Is AI the MVP for beating educator burnout this spring? Plus…the “unexpected stressor” that just sparked a 1-million-view conversation online.
Confession: I did not expect my most viral post of the year to be about… a daily annoyance.
But apparently educators (and parents! and students!) everywhere had very strong feelings about it.
This week I woke up to discover a video I posted had exploded online:
📈 Over 1 million views 💬 thousands of comments ❤️ thousands of likes
And the topic?
- Not one of my poignant videos about micro-habits to beat burnout.
- Not a carefully crafted post about ethical use of AI in schools.
- Not a thoughtful science backed pro-tip on supporting student behavior.
It was about an unexpected stressor that spikes your nervous system before the school day even really begins…
One of those tiny moments that seems insignificant on the surface, but when it stacks on top of everything educators carry, it can push your brain straight into fight-or-flight before the day has even started.
Apparently… a lot of people related.
Which feels very fitting for March!
Because while the rest of the world is watching basketball brackets, educators across K–12 are navigating a very different kind of March Madness: Referrals, testing schedules, IEP meetings, grading deadlines, staffing shortages, budget cuts, students with spring fever, and the creeping realization that the semester just hit turbo speed while your mind is already on spring break.
So this month’s Thrive Archive is about how to survive the spring stretch without burning out, using a few practical strategies that actually fit inside real school days.
And we’re kicking things off with a free training designed for exactly this moment!
🏀 March Madness…Overtime: A Free Training for Educators!
If you work in schools, you know the school year doesn’t just have four quarters.
It has overtime!
That’s why I’m hosting a free live training for educators across K–12:
March Madness Overtime: Secret Plays for Using AI to Prevent Burnout!
📅 Thursday, March 19th, 2026
⏰ 3:00–4:00 PM PST
This training is for:
• teachers • school psychologists • counselors • administrators • anyone supporting students in K–12!
We’ll walk through practical ways educators are using AI tools to:
✔ reduce repetitive paperwork and emails
✔ simplify your life at home (Wait…can AI can do my laundry?!?)
✔ prioritize what actually matters
✔ reclaim time for student connection
👉 Register here: www.thrivingstudents.com/marchmadness
Think of it as a playbook for finishing the school year strong!
🌱 Microhabit of the Month: Eliminating Decision Fatigue
March Madness is all about matchups.
So this month we’re introducing the Burnout Prevention Bracket!
Our first matchup:
🧠 Decision Fatigue vs Simplification
Educators make hundreds of decisions every day.
What to respond to. What to prioritize. What to postpone. What emotional situation needs attention right now.
All those micro-decisions quietly drain mental energy before lunchtime. And don’t get me started about the personal decision fatigue after work when someone asks, “What’s for dinner” and it’s literally the hardest decision you’ve ever made because you’ve already used up all your brain juice during the school day making eleventy-billion micro decisions!
The microhabit this month is simple:
Pre-decide when to do mundane tasks at home and work:
Try one of these to reduce decision fatigue:
• Create templates for common emails and batch response times to a pre-decided time of day
• Mentally offload small decisions that don’t need immediate attention by writing them down to tend to later (e.g. “Decide when to make dentist appointment.” “Decide when to grade papers.”)
• Batch small decisions like laundry into routines (Wash Wednesday? Fold Friday?)
• Let AI help decide what’s for dinner based on what is in your fridge!
• Create routines where you always tackle a mundane task at the same time (usually in the morning when you’re fresh) to get er done!
Less decision-making means more brainpower for students and your downtime!
In the training, we’ll also explore the other three matchups in our March Madness bracket:
🏀 Dopamine vs Serotonin How to shift from constant urgency to sustainable motivation.
🏀 Endless To-Do Lists vs Prioritization How to stop trying to do everything and focus on what truly matters.
🏀 Obligation vs Conscious Choice How to reclaim autonomy in a profession full of demands.
And yes…AI can help with all four matchups (well…maybe not doing your laundry just yet!)
👉 Register here: www.thrivingstudents.com/marchmadness
🤝 You + Me in 3D: NASP Conference Highlights
There’s something so magic about thousands of school psychologists coming together for the annual National Association of School Psychologists conference!
This year in Chicago was electric. It was like big ol’ Homecoming week.
I had the honor of presenting three sessions:
1) Featured Session 10 Microhabits to Get Off the Struggle Bus (and Into Thrive Town)
School psychs packed the room, and it was the most talked-about session of the conference! (Or so says the conference app!)
2) Classroom Remix!
A session was a collab with Kristi Peters, Ed.D, NCSP one of our fabulous Thriving Students district leaders in Delaware! We focused on how school psychologists can expand their role beyond testing and become true prevention partners within MTSS systems….and yes, we used a DJ remixing theme. Plus, we used AI to create songs about effective MTSS teams…that was a hit. “Consultation Queen (or King)” is gonna be a chart topper!
3) Half Day Workshop: Can AI Write My Reports for Me?
Short answer: AI can absolutely help with repetitive documentation, but ethical judgment, interpretation, and relationships remain human work (I mean, isn’t using my school psych brain to interpret the whole reason I’m still paying student loans on my school psych degree??). Interpretation is my job!
Are you a school psych who wants to learn to use AI for report writing?
Good news! In the month of March, we are giving a NASP promotion of a 7-day free trial plus up to 50% off to anyone who signs up for a Trial of LilyAssist AI report writer (which includes step-by-step tutorials!)
But honestly, the most powerful part of NASP wasn’t the presentations.
It was the community. Here’s a TikTok of me ugly crying about meeting school psychologists from across the country who use the Thriving Students Platform and hearing how they’ve rediscovered joy in the profession, expanded their role beyond testing, and built stronger partnerships with teachers and families.
There is nothing quite like a room full of school psychs who deeply care about kids.
🏫 District Spotlight: Milwaukee Public Schools
This month, Thriving Students Collective is highlighting a district doing something exciting with educator support.
Milwaukee Public Schools partnered with us at Thriving Students to rethink professional development in a way that actually supports teacher well-being.
Because too often PD feels like…
“Just another thing.”
Their goal was to eliminate the “another thing on the teacher plate” mentality and replace it with practical tools educators actually want to engage with.
Here’s what happened:
• Teachers integrated Thriving Students mini-courses into their wellness framework
• The district implemented a year-long professional learning structure
• Educators averaged 17 hours of engagement—over four times the typical PD engagement rate
We’re incredibly grateful to partner with districts like Milwaukee who see educator wellness as essential infrastructure, not an afterthought!
Have FOMO and want to bring educator wellness to your school or district? Not to worry, my VP of partnerships, Stacey Stallings is standing by to chat with you on ways you can partner with us! 😉 Book a chat with here here!
🧸 Teddy Talks® Podcast: Helping Kids Navigate Big Transitions
One theme we hear again and again from educators is how hard big transitions can be for kids.
Moving to a new place. Starting a new school. Learning a new language. Finding friends in an unfamiliar environment.
Right now especially, many schools are welcoming students who are adjusting to a new community or even a new country. For these kids, a sense of belonging at school can make all the difference.
That’s why this month we’re highlighting a Teddy Talks episode about being the “new kid” and finding friendship in a new place.
🧸 Kid Episode: In this storytelling episode, Grizzle and Grizzlette explore what it feels like to start somewhere new and how kids can find courage, kindness, and connection when everything feels unfamiliar.
👉 Listen to the kid episode on YouTube or Spotify.
🎙 Teddy Talks® After Hours: Then join me and parenting expert Leslie Priscilla of LatinX Parenting for a deeper conversation about how caregivers and educators can support children navigating big transitions—especially students adjusting to a new school, language, or culture.
👉 Watch the After Hours conversation with Leslie here on YouTube.
Because when kids arrive somewhere new, one message matters most:
You belong here.🧡
🎬 Video of the Month: The Post I Did NOT Expect to Go Viral
And finally…the Internet is so unserious!!! I think is the comic relief needed for the surprisingly relatable “unexpected stressor” in the daily life of educators and families.
Apparently teachers, school psychs, and administrators from across the country had a lot of thoughts about it (the COMMENTS section sent me!)
Honestly, I’m still laughing.
See the video on Instagram that started the conversation.
Fair warning: I am coming to a school near you with my mad design skills. Ha!
Final Thoughts…
If March teaches us anything, it’s this:
Educators are incredibly resilient!!!
But resilience doesn’t mean doing everything alone.
Sometimes it means learning a few new plays, leaning on community, and finding tools that make the work just a little lighter.
And if you’re ready to learn a few burnout-prevention strategies for the busiest stretch of the school year, I hope you’ll join us for our March Madness Overtime Training: Register here!
With you in every season (even basketball season),
If you’re interested in being a part of the Thriving Students Collective community and would like more information about how to bring the Thriving Students Platform to your school or district, CLICK HERE to connect with us.
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Dr. Rebecca Branstetter is a school psychologist and founder of The Thriving Students Collective, which provides professional development, engaging online courses, and a supportive online communitythat prioritizes whole-school wellness and equips educators and parents with practical tools to empower every learner’s success. She also has a TikTok account all about burnout prevention in K12 that her teen daughter has endorsed as “Cringe, but good dancing.”
