Latest / Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast / Buff Nuggets: Creative Sparks and EdTech Shenanigans with Brian Buffington

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Buff Nuggets: Creative Sparks and EdTech Shenanigans with Brian Buffington · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Integrate This, your go -to EdTech
• 0:03
  podcast where curiosity meets classroom innovation.
• 0:07
  Join your hosts, David Berner and Jeremy Mikla,
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  as we explore the rapidly evolving world of educational
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  technology. From game -changing tools to insightful
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  conversations with today's top EdTech voices,
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  we're here to help educators stay informed, inspired,
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  and ready to innovate. So tune in, level up,
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  and let's integrate this. Welcome to the Integrate
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  This Ed Tech podcast. I'm your host Jeremy Micklin.
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  I'm joined by co -host David Berner, as always,
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  and dancing to the little tunes that we had in
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  the intro. extremely happy to be joined here
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  today with Brian Buffington who is definitely
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  an energetic spirit. I think that's maybe a mild
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  way of putting it and so I think we're gonna
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  have a great conversation here today and we want
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  to get things started here on the right note
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  and and by Brian you know one of the things that
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  we do is we like to let the guests tell a little
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  bit of their own story. how their roles in education
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  have progressed a little bit to the spot in Ed
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  Tech where they are right now. So what brought
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  you to that point? Was it an itch you were scratching
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  or did it slowly evolve into that spot? Hey,
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  I'll tell you, man. For one, thank you so much
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  for having me on your show. I've never been on
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  a show that had an intro that nice. And then
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  it really did like I was dancing because it's
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  not it was unusual and it was it made me happy.
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  So if I'm wrong David was that some AI generated
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  thing or did that come right from? I think that
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  was I think that was just from our editing thing.
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  OK, it had two people. I think there's people
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  in the pictures. Those are you guys right? Those
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  were us. Oh yeah yeah they were alright well.
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  First of all, I will tell the origin story, but
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  I need to explain where I'm at. So this is basement
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  day buff. Basement, I think, yeah, I think I
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  did my Spanish right. We're currently having
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  some things happening upstairs, some repairs.
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  So I got kicked out and I'm down here. So this
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  is where I can store all my cool t -shirts and
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  stuff, but it's a hot mess. And so, yeah, just.
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  just so you know. You look like you're celebrating
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  maybe a victory of a two years. Okay, okay. Anytime
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  the Dolphins can beat the Bills, I'm going all
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  out, man. I'm just, yes. It's a rare occasion.
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  My son and I are big Dolphins fans. The wife
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  and my daughter are also big fans. But yeah,
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  we're super fans. We lose sleep sometimes. So
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  yeah, we're pumped up about this. I get how that
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  goes to here and I know we're getting to your
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  story, but I live in Minnesota. I grew up in
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  Wisconsin, so I'm a big Packer fan, so I'm waiting
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  for the Monday night game against the Eagles
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  tonight to be a great game. Yeah, but I'm kind
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  of lose sleep over that a little bit too and
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  start stressing about it. Need to have zero control
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  over it and I know that, but it's irrational.
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  Yeah, I don't know why we do these things, but
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  we just do. We're just fans. It's crazy. Origin
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  story. So I did teach middle school science.
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  To make a story, a very long story short, I dabbled
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  in a few different majors in college, figured
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  out I couldn't pass ear training. I'm a musician,
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  but I couldn't pass the ear training part. I
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  like business, entrepreneurship. I had a hard
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  time with some of the upper math classes. And
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  then I just figured I was like, hey, I could
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  probably pass middle school math. I think I could
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  teach middle school. This might be where I can
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  do it. And so I was like, I bet I can have enough
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  brain to do that. And so I went into college
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  to study middle school education. I was on the
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  five and a half year plan for the four year degree.
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  Very expensive way to find yourself, by the way.
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  I don't know. Anyways, let's move on now. Um
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  I started teaching middle school science and
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  I had someone who gave a rip about me. I don't
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  know if you ever had somebody in your life who
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  gave a rip about you and it was my principal
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  and he I'm pretty certain he saw me struggling
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  because I was but he knew that I I had um you
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  know, I had some chops with technology Not like
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  I was like some whiz whiz kid or anything like
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  that But I just like technology as a teacher
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  and I thought it oh by the way I was the guy
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  who brought my own wireless router to the classroom
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  Like this is before we had Wi -Fi in the rooms
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  So I brought my own and I'm pretty sure that
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  would get you fired these days but I am so yeah,
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  I mean we have Wi -Fi my room it was awesome
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  and We oh he came up to me one day my principal
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  came up to me and said hey, we've got some funding
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  and Would you like to buy some tech for your
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  classroom? We bought these science probes. It
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  looks like a huge ti -83 thing and you hook it
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  up to different sensors and you got the kids
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  right skateboards down the hallway and different
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  and they would come back and they would hook
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  it up to a computer about that thick and We would
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  we just we just had fun made a lot of noise And
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  word got out that, you know, Brian's make a lot
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  of noise. And then he gave me an opportunity,
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  he said, because I lived in it, I was in a district
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  that had a few other middle schools. And so he
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  said, Brian, there's probably other middle schools
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  who might like to hear about this kind of stuff.
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  Would you like to go present at this thing? And
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  I said, sure, I'll do that. And the feedback
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  I got was this. And this is what got me to where
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  I am. The feedback was, you know, Brian, that
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  wasn't that bad. And in the world of PD, that's
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  like a high, high praise. Those folks have been
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  to some bad, bad, bad PD. So the bar is very,
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  very low for all of us here. And I figured I
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  could do something with that and really try to
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  make professional development or professional
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  learning, whatever you call it in Minnesota,
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  exceptionally awesome, experiential, and Just
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  trying not to do the status quo every time. And
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  so I just went all in. I liked it. I went all
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  in. Started working at a place kind of like what
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  you guys work at, a co -op. Yep. Yep. We're both
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  in different co -ops in parts of the state of
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  Minnesota. So yeah. Yep. Yep. And I worked at
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  a co -op for 15 years. Served 15 school systems.
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  About 70 ,000 students in those school systems.
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  And now I did that for a long time and decided
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  to take buff nuggets on the road and see if anybody
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  else across the country would care about what
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  I had to say about technology. And it seems like
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  they do because I've been on a plane a lot. Yeah.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Just from following some of your
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  newsletters and things, it seems like you're
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  on the road quite often. I know you and I had
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  a chance to chat on the phone as we were trying
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  to set up a time to meet here. And I know you
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  were talking to me about a story about being
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  in Michigan for the first time, and I know you
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  had some issues with transportation while you
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  were there. Is there a story there worth sharing?
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  It is. It's actually something that's never happened
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  to me before, and this is very much kind of part
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  of that mantra of just being open to the unknown.
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  I have an agenda, so by the way, when I go places,
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  I have an agenda, I have an outline, whatever,
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  but there's there is a lot of Opportunity to
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  just like not follow everything in the outline
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  based on the audience and based on the vibe so
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  Yes, I my first gig in Michigan. I was able to
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  work with their co -op in Marquette, which is
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  the Upper Peninsula they call themselves the
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  youpers which users brand new for me and I flew
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  in this airport, you know, and I fly all different
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  kinds of airports, big, small, it's fine, no
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  big deals. And I was like, you know what, I'll
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  just get a, I'll get a rental there, a rental
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  car or Uber. Well, this is one of those places
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  where I should have really thought about this
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  because it was Sunday. All the rentals are taken.
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  It's a very small airport. There are no Ubers.
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  The taxi cab will answer the call. There's only
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  one taxi company in this small town. The city
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  bus isn't running none of that stuff So I saw
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  the last the last man at the rental can counter
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  with keys in his hands So I went up to him with
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  my guitar. I look I just I look like some like
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  like just some chomp. They're just like Suffering
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  and he and I said, hey, hey mister mister Can
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  you can you give me a ride to the city and he
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  looked at me? He said man, you don't look to
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  you just said he said says you look pretty harmless
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  Sure. Come on And so I complete stranger, complete
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  stranger. Don't know this man. He was there for
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  a taser conference. So he probably had probably
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  he had things to take care of me if I was not
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  behaving. And so he gave me a ride and that's
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  and that's a testament to just the goodness and
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  people all around us. But we don't hear it a
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  lot because of the noise of all the bad things.
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  And I think it's more good than bad. It's just
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  we just we only hear the bad I think a lot of
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  times. So that's that's the whole side nugget
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  everybody there's love there's there's great
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  things in communities all around man big cities,
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  small cities. There's good stuff. So Brian that
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  the thing I'm wondering is with your journey
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  from different positions and kind of now where
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  you're you're doing some consulting things on
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  your own. What is your personal views about how
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  tech has shifted, like, just given your own timeline,
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  and how, you know, you had mentioned, like, you
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  use technology early on, and started to integrate
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  that and people noticed that. And then you'd
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  shared out from there. So thinking about ed tech,
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  what what has changed like over the course of
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  that time for you? My, my first gig really, when
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  I was a professional ed tech person, was to train
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  people how to use a smart board and And so I
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  got in front of the room I didn't bring any candy
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  and they they told me in the feedback. They were
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  pretty upset about it But I got in front of the
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  room. I had my corduroy jacket on and I was like
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  I am the keeper of information I know everything
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  about the smart board and I got up there and
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  it's like this is how you turn it on And this
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  is how you do this and this is you know, and
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  I I showed them And after I was done, we left
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  and went home and got to hang out with my family
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  and that was a day of work, right? I know some
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  of that training still exists where we show people
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  how to use a certain tool like hardware and things
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  like that. But I think now it's much more, we
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  need it much more personalized now. Maybe that's
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  what I'm getting at. I think there's just so
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  much, so many opportunities. It's like, I don't
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  know. I don't know. I'm having a hard time with
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  words here for a second. I know that's hard to
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  believe. But I just don't do a lot of that anymore.
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  I don't know. Just don't do a lot of that kind
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  of training anymore. You know, I'm doing a lot
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  of a lot more like inspiration like I am. I like,
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  you know, my newsletter is called Buff Nuggets.
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  And so I'm giving people you know, things that
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  are actionable that they can use, but also some
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  things that are generic enough or people just
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  run with it. I mean, all the tools that we have
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  now, especially all the AI tools, if you've got
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  creativity in your brain, which a lot of educators
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  work with, like the most creative people I know,
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  and you have experiences, you can combine your
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  creativity and your experiences and then like
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  make the coolest stuff like because we have the
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  tools now. And so it's like is game on for creatives.
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  It is. And educators again. are having a ball
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  with this. And so I'm really, I feel like it's
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  just such a hard job. Like I'm there, I'm just
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  trying to, for one, have some empathy that their
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  world and educators' world is very, very hard.
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  I need to find something that will actually help
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  you in the most humble way I can. And also respect
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  that you come today to my training because it's
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  different Training on how to use a smart board
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  days. Those are different than the days now.
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  I'll just say that which is very very different
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  a lot of different stressors Complications, so
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  I'm really I'm really trying to throw a mini
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  party in the most like way I can when I see people
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  I want to celebrate celebrate the good things
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  making people feel good or bringing a guitar,
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  you know, I got people coming on stage wearing
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  shark hats and we're learning about I mean, I
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  don't know, it's just like. I'm trying to practice
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  what I preach a little bit more. And make things.
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  We expect teachers to be experiential in the
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  classroom. I'm trying to make professional development
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  experiential too. It's modeling piece of it.
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  I think if you want to be able to. in part upon
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  teachers that this is how you should be with
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  your kids in the classroom, then we in professional
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  development need to kind of model some of that
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  with the teachers as our students too. Yeah,
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  yeah. And by the way, I've seen that feedback
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  before. I've been doing this a long time. It's
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  like, oh, yeah. Or they're talking about somebody
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  else. They're like, well, that person wants us
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  to do this, but they do this. We get to sit in
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  our chairs all day and we don't do anything.
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  You know two hours of the slideshow. Oh, I was
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  just saying like the That the thing that you
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  mentioned that stuck out to me a little bit was
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  the fact that The way that are all the tools
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  that we have available to us now Teachers can
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  essentially choose whatever direction they want
• 14:57
  to go in that fits them because there are so
• 14:59
  many creative tools Available to them. Would
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  you agree with that? Like that's kind of what
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  you're getting at the Yeah, and I know that kind
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  of makes Every district wants to handle that
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  differently. So it makes some people uneasy.
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  We want because we need vetting. We don't we
• 15:13
  can't have student data leaking out to bad places.
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  And so there are tons of tools, but yeah, just
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  some. Some opera, I mean, that's we all want.
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  Don't we want that? Don't you want that? You
• 15:27
  want autonomy? Not a one size fits all approach.
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  And so that's what. That's what they're asking
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  for our new teacher students. We're asking they're
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  asking teachers to personalize content and and
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  do all these things. So I mean, I get it like
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  there are some tools like, you know, sometimes
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  there are some tools and and instructional practices
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  that everybody needs to know. That's fine. But
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  I think I kind of like the art and the science
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  of the craft. There's the pedagogy, there's some
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  of the stuff that's the science behind the teaching
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  and research -based and we know what it works,
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  but I think it's the skilled teacher who's able
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  to find the creative way to take that knowledge
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  that they have and then turn it into the craft
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  that is their teaching. Yes, and we desperately
• 16:20
  need it. Thank you. You you worded it. So right.
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  I am I have this poster I'm at my laptop on a
• 16:27
  pleasant shirts to you know, I'll just show a
• 16:29
  shirt one second. So this one says work your
• 16:31
  quirk You know very very much so right yeah,
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  do you think if you're working your quirk is
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  that Here's something that I had thought about
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  a long time ago when I was still in the classroom.
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  And it was, and I had gone out for an evening
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  with some friends of mine who are not teachers.
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  And I have this persona of myself that when I'm
• 16:55
  out there with my friends, that's different than
• 16:58
  the persona of myself when I'm in the classroom
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  with kids. And it's not just about appropriateness,
• 17:04
  but it's just like I act one way with my friends.
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  I act a different way when I'm in front of the
• 17:09
  kids. And I felt like it's much more zany, much
• 17:12
  more dad -jokey when I was in front of the kids.
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  And I didn't necessarily see that as being like,
• 17:20
  I'm being fake in one group and not the you know,
• 17:24
  for one group and the other one, I'm being my
• 17:25
  authentic self. I think they were both like authentically
• 17:29
  me. Yeah, but I just my audiences were different.
• 17:33
  So I behave differently. It doesn't make any
• 17:35
  sense. And that maybe that works towards what
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  you were at what you had on your shirt. Yeah,
• 17:40
  you got to read the room. Six, seven, right?
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  I mean, I mean, is that a thing? Yes, I will
• 17:45
  say this who has brought up six, seven on our
• 17:47
  show. Nice job. Okay, good. Is that what on the
• 17:49
  bingo card Brian? Yeah, right. Yep. Okay, cool
• 17:52
  You know the work the work your court thing is
• 17:56
  I mean It just means different things to different
• 17:57
  people and you you and it kind of stemmed from
• 17:59
  the thing You just said a second ago about we
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  all have this, you know pedagogy sense We all
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  we have the basics. We all need to be doing what
• 18:06
  we need to be doing but our authentic self is
• 18:10
  the reason We're not replaced by automation and
• 18:16
  AI You know, that's like, you know if we're just
• 18:21
  programmable and we're all doing kind of the
• 18:24
  same thing then just just make a buff bot and
• 18:29
  You know, let's get on with life, you know, I
• 18:32
  am in my favorite favorite teachers are the ones
• 18:35
  who? didn't mind Giving a little like letting
• 18:40
  us into their world just I mean it can't be everything
• 18:43
  we could still be authentic with their adult
• 18:46
  friends and with They're students, you know,
• 18:49
  they can have the same conversations in the same
• 18:51
  room, usually same rooms, but you still give
• 18:54
  me something that's authentic and real and that
• 18:57
  differentiates you from the other other educators
• 19:00
  down the hall, you know, because we all and also
• 19:04
  students, we we I'm still a student. We all we
• 19:09
  all connect with people differently and we all
• 19:11
  need like we just we I just I know I hear my
• 19:14
  community here in northeast Georgia. there's
• 19:16
  students who don't connect with certain teachers,
• 19:18
  but some students do connect with those teachers,
• 19:21
  but vice versa. There's just like, we need all
• 19:22
  of us and we're all working our quirks and where
• 19:25
  every student needs, you know, they need some
• 19:31
  kind of connection to an adult. That's a whole,
• 19:33
  that's like, that's a whole other thing about
• 19:34
  like student safety and mental health too. But
• 19:38
  yeah. So Brian, can you unpack some of the nuggets
• 19:46
  for us? The you got, you know, buff nuggets.
• 19:52
  Maybe we could just start with like the rebate
• 19:54
  rebranding challenging classroom situation, the
• 19:57
  silly goose caboose. Can you talk a little bit
• 19:58
  about that? Maybe even get into some others as
• 20:00
  well. You know what? OK, so I write a lot. You
• 20:07
  know, I have my newsletter and you're listening.
• 20:08
  I would love to have you sign up. I'm sure it'll
• 20:10
  be in the in the. show notes, but it's called
• 20:13
  buff nuggets and usually do three to five actionable
• 20:16
  or inspiring tidbits, which I call nuggets. And
• 20:22
  I think the silly boost, the silly goose caboose
• 20:26
  came from, it may have been from my wife, man,
• 20:28
  I'm saying I have so many nuggets, I, I need
• 20:31
  to put them in notebook LM, and have the yeah,
• 20:35
  notebook LM, just so I can have a catalog and
• 20:38
  have them organized, I can because I can't remember
• 20:40
  all the nuggets. But My wife was telling me this,
• 20:44
  and sometimes we just overcomplicate things with
• 20:47
  tech or whatever. She said that nobody wants
• 20:52
  to be in the back of the line, okay? No, she
• 20:56
  taught preschool. So nobody wants to be in the
• 20:58
  back of the line. Everybody wants to be where?
• 21:01
  In the front. And so... My wife's a very creative
• 21:04
  person. Her empathy level's way up here. I mean,
• 21:07
  it really is a superpower. And I get to just
• 21:10
  be in her world sometimes. It's awesome. But
• 21:13
  she told me about the silly, she said, I just
• 21:16
  simply, this is all she did. I had the kids freaking
• 21:19
  out. They're in the back of the line every time.
• 21:22
  And we just said, you could be in the caboose.
• 21:24
  I don't wanna be in the caboose. The caboose
• 21:27
  stinks. And just that kind of stuff. And she
• 21:29
  goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. you get to
• 21:31
  be the silly goose caboose, way different. And
• 21:37
  then I think she had like maybe a dance with
• 21:39
  it or something that goes, you could be the silly
• 21:41
  goose caboose. And to a preschooler, that's like,
• 21:44
  no brainer, I'm gonna be the silly goose caboose.
• 21:47
  That's way cooler. And so... Just one of those
• 21:52
  little things though, you reframe it in such
• 21:54
  a way and it becomes now, you know, something
• 21:57
  that was giving you a headache to something now
• 21:58
  that is becoming... like second nature to you,
• 22:02
  you know, it makes me think of all the little
• 22:04
  things around like the we have these complications
• 22:07
  in our classroom or in our houses or even like
• 22:11
  in our culture and world. It's like, is there
• 22:14
  something more like a one little thing that we
• 22:16
  could do that would fix everything? Or there
• 22:20
  was something that just kind of made me. Oh,
• 22:24
  here's here's the one. OK. We're talking about
• 22:28
  classroom management. I think that's what one
• 22:29
  of you guys mentioned. I think Jeremy or David,
• 22:31
  David, this is what this stems from, right? Classroom
• 22:33
  management. How do you deal with things? Well,
• 22:35
  in Georgia, they just said, you know what? Maybe
• 22:40
  students shouldn't have phones in the classroom.
• 22:44
  Maybe they should. It's 2025. And I'm sure this
• 22:49
  is like in -depth research, conversations, data.
• 22:53
  Uh, whatever, you know, meetings, thousands of
• 22:57
  people, hours, hundreds of thousands of dollars,
• 23:00
  whatever. And they said, no, we're going to,
• 23:03
  we're going to say, no, no phones. Um, I think
• 23:05
  middle school, high school, you can't have them
• 23:07
  out during the day. You got to keep your bag
• 23:09
  or whatever. So the overwhelming response, 99
• 23:15
  .9 % of the people I ever talked to about this
• 23:18
  stuff, they're like, why did we wait? to 2025.
• 23:25
  Like this, just just the onslaught of complications
• 23:30
  that this brings in the classroom is not worth.
• 23:34
  It's just not worth it. Like, it's like, uh,
• 23:36
  why did again, you know, when phones came out,
• 23:41
  it's like, Oh, hey, you know, we're doing, um,
• 23:42
  what's the, what's the word? Uh, when you wanted
• 23:44
  tech in the classroom and it first started, it's,
• 23:47
  uh, bring your own tech B Y O T. Yeah. school
• 23:51
  system. You know, BYO too, baby. Look at my school
• 23:54
  system. We're rocking and um and it it was kind
• 23:58
  of it's it's cool. It had some um it it looked
• 24:01
  good on paper. Um you know, there were some teachers
• 24:04
  who could do it well and they kind of figured
• 24:05
  it out also before you know, before six, seven
• 24:09
  and TikTok maybe. I don't know but then it just
• 24:12
  got nasty. You, I mean, I'm guessing Minnesota
• 24:14
  you guys have some similar issues where the pros
• 24:19
  of having students have their phones in the classroom
• 24:21
  do not outweigh the cons. Yeah and and that's
• 24:25
  I think you know like Georgia sounds like it's
• 24:28
  a state where it was kind of mandated by either
• 24:31
  the the Department of Ed or by the legislature
• 24:34
  whomever right but in Minnesota it's much more
• 24:37
  by individual district and I think we have and
• 24:40
  and I think David in your area you've experienced
• 24:42
  the same things. Gone into effect. I mean, now
• 24:48
  that's the norm. Yeah, there's a lot. They're
• 24:51
  scaling back now. Yeah. And I don't know if I
• 24:56
  think it's a state thing. I lived in Georgia.
• 24:58
  I think it's a state thing. I know. I know some
• 25:00
  states have mandated it legislatively like Kentucky.
• 25:03
  I was just I get to work in Kentucky. Some think
• 25:05
  Texas. Texas is a big state. I'm pretty sure
• 25:08
  they just said, you know, we're not doing that
• 25:10
  anymore. So these are states who usually are
• 25:14
  very, you know, like we talk about, you know,
• 25:17
  everybody has freedom to do what they want in
• 25:18
  their district, whatever they said. This one,
• 25:20
  you know, we want to be involved with. So as
• 25:23
  far as some other things that you mentioned too
• 25:27
  is that I teach things that can't be Googled.
• 25:31
  What would those things be? I'm glad you asked,
• 25:35
  David. Well, let's do this. I'll turn around.
• 25:42
  What do you think it means? Jeremy, David, what
• 25:45
  is something, maybe a specific thing that can't
• 25:50
  be Googled? And then I'll tell you. Let's go.
• 25:56
  I think it's something that requires some sort
• 25:59
  of opportunity for a student to add their own
• 26:05
  personal experiences into the comparison to a
• 26:10
  similar situation. Right to be able to draw an
• 26:14
  analogy based upon those those life those life
• 26:17
  lessons that they've learned themselves So I
• 26:20
  heard a little bit of synthesizing there. I think
• 26:22
  if I got that right we take this Okay. Okay.
• 26:26
  What do we get mine? Mine would just be anything
• 26:28
  I would say anything that requires human connection,
• 26:31
  right? Like if we if When you're having conversations
• 26:35
  with people, I mean those are things that can't
• 26:37
  be Google and now we have AI AI can mimic conversations,
• 26:42
  but it's not actual real conversations like we're
• 26:44
  having or like Jeremy and I have regularly. It's
• 26:48
  kind of goes back to our conference we recently
• 26:50
  attended, but human connection, I would say it
• 26:52
  would be a lot to do with what can't be Google.
• 26:56
  You know, there's no really wrong answer there.
• 26:59
  But I mean, I think both of you are saying things
• 27:02
  that I think can't be Google. To simplify things,
• 27:06
  I do look at the World Economic Forum survey
• 27:12
  on top skills that employers want. Okay, this
• 27:18
  simplifies things for this conversation. So the
• 27:22
  World Economic Forum, they give out a survey
• 27:24
  to major employers and they ask them what skills
• 27:27
  you actually want your employees to have. Number
• 27:32
  one is gonna be usually something about analytical
• 27:37
  thinking. It's not, I mean, now it's not something
• 27:41
  that can be Googled necessarily, but it's, but
• 27:46
  we also, AI is pretty good at analyzing things.
• 27:48
  It's pretty crazy good at it. But then also on
• 27:51
  the list is creative thinking, empathy, empathy
• 27:58
  is on the list of something that I mean, and
• 28:01
  to me, that's something that I can't, I mean,
• 28:03
  sure Google empathy, but that's, I mean, how
• 28:05
  much value does that have? But really when I'm
• 28:08
  talking about things that can't be googled, it
• 28:10
  is inspiring to educators because we know that's
• 28:12
  the most valuable things happening in our classrooms
• 28:15
  because the value of information has gotten.
• 28:18
  This is the keynote I just did in South Carolina.
• 28:20
  I've been working on it and revising it and trying
• 28:22
  to make it stick even better. I've been thinking
• 28:26
  about the progression of information, how we've
• 28:29
  been able to obtain information starting from
• 28:31
  the beginning where people just orally gave somebody
• 28:34
  information through talking. then maybe someone
• 28:37
  rode on a cave or whatever. And now we have so
• 28:43
  much information, Google information, that the
• 28:45
  value of information is actually very cheap.
• 28:49
  It's just not valued. And it's more so now about
• 28:53
  what do you do with information? And how do you
• 28:57
  make people feel? How can you take AI? And you
• 29:03
  hinted at this, Jeremy. How can you take AI?
• 29:07
  Because the top thing teachers talk about when
• 29:09
  they say what what why do you like AI? It saves
• 29:11
  me time ding ding ding ding. That's the top one
• 29:15
  What are you gonna do with that time? Well, I
• 29:19
  don't take a nap. I'm tired in a blanket in the
• 29:23
  closet in my classroom exhausted teacher. Yes,
• 29:26
  but But usually it comes out, you know, if I
• 29:31
  had time I probably wouldn't do something mundane
• 29:33
  or something that could even be cranked out with
• 29:36
  AI, because AI does pretty good with data analyzing,
• 29:40
  things like that, too. I want to do something
• 29:42
  only I can do, that would require a human. So
• 29:47
  that might be having a one -on -one conversation
• 29:50
  with a student. That might be making that hard
• 29:52
  phone call. That might be creating maybe... creating
• 29:57
  something with AIs such as one of my top demos
• 30:02
  I'm doing with people now is we're creating live
• 30:05
  skits about classroom culture, and we do it live
• 30:10
  right there in the audience, and I'm having people
• 30:12
  give me ideas for it. For instance, we're talking
• 30:17
  about conflict resolution, and I'm like, conflict
• 30:22
  resolution, teacher workroom, David Stoll. from
• 30:27
  the local mexican r some gin alpha slang refe
• 30:34
  lyrics and two minutes m have a skit and we do
• 30:41
  it on the stage and by doing involved. They're
• 30:45
  actua things are on stage. They hard. They're
• 30:49
  like they're But then probably the very best
• 30:56
  thing is I have an audience who is so engaged
• 31:00
  because those are peers, and they're doing something
• 31:05
  that's not digital. We use digital to make something
• 31:09
  not digital. And that's what I'm after. Those
• 31:12
  are things that can't be Googled to me. It's
• 31:14
  like creating experiences, making people feel.
• 31:18
  And a lot of the convocations I'm doing lately,
• 31:21
  when people have me kick off the year, It's like,
• 31:23
  why come to class? Yeah. Why come to class? Because
• 31:28
  if it could have been an email, if it could have
• 31:30
  been a slideshow, if you could put it in Google
• 31:32
  Classroom, maybe I just don't go to class because
• 31:35
  it ain't worth it. So you touched on some of
• 31:39
  the, you know, you kind of brought up, I think
• 31:41
  some of the, I think some of the initial fears
• 31:44
  that a lot of educators that we talk to face
• 31:46
  about using AI, you know, is definitely, you
• 31:50
  know, It seems like to many of them, it is something
• 31:55
  they don't want to touch. They want to ignore.
• 31:58
  Maybe the problem will go away if they just kind
• 32:00
  of keep forgetting about it. But it doesn't.
• 32:03
  And I think we know that. But I think when you
• 32:05
  present it to a group of people that are maybe
• 32:09
  feeling anxious about it in such a way that you
• 32:11
  just described, where you are showing them how
• 32:15
  it can be used to generate some creativity and
• 32:18
  it places them in the in the roles, right, which
• 32:22
  then they start to gain empathy, which you talked
• 32:26
  about as one of those skills that employers,
• 32:27
  of course, are looking for. I think you've just
• 32:29
  lowered that threshold. You've just made it easier
• 32:32
  for people to, I'm not saying climb the bandwagon
• 32:35
  and become, you know, the greatest AI advocates,
• 32:38
  but at least they're going to be much more open
• 32:42
  to it. You know, I'm going to take you on toward,
• 32:46
  Jeremy, because you say things in a way that
• 32:47
  I don't, I can't convey in words sometimes, The
• 32:52
  best one of the best compliments I can ever get
• 32:54
  from somebody at one of my events is I was I
• 32:59
  was really I was hesitant about this I was anxious
• 33:01
  about this and You put it in a way that that
• 33:04
  made me feel like I could be at the steering
• 33:05
  wheel And I can use this and not lose lose myself.
• 33:10
  I could do this not lose my soul. Mm -hmm So
• 33:13
  let me let me ask this then about AI as well
• 33:16
  since we're just kind of on that that topic here
• 33:18
  for another minute or two, but are there things
• 33:22
  when you discuss AI with educators that you present
• 33:25
  to them as being non -negotiable? You know, those
• 33:29
  things that I don't really want to have a debate
• 33:33
  about it because when it comes to the role of
• 33:35
  AI in education, this should be the way that
• 33:37
  it is. Like for example, you know, I hear a lot
• 33:39
  of people saying human centered or human in the
• 33:41
  loop, you know, as a non -negotiable thing. Are
• 33:44
  there any others that you think you would be
• 33:47
  something that, you know, it's just, we have
• 33:50
  to accept that that's the way it is. I think
• 33:53
  it's non -negotiable that we have to help our,
• 34:00
  at least our high school students have AI skills
• 34:05
  before they leave us. Now I know people aren't,
• 34:09
  there's a lot of school systems who aren't doing
• 34:11
  that. And I... I mean, I'm a dad. I've got a
• 34:20
  college student, freshman. So we have lots of
• 34:22
  conversations about all this stuff. And I have
• 34:24
  a freshman in high school. And he received no
• 34:31
  formal training on AI as a senior in high school.
• 34:35
  And it just kind of made me think, you know,
• 34:38
  other than don't do it. So I think And every
• 34:46
  school system's different. Every state's different.
• 34:48
  There's mandates from the state districts. Yeah,
• 34:54
  I think if we're truly, because I told you about
• 34:58
  the top 10 list of skills that employers want.
• 35:02
  Well, AI, it's a big list. And so the survey,
• 35:05
  the last results we had from two years ago. Well,
• 35:09
  AI wasn't on the top 10. It was a list of 100
• 35:12
  things, but it wasn't on the top 10. It was a
• 35:14
  number 11. And it came out of nowhere, really,
• 35:18
  even then. But it's projected to be a top five
• 35:21
  on the next survey. Fastest growing skill that
• 35:24
  employers want. So, like, what are we doing?
• 35:27
  Like, what, I mean, I don't have a job, if not
• 35:31
  for students. And that's probably you all. I
• 35:35
  mean, we just, we support maybe teachers, but
• 35:38
  they support students. And so I want... I want
• 35:42
  students to be successful, and they're going
• 35:44
  to be training. That's non -negotiable for me.
• 35:46
  And so when people ask me, like, hey, should
• 35:48
  we be talking about this in our schools? Well,
• 35:50
  yes, it should be. And it should be embedded.
• 35:55
  If you want a little quick example, and this
• 35:56
  is inspiring. But my son has a leg up on this,
• 36:00
  because I'm going to hound him on it all the
• 36:02
  time. He's in a lit class, which it's very easy
• 36:08
  to use AI and get a good grade in that class.
• 36:12
  Yes. And I know there's detectors and all this
• 36:14
  kind of stuff, but we know that the detectors
• 36:16
  are kind of like, who knows if it's really true
• 36:20
  or not. He says, Dad, I wrote my paper. I said,
• 36:22
  did you really write your paper? I wrote my paper
• 36:27
  and then I put my professor's rubric and criteria
• 36:32
  in chat GPT with my paper and I asked it to grade
• 36:37
  it and give me some feedback on it. And then
• 36:40
  I I switched it up a little bit and took some
• 36:44
  of that advice from the bot. I was like, you
• 36:47
  know what? That's a pretty good skill. I'm not
• 36:50
  against that. But then I thought, does every
• 36:54
  high school student know about this? Or are we
• 36:58
  just ostrich head in the sand? I could relate
• 37:02
  to something. Even for me recently, I was seeking
• 37:06
  this certification. would go back to, you know,
• 37:11
  I would write myself and honestly I write myself
• 37:14
  what I wanted to write about whatever that topic
• 37:17
  was. Then I would bring it to chat GPT and give
• 37:20
  it the rubric to which it was going to be assessed
• 37:23
  against. And I said, this is great. I appreciate
• 37:27
  the feedback. I'm going to use it to make my
• 37:28
  own changes and what chat GPT wanted to do. was
• 37:32
  to rewrite it for me with those changes already
• 37:35
  applied and I it didn't matter how many times
• 37:37
  I would tell it no I'm good I'm still going to
• 37:40
  do my own work here but it was it always wanted
• 37:43
  to be such that helpful partner you know and
• 37:46
  I think to to your point is we need to be training
• 37:50
  the students to recognize yes you can let it
• 37:53
  do your work for you but should you yeah yep
• 37:56
  yep Cool well what if we I you know I know you
• 38:03
  do a lot of professional development here and
• 38:05
  you know that and part of the way that I came
• 38:07
  into contact with you and and brought David into
• 38:09
  the mix was some of that through a little snippet
• 38:15
  that you did for a co -op meeting that I was
• 38:18
  part of but you know along those lines here I
• 38:22
  want to think about like A teacher attending
• 38:25
  one of your workshops, one of your sessions,
• 38:28
  one of your keynotes, presentations, whatever,
• 38:31
  comes up to you and says, I don't have time to
• 38:35
  teach one more thing. What do you say to that
• 38:38
  person? I say, I'm sorry. And it's, yeah, I'm
• 38:47
  not in the business of being rude or being, you
• 38:52
  know, I have this great liberty in the work that
• 38:56
  I do. I get to learn for a living. This is fun.
• 39:02
  And a lot of that joy, and by the way, educators,
• 39:04
  by default, people like learning. But because
• 39:09
  of so many mandates and so many classroom management
• 39:15
  and complications, it's tough. And so I'm gonna
• 39:20
  be, and I haven't always been an empathetic person.
• 39:23
  This is, again, I told you Miss Buffington has
• 39:26
  enough to cover the Southeast. It's awesome.
• 39:31
  It's good to have her in my company all the time.
• 39:34
  So I'm gonna say I'm sorry. And then I'm gonna
• 39:39
  share, listen, I'm gonna share one nugget. I
• 39:44
  have buff nuggets, plural. I have each week.
• 39:49
  They come out like I'm talking 50 gallon drum
• 39:52
  all year buff nuggets. I'm gonna share one nugget
• 39:57
  that has a very low low entry of energy and skill
• 40:03
  necessary. That's how much skill the educator
• 40:05
  has where they get a win and maybe that win is
• 40:12
  what is what ignites. Because right now maybe
• 40:16
  they're just downtrodden and can't do much. And
• 40:20
  then if I have an opportunity to talk to leadership,
• 40:24
  then we're going to have conversations about
• 40:25
  what's the most important things happening in
• 40:28
  our classrooms. What if I spin this the other
• 40:31
  way now you've got a teacher that comes to you
• 40:34
  and they're wanting to use every single tech
• 40:37
  tool AI tool in everything that's out there just
• 40:41
  because of the novelty of it and but their students
• 40:44
  are just Becoming overwhelmed and they're getting
• 40:47
  lost Yeah, I'm gonna say I'm gonna say oh you're
• 40:53
  like me That's me. I'm that person. I'm the person
• 40:56
  who brought the wireless router to the classroom
• 41:00
  I'm the person who, gosh, I'm not proud of it,
• 41:05
  but I would, when I started in this career, I
• 41:07
  would come to a district or whatever and go,
• 41:09
  here's 20 Chrome extensions. You need all these.
• 41:13
  One will turn your mouse cursor into Nicholas
• 41:15
  Cage. Very important stuff. And half of these
• 41:19
  are malicious, but I didn't know that. And so
• 41:25
  I'm gonna say, With not as not as much probably
• 41:30
  empathy there cuz like I don't know I was like
• 41:32
  I'll be like we gotta just slow down so I mean
• 41:34
  I'm still gonna be loving but let's slow down
• 41:38
  and let's um Let's pick one or two two things
• 41:43
  that it's gonna be the most beneficial with the
• 41:46
  time that you have and But also I gotta be careful.
• 41:50
  I don't want to like it's so this is a hard one
• 41:52
  for me, man You don't want to stymie them too
• 41:54
  much like extinguish the flame brother I just
• 41:58
  can't do that. Why'd you give me such a hard
• 42:02
  question? Because to me, it's like... I'll give
• 42:06
  you one more. I'm playing, man. But yeah, but
• 42:09
  that's a tough one. Do all the things like, no,
• 42:11
  I would just be like... I would say read the
• 42:14
  room. Yeah, how about one more scenario here,
• 42:17
  right? You get brought in to do a lot of different...
• 42:20
  workshop days, whether it's hour, two hour, half
• 42:22
  day, full day, whatever it happens to be. And
• 42:25
  sometimes it's an administrator that comes to
• 42:28
  you and they don't necessarily want to have you,
• 42:30
  but someone said that they needed to. And they're
• 42:34
  feeling towards tech PD is that it's just click
• 42:38
  here, click there, get out of the way. Now we've
• 42:42
  got real stuff to talk about. Okay. This is good.
• 42:47
  This is this is um, you know what I call that
• 42:49
  I call that a challenge and I love a good challenge
• 42:52
  so you know I With a group of people like that
• 42:56
  and I do get an audience like that sometimes
• 42:58
  I mean like it could be an audience maybe full
• 43:01
  of folks who feel that way is I'm going right
• 43:04
  into To heart heart things not hard difficult,
• 43:09
  but I'm going into hearts things how we can use
• 43:13
  tech to to help our teachers. Or to them, I need
• 43:18
  to sell them on tech. If I could sell an admin
• 43:21
  on tech, say, hey, this tech will help you do
• 43:23
  things only you can do, help you do things that
• 43:25
  can't be Googled. Or for instance, I might show
• 43:29
  them how to use an AI tool where they can make
• 43:33
  their own songs using AI, which I talk about
• 43:37
  my newsletter a lot. And there's lots of ways
• 43:40
  we could use AI music. But maybe a song that
• 43:43
  they can use on the intercom for certain events
• 43:47
  that's custom like about and they're using all
• 43:49
  the crazy stuff that the kids are into like six
• 43:51
  seven and sigma and whatever whatever super cringe
• 43:55
  when adults say it um but but show them things
• 43:59
  like that so they're getting all this this value
• 44:00
  they're like wait wait wait this isn't just about
• 44:02
  you know being geeky and hitting buttons this
• 44:04
  is about culture now that's a word That's the
• 44:10
  word admins love and they hear all the time and
• 44:13
  you know a lot of people write books about it.
• 44:14
  I don't I haven't wrote a book yet. So I'm glad
• 44:16
  you guys had me on your podcast. I don't have
• 44:17
  a book yet, but one day I just have buff nuggets.
• 44:21
  So but you say culture people go who what's that
• 44:24
  culture? So yeah. So Brad, we always end usually
• 44:28
  with a lightning round of questions and you can
• 44:31
  kind of take these however you want to like they
• 44:34
  could be one word responses or sentence or whatever.
• 44:38
  Whatever is appropriate. Some technology, some
• 44:40
  we try to get more on the personal side of things,
• 44:44
  who you are and things like that. But just to
• 44:47
  kick us off here, what do you think about, what
• 44:52
  is the creative work outside of education that
• 44:55
  keeps your ed tech spark alive? Music, man. I'm
• 45:00
  a musician. So I write music. I do have an album.
• 45:06
  It's on Spotify. My hit song is Eighth Grade
• 45:09
  Mustache. So go check it out. So there you go.
• 45:13
  Music is what, and plus music's part of my show.
• 45:17
  If I ever come to an event where you guys are
• 45:18
  there, I'll have my guitar, we'll do music, man.
• 45:21
  But I think that leads me into my next one then.
• 45:24
  I'm gonna go a little out of order here, but
• 45:26
  what's your walk -up song? What song motivates
• 45:30
  you to get up in front of a group of people?
• 45:35
  Well, I have my own walkout song depending on
• 45:37
  the event. I just create one that's based I use
• 45:40
  AI to make it so it depends on like if it's like
• 45:42
  a Minnesota lake -a -thon where we just where
• 45:45
  I've come there and I just talked about lakes
• 45:46
  and trout and fish and buff nuggets like I'll
• 45:49
  just make one but if it's not a custom AI song,
• 45:52
  it's probably something like I believe in a thing
• 45:56
  called love by the darkness Just because that
• 45:59
  guy can sing so high and that's totally random.
• 46:02
  No, I've never haven't said on the show before
• 46:03
  ever but I do believe love is what's gonna get
• 46:06
  us through it. So if for those who don't know
• 46:08
  the song it's a very high falsetto like I can't
• 46:11
  Like that Okay, next one is what's one analog
• 46:20
  thing you still can't give up I Have some Cassia
• 46:24
  watches I like to wear Yeah, this old -school
• 46:28
  like $10 ones from Walmart. I I do have an Apple
• 46:32
  watch I use it to monitor health and you know
• 46:35
  movement but uh sometimes it makes me feel like
• 46:38
  i'm too connected how about this finish this
• 46:42
  sentence technology is best when it does it still
• 46:49
  our joy all right and then uh next one is uh
• 46:56
  biggest facepalm tech fail you've experienced
• 47:00
  or witnessed in a classroom okay i'll tell you
• 47:03
  one I was doing PD. I was at a place called Brasstown.
• 47:11
  It was called Brasstown Bald. It was a retreat
• 47:15
  center up here in Georgia and I was at a podium
• 47:17
  and the sign fell off while I was speaking. The
• 47:24
  sign fell off and instead of it, so they had
• 47:28
  a new sign in front of the old sign. When the
• 47:30
  new sign fell off, there was the old sign, but
• 47:32
  the old sign the old sign, instead of Brasstown,
• 47:36
  it was missing the first two letters of brass.
• 47:42
  And we had a hard time doing anything else for
• 47:48
  at least 20, 30 minutes, man. And that's the
• 47:51
  most analog, beautiful thing to happen in a EdTech
• 47:54
  event for me. Awesome. All right, one more. What's
• 48:00
  your go -to snack? while you're making a buff
• 48:03
  that's going to be a coca probably and putting
• 48:08
  some inside of the bottle. Um the buff nugget
• 48:13
  snack and Awesome. Well, Brian, th coming on
• 48:22
  and sharing your stories with us. I think the
• 48:28
  things that you're do want to also give you the
• 48:32
  able to let people know you know, share out,
• 48:38
  you k information you have wher avenues to get
• 48:42
  there and you've got coming up or For one, your
• 48:48
  show, I really appreciate you guys being professional.
• 48:51
  You had this put together. Obviously, you put
• 48:53
  a lot of time in this, and I do see that. If
• 48:57
  people enjoyed any of the nuggets that came out
• 48:59
  today, if it resonated with you, I have a weekly
• 49:02
  newsletter. It's called Buff Nuggets, and it
• 49:06
  goes out every Tuesday, 9 a .m. Eastern. That
• 49:08
  means if you're central, you get it earlier than
• 49:10
  everybody else, right? In a way, I guess. Yeah,
• 49:14
  so you get it at eight. So you can go to my website,
• 49:18
  it's Brian with an I, and it'll probably be in
• 49:21
  the show notes as well, but Brian with an I,
• 49:24
  kbuffington .com, and there's a subscribe button
• 49:27
  there. I'm also about, my wife and I are about
• 49:30
  to open a store, a little on my shirt, so right
• 49:33
  now I just give away a lot of shirts when I'm
• 49:35
  at events. But I have a new one, it's pretty
• 49:37
  cool, it's got puff paint, can I show you guys?
• 49:39
  This is exclusive on your podcast, hold on. Okay.
• 49:43
  And as he's grabbing that, we'll definitely link
• 49:46
  all of these in the show notes. So this one says,
• 49:50
  creator's going to create. And it's Puff Paint.
• 49:54
  And it's going to be hard to see the texture.
• 49:56
  But you can kind of see it there. Oh, I can see
• 49:57
  it's raised there. Oh, it's raised. I'm very
• 50:01
  excited about these. Because I want students
• 50:04
  creating things and teachers. It's going to be
• 50:06
  fun. I think that's about it, guys. If you get
• 50:12
  the newsletter, you're gonna know all about things
• 50:13
  I'm doing. And I can't wait for the day I get
• 50:16
  to spend some time in Minnesota. So thanks for
• 50:19
  having me, guys. Yep, thanks a lot. Spotify,
• 50:40
  or wherever you get your podcasts. Until next
• 50:43
  time, keep exploring, keep innovating and keep
• 50:47
  integrating this.