A Back-to-School Education Panel with Christian Padgett, Connie Davidson, Muhsinah Morris & Shontelle Jackson
A New School Year Is Almost Here. This Is the Conversation to Have Before It Starts.
Every summer carries the same quiet turning point. The current school year fades, and a new one begins to take shape on the horizon. For parents, students, teachers and everyone who cares about young people, the months ahead are full of questions, and this week Conversations with Tony Mobley brings four thoughtful voices together to answer them. It is a back-to-school education panel built around a single, practical idea: here is what you need to know before the 2026-2027 school year begins.
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 8:00 – 9:00 PM ET Live at conversationswithtonymobley.com
Meet the Panel
Tony is joined by four guests who each bring a different vantage point on teaching and learning.
Christian Padgett joins the conversation with a perspective grounded in the day-to-day realities of education and the students at the centre of it.
Connie Davidson returns to the show as an educator and children’s author whose work spans the classroom, teacher certification, and the stories that help young learners find their footing.
Muhsinah Morris brings a forward-looking view of what learning can become, having helped lead some of the boldest work in immersive and technology-driven education.
Shontelle Jackson is a familiar and valued voice on CWTM education panels, with a steady focus on the learners who are too often left out of the conversation.
Why This Conversation Matters
A new school year is never just a date on a calendar. It is a fresh set of expectations, worries and hopes, all arriving at once. Families wonder how to prepare. Students wonder what the year will ask of them. Teachers are already thinking about the classroom they want to build.
What most people rarely get is a calm, honest conversation that pulls those threads together before the rush begins. That is exactly what this panel is for. Not a lecture, and not a list of rules, but a shared, practical look at the year ahead from people who spend their lives inside it.
What We Expect to Explore
Getting Ready for 2026-2027
- How families can prepare for a new year without the last-minute scramble
- What genuinely helps students start strong, and what only looks like it does
- Setting expectations that support young people rather than overwhelm them
Supporting Every Learner
- Meeting the needs of students who learn differently
- The difference between getting a child into the room and helping them thrive in it
- How parents and teachers can work as partners rather than pass the problem back and forth
Technology, AI and the Classroom
- What the fast arrival of AI means for how children learn
- Where new tools genuinely help, and where they get in the way
- Preparing students for a world that will keep changing after the bell rings
Who Cannot Afford to Miss This
Parents and carers getting ready for the new year and looking for a clear head start
Teachers and school leaders shaping the classroom they want their students to walk into
Students who want to understand the year ahead and meet it on their own terms
Anyone who works with young people and believes the start of a school year should feel like an opportunity, not an ordeal
Because a good school year rarely happens by accident. It starts with knowing what matters, and choosing to prepare for it together.
Tony Mobley Host, Conversations with Tony Mobley
“The best time to talk about the school year ahead is before it starts, while there is still room to get it right.”