Teachers don’t just teach the material. They challenge kids, nurture them, help them grow, and keep them focused. They support them while also holding them accountable when needed.

It’s not an easy job. Every classroom has conflicts: behavior problems, fights, rudeness, class clowns, and other disruptions. One recent story shows that the way educators are dealing with these challenges is changing in some surprising ways.

“Irish goodbye” is a term for when someone slips out of an event without telling anyone, avoiding the awkwardness of announcing their departure. (Though the Irish didn’t necessarily invent the phenomenon.) But what do we call it when someone decides to turn tail and leave a situation immediately, without any explanation at all? These days, there doesn’t seem to be a name for a sudden, unexpected exit. Back in the 1800s, however, there was one, courtesy of the third president, Thomas Jefferson.

The phrase: “My name is Haines.”

This may sound a bit strange, but it all stems from an unusual interaction Jefferson had while in office with a member of the opposition party. According to Monticello.org, The Weekly Picayune originally published the story in New Orleans on February 17, 1840.

One of the most challenging things to do as a communicator is to convince someone you disagree with to listen to you. You’re fighting against a host of psychological phenomena that prevent people from changing their minds or listening to those with whom they disagree. Persuasion is incredibly difficult because we’ve evolved to cling to our views no matter what.

One of the most pronounced psychological blockages is the backfire effect, which states that when people are confronted with information that challenges their opinion, even if it is indisputable, they will hold onto their views even more strongly than before.

So, what are we to do in a world where there is so much misinformation and zombie lies flying around? Dr. Alison Wood Brooks, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies conversation and emotion, shares the key to having a constructive dialogue with people we disagree with is: Don’t invalidate them.

By 1971, Linda Ronstadt was already a local music legend verging on a major breakthrough. To accompany her country-folk rock sound for her brief Silk Purse Tour, Ronstadt’s manager, John Boylan, wanted to assemble a band of fellow country rock musicians. 

So Boylan reached out to some unknowns: a drummer named Don Henley, two guitarists Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon, and a bassist named Randy Meisner. 

For these strangers, the tour was just a temporary gig. They had no idea it would lead to them becoming one of the biggest rock bands ever.