Hi, Vanessa,

Do you ever have one of those really bad Monday? Our dishwasher went rogue and tried to catch fire overnight.  I’d always read that it was not advised to run a dishwasher overnight, but I’d never had one get to aggressive before.  Thankfully I’m blessed with the olfactory sense of a canine, so we caught it quickly. 

I think sometimes we ascribe things to our machines that aren’t really there.  I mean, my dishwasher wasn’t’ really trying to kill me in my sleep.  It’s just that it was 24 years old and needed to be fixed or replaced.  (That’s not a typo and it surprised us too!  We replaced it!).  Any mechanical object only has a finite amount of uses before it gives out – we just never know when that it is going.  It never seems to happen at a convenient time, does it?

And Speaking of Machines...

If you’ve ever felt like your job was trying to turn you into a machine - running on autopilot, following scripted lessons, checking boxes someone else created - you’re not alone. This week, I rewatched I, Robot and couldn’t help but draw the connection between a world run by AI and a profession that often treats teachers like robots.

But here’s the twist: AI doesn’t have to replace humanity in our lives. It can actually protect it.

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, I unpack how AI, used ethically and strategically, can help burned-out educators reclaim their time, energy, and voice, especially when planning their next chapter.

Instead of fearing the tech, we can make it work for us. That might look like:

• Letting AI draft those soul-sucking, overly templated lesson plans
• Translating your teaching experience into corporate-friendly language
• Practicing job interviews without judgment
• Identifying upskilling gaps based on roles you actually want
• Streamlining your job search so it doesn’t eat your entire Sunday

The truth is: you're not just burned out. You've been consumed by systems that demand too much and return too little. And if AI can take some of that burden off your plate? You deserve that.

AI isn’t your replacement. It’s your new personal assistant.

And the best part? You still hold the pen. You’re still the strategist. You’re still the storyteller.

Let’s use these tools to build a future that gives back.

The Two Wolves and AI

You might know the story: a grandfather tells his grandson that inside every person, there are two wolves. One represents fear, greed, and resentment. The other? Compassion, truth, hope and goodness. The one that wins is the one you feed.

That same principle applies to how we use AI.

If we feed it our values, voice, and vision, it becomes a powerful tool for justice, clarity, and transition. If AI is fed hate, bigotry, and intolerance, then that becomes its core characteristic.  As teachers, we’ve spent decades adapting to every new system thrown our way. That adaptability makes us uniquely positioned to lead the ethical, positive use of AI - inside and beyond the classroom.

Summer Recommendation

🎥 What to Watch: I, Robot is available to stream on Hulu and rentable via Prime Video.
📺 Bonus rec: The Orville (also on Hulu). It starts as a sort of a Star Trek parody but evolves into surprisingly thoughtful, and I think it is brilliant sci-fi.

Podcast

🔗 Click here to listen on Buzzsprout

Connect With Me

📧 Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
📱 Text or leave a voicemail at 512-640-9099
📅 Schedule a Discovery Session
📸 Instagram/Threads: @teachers.in.transition
🌐 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
🌀 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social