After 23 years of teaching art and design, I faced the most disengaged, unbothered, creativity-resistant group of students I’ve ever had. Basic figure drawing? Nope. Participation? Hard pass. Failing? Totally fine by them.

In this episode, I’m telling the full story — the frustration, the accountability pressure, the moment halfway through the second marking period when I realized I wasn’t just failing one student… I was failing twelve.

But it’s also about the shift. The moment I realized this wasn’t about transforming the kids — it was about protecting my program, my sanity, and my job. With documentation, clearer structure, and a surprising ally: ChatGPT.

You’ll hear how AI helped me break assignments down, communicate professionally (even when I was not feeling professional), and build a system that kept the year fro ...