Playing Teacher

Send us Fan Mail Graduation is supposed to be about the students—but anyone who has worked in a school knows the ceremony often comes with a backstage show of adult politics, bruised egos, seating drama, award rivalries, and exhausted teachers trying to hold it all together. In this episode, Matthew, Brugge, and Doc celebrate Dr. Robert Monahan officially earning his PhD in Education before diving...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 28, we catch up with Ms. Henriquez, though longtime listeners will understand why she will forever be known to us as Slagle — which, yes, rhymes with Bagel. The episode begins with a 20-year-old grudge involving Rob, Matt, and the mysterious school-wide fly infestation that reached its horrifying peak when Slagle discovered a fly floating in her cup of tea. From there,...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Matt, Rob, and Brugge pull back the curtain on one of the least-discussed realities of working in schools: teachers are not only instructors, they are also emergency managers, crowd-control specialists, traffic directors, social workers, field-trip logisticians, and sometimes the last line of defense between students and danger. Using a recent Oklahoma school shoo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, the Playing Teacher team sits down with Dr. Neil for a wide-ranging conversation about education, leadership, and the relationships that shape a career in schools. The discussion moves from the early days of teaching and school culture to PBIS implementation, staff hiring, school leadership, and the realities of guiding a school community through difficult moments...

Send us Fan Mail In this milestone 25th episode of Playin’ Teacher , the crew looks back at the podcast’s growth, biggest episodes, and where listeners are tuning in from around the world. What starts as a stats check quickly turns into something bigger: a reflection on how the show has evolved from a more traditional education podcast into something looser, funnier, and a lot more rooted in frien...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 24 of Season 1, the Playing Teacher team explores the surprisingly loaded topic of desks in schools. From bizarre desk drawer discoveries to classroom desk placement strategies, the conversation moves from humorous teacher stories to serious questions about school resources, furniture inequities, and how physical space shapes instruction. The team discusses how differen...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 23 of Playing Teacher tackles one of the biggest questions in education today: What happens when classrooms become dominated by screens, software, and artificial intelligence? Robert, Matthew, and Brugge discuss the post-COVID explosion of digital learning tools, the unintended consequences of assessment platforms like iReady and IXL, and the growing concern that students...

Send us Fan Mail What actually happens in a teacher’s final years in the classroom? In this episode, Matt, Robert, and Jeannine dig into the lived reality of the aging educator —not as a comparison to younger teachers, but as its own unique phase of an education career with its own pressures, patterns, and unexpected strengths. We unpack the idea of the teacher “ sweet spot ” (and whether it’s def...

Send us Fan Mail Tech trouble, Mario cosplay, workplace mishaps, and way too many stories about falling down.   In this episode, Robert, Matthew, and Brugge dive into a chaotic mix of muted microphones, Halloween go-kart adventures, deodorant disasters, acting auditions, and the everyday physical hazards of working in schools. From stepping in dog poop to tripping in crowded hallways, the team sha...

Send us Fan Mail Every NYC teacher has a horror story — but this one starts with a parking meter. In this episode, Matthew, Brugge, and Robert tackle the ultimate urban educator struggle: finding a parking spot in New York City. From 4:30 AM commutes to warehouse parking hacks, $200 lots, and alternate-side madness, the trio shares hilarious, relatable stories about how teachers navigate one of th...

Send us Fan Mail Overview In this milestone episode, the hosts celebrate reaching 500 podcast downloads and reflect on personal experiences that reveal how trust, credentials, and communication shape everyday life — from healthcare visits to professional identity. The discussion balances humor and insight as they explore the quirks of the healthcare system, telehealth mishaps, and the nuanced mean...

Send us Fan Mail A glitchy start becomes a candid systems-level conversation about age dynamics and professional identity across schools and clinics. After wrangling audio issues, the team unpacks how age and experience shape credibility, communication, and decision-making—from first-year teachers to veteran administrators, from protocol-driven residents to diagnostically agile physicians. They tr...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Matt, Rob, and Brugge share candid reflections on the challenges of maintaining health and balance as educators. The conversation spans from their high school experiences to their ongoing efforts with weight loss, diet programs, and creative fitness routines, whether it’s sprinting empty hallways, dusting off a pogo stick, or sticking to intermittent fasting. Alon...

Send us Fan Mail Getting hired in the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) isn’t just about what you know—it’s often about who you know. In this episode of Playing Teacher: The Podcast , we pull back the curtain on the hiring process in the largest school system in the country. From the nerve-wracking interviews to the networking that makes a difference, we explore the good, the bad, and...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Playing Teacher , Robert, Matthew, and Brugge dive deep into the bittersweet—and sometimes hilarious—world of teachers leaving their jobs and the hidden realities behind the classroom door. They talk about: The emotional chaos of packing up years of teaching memories into giant bags The secret hideouts teachers swear by to survive the school day (side lab suprem...

Send us Fan Mail In this unforgettable episode of Playing Teacher , Rob, Brugge, and Matthew take us behind the scenes of one of the most chaotic rituals in education: the school field trip . It all begins with a subway disaster—Matthew describes watching a class trip unravel on public transit, complete with unsupervised elementary students and overwhelmed teachers. That story kicks off a deep (an...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 13 of Playing Teacher , we pull back the curtain on one of the most absurd realities of working in education: calling out sick . From planning sub folders while mid-fever to writing emergency plans in a NyQuil haze, we explore the ridiculous, guilt-ridden, and occasionally hilarious world of teacher absences. We talk about: The unspoken Olympics-level effort required ju...

Send us Fan Mail 📘 Episode Description: In this episode of the Playing Teacher Podcast , we debut a brand-new segment: 🎤 Teacher Headlines with Janine Brugge , where we explore what’s really going on in the world of education—both the serious and the absurd. This week, we take a hard look at the NYC Department of Education’s failed initiative known as “Inquiry” or the “50-minute” plan —an attemp...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Playing Teacher Podcast , we delve into the vibrant world of education, sharing personal anecdotes and professional insights that resonate with educators, students, and lifelong learners alike. 🎯 Episode Highlights: Field Day Reflections: We reminisce about their own Field Day experiences, discussing the joys and challenges of organizing such events, and th...

Send us Fan Mail 🎙️ Playing Teacher Ep. 10 – Pacing, Pop Culture, and the 30-Second Reprimand Description: In this episode of Playing Teacher , Matt recounts a jaw-dropping moment when he was called out in front of students for returning to class 30 seconds late after using the bathroom—yes, 30 seconds. Jeannine and Robert reflect on how often teachers are denied even the most basic human grace. T...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Playing Teacher , we unpack one of the most familiar — and controversial — strategies in elementary education: rewards and incentives . From treasure boxes and pizza parties to Dojo points and public praise, we examine how these practices shape student motivation, behavior, and identity in the classroom. Are we inspiring effort — or cultivating compliance? Are e...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Playing Teacher , we talk about the moments that stick—the scenes from our lives as educators that play in our minds like movies. You know the ones: the hallway showdown, the field trip fiasco, the spontaneous dance party, the kid who said something so profound you wrote it on a post-it and never threw it away. We reflect on how these memorable teaching moments...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Playing Teacher , we talk about something every educator feels at some point— what it means to be yourself in a school system that often prefers you to color inside the lines. Whether it’s pushing against outdated norms, teaching in ways that aren’t “in the handbook,” or simply showing up as your full, weird, passionate self, going against the grain can make you...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Playing Teacher , we rewind to one of the most surreal, exhausting, and defining chapters in modern education: COVID in New York City. Teaching during the pandemic wasn’t just about pivoting to Zoom—it was about surviving, adapting, and finding humanity in the chaos. We talk candidly about what it meant to be an educator when the world shut down: the scrambled e...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Playing Teacher , Matt, Rob, and Brugge crack open one of the most sacred and underrated parts of the school day: preps and lunches . More than just breaks, these windows of time were life-saving lifelines in the relentless hustle of NYC public school teaching. We reflect on how these moments offered space to breathe, plan, decompress—or just stare into the void...