The Shadow Quest begins! What if professional learning felt less like sitting through another presentation and more like a quest to remove the barriers standing between students and learning?In the first episode of our Shadow Quest virtual professional learning event, Steve and Sophie launch a free, educator-powered learning experience built around Universal Design for Learning (UDL), practical classroom ideas, and putting those ideas into action. With 14 educator presenters, on-demand sessions, and an audience application challenge, this is an invitation to do more than watch—it's an invitation to try something that makes a difference for your learners.Our first stop is More Thinking, Not Less Across Learning Communities, presented by Megan Mitchell of Snorkl. Megan demonstrates how students can speak, type, and draw to make their thinking visible, receive timely feedback, and revise their work. Steve and Sophie explore what that means for quiet learners, formative assessment, and planning targeted small-group instruction.Then we unpack takeaways from Learning Genie's Shapeshifters: Make One Lesson Meet Every Learner, exploring how AI can help educators create or adapt whole units, connect standards, build in UDL supports, and make learning more relevant to their students and communities. The throughline: AI should expand student thinking and support teacher expertise—not replace either one.Ready to join the quest? Visit underhatpod.com, register for free, and unlock the Shadow Archive's sessions, resources, and audience competition details.

What if students could turn a digital design into a real product they could use, sell, or share?

Steven and Sophie are joined by Peter from Sawgrass Technologies and Vic from Craft Express to explore how sublimation printing can bring science, art, entrepreneurship, and career education together. They explain the science behind sublimation, introduce Versaflex printing for cotton, and share examples of how schools are using these tools in maker spaces, student stores, STEM programs, CTE pathways, and entrepreneurial classrooms.

The conversation also explores how educators can help students become “micropreneurs” by learning to design products, manage production, calculate costs, and create something tangible that makes an impact beyond the screen.

Want to learn more? Here are the links:

• Sawgrass Technologies
• X/Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• TikTok
• Amazon

What keeps an educator energized, curious, and committed after four decades in schools? Steve and Sophie sit down with Don Bott, a retired English teacher and instructional coach whose 41-year career included journalism, photography, ELD, AP, senior projects, technology leadership, and countless relationships with students at Stagg High School in Stockton, California.

Drawing from his book, 40 Years, 40 Stories: Lessons for Educators in Their First or Final Year or Any Time In Between, Don reflects on teacher optimism, the power of telling redemptive stories, and why educators must teach the students in front of them—not the students of another era. The conversation explores grading versus assessment, resisting harmful labels, building classroom culture, embracing innovation without abandoning strong teaching fundamentals, and finding pride in communities too often dismissed by outsiders.

Don also names what should be “under the hat” for education: creating a culture where excellent teachers are rewarded for staying in the classroom. It is a hopeful, honest conversation about longevity, learning, and why it is time to make teaching cool again.

Want to learn more from Don? Here are the links:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Amazon