Top Plate with Chris Winikka

What happens when the anger showing up in your classroom has nothing to do with your students — and everything to do with a kid who never felt heard? This week Jamie and Blake welcome Chris Winikka for a Top Plate episode — a live coaching call where a real member of the Three Percent community brings his actual 3% to the table. Chris who is in his 26th year of teaching high school computer science found the podcast while processing his own story, and somewhere along the way started noticing something he couldn't ignore: after decades of keeping his cool in the classroom, he was snapping at students. The anger was back — and it was louder than it should have been for what was actually happening. What follows is one of the most practical and quietly moving Top Plate episodes yet. Chris traces the anger back through anxious attachment, a childhood of being dismissed as "just Chris," the identity crisis that came when AI started threatening his sense of worth as a teacher, and the slow realization that what his students need most from him has nothing to do with what he knows about programming. If you're a teacher, a parent, or anyone who has ever let frustration loose on someone who didn't deserve the full weight of it — this one will find you. KEY TAKEAWAYS Why anger that feels disproportionate is almost always pointing to something deeper underneath How anxious attachment from childhood can show up decades later in the classroom — or anywhere you need to be received well What the AI identity crisis reveals about where we've been quietly sourcing our self-worth Why negativity bias means one bad student review encodes louder than ten great ones — and how your brain then lies to you about the ratio The difference between rescuing a dysregulated student and helping them navigate discomfort Why naming the process — not the content — is the most powerful tool in the room What it means to be a regulated nervous system in a room full of kids who may never encounter one CHAPTERS (00:00) Cold open: who am I if AI can just do this stuff? (02:00) What a Top Plate episode is — and why Chris chose to do it twice (04:00) The difference between coaching and therapy (07:00) Chris: 26 years of teaching, and suddenly snapping at students again (11:00) AI, falling enrollment, and the identity crisis underneath the anger (15:00) The SEEN Method and asking "what am I scared of?" (16:00) "It's just Chris" — tracing the anger back to anxious attachment in a family of five (18:00) You can't tame what you can't name (20:00) Apologizing well — and what a real apology sounds like vs. "I'm sorry you were offended" (23:00) Negativity bias, Rate My Teacher, and why one bad review drowns out ten good ones (28:00) How Chris is approaching the new school year differently (30:00) Not robbing students of the opportunity to struggle — and what learned helplessness actually looks like (33:00) Naming the process, not the content: Blake's tool for the classroom (40:00) When did you decide you weren't good at this? — the third grade math moment (41:00) What do you want future Chris to remember? (44:00) You might be the only regulated nervous system these kids encounter all day LINKS & RESOURCES Three Percent Website: https://threepercentco.com/ Join The Basement (private community + reflection guides): https://threepercentco.com/membership Want to do your own Top Plate episode? Reach out at: https://threepercentco.com/ KEYWORDS Three Percent Podcast, Top Plate, live coaching, Chris Winikka, teacher mental health, anger, anxious attachment, AI identity crisis, negativity bias, classroom management, learned helplessness, self-worth, nervous system regulation, men's mental health, vulnerability, personal growth, holistic masculinity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices