10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher

Going screen-free is an emphasis right now, as is building emotional intelligence. Perhaps that is why bridge is really attractive to some kids. You can also teach math, focus, and teamwork, and you don't have to know how to play. Hall of Famer Patty Tucker created JumpStart Bridge, a free curriculum that has reached more than 12,000 students. It comes with scripts, videos, supplies, and a stipend for teachers who have never dealt a hand.
In this episode, you'll learn:
The one rule of bridge that teaches kids not to quit
The grade levels Patty calls the sweet spot for starting
What a teacher who doesn't play bridge gets for free, and how one teacher stays two weeks ahead of her class
Why one school saw fewer tardies on bridge day
How a Montana middle school outgrew its own bridge tournament and had to expand from one to three days
What gifted-education teachers noticed about kids' social skills after the COVID years
The line from an eighth grader's essay that sums up why face-to-face games matter
Show notes, the full transcript, and links to Patty's free resources: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1005
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ISTE+ASCD 2026 Board President Dr. Jeremy Owoh explains how his district runs toward AI instead of away from it. He also shares why AI can never replace a good teacher and his approach to encouraging innovation in the classroom.
So many teachers are tired of playing "AI whack-a-mole," but it is so helpful to hear how Jeremy helps his district make decisions that bring everyone on board. He says that schools should learn together and set clear expectations. He started as an English teacher in Little Rock, served as an assistant commissioner at the Arkansas Department of Education, and now leads the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District while serving as board president of ISTE+ASCD.
In this episode, you'll learn:
What did ISTE+ASCD CEO Richard Culatta say when he read Jeremy's technology policy?
Why his district asked students to help rewrite the rules
The AI tutoring pilot he calls "a game changer," and how he decided whether it worked
What a former English teacher says matters more than grading the five-paragraph essay
The one thing every superintendent should do before making AI decisions
Dr. Jeremy S. Owoh is superintendent of the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District in Arkansas and president of the ISTE+ASCD Board of Directors. ISTE+ASCD is now the International Society for Transforming Education. He began his career in 2003 as an English teacher at Parkview Magnet High School in Little Rock.
If this episode helped you, please leave a rating or review wherever you're listening. It helps other teachers find the show.
Full show notes, research, and transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1004

Sometimes we need to talk about hard things, like grief in the classroom. Because real life is hard, and real life is in our classroom every day. Our students and we as teachers — we all deal with death. I had to this past school year, and it was hard. It still is. And not everyone experiences it the same way. There's no one-size-fits-all.
On this show, first-grade teacher Haleigh Bresnan and school psychologist Rebecca Brigner share how to help grieving kids and yourself. Their precious children's book about grief, If You're Lucky Enough to Know a Unicorn, honors Kennedy, a baby girl who lived just four months.
I knew this show would be about grief, but it took such an honest turn that it became one of the most authentic conversations about grief in the classroom that I've ever heard. I'm glad we had this conversation and I hope it helps people better understand both what teachers have to help kids with and what we deal with ourselves.
A gentle note: this episode talks about the death of a baby and about miscarriage. If little ones are listening, you may want to save it for later.
When a student is grieving, do you bring it up or let them be? Some kids want to talk. Others just want a normal day with their friends. Haleigh and Rebecca are cousins who work in the same Connecticut school district, so their advice comes from the children they see every day.
In this episode, you'll learn:
How does grief show up in a classroom when a child never says a word about it?
The one word a school psychologist says every teacher needs when a student is grieving
Why Haleigh wrote a poem a few lines at a time for six years while rocking her baby son to sleep
What it's like to show up for your students when you're grieving yourself, and why Haleigh says no one talks about it
How Kennedy's family reacted when they first saw the book, and what happened the day the first copies arrived
Haleigh Bresnan teaches first grade in eastern Connecticut and wrote If You're Lucky Enough to Know a Unicorn. Her cousin, Rebecca Brigner, is a school psychologist in the same district and illustrated the book.
Full show notes, research, and transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1003

Dr. Patricia Dickenson, author of Smart Teaching in the Age of AI, shows how teachers can use AI to plan and differentiate without losing the heart of teaching. Relationship is still one of the top factors driving student success. Part of using AI is knowing when to use it and when to put it away.
Patricia has a third option for every teacher torn between using AI for everything and banning it altogether: let AI carry some of the planning load, so you have more time for what only you can do, which is connecting with your students. She spent more than 18 years in Los Angeles classrooms and now prepares new teachers, so her advice comes with examples you can use this week.
In this episode, you'll learn:
What did a fourth-grade teacher going through chemo teach Patricia about showing up?
The custom GPT that tells a brand-new teacher what students should already know before the first lesson
Never taught a student with auditory processing disorder? How AI can help you plan for the student you haven't met yet
"Guess what? They're already using it." Her answer to teachers who want to ban AI and go old school
The one thing Patricia's dissertation found best predicted whether students engage
Dr. Patricia Dickenson is an associate professor of teacher education at National University and spent more than 18 years as a teacher and math coach in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She is the author of Smart Teaching in the Age of AI and co-author of Technology-Infused Math Instruction.
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Full show notes, research, and the complete transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1002

Kathy Nimmer is the 2026 Helen Keller Achievement Award winner. Her story is so heartwarming that, to celebrate episode 1001, we're airing an extended episode focused on the heart of teaching. The story of her first year teaching is incredible and one we should all hear. If you've been there, you know how quickly a first-year teacher's confidence can shatter. For Kathy Nimmer, a blind high school English teacher, a classroom window shattered too, and it changed how she taught.
Kathy tells how a chaotic first year taught her to bring her authentic self to the classroom, how being blind helped her see her students from the heart, and about the teacher mentorship program she helped create with her district to improve teacher retention. Her positive observations are truly inspiring.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why hiding who you are backfires in the classroom
How the SEEDS new teacher program supports teachers first and offers PD second
Affirmative observations: an observation that records only what a teacher does well
Why specific praise sticks and "great job" doesn't
Two things to carry all year: you find what you seek, and remember the sunrise
Kathy Nimmer taught English at Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Indiana, for 29 years. She was the 2015 Indiana Teacher of the Year, a National Teacher of the Year finalist, and the recipient of the 2026 Helen Keller Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind.
Full show notes, resources, and the complete transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e1001