Make It Mindful: Insights for Global Learning

Seth Fleischauer

Make It Mindful: Insights for Global Learning is a podcast for globally minded educators who want deep, long-form conversations about how teaching and learning are changing — and what to do about it. Hosted by former classroom teacher and Banyan Global Learning founder Seth Fleischauer, the show explores how people, cultures, technologies, cognitive processes, and school systems shape what happens in classrooms around the world. Each long-form episode looks closely at the conditions that help students and educators thrive — from executive functioning and identity development to virtual learning, multilingual education, global competence, and the rise of AI. Seth talks with teachers, researchers, psychologists, and school leaders who look closely at how students understand themselves, build relationships, and develop the capacities that underlie deep learning — skills like perspective-taking, communication, and global competence that are essential for navigating an interconnected world. These conversations surface the kinds of cross-cultural experiences and hard-to-measure abilities that shape real achievement. Together, they consider how to integrate new technologies in ways that strengthen—not replace—the human center of learning. The result is a set of ideas, stories, and practical strategies educators can apply to help students succeed in a complex and fast-changing world.

  1. #81 When Burnout Is a Rational Response — and How to Start Fixing What Causes It with Dr. Jessica Werner

    APR 20

    #81 When Burnout Is a Rational Response — and How to Start Fixing What Causes It with Dr. Jessica Werner

    In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth talks with Jessica Werner, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Northshore Learning, about why teacher burnout is better understood as a systems problem than a personal one — and what happens when schools try to fix it without addressing the foundations that are already shaky. Jessica draws on her doctoral research in Uganda, where a policy expanding secondary school access flooded classrooms without providing additional support, and connects that experience directly to what she's seeing now in U.S. schools facing school choice expansion, teacher shortages, and the pressure to adopt every new initiative at once. Together, Seth and Jessica explore why measuring teacher wellbeing is so difficult and why qualitative judgment still matters, how cultural context shapes what counts as a behavior problem and what motivates students, what schedules and workloads quietly signal to teachers about how much their effectiveness actually matters, and why adding initiatives on top of weak foundations accelerates burnout rather than solving it. Jessica also shares a specific example from a school in Colombia where an American teacher adapted her math instruction to work with — rather than against — the social, collective culture of her students, offering a concrete picture of what culturally responsive intervention looks like in practice. Key topics: Teacher efficacy as a component of job satisfaction and retentionThe limits of quantitative measurement for wellbeingCultural differences in student motivation: intrinsic vs. extrinsicSchedule design and its unintended impact on teachersAddition without subtraction: the workload problemSchool choice policy and the costs of rapid enrollment growthNeuroscience basics that translate directly into classroom managementSchool-student "match" as a framework for the future of school choiceLinks & Resources: Northshore Learning — coaching, school partnerships, and on-demand courses for educators: northshorelearning.orgJessica Werner on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessica-werner-ph-d-818032163Northshore Learning YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCznAU47jszmmJyFBWd_1LvwHidden Brain podcast with Shankar Vedantam (recommended by Jessica): hiddenbrain.orgJustin Reich, MIT Teaching Systems Lab — referenced by Seth on "addition by subtraction" in schools: https://makeitmindful.transistor.fm/episodes/76-experiment-with-humility-teaching-in-the-ai-evidence-gap-with-justin-reichGuest Bio: Jessica Werner, Ph.D. Jessica Werner is the founder and CEO of Northshore Learning, where she works with schools in the U.S. and internationally to support teacher effectiveness and student behavior through personalized coaching, group training, and on-demand professional development. Her work is grounded in neuroscience and centers on what actually allows teachers to feel effective — and what systematically undermines that feeling over time. Jessica holds a Ph.D. in education, with doctoral research focused on the implementation challenges of Uganda's universal secondary education policy, and has over 20 years of experience as a classroom teacher, professor of education, and consultant. About the Host: Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of Make It Mindful: Insights for Global Learning. Through Banyan, he designs live virtual programs that connect K-12 classrooms to global peers and expert facilitators. See banyangloballearning.com.

    42 min
  2. #80 Narrative Therapy, Resilience, and Cross-Cultural Understanding in Schools with Chris O'Shaughnessy

    APR 6

    #80 Narrative Therapy, Resilience, and Cross-Cultural Understanding in Schools with Chris O'Shaughnessy

    In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth Fleischauer talks with international school consultant Chris O'Shaughnessy about narrative therapy — what it is, why it matters, and how its techniques can quietly transform the way educators approach empathy, resilience, and cross-cultural understanding. What begins as a conversation about storytelling opens into something much bigger: a practical framework for helping students separate fact from interpretation, build emotional muscle in measurable steps, and find common ground even when values genuinely clash. Along the way, Chris draws on everything from gym metaphors to the Enneagram to a sociology study involving voluntary self-electrocution to make the case that the oldest human art form — telling stories — might also be one of the most powerful tools in a teacher's toolkit. Together, Seth and Chris explore the neuroscience of narrative, the taxonomy of resilience, and what it looks like to introduce intentional discomfort into a classroom — including the surprisingly radical act of letting kids be bored. Key Topics Discussed: What narrative therapy actually is — and why it's less about therapy and more about learning to hold your own story at arm's lengthThe description → evaluation → interpretation framework, and how a photograph of a woman in a wedding dress teaches you more about assumptions than any lecture couldWhy our brains prefer a complete story to an accurate one — and what that costs usThe "gym as intentional inefficiency" model: how to introduce beneficial discomfort in measurable, safe stepsDr. Wong's taxonomy of resilience — cognitive, behavioral, emotional, relational, and motivational — and why giving students language for these differences is itself an act of empowermentWhat to do when cross-cultural conflict isn't a misunderstanding — it's a genuine clash of valuesThe Enneagram as a tool for digging beneath belief systems to find the shared motivations underneathWhy boredom might be the most underrated creative catalyst in schools — and the sociology study that proves people would rather electrocute themselves than sit with itAwe as an emerging opportunity in education (Seth's answer to Chris's lightning round question)Guest Bio: Chris O'Shaughnessy is an international school consultant whose work takes him into schools across cultures and contexts around the world. Drawing on a background in sociology, he helps educators build the skills — empathy, resilience, cross-cultural communication — that don't show up on a standardized test but determine everything about how students navigate the world. He is based at chris-o.com. Host Bio: Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of the Make It Mindful podcast. His work focuses on global learning, cultural competency, and the evolving role of technology in education. Through Banyan Global Learning, he develops live virtual learning experiences that connect students to new people, places, and ways of thinking. Episode Links: Chris O'Shaughnessy's website: chris-o.comUnselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World — Michele BorbaSticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy — Emily BazelonProject Hail Mary — Andy WeirThe Homework Machine podcast — Justin Reich, MIT Teaching Systems Lab

    47 min
  3. #79 Awe Is Contagious: The Science of Wonder with Deborah Farmer Kris

    MAR 23

    #79 Awe Is Contagious: The Science of Wonder with Deborah Farmer Kris

    In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth Fleischauer talks with child development expert and author Deborah Farmer Kris about awe — what it is, why it matters, and why it might be the missing piece at the center of meaningful education. What begins as a conversation about a single emotion opens up into something much bigger: a research-backed framework for understanding how wonder drives curiosity, curiosity drives intrinsic motivation, and motivation unlocks the kind of deep learning that tests can't easily measure. Along the way, Seth reflects on how awe has been quietly powering his own work at Banyan Global Learning all along — he just didn't have a word for it until now. Together, Seth and Deborah explore the neuroscience of wonder, the contagious nature of teacher enthusiasm, and what it means to make your classroom an oasis of awe — even inside a system that doesn't always make space for it. Key Topics Discussed: What awe actually is — and how researchers know when someone is feeling it (hint: it's not just the Grand Canyon)The difference between awe and curiosity, and why they're more intertwined than most educators realizeThe research-backed chain from awe → curiosity → intrinsic motivation → deeper learningHow awe primes the brain for memory — and why starting with wonder, not ending with it, changes everythingCollective effervescence and neurosynchronicity: why learning together in a state of shared wonder produces measurably better outcomesWhy teacher awe is contagious — and what that means for how we think about subject mastery and classroom cultureThe "small self" effect: how awe quiets cognitive chatter, restores perspective, and makes us more likely to help a strangerWhy human kindness and bravery — not nature — turn out to be the most common source of awe across culturesThe tension between awe and the structures of schooling: mystery vs. certainty, slow attention vs. coverage, wonder vs. testingWhy Montessori education may be quietly ahead of the curve as AI reshapes what schools need to doA real conversation about teenagers, art museums, and whether you can — or should — engineer awe for your kidsGuest Bio: Deborah Farmer Kris is a child development expert, educator, and author whose work explores the intersection of social-emotional learning, positive psychology, and how children grow. She writes regularly for PBS Kids and NPR's MindShift, and her Substack, Raising Awe-Seekers, brings the latest research on wonder and well-being directly to parents and educators. Her book on the science of awe and childhood is available now. Host Bio: Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of the Make It Mindful podcast. His work focuses on global learning, cultural competency, and the evolving role of technology in education. Through Banyan Global Learning, he develops live virtual learning experiences that connect students to people, places, and ideas around the world. Episode Links: Deborah Farmer Kris's website and resources: parenthood365.comRaising Awe-Seekers Substack: raisingaweseekers.substack.comDacher Keltner's awe research at UC Berkeley: https://greatergood.berkeley.eduEthan Cross, Author of Chatter and Shift: https://www.ethankross.com/Mary Oliver, "The Summer Day"The Good Whale podcast (New York Times)The Overstory by Richard Powers

    46 min
  4. #78 AI Is an Entry Point to a Much Deeper Conversation About Education with AIEdu's Christian Pinedo

    MAR 6

    #78 AI Is an Entry Point to a Much Deeper Conversation About Education with AIEdu's Christian Pinedo

    In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth Fleischauer welcomes Christian Pinedo of AIEDU to explore what artificial intelligence actually means for the future of education. Rather than focusing on tools or hype, the conversation digs into how AI is exposing deeper challenges in the education system—from outdated assessment models to the need for systemic change. Drawing on his experience at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI and now working directly with educators across the U.S., Pinedo argues that AI should not be treated as a technology problem but as an opportunity to rethink how schools prepare students for a rapidly changing world. Together, Seth and Christian explore how AI became “real” for educators with the arrival of large language models, why concerns about cheating are really conversations about assessment design, and how meaningful change requires both grassroots engagement with teachers and broader policy shifts at the state level. The episode highlights the importance of human-centered thinking, deeper professional learning for teachers, and the role of AI as a catalyst for broader educational transformation. Key Topics Discussed: How Christian Pinedo moved from classroom teaching to working at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI and eventually to AIEDU.Why large language models made AI suddenly real for educators after years of research and speculation.The concept of human-centered AI and why conversations about AI must include educators, policymakers, historians, and communities—not just technologists.Why teacher concerns about AI “cheating” are really conversations about assessment design in a digital world.The limits of focusing on AI tools instead of addressing deeper systemic challenges in education.AIEDU’s AI Readiness Framework, which outlines competencies for students, teachers, school leaders, and districts.Why sustainable education reform requires both grassroots engagement with teachers and grass-tops policy change at the state level.How AIEDU’s Teacher Trailblazers Fellowship creates deeper professional learning through multi-week, collaborative teacher cohorts.Real classroom projects emerging from the fellowship, including:Indigenous students exploring data sovereignty and AIStudents using AI to build a platform encouraging voter registration in rural communitiesThe difference between information and knowledge in the age of AI—and why friction in learning still matters.How international contexts change the conversation around AI in education, especially for English language learners and communities with different assumptions about privacy and data.Guest Bio: Christian Pinedo works with AIEDU to help schools and policymakers navigate the impact of artificial intelligence on education. A former classroom teacher, he previously worked at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), where he explored how AI intersects with society, policy, and education. His work now focuses on helping educators and school systems develop the skills, frameworks, and policies needed to prepare students for a future shaped by AI. Host Bio: Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of the Make It Mindful podcast. His work focuses on global learning, cultural competency, and the evolving role of technology in education. Through Banyan Global Learning, he develops live virtual learning experiences that connect students to people, places, and ideas around the world. Episode Links: AIEDU: https://aiedu.orgAIEDU Podcast – Raising Kids in the Age of AIStanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) - https://hai.stanford.edu/World Savvy

    45 min
  5. #77 Belonging Before Brilliance: Arts Integration, Wonderment, and Human-Centered Design with Ryan Nuckols-Rosa

    FEB 23

    #77 Belonging Before Brilliance: Arts Integration, Wonderment, and Human-Centered Design with Ryan Nuckols-Rosa

    Ryan Nuckolls-Rosa, Executive Director of Dramatic Results, joins Seth to talk about what it takes to build classrooms where students feel safe enough to create, collaborate, and think critically. They unpack “art scars,” why belonging is not a “nice-to-have,” and how arts integration and human-centered design can help students see themselves as problem-solvers early—especially in Title I contexts where time, space, and capacity are stretched thin. Along the way, Ryan explains Dramatic Results’ ecosystem approach (artists + community experts), why real STEAM work often requires slowing down, and how long-term partnerships with teachers shift what’s possible in the classroom. What this conversation gets into At the center of Ryan’s work is a practical claim: students don’t reliably take creative risks until the room feels emotionally safe—and that safety is built through routines, shared agreements, and adult modeling, not slogans. Seth connects this to his own experience watching a teacher reframe his son’s “mess” as creativity, and to the podcast’s broader focus on wonderment (and awe) as a driver of intrinsic motivation. Ryan also makes the case that design thinking (which Dramatic Results increasingly frames as human-centered design) isn’t just a student activity—it becomes an organizational operating system for identifying real needs, prototyping fast, and iterating without shame. Time-stamped highlights 00:00 — Who Ryan is; what Dramatic Results does; what this episode is about 01:58 — Early experiences: growing up in Asheville, identity, and seeking “bigger” worlds 04:14 — What a step team is (and why Ryan joined one) 06:21 — The through-line: belonging, curiosity, and interdisciplinary learning 09:18 — “Art scars”: early shaming moments that shrink creativity 11:41 — The sequencing Ryan believes matters: communication → collaboration → creativity → critical thinking 14:15 — Seth’s story: the art class moment that rewired his parenting assumptions 17:39 — How Dramatic Results supports teachers: modeling, relationship-building, and right-sizing expectations 21:27 — Concrete classroom moves: agenda visibility, shared agreements, co-designing space, and the sacred check-in 24:20 — Seth hears Responsive Classroom; Ryan clarifies STEAM vs arts integration 25:43 — Why true STEAM is hard alone; the ecosystem model and community experts 29:44 — Design thinking as human-centered design; prototyping as an anti-shame practice 33:42 — Lightning round: what Ryan is rethinking (the power of a single moment) 35:46 — Ryan’s media recommendation: Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez 37:54 — Funding uncertainty: could disruption force reinvention? 41:01 — What Ryan hopes educators remember: one person can matter more than they think 42:49 — Where to find Dramatic Results + connect with Ryan Mentions and references (from the conversation) - Dramatic Results - https://dramaticresults.org/- Power of Moments by Chip Heath - Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men — Caroline Criado Perez- Ryan Nuckolls-Rose on LinkedIn Guest Ryan Nuckolls-Rosa is the Executive Director of Dramatic Results, an arts education nonprofit based in Southern California. The organization partners with schools (often Title I), teaching artists, and community experts to build student belonging, collaboration, and creativity through arts integration, interdisciplinary learning, and human-centered design. HostSeth Fleischauer is the Founder of Banyan Global Learning—an international education company that designs and delivers live, interactive distance learning programs connecting students with new people, places, and ways of thinking.

    42 min
  6. #76 AI Is an Experiment: "Local Science" and Tech Hype Cycles with The Homework Machine's Justin Reich

    FEB 9

    #76 AI Is an Experiment: "Local Science" and Tech Hype Cycles with The Homework Machine's Justin Reich

    Justin Reich (MIT) on “local science,” AI hype cycles, and why schools need to do less. Justin Reich returns to the podcast with an “applied historian” lens: not dismissing generative AI as just another hype cycle, but insisting we treat early classroom uses as experiments—because history says our first instincts about new tech in schools are often wrong. We talk about what Reich learned while making the excellent podcast The Homework Machine (hundreds of teacher conversations, dozens of student interviews), why “policy” isn’t enough without social movements, and what educators can do right now while the research base lags behind practice. The throughline: experiment with humility, collect local evidence, share what you’re learning—and beware the trap of “efficiency” that just increases the amount of work schools try to do. A late pivot goes straight at the emotional core: if Justin had the power to “turn off” AI forever, would he? His answer is less about tools and more about what developing humans most need—time with their own thoughts, and time with each other. Key moments (approx.) 00:00 — Back on the show + Seth’s “homework” assignment: The Homework Machine 02:18 — “It is different… they’re all different”: tech revolutions and the education pattern that repeats 06:47 — Tech won’t solve inequality; social movements change norms, politics, and resource distribution 09:05 — The web literacy cautionary tale: 25 years of teaching the wrong methods 11:19 — “Local science”: teach as experimentation, then look hard for evidence it helped 15:11 — When there’s no historical control: talk to students, use “Looking at Student Work” protocols 18:49 — Why “big science” takes so long—and why expert practice has to exist before we can teach it 20:45 — The “copilot” problem: even elite engineers don’t yet know how to train novices well 32:46 — What’s likely to happen: business incentives degrade “consumer” tools schools rely on 35:06 — “Subtraction in Action”: schools are maxed out; improvement often requires doing less 38:57 — Listener question: if he could turn off AI, would he? 40:33 — The case for schools as a refuge from attention-harvesting tech: boredom, thought, and people Themes you’ll hear recur Reich draws a sharp line between healthy teacher experimentation and premature system-wide adoption. He argues schools can run experiments, but they should label them as experiments, gather some evidence (even simple comparisons), and share results—because otherwise we risk repeating the web-literacy story: good-faith instruction that felt right, wasn’t obviously failing day-to-day, and later turned out to be counterproductive. He also pushes against the fantasy that AI will “solve” structural problems (inequality, overburdened systems, disengagement) without political and social work. And he returns to a point that’s easy to miss in the AI noise: when systems get “more efficient,” they often don’t get simpler—they just try to do more. Links mentioned TeachLab Presents: The Homework Machine (TeachLab) — https://www.teachlabpodcast.com/ MIT Teaching Systems Lab — https://tsl.mit.edu/ A Guide to AI in Schools: Perspectives for the Perplexed (TSL guidebook page) — https://tsl.mit.edu/ai-guidebook/ Teacher Moments (digital clinical simulations) — https://tsl.mit.edu/practice_space/teacher-moments/ National Tutoring Observatory — https://nationaltutoringobservatory.org/ Closing thought If you’re waiting for definitive answers about “best practice,” this episode is a reality check: we’re early, the expert playbooks are still being invented, and schools can’t afford to improvise at scale. But you can run local experiments with honesty, protect what already works, and prioritize the rare thing schools can uniquely give students now: space away from the machines—space for thinking, writing, and relationship. Support for Make It Mindful is brought to you by Banyan Global Learning, creating live, human-centered global learning experiences that help students use language in real contexts—through virtual field trips and international collaborations.

    47 min
  7. #75 Systems Thinking for Clinical Impact with Karen Dudek-Brannan

    JAN 26

    #75 Systems Thinking for Clinical Impact with Karen Dudek-Brannan

    What happens when the “direct service” model—pull-out support, isolated practice, and heroic effort—doesn’t translate into real independence for students in real classrooms? In this episode, Seth Fleischauer is joined again by Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan—speech-language pathologist, executive functioning specialist, and host of the De Facto Leaders podcast—to talk about what breaks down when clinicians become the bottleneck, why generalization fails (especially with EF and social “read the room” skills), and how to build systems that scale beyond one specialist’s calendar. Karen’s core argument is simple: even if schools had more money and more staff, direct sessions alone can’t carry the full weight of the cognitive + language demands students face. The answer isn’t “do more.” It’s design repeatable routines, simplify what works, and make it transferable—first to teachers, then to whole-building practices. We dig into: Why executive functioning doesn’t generalize well from isolated support sessions into classrooms—especially “soft skills” like social executive functioning and real-time feedback loops.The clinical decision-making bottleneck: how highly skilled clinicians unintentionally make themselves irreplaceable (and exhausted) by re-inventing everything.Why burnout often isn’t about being busy—it’s about not feeling effective (and why “self-care as escape” doesn’t fix the core problem).Karen’s idea of “clinical containers”: a way to organize EF and language work so you can iterate without chaos, and document without pretending your system is “finished.”Change management in schools: don’t go nuclear. Build a minimum viable version, pilot with willing partners, and scale through phased rollout.The practical reality: teachers don’t need “one more thing.” They need support that fits existing workflows and solves problems in their language, not yours.Lightning round Karen shares what she’s rethinking right now: micromanaging vs. scaffolding (when are you over-controlling, and when are you responsibly building capacity?).Her comfort-watch recommendation—surprisingly relevant to public-sector life: Parks and Recreation.We also surface a leadership tool Seth has been leaning on: The Coaching Habit (the “ask more, tell less” approach). (Leadership Foundations)One actionable starting point (Karen’s): If you want to shift from “I can’t possibly do building-wide influence” to actually moving the system: Create a non-negotiable block of weekly time to build the solution. The content of that block can change, but the container has to exist first. Links and resources mentioned Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan — main site + leadership resources (drkarendudekbrannan.com)De Facto Leaders podcast (De Facto Leaders)Dr. Karen Speech — language therapy + “containers” training (Dr. Karen Speech and Language)The Coaching Habit (Michael Bungay Stanier) – 7 questions framework (Leadership Foundations)Prior Make It Mindful context: Episode 50 with Karen (Executive Functioning Part 2) + Part 1 with Mitch Weathers (Organized Binder)Organized Binder (Mitch Weathers) (Organized Binder)Guest Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan is a speech-language pathologist and executive functioning specialist who helps clinicians and school teams build sustainable systems that improve transfer, reduce bottlenecks, and increase impact across the school day. (Dr. Karen Speech and Language) About the sponsor Support for Make It Mindful is brought to you by Banyan Global Learning, creating live, human-centered global learning experiences that help students use language in real contexts—through virtual field trips and international collaborations. If this episode moved you, share it with a colleague who’s stuck in the “we’re doing so much but nothing is sticking” problem—and leave a rating or review.

    41 min
5
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

Make It Mindful: Insights for Global Learning is a podcast for globally minded educators who want deep, long-form conversations about how teaching and learning are changing — and what to do about it. Hosted by former classroom teacher and Banyan Global Learning founder Seth Fleischauer, the show explores how people, cultures, technologies, cognitive processes, and school systems shape what happens in classrooms around the world. Each long-form episode looks closely at the conditions that help students and educators thrive — from executive functioning and identity development to virtual learning, multilingual education, global competence, and the rise of AI. Seth talks with teachers, researchers, psychologists, and school leaders who look closely at how students understand themselves, build relationships, and develop the capacities that underlie deep learning — skills like perspective-taking, communication, and global competence that are essential for navigating an interconnected world. These conversations surface the kinds of cross-cultural experiences and hard-to-measure abilities that shape real achievement. Together, they consider how to integrate new technologies in ways that strengthen—not replace—the human center of learning. The result is a set of ideas, stories, and practical strategies educators can apply to help students succeed in a complex and fast-changing world.