SamTastic Weekly Tip: 10/27/25 - Artificial Intelligence Use and Student Mental Health

This week’s Tip:   Artificial Intelligence Use and Student Mental Health

The plethora of articles touting the advantages of artificial intelligence use in schools seldom mention the rising concern about student mental health.  Artificial Intelligence chat-bots have been connected to cases of student depression and suicide.  Research shows this happens more in schools that encourage AI use. 

Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth, chief medical officer, The Jed Foundation, warns that AI companions have emotionally manipulative techniques similar to online predators, and can negatively impact young people’s emotional well-being, from delaying help-seeking to disrupting real-life connections.  “While online predators are typically seeking either sexual contact with minors or monetary rewards from blackmail, AI companions are designed to keep users in conversations,” she says. Teenagers are particularly “vulnerable to exploitation by systems designed to maximize attention or simulate care.” 

In an August 2025 report published by Heat Initiative and Parents Together Action, researchers logged 669 harmful interactions across 50 hours of conversation with 50 Character.AI bots using accounts registered to children (an average of one harmful interaction every five minutes). "Grooming and sexual exploitation" was the most common harm category, with 296 instances.

A new study published Oct. 8 by the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) found that 1 in 5 high school students have had a relationship with an AI chatbot, or know someone who has. In a 2025 report from Common Sense Media, 72% of teens had used an AI companion, and a third of teen users said they had chosen to discuss important or serious matters with AI companions instead of real people.

Elizabeth Laird, a co-author on the CDT study and the organization's director of equity in civil technology, says that schools play a crucial role in children's use of AI. "Along with higher usage of AI in schools are coming these negative effects that students will bear the brunt of," Laird says.  For students whose schools use AI extensively, the rate of students who have had a romantic relationship with AI jumps to 32%. And 30% of students indicate that they have had personal conversations with AI using a school-provided device or service. However, only 11% of teachers said that their school provided guidance on what to do if they suspect a student's use of AI is detrimental to their well-being.”

Excerpts from USA Today, October 20, 2025 Access the full article:   http://bit.ly/4hvRoxp

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19^th Annual National SAM Conference

Registration link:  https://registration.samprocess.com/ 

A few things to consider when planning to attend:

Ø The conference is January 15-18. 2026.

Ø To be eligible to attend, you must be a SAM team member doing the process with efficacy, NSIP staff, Board member or presenter.

Ø The conference will be in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Marriott Harbor Beach Resort

Keynote Speakers

·      Will Parker, Principals Matter: Living your Best Life as an Educator

·      Will Bowen, You Can’t Complain Your Way to Success

·      Tracie Swilley, The PrinciPAL Effect: Setting the Vibe, Energy, and Excellence Every Day

·      John Antonetti, Personal Response: Am I safe to share my thinking?

·      William Martinez, Signing the Song: The Power of Belonging

Pre-Conference All-Day Workshop Presenters

·      Jim Masters, Beyond Why and What – Getting to How School Leaders Make a Difference

·      Ken Williams, Better Teachers, Better Results: Where Students Learn Because Of US

·      Willow Sweeney, Top 20 Moves for Building Effective Staff and Student Relationships

·      Brendan Houdek and Caleb Shomaker:  Executive Speaking Coaching Seminar

Breakout session preference selection, featuring national presenters and SAM practitioners, will open December 1.

SamTastic Weekly Tip: 10/20/25 - Transactional or Generative?

This week’s Tip: Transactional or Generative?

When students are asked at the end of a lesson, “Do you have any questions?” the response is often silence.  Principal learning guru Mike Rutherford suggests a way to change the silence to engaged responses.

“I was in a 6th grade classroom recently and I heard another version of “Are there any questions.”  As the end of the lesson drew near, the teacher paused, took a breath, let it out slowly, and said “Now… what are your questions?” Hear the difference?  This simple change in phrasing led to a wholly new set of student responses.  “Now, what are your questions?” comes loaded with a completely different set of implications than does “Are there any questions?”

I’ll exaggerate a bit for effect, but baked into “Are there any questions?” is the message:  If you’ve been listening carefully, thinking clearly, taking good notes, and have avoided distractions, you probably won’t have any questions.  Just in case, though, here is an opportunity to make up for your lapses in learning. 

Are there any questions? “Now, what are your questions?” implies a different message…  If you’ve been listening carefully, taking good notes, thinking curiously, and giving yourself fully to your learning, then at this moment, there is no way you won’t have a bunch of great questions.  Let’s hear them!

The teacher may continue.  “Some of your questions may be simple, factual questions and that’s OK.  I’m sure I didn’t explain everything just right.  Some of your questions, however, will be deeper, such as, why is this important?  How or when might this not work?  What else is similar to this?  How does this make you feel?  

Going a little deeper, I think that “Are there any questions?” implies that a transaction is in progress.  I’m the teacher.  I’m teaching this lesson.  You’re the students.  You’re paying attention.  I’ll do my part.  You’ll do your part.  We’ll take a few questions at the end in case the transaction was flawed in some way.  It also implies the too simplistic principle that questions all have answers, and correct ones at that.  “Now, what are your questions?” is generative, rather than transactional.  It implies that the lesson is just getting started.  Now comes the good part… the connecting, the curiosity, the deeper layers, the schema building.  It’s OK, desirable even, to pose questions to which there are no right or wrong answers, or questions whose answers will need to be searched out as a part of one’s ongoing curiosity and interest.  So… sometimes a simple rephrasing of the teacher’s words can make a big difference in students’ thinking and learning.  I’m grateful and appreciative that I was present when this skillful 6th grade teacher demonstrated this so powerfully.  Of course, there is so much more to know and discover about the simple practice of asking and answering classroom questions.  This topic has been well researched and the literature available to seekers is deep and broad.  Now, what are your questions?”

Mike Rutherford, Rutherford Learning Group, www.rutherfordlg.com

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19^th Annual National SAM Conference

Registration link:  https://registration.samprocess.com/ 

A few things to consider when planning to attend:

Ø The conference is January 15-18. 2026.

Ø To be eligible to attend, you must be a SAM team member doing the process with efficacy, NSIP staff, Board member or presenter.

Ø The conference will be in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Marriott Harbor Beach Resort

Keynote Speakers

·      Will Parker, Principals Matter: Living your Best Life as an Educator

·      Will Bowen, You Can’t Complain Your Way to Success

·      Tracie Swilley, The PrinciPAL Effect: Setting the Vibe, Energy, and Excellence Every Day

·      John Antonetti, Personal Response: Am I safe to share my thinking?

·      William Martinez, Signing the Song: The Power of Belonging

Pre-Conference All-Day Workshop Presenters

·      Jim Masters, Beyond Why and What – Getting to How School Leaders Make a Difference

·      Ken Williams, Better Teachers, Better Results: Where Students Learn Because Of US

·      Willow Sweeney, Top 20 Moves for Building Effective Staff and Student Relationships

·      Brendan Houdek and Caleb Shomaker:  Executive Speaking Coaching Seminar

Breakout session preference selection, featuring national presenters and SAM practitioners, will open December 1.

SamTastic Weekly Tip: 10/13/25 - Assess Your Emotional Intelligence

This week’s Tip: Assess Your Emotional Intelligence

SAM Principals know their daily interactions play a significant part in determining their success in improving teacher practice and student outcomes.

Jeff Haden, Inc. Magazine, makes the case that emotional intelligence directly connects with better outcomes in your work, as well as your personal relationships.  “The better you can understand and manage your emotions, and the emotions of people around you, the greater your chances of success.”

How emotionally intelligent are you?  He suggests a self-test using five questions:

“Do I ask for advice instead of feedback?”

Say you’re okay with getting feedback, even when it’s critical. (Plenty of people who claim they do, really don’t.) You may even enjoy getting critical feedback.

But that doesn’t mean other people like to give you the feedback you need. Research shows when feedback is requested rather than volunteered, it tends to be too vague. Too fluffy. Too, “I don’t want to hurt your feelings so I’ll just be nice,” to be of any real value. 

But when you ask for advice? Harvard Business School researchers found that compared to asking for feedback, asking for advice resulted in respondents providing 34 percent more areas of improvement, and 56 percent more ways to improve. 

In short, emotionally intelligent people realize that asking another person to provide feedback (saying, “How did I do?”) puts them on the spot.

On the other hand, asking another person for advice (saying, “What can (or should) I do?”) is flattering. Asking someone for advice implicitly shows you respect their knowledge, skills, experience, etc.

Do that, and two great things happen: you get the input you need, and they feel valued, trusted, and happy to offer guidance they know will help you.

Win-win.

“Do I appreciate (even if I don’t like) negative feedback?”

But what if you’re given feedback you didn’t request? That’s the farthest thing from fun. No one likes to be told what they can do better. Research shows most people rarely appreciate feedback when it’s negative. And when they do receive constructive criticism, they rarely use it to improve their performance. (In fact, studies show that within days we tend to totally forget the negative feedback we receive.)

Emotionally intelligent people keep their feelings in check and embrace — or at least put aside — the discomfort to find ways to improve. A study published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning found that we’re far more likely to recall evaluative feedback (feedback about something we’ve already completed) than directive feedback (feedback on how we could improve on a future task.)

That’s why emotionally intelligent people embrace — again, even if they don’t enjoy — critical feedback. They focus on what it says about the task, not about themselves.

Instead of avoiding feedback that threatens how you currently perceive yourself, use it to improve how you will someday perceive yourself.

Smarter, more skilled, more talented, more inclusive… more of whatever you someday hope to be.

“Do I often praise other people?”

Do you feel you don’t receive enough recognition and praise? Science says you’re not alone. Two out of three employees surveyed feel they don’t receive enough praise, and nearly three-fourths say they receive some form of positive feedback less than once a week.

Clearly that doesn’t feel great.

Emotionally intelligent people recognize that what they want — or need — is what they can give to people they know. A kind word. A sincere thank-you.

Plenty of people you know — employees, vendors, customers, friends, family, etc. — deserve a kind word. A sincere thank-you. 

But you should also recognize people you don’t know. A store clerk. A delivery person. A customer service rep.  Because praise that is unexpected, like the gift that is given “just because,” is often even more powerful.

“Do I willingly admit my mistakes?”

As Daniel Coyle writes in his book The Culture Code, Navy SEAL Dave Cooper feels the most important words a leader can say are, “I screwed that up.”

While that might sound odd, since conventional wisdom says leaders should project unshakable confidence, and admitting weakness risks creating more weakness, emotionally intelligent people realize strong cultures can only be built when people feel safe enough to tell one another the truth.

Which starts with leaders who admit they aren’t perfect.

The result is a vulnerability loop: one person allows themself to be vulnerable and admits a mistake or a shortcoming, which allows another person to do the same. In time, that leads to more open exchanges that build trust and drive performance.

And helps people focus on how they can get better, together.

“Do I often skip past the small talk?”

Say you’re at a conference and just met someone new. Do you whip out the small talk?

Science says you shouldn’t. A series of studies published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that the more awkward and uncomfortable a conversation with another person sounded, the more they tended to bond with the other person, and the more they liked the other person.

Participants felt less awkward, more connected, and a lot happier after those conversations than they expected to feel.

Emotionally intelligent people realize that the deeper the conversation, especially with someone they don’t know, the more likely they both are to enjoy it.

Keep in mind “deep” doesn’t have to be too deep. When researchers asked people to come up with what they considered to be “deeper” questions, the most common were pretty straightforward:

• What do you love doing?

• What do you regret most?

• Where do you see yourself in five years?

  
  

As the researchers write, “Our research suggests that the person next to you would probably be happier talking about their passions and purpose than the weather or ‘What’s up?'”

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Note: 89% of the seats have been taken for the 19^th Annual National SAM Conference.  Use this link to register:  https://registration.samprocess.com/ 

You will also find a registration link at www.SamProcess.com  Would you like to be a breakout session presenter?   http://bit.ly/4pw0wWB

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19^th Annual National SAM Conference

Registration link:  https://registration.samprocess.com/ 

A few things to consider when planning to attend:

Ø The conference is January 15-18. 2026.

Ø To be eligible to attend, you must be a SAM team member doing the process with efficacy, NSIP staff, Board member or presenter.

Ø The conference will be in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Marriott Harbor Beach Resort

Keynote Speakers

·      Will Parker, Principals Matter: Living your Best Life as an Educator

·      Will Bowen, You Can’t Complain Your Way to Success

·      Tracie Swilley, The PrinciPAL Effect: Setting the Vibe, Energy, and Excellence Every Day

·      John Antonetti, Personal Response: Am I safe to share my thinking?

·      William Martinez, Signing the Song: The Power of Belonging

Pre-Conference All-Day Workshop Presenters

·      Jim Masters, Beyond Why and What – Getting to How School Leaders Make a Difference

·      Ken Williams, Better Teachers, Better Results: Where Students Learn Because Of US

·      Willow Sweeney, Top 20 Moves for Building Effective Staff and Student Relationships

·      Executive Speaking Coaching Seminar, New York Speech Coaching