Reach Every Student with Jon Bergmann

Last week, I told you about the one part of oral assessment I still won’t hand off to AI. This week, from a completely different direction, someone else landed on almost the same instinct — without knowing anything about what I’ve been building. I asked her one question: what’s the single science-of-learning principle every teacher should hold onto in the age of AI? Her answer: be as metacognitive about the AI as you are about your own thinking. Simple to say. Genuinely hard to picture in an actual classroom — which is most of what this conversation is about. That guest is Dr. Tina Grotzer, who runs the Next Level Lab at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, studying causal reasoning — how people actually trace cause and effect, versus the neat, linear version we usually assume. That’s three separate people now — me, an MIT researcher, and a Harvard researcher — landing in the same place, independently. I don’t think that’s a coincidence anymore. Key Moments * 1:33 – What “causal reasoning” actually means (her research, in plain terms) * 5:10 – The sinking-and-floating experiment that breaks kids’ assumptions * 10:40 – Introducing the Next Level Lab: will AI make us smarter or stupider? * 17:13 – Her core thesis: why metacognition is what makes AI a partner instead of a crutch * 19:32 – The Russell Hulse story — a Nobel Prize won by refusing to ignore an anomaly * 21:11 – The “forklift to the weight room” metaphor, and her fear of AI as a crutch * 27:06 – You lay out AI Engines, Analog Roots, and the Mastery Viva live — and she reacts in real time * 34:11 – The one cognitive skill she says AI will be the last to replicate: empathy * 40:00 – Her closing fear: a coming “bifurcation” between kids taught to think and kids who aren’t This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

Intro: If you’ve been listening for a while, you know oral assessment has been building toward this. This week, I made it official — a required, graded piece of every major exam for the first time. It went well in one class. It was genuinely hard in another. And there’s a piece of it I’m not willing to hand over to AI, no matter how tempting the time savings are. This one’s a solo update — no guest, just me and what actually happened in my own classroom this week, including the honest math on whether any of this works if your class is twice the size of mine. Timestamps: * 0:00 – Cold open * 0:17 – Welcome / what this episode covers * 1:16 – How it went in Geology/Meteorology/Oceanography (GMO) * 2:02 – Gut instinct over a formal rubric * 2:53 – GMO wrap-up: “it worked swimmingly” * 3:09 – Honors Physics: 18 students, barely finishing in 55 minutes * 4:59 – The line I won’t cross: why AI can’t grade the summative assessment * 5:20 – The formative side: the daily lesson cycle and where it breaks down * 6:38 – The real bottleneck: not enough time to reach every student * 7:04 – The fix: using Flint K-12 for after-class oral check-ins * 8:07 – Tying back to Justin Reich: “nobody knows how to teach in the age of AI” * 9:33 – A colleague’s test scores jump after going analog * 10:13 – Close This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

Last week I told you about MIT’s new report on teaching in the age of AI. This week, it echoed something I’ve been building for over a year. Justin Reich directs MIT’s Teaching Systems Lab, and I’ve known him since long before “AI in education” was a track at every conference. What struck me most, recording this earlier this year: he arrived, completely independently, at almost the exact same three ideas I built into MasteryFlip. The moment that’ll stick with you — two computer science professors in Buenos Aires who moved their final exam to a 20-minute oral defense. What happened to their students’ work in the post-ChatGPT era, and why a live, unscripted conversation turned out to be the fix, tells you most of what you need to know about where this is all headed. This one runs long, about 50 minutes, but it’s one of the richest conversations I’ve had on this show. Grab a coffee. Key Moments * 0:00 – Cold open: Reich on why we should be listening to teachers, not pundits * 0:21 – The MIT report, and why it’s a bigger deal than it looks * 1:48 – Introducing Justin Reich * 3:45 – The “Homework Machine” research project — what 120 teachers and students said * 6:11 – Jon’s own AI failure story, and the worst reviews of his career * 12:51 – Laying out the MasteryFlip framework, live * 13:16 – Pillar 1: AI Engines * 19:37 – Pillar 2: Analog Roots * 21:49 – Pillar 3: The Mastery Viva * 23:09 – The trebuchet story * 24:22 – The Buenos Aires oral-exam story * 33:25 – The DeepMind story — nobody’s figured out how to train junior engineers with AI either * 42:46 – “Get a license” — Reich’s grandfather’s advice * 43:12 – The fear of a coming “great bifurcation” * 43:32 – The forklift-to-the-weight-room metaphor * 52:24 – Jon’s call for real-teacher podcast guests This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

This week: two habits I’ve never fully explained on the show, a real fix for a problem I named last week, and a study that’s been stuck in my head since Thursday morning. The selfie video. Early in the year, every student records a 2–3 minute video answering a few prompts: tell me about yourself, your hobbies, how you learn best, anything going on at home I should know. I watch every single one and build a grid document — name, photo, a few notes per kid. Then I send a personal welcome email that references something specific from their video (”you play harmonica? So do I”). That one small detail does more for the relationship than almost anything else I do all year — and later, when I’m walking the room during Vivas, that same grid becomes my cheat sheet. The Friday parent video. Every Friday morning, three two-minute videos — one per class — recapping what we studied that week. I upload them to a shared Google Drive folder, no YouTube needed, and BCC the whole parent list. Total time: about fifteen minutes for three classes. The payoff is disproportionate — parents stop me at football games to say thank you, and when a student is struggling, that relationship is already banked before I ever have to make the harder call. The Mastery Viva fix. I’ve been jumping straight to the level-4 question instead of guessing which level to ask first. If a student nails it, that’s a 4. If they need help getting there, that’s a 3. Separately — and this is a different thing entirely from the student-facing AI tool that’s still waiting on school approval — I used Claude to draft a bank of Viva questions from my own curriculum. It worked well after editing: about 6 of every 10 questions it generated were genuinely good, which meant previewing and cutting the rest myself. Analog isn’t really about paper. The more I read, the less this looks like a paper-versus-screens argument and the more it looks like an attention argument. Devices pull focus through notifications and the pull to multitask, not through some inherent flaw in digital ink. I still do plenty of my own work on an iPad. The real fix is removing the ping, not the pixel. A new study I can’t stop thinking about . Not yet peer-reviewed, but making real waves: 26,000 students in China, grades 7–12. Open AI access raised homework scores and cut homework time — and then tanked exam scores. The damage wasn’t spread evenly, though — it concentrated in students using AI as an easy button, while students who still put in the work alongside AI use barely lost ground at all. I dug into this further after recording and wrote it up properly here: [link to Substack piece] . One more thing. I want you on this podcast — not another expert, a real teacher with real kids in your room. Link to the guest form is below. 0:00 Why I make every student record a “selfie video”0:16 The exact prompts I give students1:03 Why relationships matter as much as content1:30 The personal welcome email trick2:07 Using my student grid as a cheat sheet during Vivas2:54 The 2-minute Friday parent video4:37 How I set it up on Google Drive in 15 minutes5:27 Fixing my Mastery Viva timing — jumping straight to level 46:03 Still waiting on our AI tool’s approval6:42 I had Claude draft my Viva questions — here’s how it went7:12 Why our schedule keeps eating into class time7:34 Analog isn’t about paper vs. screens — it’s about attention8:58 A new 26,000-student AI study I can’t stop thinking about11:00 I want YOU on this podcast This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

I just wrapped Week 1 of actually running the MasteryFlip framework in my own classroom — and this episode is the honest report: what worked, what didn’t, and what I’m still figuring out. On the win side: Analog Roots delivered immediately. Laptops, phones, even smartwatches went into backpacks, and I watched my students default back to real conversation and paper research the moment their devices were out of reach — a shift that honestly took me back to my very first year teaching in 1986. The Mastery Viva also produced a standout teaching moment: walking the room, asking students about the atmosphere, revealed a real, widespread misconception (several students didn’t actually grasp what “atmosphere” meant, despite watching the video) — exactly the kind of gap a written assignment would never have surfaced. On the honest friction side: a shortened 65-minute physics period (down from our usual 80, thanks to schoolwide safety meetings) meant I ran out of time to Viva every student who finished — a problem I’m still solving. Separately, EdPuzzle’s video-tracking caught three students who hadn’t done the pre-work; one was a new student who didn’t have his laptop yet, two had simply skipped it, and my in-class fix (headphones, a designated corner) worked for one but not the other. I also share my early vision for using an AI tool to help scale Vivas for students I can’t personally reach in time — and I close with an invitation: I’m adding guest interviews this season, including upcoming conversations with voices from Harvard and MIT (including Dr. Justin Reich), and I’d love to hear from you too if you want to be a guest. Key Timestamps * 00:00 – Intro: wrapping Week 1 of MasteryFlip * 00:24 – Analog Roots in action: notebooks, phones away, “minds on” * 01:16 – A colleague’s parallel observation: kids talk to each other instead of grabbing devices * 03:16 – The atmosphere/geosphere misconception — the Viva catches something a worksheet never would * 04:51 – Coaching students to “ask a better question” * 05:41 – What didn’t work #1: no time for physics Vivas * 06:11 – Root cause: schoolwide safety meetings shortened the period to 65 minutes * 06:46 – What didn’t work #2: EdPuzzle catches students who skipped the pre-work video * 08:49 – Notebook quality: setting expectations without penalizing (yet) * 09:29 – The vision: piloting an AI tool to help reach every student * 10:20 – ⚠️ What Vivas reveal about which students need support * 10:51 – The clipboard system (and covering names for privacy) * 11:14 – The “binder vs. notebook” Texas vernacular moment * 11:50 – Guest invitation + upcoming Harvard/MIT interviews (Dr. Justin Reich teaser) * 13:44 – Closing thoughts: humility, Cognitive Load Theory, and “we’re in a new era” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

Students walk into Room 231 tomorrow, and this week I’ve been doing everything I can to be ready for them — inside the MasteryFlip framework. In this episode, I give you a real walkthrough of how I set up my classroom, communicate with students and parents, and get ready for a new year: the AI Engines, the Analog Roots notebooks, and the Mastery Vivas I’m upping the game on this year. Plus — the seating-chart trick I’ve used for 40 years to learn every student’s name before they even sit down. In this episode: * How I communicate the MasteryFlip framework to students and parents before day one * Setting up AI Engines: why I’m sticking with EdPuzzle this year (and where Perusall might fit for you) * A tour of my Analog Roots notebooks — GMO and AP Physics C * Why laptops live in backpacks, not on tables * The seating-chart method I use to memorize every student’s name in two days * What’s changing with the Mastery Viva this year (3-point → 4-point thinking) * My day-one script and the “question of the day” ritual Links mentioned in this episode: * Syllabus Blurb - see the bottom of the show notes * MasteryFlip Certification Course (v1.1, just released) : * Bring MasteryFlip to your school — free licenses for an admin + one teacher to try it: * Using MasteryFlip in your classroom? I want to talk to you. Reach out here to be a guest on the podcast: * 2026 Parent Video Follow along: * YouTube: youtube.com/jonbergmann1 * Instagram: instagram.com/flipping.jon * TikTok: tiktok.com/@jon_bergmann * X: x.com/jonbergmann * LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonathanbergmann Go out and reach every student. Key Moments 0:00 – Cold open: “Jack, Cade, Haley...” 0:15 – Welcome & why this episode 0:57 – Communicating MasteryFlip to students & parents 2:15 – AI Engines: EdPuzzle vs. Perusall 4:03 – Analog Roots: the notebooks & room setup 7:16 – Scripting day one 9:41 – Mastery Vivas: upping the game to 4 points 11:04 – How I memorize every student’s name 16:51 – MasteryFlip Certification v1.1 17:26 – Closing: a story about Mia Blurb from my Syllabus for the upcoming year How the Course Will Operate: The MasteryFlip This class uses a Flipped Classroom model , a proven approach designed to make our time together in class incredibly valuable. Instead of listening to long lectures in class you will learn the foundational concepts at home through short video lessons. This flips the traditional model on its head: you get the “rewind button” for the easy part (the lecture), and you get ME right next to you for the hard part (the application, labs, and problem-solving). This empowers you to take ownership of your learning, move at your own pace, and get personalized support every single day. Pre-Work Expectations (Before Class) To make our in-class time work, you need to arrive prepared. For every flipped lesson: * Watch & Interact: Watch/read the assigned lesson by midnight the night before class. Don’t just play the video passively—pause it, re-watch tricky parts, and try to solve example problems on your own before I show the solution. * Handwrite Your Notes: Take detailed, handwritten notes directly in your provided physical packet. You must bring this packet to class every day—it is your primary tool for our in-class activities and Vivas. * 3-Minute ArticulAI Practice: Complete a quick, 3-minute oral check-in with ArticulAI. This gives you immediate practice speaking your ideas out loud so you’re ready for our in-class Mastery Vivas. Note: If you arrive to class without your pre-work completed, you will spend the first part of class catching up on the video independently before you can join the lab or group activity. Analog Roots: Pencils Up, Phones Away When you walk into this classroom, we return to our Analog Roots. That means your cell phone is put away in your bag, and your laptop remains closed unless we are using it for a specific, teacher-led activity. Our default mode in class is paper, pencil, and real human conversation. Here is why we do this: · Real learning requires productive struggle: Tapping a screen or asking an AI for a quick answer gives you a fast result, but it skips the brain effort needed to actually learn. Wrestling with a tough problem on paper—erasing, re-drawing, and trying again—is where real understanding develops. · Handwriting builds stronger brains: Brain science proves that taking notes by hand and drawing physical diagrams creates much stronger memory connections than typing on a keyboard. Your physical packet is your ultimate learning tool. · Class time is for human connection: You spend enough of your day looking at screens. Our class time is sacred—it’s designed for you to talk to your peers, work through labs with your hands, and get direct 1-on-1 support from me. I’m not anti-technology: we use powerful tech like ArticulAI intentionally when it serves a purpose. But during class, we turn off the digital noise so you can focus, collaborate, and truly master the material without constant distractions. Mastery Vivas A Mastery Viva is simply a short conversation where you explain your thinking out loud instead of just filling out a worksheet or staring at a screen. Throughout our units, we will use these quick check-ins to make sure you are truly mastering each lesson in real time, catching any confusion early before we move on. Because I can’t sit down for a 1-on-1 chat with every single student every day, about half of these lesson checks will happen through an interactive online tool called ArticulAI . It acts as your practice partner, allowing you to speak your answers and get immediate feedback. The other half of the time, you’ll talk directly with me. These lesson checks are scored on a simple 4-point scale: earning a 3 means you thoroughly know and understand the core material, while a 4 means you can take that knowledge and successfully apply it to a brand-new, unfamiliar situation. When it comes to our major tests , you will use these same communication skills to prove what you know. On every major test, alongside the written portion, you will defend one conceptual question out loud directly with me. You’ll explain why your answer works and walk me through your logic. This quick oral defense counts for 15% of your total grade on each major test , giving you a powerful way to show true understanding through real dialogue rather than just memorization. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

Welcome to season 4 of the Reach Every Student podcast. As I sit in my classroom, students are soon to arrive. I am preparing for what I hope will be an outstanding year. This will mark my 41st year in education, and as I prepare, I’m reminded about just how much what we teachers do matters. We have a unique opportunity to reach every student. And boy are we facing challenges. AI has changed the world and certainly changed our classrooms. There is a growing techlash from parents, policymakers, and fellow teachers - that the misuse of technology in the classroom has harmed kids. In the midst of all of this change, I come into this school year feeling extremely positive. Last year I felt that I had more impact and connection with students than ever in my long career. I attribute much of this connection to my implementing the MasteryFlip Framework, where human-centered conversations play such a big role. Built into the model are “mastery vivas,” short targeted conversations. And though the conversations focused on science stuff, it also helped me get to know my students so much better. And over the summer, I continued to think about how to make this model better. In this episode, I walk through the steps I will be taking in the coming year to teach in the age of AI. Below are a few thoughts: Improvements to the MasteryFlip Model * 4-point scale for formative vivas: Last year, after a student did a mastery viva with me, I either gave them credit or not. This year, the rubric will change. If they understand the content of a lesson, they get a 3. If they can extend it, they get a 4. My hope is that they will strive for deeper understanding and even use AI to prepare them for the vivas. * Vivas on Summative Assessments: My amazing colleague, Erin - a math teacher - took the MasteryFlip Certification course and brainstormed with me about how she would implement it. She will use vivas formatively, but also make it a part of summative evaluations. I did this with a big PBL project last year (The Trebuchet Project) - but I didn’t do it on a regular basis. This coming year, I will make every student answer one question orally on every summative assessment, and it will account for a decent portion of their grade. MasteryFlip Certification Teachers and teams of teachers from around the world are starting to use the MasteryFlip Framework. I just got off a Zoom call with the Ministry of Education for a province in Missiones, Argentina, and they will be making it their primary teaching strategy for PD in the coming year. If you are interested in becoming MasteryFlip Certified, you can simply go to the links below. There are three options: * Individual License * Team of Four or More (50% off) * Free Pilot for one administrator plus one teacher Season 4 Teaser Starting in early September—when schools nationwide are fully back in session—Season 4 will feature deep-dive interviews with world-class education leaders * Dr. Tony Wagner (Harvard/LPI) on why the global economy no longer cares what students know, but what they can do * Dr. Tina Grotzer (Harvard Project Zero) on the biological necessity of paper friction and user manuals for the mind * Dr. Justin Reich (MIT Teaching Systems Lab) on why Silicon Valley engineers can’t train novices with AI copilots * And others… Episode 85 Key Moments: The Human-Centered Classroom Blueprint * 00:00:00 — Season 4 Kickoff in Room 231 : Setting up for Year 41 and navigating the nationwide classroom “techlash.” * 00:01:08 — The Free 2-Seat Executive Pilot: How administrators can claim two free course passes (Principal + Lead Teacher) with zero district budget risk. * 00:02:08 — Reclaiming Analog Roots: Why replacing online auto-graders with handwritten AP Physics workbooks stops students from bringing a “forklift to the weight room.” * 00:03:44 — The 3 vs. 4-Level Viva Scale: Scaling oral checks with Teacher of the Year Erin (Math) and handling parent pushback on grading. * 00:05:37 — The 15% Viva Test Bucket: Integrating 3-minute “questions out of a hat” oral defenses directly into summative exams. * 00:07:46 — AI as a Rehearsal Coach, Not a Cheat Button: Reprogramming Flint K-12 to run practice simulations before students face the real teacher. * 00:09:01 — Season 4 Fall Guest Preview: Announcing full-length September interview drops featuring Dr. Tony Wagner (Harvard), Dr. Tina Grotzer (Harvard), and Dr. Justin Reich (MIT). * 00:10:48 — 41 Years in the Trenches: Why human connection and student relationships matter far more than rushing through content. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

Last week we talked about the techlash schools are facing. Parents, community members, policymakers, and teachers are clamoring for less tech. Though it is simplistic to say that all tech is bad, there is truth in the fact that so much of what we have done with edtech in the past decades hasn’t helped students. Certainly, in the case of social media and cell phone usage, there are demonstrable damages done to young people. So how do we move forward with a more nuanced approach that embraces the best use of technology while also giving students space and time to process and learn in an environment where they will thrive? To that end, I have developed the MasteryFlip model, which takes into account the reality that AI, when used as a shortcut, will harm students while also leveraging its strengths to prepare them for a future world where they will have ready access to all things AI. In this video podcast, I share an extended keynote where I mapped out the MasteryFlip framework for professors at a medical college in Brazil. I share the blueprints - this is a masterclass on how to teach in the age of AI. In this video/episode I walk through the three pillars of the MasteryFlip framework and take you into my classroom and see how it actually works. You will virtually meet a few of my students and watch real “mastery vivas” where my students have to defend their knowledge. I am also vulnerable and tell you how I have failed and tweaks I will make this coming year. If you want to get MasteryFlip certified, I created a four-hour class that teachers and professors can take to prepare to teach in the age of AI. Teams of four or more can get 50% off. Are you a school principal, dean, or department chair trying to figure out how to handle AI in your classrooms? We’re offering a sponsored 30-Day Executive Pilot of our Harvard and MIT-backed MasteryFlip Framework for school leaders. Head over to jonbergmann.com/masteryflippilot to claim a trial seat for your school today. Enjoy this video podcast. I hope you can get the passion for which I share about the future of education. Key Moments in this Episode * 00:00:52 — The 1-Teacher Pilot Offer: How building leaders can test an AI-proof classroom this fall with zero district budget risk. * 00:05:11 — Sal Khan’s Treadmill Problem: Why Khanmigo backtracked—and why AI tutors become glorified laundry racks without a human coach. * 00:08:41 — Pillar 1: Socratic AI Engines: Reprogramming large language models to ask questions instead of handing out answers. * 00:29:11 — Pillar 2: Analog Roots: Enforcing the “Lids Down” protocol to reclaim focus, paper notebooks, and biological friction. * 00:31:41 — Pillar 3: Mastery Vivas: How 120-second oral check-ins human-proof your assessment data and eliminate cheating. * 00:40:02 — The Trebuchet Defense: Why forcing high schoolers to verbally defend a physics project on a whiteboard stops them from faking lab reports. * 00:49:59 — Anesthesia vs. Antiseptics: What 19th-century medical history teaches us about why frictionless tech spreads fast while meaningful classroom change takes decades. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

Schools everywhere are reconsidering technology. Cell phone bans are sweeping multiple states, and districts across the country have begun imposing rigid classroom screen-time limits. We are watching a quiet educational rollback. Systems are buying paper textbooks again, subscription software budgets are being frozen, and the “techlash” movement is gaining massive steam. At several recent spring graduations, when commencement speakers attempted to extol the frictionless virtues of artificial intelligence, college graduates openly booed them. So, is technology inherently evil in our schools? Should we retreat into a permanent Luddite posture? Is all generative AI toxic for our students? As a 41-year classroom veteran who was at the forefront of the global Flipped Learning movement, I see the real, systemic dangers of automation in my room every single day. I have watched firsthand as students use shortcuts, offloading their cognition to AI and actively stupefying themselves. Using AI to complete an assignment is like bringing a forklift into the mental weight room: you get a clean floor, but you build absolutely no muscle. But I also refuse to be a Luddite. There is a definitive path in which technology serves as an engine for human expertise rather than a bypass of it. Our unwavering priority must always be to protect the productive struggle—ensuring our students thrive by leaning into the messy, irreplaceable qualities that make us fundamentally human. In the masterclass video above, I lay out the explicit operational architecture to solve this cognition crisis. The centerpiece of this video is the unreleased keynote address I delivered in May 2026 to university deans and medical educators in Curitiba, Brazil. In it, I break down the physical mechanics of the classroom space and outline the definitive solution. That solution is a new structural system I developed called the MasteryFlip Framework . To turn our classrooms into true attention sanctuaries, we must integrate three distinct pillars: * AI Engines: We shift raw information delivery completely out of the room. Using the best elements of Flipped Learning with an AI twist. This is the flip in the MasteryFlip * Analog Roots: The moment the bell rings, the devices disappear. Laptops go into backpacks, phones are put away, and desks return to raw pencil, paper, and physical text real estate to enforce biological neural friction. * Mastery Vivas: We completely change the assessments. To make grading entirely AI-proof, student evaluation is moved back to a face-to-face, human-to-human verbal defense of logic. If a student cannot defend their thinking on the mastery bench, they do not move forward. If you are a principal, curriculum coordinator, or department head ready to standardize this across your entire building this fall, you don’t have to navigate the transition in isolation. I have packaged this into a fully asynchronous, four-hour MasteryFlip Certification Course . Are you a school principal, dean, or department chair trying to figure out how to handle AI in your classrooms? We're offering a sponsored 30-Day Executive Pilot of our Harvard and MIT-backed MasteryFlip Framework for school leaders. Head over to jonbergmann.com/masteryflippilot to claim a trial seat for your school today. Educational leaders are moving fast to get ahead of the autumn semester. In fact, just today, a block of nine educators from a single school registered together . To support building-wide deployments, if you register a team cohort of four or more educators from your campus, the price is cut in half. Stream the full presentation above to understand both the problems and the promise of AI in your classrooms. Look inside my physical classroom and see how to scale real-time oral defenses across high-capacity rosters without causing staff burnout. If your school is ready to survive the techlash and hardcode focus back into your classrooms, click the framework link below to claim your team passes. Click on the link below to get your building/team MasteryFlip Certified Quotes from Certified MasteryFlip Educators "I think this is my favorite opportunity for AI use... the Socratic Mastery Viva thought partner (either practice for the summative with the teacher), or similarly as a check on understanding and completion of pre-work before the next class." — Certified MasteryFlip Participant "I love a good 20 minutes (30 if I'm being honest) of direct instruction during class. I do sincerely think it is one of my strengths as a teacher and it is much fun for me, which helps me sell it. However, I'm not sure each and every student is learning enough from it to warrant the use of class time in that way to that number of minutes." — MasteryFlip Graduate "Relying only on the finished project invites the temptation of students using AI or not actually showing mastery. By having a Mastery Viva or human aspect to the grading it allows for that friction and critical thinking to take place in front of the teacher." — Classroom Teacher Key Moments in the Presentation * 00:00:00 — The ISTE Shift: Analyzing the macro trend of school boards, superintendents, and curriculum directors freezing software budgets. * 00:00:11 — The Crisis of Trust : Why the flight away from unvetted software isn’t a luddite retreat, but an institutional demand for learning integrity. * 00:00:39 — Seceding to Big Tech: Confronting the reality of placing frictionless devices in student hands without a protective framework. * 00:00:48 — Stupefying the Novice: How offloading thinking to generative AI causes cognitive drift and atrophies student logic. * 00:01:02 — Redesigning the Environment: Why the solution to automated shortcuts requires changing the physical space, not buying another software patch. * 00:01:15 — The Curitiba Keynote: Transitioning to the full, unreleased presentation delivered to college deans and educators in Brazil. * 00:01:47 — The MasteryFlip Architecture: An introductory blueprint of the three core pillars: Socratic AI Engines, Analog Roots, and Human Checks. * 00:03:01 — Real-Time Momentum: Establishing institutional social proof by highlighting the nine-teacher team cohort that registered today. * 00:13:59 — Forklifts in the Weight Room: Deconstructing Ted Chiang’s metaphor on why schooling must remain intentionally inefficient by design. * 00:19:02 — Case-Based Collaborative Learning: Lessons from a site visit to Harvard Medical School on why active methodology packs lecture halls. * 00:20:22 — The Threat to Clinical Reasoning : Why textbook-perfect AI data shortcuts de-skill training novices who face unpredictable real-world environments. * 00:21:46 — Friction as a Feature: Why engineering deliberate resistance back into assignments is the only way to build biological cognitive muscle. * 00:22:20 — The Papal Manifesto: Analyzing the Holy Father’s warning on how frictionless automated summaries extinguish the human desire to ask questions. * 00:23:44 — The Rockefeller Symposium: Why a room of nuclear engineering and computer science professors concluded that flipping the class is the only answer to generative AI. * 00:25:25 — Flipping Bloom’s Taxonomy: Transitioning direct instruction out of the group space to maximize face-to-face cognitive lifting. * 00:29:12 — Reprogramming the AI Engine: Moving away from automated answer generators toward interactive, sandboxed Socratic dialog tools. * 00:33:05 — The Mastery Viva: Reintroducing the oral exam as a two-minute formative conversation to human-proof your assessment data. * 00:35:40 — Handling High-Capacity Rosters: Strategies to scale oral defenses across large groups using secure LMS wrappers and assistants. * 00:38:34 — The Path of the Thriver: A final review of the great bifurcation and why mastery learning keeps kids on the winning side of the automation wave. * 00:40:22 — Reclaiming Samuel: The real-world story of a high school football player who rejected the easy button to achieve a perfect score on an honors physics re-test. * 00:42:52 — Hardcoding the Struggle: Why prospective teachers and veterans must design environments that protect the biological struggle of learning. * 00:45:19 — Remaining Profoundly Human: The pressing duty of educators to defend human dignity against new forms of mechanical dehumanization. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

It’s been a long time since I was the dumbest person in the room. This past week, I attended an AP Physics C (Calculus) institute at Loyola University in Chicago, and of the other six participants, I was the weakest physicist. The vast majority of them had dedicated degrees in Physics, and some had Master's in Physics. When a difficult problem was posed by our brilliant instructor, I had to ask for more help or had to ask for clarification. I lived this week in what I am calling “learner mode.” I stepped into the shoes of my typical student who might be lost with the concepts I teach. I lived with productive struggle all week. And you know what? It was good for me! Not only did I make significant progress in my comprehension, but it gave me empathy for my struggling students. Thanks for reading/watching! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. In this week’s episode, I reflect on what it means to be an uncomfortable learner. I also encourage you, teachers, to find something you don’t know and haven’t mastered and go into learner mode. I am increasingly convinced that, in the age of AI, the three-pronged approach to teaching is best addressed by the MasteryFlip Framework. I needed to spend my week analog working through difficult concepts, and when I verbalized my understanding (Mastery Vivas), the presenters (and the other participants) were quick to correct my thinking - which led to greater comprehension. If you are still sitting on the fence about the MasteryFlip Certification course, here are a couple of comments from some of our recent graduates: “I think this is my favorite opportunity for AI use... the Socratic Mastery Viva thought partner (either practice for the summative with the teacher), or similarly as a check on understanding and completion of pre-work before the next class.” — Certified MasteryFlip Participant “I love a good 20 minutes (30 if I’m being honest) of direct instruction during class. I do sincerely think it is one of my strengths as a teacher and it is much fun for me, which helps me sell it. However, I’m not sure each and every student is learning enough from it to warrant the use of class time in that way to that number of minutes.” — MasteryFlip Graduate Are you a school principal, dean, or department chair trying to figure out how to handle AI in your classrooms? We’re offering a sponsored 30-Day Executive Pilot of our Harvard and MIT-backed MasteryFlip Framework for school leaders. Head over to jonbergmann.com/masteryflippilot to claim a trial seat for your school today. Now go out and reach every student. Jon Key Moments in the Podcast * (00:00:00) — Entering Learner Mode: Sitting in the “productive struggle” at the week-long AP Physics C symposium in Chicago. * (00:01:05) — A Dose of Humble Pie: Navigating a calculus-based course after a 42-year break while surrounded by physics master’s degrees. * (00:01:51) — Sleeping on It: How a night of sleep cleared cognitive overload, allowing a deep dive into the calculus of “moment of inertia”. * (00:02:54) — The Derivation Breakthrough: Confronting the power rule and chain rule, and how stepping out of your comfort zone in your 41st year of teaching builds deep student empathy. * (00:04:32) — Validating the MasteryFlip Framework: How this intense experience proved the need for analog roots and real-world human verification over the digital “AI easy button”. * (00:06:55) — The “Justify” Hurdle: Failing a sample board problem’s justification criteria, and why students must write conceptual sentences rather than just throwing down math equations. * (00:08:55) — The Roadmap for Next Year: Planning workflows for the new class using AP Central videos for the AI engine alongside printed paper packets. * (00:10:41) — Special Editions & Open Invitations: Teasing the upcoming full-length interview drops with Harvard and MIT professors, and inviting MasteryFlip practitioners onto the show. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

This past week, I returned home from my Fuller Center Canyon Cycling Adventure, where I cycled about 700 miles and stopped to help those who are home-challenged. That was one part emotional, one part physical, and one part spiritual. I came home to my beautiful wife and had a couple of days to reorient, and then off we went on a cross-country drive to visit our grown daughters in Wisconsin for the Fourth of July. While in Wisconsin, I reflected on the founding of our country and the sacrifices that were made for the freedoms I have. I remember my friend David Carter, who was killed in Afghanistan, and remember that the freedoms I have were not free. Many paid the ultimate price for the freedoms I enjoy. This week served as a transition week. From analog reset and vacation mode back to full-on school mode. This week I jump into “leaner mode.” I will be attending an AP Physics C summer institute in Chicago, where I will learn the AP Physics content. I am nervous about teaching the class because the last time I took calculus was 42 years ago. I encourage you to listen/watch my reflections from Wisconsin. And as you jump back into “school-mode,” consider taking the MasteryFlip Certification course where you will learn how to teach in the age of AI. Some of the reflections from those who have taken the course are very powerful, and the certification is helping many teachers. If you want to take the MasteryFlip Certification as a team, you can get it at 50% when you buy four or more licenses. Key Moments & Timestamps * (00:00:45) — The Wisconsin Landing: Transitioning from the cross-country trail to a July 4th family gathering. * (00:02:15) — Unpacking Episode 80: Highlighting the deep physical and personal friction from the canyon rim. * (00:04:10) — The Novice Perspective: Why veteran teachers need to periodically experience the fear of failing a concept. * (00:06:38) — Banning My Own Easy Button: Rejecting automated shortcuts during my master-level physics prep. * (00:08:52) — Reclaiming the Bench: How manual erasures and raw pencil tracking build long-term conceptual mastery. * (00:11:15) — Summer Strategy: Utilizing the vacation buffer to restructure your standards and scale human oral checks. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

I’ve been on my bicycle adventure, cycling 700 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Flagstaff, AZ. Listen in/watch my reflections right after I watched the sunrise over the canyon. Learn about the woman in tears as she first saw the canyon, my reflections after a couple of our riders crashed, and a commitment to my own authenticity. I hope you also have time to both literally and figuratively step away from the craziness of life and school. Enjoy this deeply reflective podcast. Jon ReachEveryStudent.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

I’m on a cycling adventure that is one part physical, one part spiritual, and one part service. In this short episode I share about how it is necessary for each of us to recharge from the incredible demands of teaching. I hope you enjoy this episode From the Canyons Jon This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

If you are listening to this on Monday morning, I am already out on the asphalt, somewhere on the road for the Fuller Center Bike Canyon connector. I’m pedaling a grueling 750-mile journey from Salt Lake City straight down to the rim of the Grand Canyon. But before I zipped away my laptop and completely unplugged from the tech grid for the next 20 days, I spent my morning grinding out miles in the brutal Houston humidity to get my legs ready. I rode 90 miles on Monday and followed it up with another 75 miles on Tuesday. It makes me think about a fundamental truth of how we grow: How do you actually get better at anything? Whether it’s running a marathon or conquering a complex concept, the blueprint is exactly the same. You have to embrace the resistance. The 90-Mile Flush: Clearing the Brain Teaching is an exhausting profession because you are forced to make a million micro-decisions a day—everything from structural lesson delivery down to, “Can I use the restroom?” When I get out on a long-distance bicycle ride, life becomes elemental. It becomes visceral. My only objective shrinks down to the very next pedal stroke. That physical challenge flushes the brain and creates an attention sanctuary where true, deep thinking actually happens. Eleven books later, I can tell you that my best ideas have never been born sitting at a computer screen; they were hammered out on a bicycle saddle or during a long run. But to get to that level of cognitive clarity, you have to build the muscle through consistency. The Two-Block Blueprint: One Step at a Time I wasn’t always an avid cyclist. Back in my 30s, I was overweight, out of shape, and feeling profoundly disconnected from my trajectory in life. While on a family trip, I picked up a copy of Runner’s World at a friend’s house and thought, I wonder if I could do a triathlon? The next day, I went out for my very first run. I ran about two blocks, almost threw up, and ran (or rather, jogged, or more like wobbled home. But I had already committed to the race. So the next morning, I ran to the third block. The day after that, the fourth block. One tiny, painful step at a time. I stuck with it, and it permanently altered my life. I do have regrets—there were seasons where I overemphasized the physical exercise at the expense of my wife and children, which was a bad choice that hurt the people closest to me. But navigating that friction taught me how to coach my own mind through difficult transitions. The Ultimate Choice: Lift the Weight or Outsource the Brain This brings us right back to our students and the current landscape of modern education. The only way our students grow cognitively is through productive struggle and neural friction . As Ted Chiang wrote in The New Yorker : using generative AI to complete your assignments is like bringing a forklift to the weight room. You might move the weight, but you receive absolutely zero biological benefit. When a student hits the digital “Easy Button” to generate an essay or solve a physics problem, their brain completely bypasses the mental road of logic, categorization, and synthesis. They are walking away from the heavy lifting. This summer, I want you to go to the beach, open a physical book, and completely escape. Unburden your mind. But when you are ready to look at a sustainable blueprint that protects student cognition from the path of least resistance, take a look at the MasteryFlip Certification framework . The 4-hour course is officially live at https://www.jonbergmann.com/MasteryFlipCert . It is designed to help you streamline your workflows and move the heavy cognitive lifting back to the classroom bench where it belongs. Stay in the fight. I’ll see you on the road. Jon Key Moments: * 00:00 - Live from the Trail: The 750-Mile Canyon Trek * 00:32 - 90 Miles in Houston Humidity: Stupidity or Practice? * 01:25 - The Forklift in the Weight Room: Bypassing the Mind * 02:08 - An Educator’s Mandate: Please Escape This Summer * 02:51 - Visceral Classrooms: Why My Best Ideas Happen on a Bike * 03:33 - Turning Point: Almost Throwing Up After a 2-Block Run * 05:01 - Raw Reflections: Balancing the Fitness Passion with Family * 05:38 - The Decision Fatigue of School: Flushing the Cognitive Noise * 06:55 - Reclaiming Cognition: The MasteryFlip Certification is Live * 08:02 - Special Edition Preview: The Brazil AI Keynotes Drop this July This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

Right now, I am in my workshop looking over a staging pile of cycling gear. I’m getting ready to head out on a 750-mile trek with the Fuller Center for Housing, riding from Salt Lake City down through Bryce Canyon all the way to the rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s a wonderful organization similar to Habitat for Humanity, where we actually stop and spend days building homes for people who are housing-challenged. But the organizers of this ride have one strict, unyielding rule: Your bag is limited to 40 pounds. For a 16-day trip, that means they are so specific that you are only allowed to bring exactly four pairs of underwear. Think about that for a second. It sounds completely crazy. But as I look at that pile of gear, I can’t help but look forward to the upcoming school year and think about the professional burdens we ask our teachers to carry. You probably aren’t carrying a lean, agile 40-pound pack into your building. Instead, you’re dragging around a 100-pound pack. It’s weighed down by curriculum, parental anxieties, administrative mandates, and the exhausting, constant noise of split-screen grading in a world full of AI tools. Teaching is arguably one of the hardest jobs on the planet, especially right now. My advice to you as we enter this summer break? Drop the weight. Take the pack off. Go be with your families, do the things you are deeply passionate about, and let your mind completely unburden. Family, Friction, and Re-Learning AP Physics This trip is packed with a lot of emotion for me. This episode drops on Monday, and on Monday morning I’m flying out to see my 88-year-old father. He recently suffered a minor stroke. The good news is he’s doing better and getting his therapy, but he’s in another state, and I need to be there just to be with him before my trip. Family matters! We can get so utterly obsessed with our professional mission to rescue the next generation that we forget to take care of our own. When I finally hit the road on my bike, my laptop is staying completely behind. I am zipping the tech away for 20 days. Yet, if I’m being honest, I spent most of this morning sitting at my desk doing something incredibly nerdy: manual physics problems. This fall, I’m teaching AP Physics C— with Calculus. The last time I took calculus was 42 years ago in college. I am genuinely terrified of it, but I’ve got my physical notebook out and am solving problems by hand with a pencil, a calculator, and a piece of paper. And you know what? I kind of love it. It forces my mind to slow down and embrace the resistance. Moving the Cognition to the Class That exact tactile resistance—what we call Analog Roots —is the key to human-proofing our classrooms from the AI crisis this August. We have to accept a permanent shift in the landscape: You cannot send cognitively complex assignments home anymore. If you do, students facing the path of least resistance will reach into their pockets, push the digital ‘Easy Button’ of generative AI, and let a machine do their thinking. No technology evangelist is going to walk into your building with some software that solves this crisis. The only people who are going to save our students' minds are the practicing teachers like you and me, standing right at the classroom bench, doing the real work of school. Take this summer to rest, simplify, and unpack. And when you are ready to look at a sustainable blueprint that streamlines your prep and protects student cognition, take a look at our MasteryFlip Certification framework at https://www.jonbergmann.com/MasteryFlipCert I’ll see you on the road. Jon Key Moments: * 00:00 - Only 4 Pairs of Underwear? * 00:23 - Are You Carrying Too Much “Weight?” * 01:33 - Real Priorities: Flying Out for My Father’s Recovery * 02:21 - 20 Days Unplugged: Intentionally Leaving the Laptop Behind * 02:47 - Terrifying Prep: Manually Solving Calculus After 42 Years * 03:30 - An MS 150 on Steroids: 750 Miles with the Fuller Center * 05:04 - The MasteryFlip: Simplifying Your Life via Analog Roots * 06:04 - Beating the AI Easy Button: Moving the Hard Stuff to Class * 07:56 - Next Stop: Recording Live from the Canyons of Utah This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

Live From Curitiba I am standing in my hotel room in Curitiba, Brazil, completely energized and absolutely exhausted. I just wrapped up delivering two keynote addresses to an international group of medical educators, doctors, deans, and medical students about the MasteryFlip framework . To be completely honest, it is deeply humbling that a high school science teacher would be flown down here to have these brilliant medical minds listen to my blueprint. But as I stepped off the stage, a realization hit me: The border lines don’t matter. The age gap doesn’t matter. The language doesn’t matter. The crisis facing education is completely universal. Whether you are teaching sophomore chemistry or third-year neurosurgery, students everywhere are pushing the “Easy Button” of AI, and professors everywhere are staring back at the exact same “AI Glaze” . The Two Medical Students (Listen at 01:24) During the Q&A sessions, two distinct interactions perfectly illustrated the psychological battle happening in our classrooms right now: * The AI Defender: A third-year medical student stood up and challenged me, wondering if my perspective was just a generational gap (she basically called me old, which got some great laughs). She fiercely defended her use of AI, arguing that her medical school workload was so overwhelming that she had no choice but to use it to survive. We had a brilliant, productive conversation afterward about where technology is useful and where it becomes toxic to actual learning. * The AI Fearful: A different medical student stood up on the second day and expressed the exact opposite anxiety. She said, “I’m terrified to use AI because I want to be the absolute best doctor I can be, but my professors assign so much reading that I am completely drowning.” What I told her next had the entire room of medical faculty laughing and nodding along: I looked at her and said, “Look, you went to medical school, and it’s supposed to be hard. My gut tells me you need to manually read the material... because someday, you might be the doctor treating me.” Bringing Back Socratic Friction (Listen at 03:52) The biggest takeaway from the trip came from a conversation with the Dean of the College of Medicine. He pulled me aside and said we must fight to protect friction and productive struggle in the learning process. The medical leadership here is intrigued by the MasteryFlip model. In fact, one visiting medical director announced that his faculty is going back this Monday to completely redesign their small tutorial sessions around Mastery Vivas (interactive oral examinations) to bypass AI cheating. As the Dean brilliantly noted: “Jon, what you are doing isn’t new. Socrates did this.” That is the heart of the movement. MasteryFlip isn’t about chasing the next tech fad; it is about bringing old-school, Socratic human dialogue back into the modern machine to preserve human cognition. The Tower of Babel vs. The Way of Nehemiah (Listen at 07:05) During my long layover in São Paulo, I read the new 42,000-word encyclical/treatise by Pope Leo on artificial intelligence. It is a masterful, profound piece of writing that sets a historic baseline for this civilizational shift. In it, he contrasts two biblical narratives. * The Tower of Babel: Built on rapid consumerism, human pride, and isolation. The Pope warns that our current tech trajectory is building a modern Babel that threatens to completely dehumanize us. * The Way of Nehemiah: A movement built on collective collaboration, shared purpose, community, and human dignity to rebuild what was broken. We have a direct civilizational choice to make in our schools. Do we choose the easy, automated isolation of Babel, or do we stand up and build the collaborative, deeply human way of Nehemiah? The Delayed Harvest (Listen at 12:01) I closed my international keynote with a story that happened to me just a week ago at my home church in Houston. A young woman I didn’t immediately recognize walked up to me and said, “Mr. Bergmann, I had you six years ago for chemistry. I’m starting pharmacy school this fall, and you are one of the reasons I am where I am today.” Teachers, we are in a delayed-harvest profession. You might be bone-tired, navigating administrative nightmares, and fighting AI shortcuts from your students. You may never get a student who tracks you down in the wild to say thank you. But please hear me: What you are doing matters, and the echoes of your work travel further than you will ever know. The Road Ahead I land back in the States early Saturday morning, hit the wedding of the spectacular teacher who works in the room right next door to me, and then I am officially off grid. My 17-day, 750-mile bicycle ride through the canyons begins. I will be recording raw updates from my bike seat for a few weeks coming up. (Note: I did record both 45-minute keynotes here in Brazil, and I will be releasing them as special extended masterclass editions later this summer once they are edited!) Don’t hit the easy button this summer. Hit the subscribe button, unplug your computer, and let’s start the reset. Ride on, Jon 00:00 - Live from Curitiba: High School Methods in Medical School 00:53 - Explaining the “AI Glaze” to Deans and Doctors 01:24 - The Student Q&A: Overloaded Workloads vs. The Easy Button 02:42 - Why Medical Students are Afraid to Shortcut Their Learning 03:52 - Reclaiming Socratic Friction: Medical Schools Adopt Mastery Vivas 05:28 - Out of My League? Navigating Faculty Development Globally 07:05 - The Pope’s AI Warning: The Tower of Babel vs. The Way of Nehemiah 09:54 - Rehumanizing Education: Overcoming the Dehumanizing Tech Push 12:01 - The 6-Year Harvest: A Surprise Encounter with a Former Student 13:50 - The Next Step: Home for a Wedding, Then the 750-Mile Bike Ride This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

The 42-Year Calculus Challenge I just walked out of my end-of-year evaluation with my assistant principal, and I was handed my assignment for next fall: AP Physics with Calculus . I am one part excited and one part completely terrified. I am a chemist by trade. I understand physics well, but my last calculus class was 42 years ago . To prepare, I am practicing exactly what I preach to my students: Analog Roots . I have a massive physics textbook on order, and I bought a simple, blank composition notebook. I will be manually solving every single problem by hand this summer to stay at least a unit or two ahead. I am stepping completely back into learner mode. The Heartbreak on the Final Exam (Listen at 01:58) As I record this, the final bells have rung and the desks are empty. But right at the finish line, my mood turned sour. I discovered that a student I deeply care about made a very poor choice regarding academic integrity on his final science test. It broke my heart. It’s an administrative hassle, yes, but more importantly, it’s a painful reminder of the shortcuts kids are taking today. But as educators, we have to reframe these moments. This isn’t just an infraction; it’s a critical opportunity for a young man to grow, learn about consequences, and find a better path forward. Flipped Learning Goes Global (Listen at 03:06) By the time you listen to this, I will be on a plane to South America. The largest medical school in Brazil has invited me to speak to their doctors, professors, and dentists about the MasteryFlip model and how to teach clinical logic in the age of AI. The pace of digital change is moving faster than any time in human history. As educational researcher Justin Reich famously noted, nobody truly knows how to teach in the AI era yet—we need thousands of teachers stepping up to try things out. That experimentation led me to launch the MasteryFlip Certification . The battle-tested blueprint is ready, and the 50% off introductory window is open at jonbergmann.com until this Friday . The 750-Mile Escape (Listen at 04:44) Once I return from Brazil and spend a week with my incredible wife, I am disappearing into an Analog Reset . I am joining a small crew to cycle 750 miles over 17 days from Salt Lake City to the Grand Canyon through Bryce Canyon. We are riding with the Fuller Center for Housing to build homes for the unhoused along the way. The rules are simple: we are limited to a 40-pound bag, and electronics are strictly discouraged. I need to get away from screens and reconnect with God, nature, and humanity. Our summer batteries are at zero percent. Whether it’s a bike ride, summer school like my daughter is teaching, or traveling to see family, protect your time. Unplug. Recharge. Reclaim your sanity so you can come back next fall ready to transform lives. Ride on, Jon Ke Moments 00:00 - Terrified & Excited: My New AP Physics Assignment 01:20 - The Silence of an Empty Room 229 01:58 - Heartbreak at the Finish Line: An Academic Integrity Mistake 03:06 - Flipped Learning Goes Global: Heading to Brazil 04:44 - The Analog Reset: 750 Miles to the Grand Canyon 06:15 - Solving the Calculus Problem with Old-School Notebooks 07:05 - Why Nobody Knows How to Teach in the Age of AI 08:15 - The "Good Grief" of Saying Goodbye to My Seniors 09:20 - MasteryFlip Certification Launch (Founding Member Special) 10:00 - Summer Challenge: Reaching Your Own Family First This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

👉 Listen/Watch the full episode above on Substack. You need to hear the tone and emotion of this week’s message. This week started in the green room at church. I was talking to one of my bandmates on the worship team, and he confessed something heavy: his corporate job is “sucking the life out of him.” He feels like a gear in a machine driven by grind and greed that doesn’t care about his soul. It hit me in that moment: I am exhausted. It’s “Manic May” in Room 229, and I am bone-tired. But as I told my friend—and as I break down in the first two minutes of this episode—there is a profound difference between being drained by a system and being poured out for a mission. The Machine vs. The Mission (Listen at 02:11) Let’s be honest—teaching is brutal right now. But if you feel like your soul is being sucked dry, it’s rarely because of the kids. When we close the classroom door and engage in the “Human Check” —that’s our oxygen. We fight the system all day just to earn the right to have those 30-second meaningful moments where a student finally “gets it.” This is exactly why I built the MasteryFlip Certification , which officially launches tonight. I wanted to create a professional “reset” to help you reclaim the human heart of your classroom from the digital machine. In the video, I walk through the three specific pillars designed to buy back your time: * AI Engines: Offloading the logistics. * Analog Roots: Reclaiming the power of the pencil. * Human Checks: Interactive 2-minute oral assessments. The Auburn Letter (Listen at 03:55) If you only have five minutes today, scroll to the 3:55 mark of the audio and listen to the letter I read. I recently received a note from a young lady I taught for the last two years who is heading to Auburn University this fall. I read her exact words aloud in this episode because every exhausted educator in America needs to hear them right now. If you’ve forgotten why we stay in the trenches, let her message remind you of the “delayed harvest” we are planting. The “Good Grief” of May As graduation approaches this Friday, I’m feeling a sense of grief as I say goodbye to my seniors. But in this episode, I want to challenge how you view that end-of-year sadness. I’m arguing for a concept I call “Good Grief.” My corporate friend doesn’t experience this pain because he doesn’t share our mission. Tune in to hear why the heartbreak of the last day of school is actually the ultimate evidence that your life is echoing. 🚀 Launch Invite: Become a Founding Member I want to help you start next August with a clean slate. The MasteryFlip Certification online course is officially open. It’s the distillation of everything I’ve learned about reaching every student while preserving your own sanity. Because you are part of this Substack community, you can claim a Founding Member seat at 50% off before the doors close on May 29th. * Regular Price: $297 * Your Price: $149 * 👉 Click Here to Claim Your Founding Member Seat for $149 Summer Plans: The 750-Mile Analog Reset At the end of the episode, I share my upcoming summer itinerary—including a trip to Brazil to present this framework, followed by a massive 750-mile bicycle ride where I will try to reset and go analog. The podcast isn’t stopping. I’ll be recording raw updates from the road every single Monday all summer long. Hit play to hear how you can ride along with me. Ride on, Jon Key Moments in Episode 74 * 00:00 - Survival in “Manic May” * 00:39 - Introducing the MasteryFlip Certification * 01:12 - The corporate machine vs. the teaching mission * 03:55 - The Auburn Letter: Proof your impact is real * 05:56 - The beauty of the professional “reset.” * 08:59 - Why honesty in failing matters for students * 10:55 - Summer plans: Brazil and a 750-mile bike ride This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

The Story of the Echo Teaching is a delayed harvest profession . This week, I received a message from a student I taught four years ago that reminded me why the 'Human Check' is more important than any AI in education tool Yesterday, I received a message from a friend in Kansas that stopped me in my tracks. He had been talking to a former student of mine—now a sophomore in college—who told him, “Mr. Bergmann really impacted my life.” I didn’t hear that four years ago when he was sitting in my Chemistry class. I didn’t see it on a course evaluation. I am hearing it now, vicariously, through an “echo.” If you are a teacher in the middle of “Manic May,” feeling exhausted and wondering if you’re actually getting through, this episode is for you. Teaching is a delayed harvest profession . You are planting seeds today that you might not see bloom until 2030. The Year in Review: Reclaiming the Classroom As I sat through my final teacher evaluations this week, I looked back at the journey we’ve been on since September. * The AI Pivot: We started the year trying to figure out how to “enmesh” AI into Physics. But as the months went by, the goal changed. I found myself warning students about “Stupefaction.” If we offload our thinking to the machine, we lose the “productive struggle” that actually grows the brain. * The Letters to Students: I wrote two letters to students. The first is more personal to my students, and the second is a joint effort with a consortium of STEM professors across the United States. * The Mastery Flip: This year gave birth to a new framework: AI Engines, Analog Roots, and Human Checks. My wife actually helped me name it: The Mastery Flip. * Analog Roots: In a world of “digital glaze,” I actually went out and bought used physical textbooks for the fourth quarter. We moved away from online platforms and back to paper, pencil, and face-to-face conversation. Why? Because the “Analog Root” is what keeps the student grounded in their own thinking. The “Motor” Moment The payoff for all this “Analog” work happened this week during our electricity unit. I watched a student—one who has struggled with traditional work all year—build an electric motor from scratch. He was so proud that it spun for 30 minutes straight. In that moment, I wasn’t just a teacher; I was a Vision Caster . I told him, “You need to be an electrical engineer.” That’s the “Human Check” that no AI can provide. The Final Word: Stay for the Echo I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and I still get tired. But then I get a message from Kansas. To the “Village” of teachers listening: Don’t judge your success by how you feel today. Judge it by the echo that is coming. Stay in the fight. Episode Timestamps: * 00:00 - The Message from Kansas: A 4-Year Echo * 02:51 - Is AI Stupefying Our Students? * 06:44 - The Mastery Flip: AI Engines & Analog Roots * 08:11 - Why I’m Returning to Physical Textbooks in 2026 * 11:45 - The Motor Project: When a Student “Comes Alive” * 15:01 - Parent Feedback: The Power of Being Seen * 16:17 - Year 40 Encouragement: Stay for the Echo P.S. If you're watching this on YouTube , please hit the 'Hype' button on the video! It helps the algorithm push this encouragement to other tired teachers who need to hear it this week This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com

“Manic May” is here. We are in the “Long Sprint”—that exhausted, emotionally spent stretch where the finish line is visible, but the legs are heavy. Technology is supposed to save us time, but I’ve found that the most important work we do in 2026 doesn’t come from a processor; it comes from the heart. In this episode, I dive into a recent, shocking admission from Sal Khan. He noted that despite all the billions invested, AI tutoring (Khanmigo) has been a “non-event” for most students. The “Grandpa” Letter Insight: “Your words remind me that I don’t need to be loud like others to be influential... You kind of remind me of my grandpa... it has been a long, long time since I earned appreciation from an elderly person. Now, I feel like my grandpa is watching me from heaven...” Why? Because access does not equal action. I break down the “Treadmill Problem” : Why having an AI tutor is like having a high-end treadmill in your basement—it’s objectively great, but without a “Personal Trainer” (you), it usually just ends up hanging your laundry. I also share the emotional payoff of the 150 individual “Vision Videos” I just finished recording. You’ll hear the letters my students sent back—including one that reminds us that while AI can explain Chemistry, it can never replace the “Grandpa” factor in a child’s life. Key Highlights in This Episode: * The Motivation Gap: Why Sal Khan realized that a “teacher in the back of the room” (even a digital one) isn’t enough. * The Personal Trainer Metaphor: Why students do the “extra rep” of mastery for a human, but never for an algorithm. * Scaling the Heart: How I managed to “see” each of my students individually during an exhausting week. * The “Grandpa” Letter: A raw look at a student response that proves why the “Human Check” is our true superpower. * Key Moments * 00:00 – Introduction: Heart over Technology * Jon reflects on why the most important work in 2026 comes from the heart, not just a processor. * An update on the seven-year tradition of “Vision Videos” and the surprising responses they generate. * 01:13 – The Sal Khan “Non-Event” Admission * Discussing Sal Khan’s admission that AI tutoring (Khanmigo) has been a “non-event” for most students. * The problem with AI acting as a “teacher in the back of the room” that students never visit. * 01:44 – The Treadmill Metaphor: Access vs. Action * Why having an AI tutor is like having a treadmill in your basement—always there, but often just used to hang laundry. * The need for a “Personal Trainer” who is invested in student progress and encourages that “extra rep”. * 04:18 – Legacy: “He Never Let Me Get Away With Anything” * A powerful story from Senior Chapel about a student being influenced by high expectations and accountability. * 05:13 – Scaling the Personal Trainer for 150 Students * How to act as a personal trainer at scale without burning out. * Holding 150 students accountable through “Human Checks” and Mastery Vivas. * 05:54 – AI as Your Chief of Staff * Turning Gemini into a “Chief of Staff” to handle behind-the-scenes executive assistant work. * Instructing AI to push your thinking rather than just agreeing with you. * 09:00 – The “Grandpa” Letter: Why Being Seen is the Superpower * Jon reads a deeply emotional student response that compares him to a late grandfather. * Why AI can never replace the feeling of being “seen” and validated by a human mentor. * 11:45 – The Motivation Gap & The Human Solution * How teachers serve as the “personal trainers” who make kids run on the treadmill. * Reflecting on 40 years in the classroom and encouraging teachers to stay in the profession. * 14:00 – Teaser: The Grief of the Launch * Reflecting on the coming end of the school year and the emotional weight of saying goodbye. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reacheverystudent.com