A Back-to-School Education Panel, Part 2, with Christian Padgett, Connie Davidson, Muhsinah Morris & Shontelle Jackson
In July We Asked What the Year Would Bring. Now It Is Here.
Back in July, four educators sat down with Tony to talk through the school year still on the horizon. It was a conversation about preparation: what to get ready, what to expect, what genuinely helps a young person start well. That show raised more than it could finish, so the panel is back. This time the calendar has caught up, classrooms are filling, and the questions have changed from what will this year ask of us to what do we do now that it has begun.
Wednesday, August 12, 2026 8:00 – 9:00 PM ET Live at conversationswithtonymobley.com
Why a Part Two
Some conversations are finished when the hour is up. This one was not. The July panel covered the ground families think about in advance, and it kept running into the questions that only surface once the year is actually underway: the first difficult week, the child who is not settling, the plan that looked sensible in August and stopped working by the end of the month.
Those are harder questions, and they are better answered by people who are living them right now rather than predicting them from a distance. That is what Part 2 is for.
Meet the Panel
The same four voices return, each bringing 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 is 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.
What We Expect to Explore
The First Weeks, Honestly
- What the opening stretch of a school year actually feels like, past the tidy version
- Early signs that a young person is struggling, and what helps before it grows
- How to adjust a plan without treating the change as a failure
Families and Teachers, Working Together
- Making contact with a teacher early, rather than waiting for a problem
- What schools genuinely need from families, and what families are owed in return
- Keeping the conversation going once the term settles into routine
Learning, Technology and the Year Ahead
- Where technology is helping students this year, and where it is mostly noise
- What has changed in classrooms that parents may not have noticed yet
- Preparing young people for tools that did not exist when their parents were at school
The Students Left Out of the Conversation
- Who tends to be overlooked in the rush of a new year
- Practical ways to notice a student before the system does
- What advocacy looks like when you are not an educator yourself
Who This Conversation Is For
If you are a parent working out how the year is going, a teacher a few weeks into a new class, a student finding your feet, or simply someone who cares how young people are getting on, this panel is for you. You do not need to have watched Part 1, though it is worth an hour if you missed it.
Bring your questions. The live chat is part of the show, and on a panel like this the audience often asks the thing everyone else was quietly wondering.
Join the Conversation
The show airs live on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, from 8:00 to 9:00 PM ET, right here at conversationswithtonymobley.com. Come with a question, stay for the answers, and let’s make this school year one worth talking about.