Make It Mindful: Insights for Global Learning

In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth Fleischauer talks with international school consultant Chris O'Shaughnessy about narrative therapy — what it is, why it matters, and how its techniques can quietly transform the way educators approach empathy, resilience, and cross-cultural understanding. What begins as a conversation about storytelling opens into something much bigger: a practical framework for helping students separate fact from interpretation, build emotional muscle in measurable steps, and find common ground even when values genuinely clash.

Along the way, Chris draws on everything from gym metaphors to the Enneagram to a sociology study involving voluntary self-electrocution to make the case that the oldest human art form — telling stories — might also be one of the most powerful tools in a teacher's toolkit.

Together, Seth and Chris explore the neuroscience of narrative, the taxonomy of resilience, and what it looks like to introduce intentional discomfort into a classroom — including the surprisingly radical act of letting kids be bored.

Key Topics Discussed:

• What narrative therapy actually is — and why it's less about therapy and more about learning to hold your own story at arm's length
• The description → evaluation → interpretation framework, and how a photograph of a woman in a wedding dress teaches you more about assumptions than any lecture could
• Why our brains prefer a complete story to an accurate one — and what that costs us
• The "gym as intentional inefficiency" model: how to introduce beneficial discomfort in measurable, safe steps
• Dr. Wong's taxonomy of resilience — cognitive, behavioral, emotional, relational, and motivational — and why giving students language for these differences is itself an act of empowerment
• What to do when cross-cultural conflict isn't a misunderstanding — it's a genuine clash of values
• The Enneagram as a tool for digging beneath belief systems to find the shared motivations underneath
• Why boredom might be the most underrated creative catalyst in schools — and the sociology study that proves people would rather electrocute themselves than sit with it
• Awe as an emerging opportunity in education (Seth's answer to Chris's lightning round question)

Guest Bio:

Chris O'Shaughnessy is an international school consultant whose work takes him into schools across cultures and contexts around the world. Drawing on a background in sociology, he helps educators build the skills — empathy, resilience, cross-cultural communication — that don't show up on a standardized test but determine everything about how students navigate the world. He is based at chris-o.com.

Host Bio:

Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of the Make It Mindful podcast. His work focuses on global learning, cultural competency, and the evolving role of technology in education. Through Banyan Global Learning, he develops live virtual learning experiences that connect students to new people, places, and ways of thinking.

Episode Links:

• Chris O'Shaughnessy's website: chris-o.com
• Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World — Michele Borba
• Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy — Emily Bazelon
• Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir
• The Homework Machine podcast — Justin Reich, MIT Teaching Systems Lab

In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth Fleischauer talks with child development expert and author Deborah Farmer Kris about awe — what it is, why it matters, and why it might be the missing piece at the center of meaningful education. What begins as a conversation about a single emotion opens up into something much bigger: a research-backed framework for understanding how wonder drives curiosity, curiosity drives intrinsic motivation, and motivation unlocks the kind of deep learning that tests can't easily measure. Along the way, Seth reflects on how awe has been quietly powering his own work at Banyan Global Learning all along — he just didn't have a word for it until now.

Together, Seth and Deborah explore the neuroscience of wonder, the contagious nature of teacher enthusiasm, and what it means to make your classroom an oasis of awe — even inside a system that doesn't always make space for it.

Key Topics Discussed:

• What awe actually is — and how researchers know when someone is feeling it (hint: it's not just the Grand Canyon)
• The difference between awe and curiosity, and why they're more intertwined than most educators realize
• The research-backed chain from awe → curiosity → intrinsic motivation → deeper learning
• How awe primes the brain for memory — and why starting with wonder, not ending with it, changes everything
• Collective effervescence and neurosynchronicity: why learning together in a state of shared wonder produces measurably better outcomes
• Why teacher awe is contagious — and what that means for how we think about subject mastery and classroom culture
• The "small self" effect: how awe quiets cognitive chatter, restores perspective, and makes us more likely to help a stranger
• Why human kindness and bravery — not nature — turn out to be the most common source of awe across cultures
• The tension between awe and the structures of schooling: mystery vs. certainty, slow attention vs. coverage, wonder vs. testing
• Why Montessori education may be quietly ahead of the curve as AI reshapes what schools need to do
• A real conversation about teenagers, art museums, and whether you can — or should — engineer awe for your kids

Guest Bio:

Deborah Farmer Kris is a child development expert, educator, and author whose work explores the intersection of social-emotional learning, positive psychology, and how children grow. She writes regularly for PBS Kids and NPR's MindShift, and her Substack, Raising Awe-Seekers, brings the latest research on wonder and well-being directly to parents and educators. Her book on the science of awe and childhood is available now.

Host Bio:

Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of the Make It Mindful podcast. His work focuses on global learning, cultural competency, and the evolving role of technology in education. Through Banyan Global Learning, he develops live virtual learning experiences that connect students to people, places, and ideas around the world.

Episode Links:

• Deborah Farmer Kris's website and resources: parenthood365.com
• Raising Awe-Seekers Substack: raisingaweseekers.substack.com
• Dacher Keltner's awe research at UC Berkeley: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu
• Ethan Cross, Author of Chatter and Shift: https://www.ethankross.com/
• Mary Oliver, "The Summer Day"
• The Good Whale podcast (New York Times)
• The Overstory by Richard Powers

In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth Fleischauer welcomes Christian Pinedo of AIEDU to explore what artificial intelligence actually means for the future of education. Rather than focusing on tools or hype, the conversation digs into how AI is exposing deeper challenges in the education system—from outdated assessment models to the need for systemic change. Drawing on his experience at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI and now working directly with educators across the U.S., Pinedo argues that AI should not be treated as a technology problem but as an opportunity to rethink how schools prepare students for a rapidly changing world.

Together, Seth and Christian explore how AI became “real” for educators with the arrival of large language models, why concerns about cheating are really conversations about assessment design, and how meaningful change requires both grassroots engagement with teachers and broader policy shifts at the state level. The episode highlights the importance of human-centered thinking, deeper professional learning for teachers, and the role of AI as a catalyst for broader educational transformation.

Key Topics Discussed:

• How Christian Pinedo moved from classroom teaching to working at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI and eventually to AIEDU.
• Why large language models made AI suddenly real for educators after years of research and speculation.
• The concept of human-centered AI and why conversations about AI must include educators, policymakers, historians, and communities—not just technologists.
• Why teacher concerns about AI “cheating” are really conversations about assessment design in a digital world.
• The limits of focusing on AI tools instead of addressing deeper systemic challenges in education.
• AIEDU’s AI Readiness Framework, which outlines competencies for students, teachers, school leaders, and districts.
• Why sustainable education reform requires both grassroots engagement with teachers and grass-tops policy change at the state level.
• How AIEDU’s Teacher Trailblazers Fellowship creates deeper professional learning through multi-week, collaborative teacher cohorts.
• Real classroom projects emerging from the fellowship, including:
  • Indigenous students exploring data sovereignty and AI
  • Students using AI to build a platform encouraging voter registration in rural communities
• The difference between information and knowledge in the age of AI—and why friction in learning still matters.
• How international contexts change the conversation around AI in education, especially for English language learners and communities with different assumptions about privacy and data.

Guest Bio:

Christian Pinedo works with AIEDU to help schools and policymakers navigate the impact of artificial intelligence on education. A former classroom teacher, he previously worked at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), where he explored how AI intersects with society, policy, and education. His work now focuses on helping educators and school systems develop the skills, frameworks, and policies needed to prepare students for a future shaped by AI.

Host Bio:

Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of the Make It Mindful podcast. His work focuses on global learning, cultural competency, and the evolving role of technology in education. Through Banyan Global Learning, he develops live virtual learning experiences that connect students to people, places, and ideas around the world.

Episode Links:

• AIEDU: https://aiedu.org
• AIEDU Podcast – Raising Kids in the Age of AI
• Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) - https://hai.stanford.edu/
• World Savvy