Coach Thomas Tech

10/12/2026

🎙️ NEW EPISODE: What If AI Isn’t the Problem… But the Way We Teach Is?

My friend Becky Keene is back in the Tech Ed Clubhouse, and we got into a conversation that every educator and school leader should be having.

Are screens really the problem?

Does replacing a digital worksheet with a paper worksheet improve learning?

Have we made students so comfortable that they no longer know how to struggle?

And are we spending more time trying to AI-proof assignments than asking whether they're worth doing?

We also get into LEGO, Minecraft, creativity, collaboration, student independence, and a powerful story about a fifth-grade teacher who gave students something many classrooms struggle to provide:

Trust.

One of my favorite parts of this episode is when Becky pushes back on something I said about teaching collaboration and perseverance.

She made me rethink my position.

That's what good conversations are supposed to do.

My biggest takeaway?
It's not about the tool. It's about what students are doing with their brains.

Becky Keene | Phygital Labs
https://beckykeene.com
https://phygitallabs.com



🎙️ Full conversation now live on The Tech Ed Clubhouse Podcast.

Available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
Listen here: bit.ly/TechEdClubhouse

https://youtu.be/xn2wLCYXdY8

10/11/2026

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?

What if it's exposing everything we've been doing wrong for years?

We've spent a lot of time worrying about students using ChatGPT to complete assignments.

But here's a question I've been asking:
If AI can complete an assignment in seconds without much thinking, what was that assignment actually asking students to do?

I recently sat down with Becky Keene founder of Phygital Labs, for a conversation that started with AI and went somewhere much bigger.

We talked about productive struggle, screen time, kids learning to play school, and what happens when we make learning too comfortable.

And Becky challenged some of my own thinking along the way.

New episode of the Tech Ed Clubhouse coming soon.

This one might make a few people uncomfortable.

Good.

08/31/2026

School culture isn’t built in August.
It’s revealed on a random Tuesday in October.

That line stuck with me from my latest conversation with Todd Bloomer.

In this new episode of the Tech Ed Clubhouse, Todd and I talk about what leadership actually looks like once the kickoff meetings are over and the school year gets real.
We get into:
• getting out of the office and seeing the people
• treating teachers like professionals
• why your calendar exposes your real priorities
• the people in the building who are too often overlooked
• and why waiting until “next year” is usually the wrong move

Todd also shares the story behind his new book, Finding Your Red Bench, and the bigger idea behind it: sometimes leaders need to slow down long enough to notice what is actually happening around them.

If your school culture isn’t where you want it to be, you don’t need another initiative.

Start tomorrow.



🎙️ Full conversation now live on The Tech Ed Clubhouse Podcast.

Available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
Listen here: bit.ly/TechEdClubhouse

https://youtu.be/xn2wLCYXdY8

What happens when educators stop waiting for permission… and start ...

08/24/2026

New episode of the Tech Ed Clubhouse is out.

Stop Adding Initiatives: Put Humans Back at the Center of School with Alyssa Sabbatino, NBCT

This one went in a lot of directions—initiative fatigue, grading, Portrait of a Graduate, AI, restorative practices, professional learning—but there was one thread running through all of it:
We keep trying to improve schools by adding things instead of paying attention to the people already doing the work.

Alyssa and I talk about:
• Why compliance-based PD rarely changes practice
• Why art, music, tech, CTE, and other special-area classrooms may already be showing us what Portrait of a Graduate looks like
• Why grades can get in the way of learning
• How AI can be a thought partner without replacing professional judgment
• Why restorative practices work better when they’re woven into teaching instead of turned into another initiative

And maybe the biggest point:
Kids don’t come to school to watch us work.

This is a conversation about making schools more human without creating one more program teachers have to “implement.”



🎙️ Full conversation now live on The Tech Ed Clubhouse Podcast.

Available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
Listen here: bit.ly/TechEdClubhouse

https://youtu.be/xn2wLCYXdY8

08/23/2026

A lot of what we call “change” in education is really just another thing added to the pile.
Another initiative.
Another framework.
Another expectation.
In my next Tech Ed Clubhouse conversation, Alyssa Sabbatino, NBCT Sabbatino and I get into what happens when schools stop chasing the next thing and start paying attention to what’s already working.
We talk initiative fatigue, Portrait of a Graduate, grading, AI, restorative practices, special-area teachers, and why authentic change usually doesn’t look like a checklist.
One line from the conversation keeps sticking with me:
Schools are full of people.
Seems obvious.
We don’t always act like it.
New episode coming soon.

08/17/2026

New episode of the Tech Ed Clubhouse is live—and this is one I probably should have recorded a long time ago.
My guest is my friend Tim Needles.

Tim spent 25 years teaching art and STEAM and now works across his district as a technology integration specialist. He's an author, artist, creator, AI guy...and somebody who understands that none of those things matter much if we lose the human side of learning.

We talked about PBL. We talked about play. We talked about creativity. We talked about AI.
But the conversation kept coming back to something bigger:
What are we asking kids to actually DO with what they know?

Tim made a point that stuck with me. Some of the kids who have learned to play the traditional game of school really struggle when we give them an open-ended problem with no obvious right answer.
Meanwhile, some of the kids school labels as struggling suddenly thrive.

That should make us think.
We also get into controlled chaos, letting teachers learn alongside students, why we probably need fewer tech tools instead of more, using AI as a thought partner instead of an answer machine, and why hands-on skills may become even more valuable in an AI world.

And Tim gives us something that passes my Tuesday Test—a free, creative OK Go project you could actually try with students.

🎙️ New Tech Ed Clubhouse episode with Tim Needles — available now.
Give it a listen

Available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
Listen here: bit.ly/TechEdClubhouse

https://youtu.be/xn2wLCYXdY8

What happens when educators stop waiting for permission… and start ...

08/03/2026

AI in elementary school does not have to mean more screen time.

In this new episode of the Tech Ed Clubhouse Podcast, I talk with Tom Millinchip about what thoughtful AI and digital literacy can look like with younger learners—and why the real work is not getting more technology into classrooms.

It is helping students build judgment, curiosity, responsibility, and the ability to use these tools well.

We also discuss teacher resistance, professional judgment, project-based learning, outdated assessment practices, and what schools might look like if we stopped designing learning around content delivery.

Tom brings a practical perspective grounded in school leadership, digital literacy, and real classroom experience.

Listen now on Spotify and YouTube.

🎙️ Full conversation now live on The Tech Ed Clubhouse Podcast.

Available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
Listen here: bit.ly/TechEdClubhouse

https://youtu.be/xn2wLCYXdY8

What happens when educators stop waiting for permission… and start ...

08/02/2026

AI didn’t break education.
It exposed the parts that were already weak.
In this episode, I talk with Tom Millinchip about AI, digital literacy, project-based learning, teacher judgment, and what schools need to rethink before adding another tool or mandate.

We also get into a bigger question:

What would school look like if we stopped designing it around content delivery and started designing it around curiosity, judgment, community, and meaningful work?

New episode coming soon on the Tech Ed Clubhouse Podcast.

Available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
Listen here: bit.ly/TechEdClubhouse

https://youtu.be/xn2wLCYXdY8

What happens when educators stop waiting for permission… and start ...

07/24/2026

🎙️ Full conversation now live on The Tech Ed Clubhouse Podcast.

Available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
Listen here: bit.ly/TechEdClubhouse

https://youtu.be/xn2wLCYXdY8