What Teachers Have to Say
What Teachers Have to Say is a podcast about teaching, AI in education, instructional practice, and teacher identity. Hosted by Jacob Carr and Nathan Collins, it centers real classroom experience, system pressures, and how AI is reshaping learning.
No performative edu‑influencer culture. No toxic positivity. Just honest conversations about what’s actually happening in schools.
What This Podcast Covers
- AI in education and classroom use
- Teaching strategies and instructional design (EduProtocols)
- Teacher burnout and system design
- Student skill development and transfer
- EdTech tools and practical workflows
Who This Podcast Is For
- K–12 teachers
- Instructional coaches and leaders
- Pre‑service teachers
- Educators exploring AI and EdTech
- Anyone tired of surface‑level PD
Who We Are
Jacob (Jake) Carr
EdTech Coach for a County Office of Education, author, and speaker on AI in education. 15+ years across K–12 (grades 1–12) in diverse settings. Brings a philosophical lens, connects classroom practice to systems, and pushes conversations deeper before landing on something usable.
Nathan Collins
High school English teacher, dual‑enrollment instructor, and Personalized Learning Teacher in a rural hybrid model. Grounds the show in current classroom reality, student data, and practical constraints. A measured counterbalance to big ideas.
What We Explore
AI in Education — A structural shift, not a novelty. Learning, assessment, and independence in an AI‑rich world.
Burnout as a System Problem — Not a personal failure. We name the incentives that reward unsustainable work.
Instructional Routines That Work — Repeatable structures that lower planning load and raise thinking, repetition, and collaboration.
Skills That Transfer — Thinking, communication, adaptability. Not just content.
The Format
Long‑Form — Monthly flagship episodes with deep dives, interviews, and debates.
Short‑Form — Field notes, solo reflections, headlines, and listener voicemails between major episodes.
Your Voice Matters
Leave a SpeakPipe voicemail with a question, win, or rant. We feature listener voices in episodes.
Beyond the Podcast
The companion newsletter goes deeper: AI in education, teaching strategies, and teacher identity. Free, weekly, and practical.
FAQ
What is it about? Teaching, AI in education, and real classroom conditions.
Who hosts it? Jacob Carr and Nathan Collins.
Is it AI‑focused? Yes, always tied to real practice.
How often? Monthly flagship + shorter episodes between.
Where to listen? Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms.
Subscribe and Follow
- Apple Podcasts
- Spotify
- Newsletter
Stay curious. Keep thinking. Keep showing up.
What Teachers Have to Say
The Ship of ChatGPTseus: Identity, Authorship, and the Soul of Learning
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
When the tools, tasks, and teaching all start to change—at what point do we stop and ask: Is this still education?
In this mini episode, Jake Carr dives into the ancient thought experiment known as the Ship of Theseus to unpack what's happening in our schools today. From medieval monks copying texts by candlelight to students copy-pasting AI-generated responses, he asks: What makes learning authentic? What planks are we swapping out without realizing it? And what should teachers choose to hold onto?
Along the way, Jake connects this to his new book The Skills That Last, offers four actionable strategies for preserving human-centered learning, and shares how his Waldorf background prepared him to teach in this new, high-tech era.
Topics Covered:
- That classic meme: "My mom wrote the paper and I still got a D"
- The Ship of Theseus and its relevance to education
- What happens when every part of school is slowly replaced
- The invisible slope of AI-assisted student work
- When the work isn’t theirs anymore—and how to spot that moment
- What authentic learning might look like going forward
- Why skills like discernment, empathy, and will can’t be outsourced
- A fresh look at the teacher’s role—not as captain, but as keel
Tangible Takeaways:
- Shift from Policing to Process
Let students use AI—but teach them to revise, explain, and own their thinking. - Assign What Only They Can Do
Personal prompts. Local connections. Real reflection. Make it hard for AI to fake. - Slow It Down on Purpose
Use oral defenses, Socratic seminars, portfolio walkthroughs, and tools like Snorkl to make thinking visible. - Make Your Pedagogy Visible
Pull back the curtain. Tell students why you’re doing things the way you are—and what you hope they’ll take from it.
Resources Mentioned:
- 📖 The Skills That Last (Jake’s upcoming book, make sure to subscribe to Substack for announcements and previews)
- 📝 Teaching at the Speed of Soul – Jake’s latest Substack essay
- 🗣️ Leave a voice message for the show
- 📰 Subscribe to our Substack for more essays, questions, and reflections
💬 Join the Conversation:
What plank are you holding onto in your classroom?
Leave us a voice message at whatteachershavetosay.speakpipe.com or tag Jake on social @MrCarrOnTheWeb.
Got a question? We'd love to answer it! Leave us a voicemail on SpeakPipe: https://www.speakpipe.com/whatteachershavetosay
Want more EduProtocols from Jake? Check out his book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and more.
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