Literacy is a moving target (and a bad target for schools right now). All the things I just listed above happened this week and will impact learning in thousands of ways.

Here’s my issue, and an argument for you as a school leader:

• AI-literacy is an overloaded, still-fuzzy buzzword that risks distracting us from the real literacy crisis (reading, writing, critical comprehension).

• AI-fluency is a better target. Students and educators who can actually work with AI in authentic tasks, grounded in strong foundational literacy.

In a recent essay that's resonating across Silicon Valley, Dion Lim reframes the AI moment not as a bubble but as a wildfire force that doesn't just destroy but fundamentally reshapes ecosystems. His metaphor is simple and powerful: "Wildfires don't just destroy; they're essential to ecosystem health. They clear the dense underbrush that chokes out new growth, return nutrients to the soil, and create the conditions for the next generation of forest to thrive."

Dion founded NextLesson (as well as other companies before it), and I was able to work with him and his team for a few years. I learned a lot from Dion, but especially love his ability to bridge the gap between industries and people.

For K-12 school leaders, Dion’s metaphor isn't just cute, it's prophetic.

My daughter graduates high school in 17 months. I’ve taught high school seniors, been in charge of academics and curriculum in various districts, and have worked with many different schools on building out their profile of a learner or “portrait of a graduate”.

So, you would think, just maybe…that I would have prepared my daughter for life after high school. You would think, that should be part of the role of K-12 schools.

But, I’m worried. Worried about my own daughter, and a generation of learners in our schools right now.

Every June, we send thousands of kids out into the world armed with the Pythagorean theorem and exactly zero knowledge about how to cook rice. We've taught them to analyze symbolism in The Great Gatsby but not how to tell when someone's scamming them. So here's my list of 100 things students actually need to know before they grab that diploma and run.

We've spent two decades turning the most powerful creation tool humanity has ever invented into glorified pencil sharpeners. Digital worksheets instead of paper ones. Five-paragraph essays in Google Docs instead of notebooks. Multiple-choice tests on screens instead of Scantrons.

We took Seymour Papert's vision of technology as a tool for discovery and creative expression...and we did the exact opposite. We locked down devices, blocked websites, and used computers to make kids do old things in slightly newer ways.

The result? Technology became a digital pacifier. Something to keep students quiet and on-task. Something administrators could point to and say "we're innovative" while changing absolutely nothing about how learning actually happens.

And, I'm over here raising my hand saying, "I've been part of this problem" as a teacher, school leader, and even as a parent.

We talk a lot about students, but we rarely talk to them—especially the ones who are actively rewriting the rules of what it means to be educated.

In the latest episode of Next Gen Schools, I got the chance to interview Kate Liemandt from Austin Scholar (her newsletter), a current Stanford University student and ALPHA School Alum who didn't wait for the system to change. Her insights provide a roadmap for any educator or parent looking to understand what "ALPHA School and 2-Hour Learning" actually looks like in practice.

If a visitor from 1910 walked into a modern classroom today, they’d recognize almost everything: the desks in rows, the bells, the age-based grouping, and the fragmented subject blocks.

In the first episode of the Next Gen Schools podcast, host A.J. Juliani and guest Ira David Socol (author of Designed to Fail) pose a provocative question: Do we even need a new version of school?

The answer is a resounding yes—but not for the reasons you might think.

In classrooms across the globe, a profound shift is taking place. Students who once complied with compliance-based educational models are increasingly disconnected, their attention fragmented by a digital landscape that evolves faster than our curriculum. As educators, we find ourselves at a critical moment, faced with unprecedented challenges, yet presented with remarkable opportunities to reimagine learning for a new era.

These challenges touch everyone in the educational ecosystem—elementary and secondary teachers, school leaders, and parents alike. While some educational hurdles lie beyond our immediate control (staffing shortages, funding constraints, and retention issues) there exists a realm of challenges in which our individual and collective influence can create meaningful change.

All of us, as educational stakeholders, can make a difference by addressing the impacts on learning from technology, artificial intelligence, and distraction.

Have you ever had students complain about active learning in your classroom? Or have students ask for worksheets and lectures?

I have, and it honestly confused me. I believe there is a place and time for traditional lectures, but have seen the benefits to student learning when it is active, hands-on, and applied. However, many of our students (and many of us) feel like we learn more through lecture and traditional approaches -- even though the research shows that is not always the case.

More on that in today’s article!

But if you study what families care about, how students experience school, and why communities fight to preserve public schools even when alternatives exist, a very different picture emerges:

The number one value proposition of K-12 schooling isn’t academic learning.

It’s safety, belonging, identity, relationships, culture, and community.

Learning matters. Absolutely.

But learning alone is not why families enroll their children in school, nor is it why students are motivated over thirteen years of education.

Maya Lin designed a memorial where ritual creates stability and variety creates living meaning. Japanese Lesson Study shows that classrooms thrive on the same balance. Both remind us that students flourish when learning environments offer both anchors and sparks.

For teachers, this principle is practical wisdom: establish rituals that provide security, then layer variety that excites. Too much of either tips the scale; balance brings engagement.

Beyond school, the same truth applies. Families thrive on rituals like meals together but cherish variety in vacations. Workplaces need reliable processes but also innovation. Communities rely on traditions but are energized by change.

Stability comforts. Variety excites. Engagement lives in the rhythm between the two.

I didn’t think I would have to write this post, AGAIN. But apparently someone needs to write it. In 2016 I wrote the below article in response to a viral article by NPR. They put out a story where a college professor denounces the use of computers in the classroom, based on the research of “taking notes by hand vs taking notes on a device” (and then how well those students did on a multiple choice test).

Last week, almost 10 years later, someone I really respect (Adam Grant), said it was time to remove laptops from the classroom because taking notes by hand leads to better grades.

Sigh.

There’s a word I keep coming back to lately.
Not “AI.”
Not “innovation.”
Not even “future-ready.”

The word is discernment.

And I’m becoming more convinced every day that discernment might be the single most important skill our students (and our educators) need right now.

Not because AI is dangerous.
Not because it will replace us.
But because AI introduces too much of everything. And too much of the wrong things.