🧑‍🏫 Teachers are the WHOLE point

Today’s Deep Dive: Teachers aren't the problem

Reading Rainbow: Bad scores, easier college, and one good AP

From Our Desk: Coach talk and sneak peeks

Watch of the Week: This show is basically a PD session

Show up as a person, not a pitch. Start with how someone's doing, not what your platform does.

Earn trust through understanding. Know what the job actually looks like before you start solving for it. A tool that doesn't save time or lower mental load won't be used, period.

Embrace imperfection, reject the polish. Teachers aren't looking for flawless. They're looking for authentic. An imperfect product backed by a real relationship beats a polished tool from a company that disappears after go-live.

Never stop being in the fight. The sale is the opening drive. What happens after is what actually builds trust—and renewals.

The College Prep Gap Has Nothing to Do With Being Smart: Tara Becker-Utess, assistant principal at Mason High School outside Lansing, got tired of watching students opt out of AP and dual enrollment courses for reasons that had nothing to do with ability. So she started asking different questions, and it turns out scheduling conflicts, fear of failure, and the quiet belief that you're "not smart enough" are doing a lot more damage than anyone was tracking.

The Scores Are In, and They're Doing That Thing Where You Go "Hmm.": The Nation's Report Card just dropped 12th grade math and reading results, and the trendline is not pointing in a fun direction… Scores hit their lowest point in more than 20 years, with the gap between high and low performers wider than it's ever been, which means the students who already had the hardest road just got a steeper hill.

College Admissions Just Slid Into Your DMs First: With the number of 18-year-olds declining and enrollment already down by more than 1.5 million since 2010, colleges are doing something they've never really done before: actively trying to make it easier to apply. Think waived fees, one-click apps, and in some states, automatic admission if you got a C or better in the right classes. 

The History Was Outside the Whole Time: TEACH Magazine makes a solid case for getting students off the Google Maps view of history and into the actual places where it happened—arguing that connecting students to the layered, contested histories of the spaces around them isn't just more engaging, it builds the kind of critical thinking that a textbook quiz on Chapter 7 simply cannot.

Interested in hearing from more coaches? Check out our recent podcast episode of On the Subject with Cory Mascara!

Snag a sneak peek at last week’s Subject Conference!

We’re back on the road all month! Reach out to [email protected] for details.

Personal narrative writing: Have students write about a time they got a second chance—big or small. Emotional investment goes up significantly if they've recently watched a 280-pound linebacker sob into a Gatorade towel.

Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset discussion: The show is basically a 6-season argument between those two philosophies. Have students identify which characters operate from each and what happens as a result.

Socioeconomic factors in education: Most players on the show are dealing with things that have nothing to do with football and everything to do with systems. Have students analyze the structural factors affecting each player's outcomes.

Character analysis and motivation: Pick three players (or coaches) from any season and have students track how their motivations shift over time. At least one coach per season is a masterclass in what not to do. (Students will find him immediately.)

Goal-setting and accountability: Use clips of players talking about their dreams in age-appropriate terms and have students draw or write about something they're working toward—then pair them up to check in on each other's goals weekly. THIS is the assignment that’ll keep them up at night when they're 35.