Playing Teacher

Send us Fan Mail

A family of referees, a pair of Muppets, and a neighborhood Mario Kart party. The Playing Teacher crew takes Halloween seriously, even when they’re dressed anything but.

Matthew, Robert, and Brugge swap costume stories and neighborhood traditions before turning to how schools handle the holidays. Brugge shares her school’s “Storybook Day” approach and the magic of a Harry Potter club where students can’t wait to make potions. The hosts also discuss Thanksgiving schedules and how celebrations differ across school communities.

Then the conversation shifts from costumes to cameras: Robert raises concerns about students appearing in school Instagram posts, prompting a discussion about school promotion, student choice, and the pressure kids may feel to participate.

Along the way, hotel-room movie favorites and Cheers and Frasier theme songs send the conversation in predictably unpredictable directions. Teacher life, holiday traditions, and plenty of friendly disagreement.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Two months away. Plenty of opinions saved up.

Matthew, Robert, and Jeannine return to Playing Teacher with a new Ask Me Anything segment inspired by questions from future elementary teachers at NC State. The conversation moves from smart boards and classroom space to AI, student needs, and how much of a teacher’s personality belongs in their teaching.

Are schools buying useful tools or persuasive sales pitches? How should educators respond to AI? And how do you build authentic relationships while maintaining professional boundaries?

Expect candid classroom perspectives, competing opinions, and a little summer catch-up as the crew gets back behind the microphones.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

We open with Matt realizing he doesn’t have a Summer playlist on Spotify, while Rob and Bruge realize they are too old to know who Lewis Capaldi is. 

After that, we dive into a deep talk about summer breaks. Should teachers get them? The group analyzes their different perspectives on whether educators deserve this time away from the classroom. We also discuss the concept of personal time and how it is hijacked by professional responsibilities.  Should teachers use their personal time for things like room setup and cleanup?

Rob changed course and poses questions surrounding what teachers really do over the summer. From bartending to working on home projects, and everything in between: Rob and Neill's summer camp experiences, Matt’s tutoring business that brought him into teaching... 

Finally, we moved into transitioning back to family life after the school day; commuting nightmares that took a toll on Matt; and Rob's thoughts on teachers being given summers off while others work year-round. 

This is a strong, honest look at time and time off.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

This week we're joined by special guest Jamie Vedder, former PS 239 teacher and current assistant principal, for a conversation 26 years in the making. Jamie takes us through her full career arc in the DOE — from teaching a first-grade class of 37 students (yes, thirty-seven) alongside an ESL co-teacher, to earning tenure, moving to third grade, becoming a literacy coach, and ultimately making the leap into administration. She's candid about how scary that transition felt, why she's turned down principal offers to stay in the AP role she loves, and what 12 years in the same building has taught her about leadership and team.

There's a fun twist, too: Jamie and Robert attended the same elementary school as kids, decades before reconnecting as colleagues at PS 239. Jamie now works in that very building — the old St. Pancras, since renovated and reborn — and shares what it's like walking the halls where she was once a student.

If you've ever wondered what the path from classroom to administration really looks like, or you just miss the glory days of the DOE, this one's for you.

Support the show

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 into the strange world of school graduations: kindergarten milestones, sixth-grade sendoffs, stage seating power plays, graduation practice chaos, Teacher of the Year tension, and the emotional moments that somehow survive all the nonsense.

From Doc walking his son to kindergarten a week after a heart attack, to Matthew reflecting on Dylan’s school experience, to Brugge calling out the politics hiding behind the pomp, this episode is funny, reflective, and painfully familiar for anyone who has ever survived graduation season in a school.

Support the show

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, we investigate the truly important matters: her secret brownie recipe, who made the legendary “day-brightening” brownie list, and why some friendships survive only because baked goods are involved.

But beneath the laughs, this episode turns into a heartfelt conversation about what it really takes to survive and thrive in education. Brugge reflects on the importance of honest relationships with colleagues, especially in a profession that can test even the strongest people. Slagle shares what she has learned from years in the classroom, including the challenges of difficult classes, the power of strong work relationships, and the deep commitment required to support students in an ICT setting.

Slagle is one of the good ones: a veteran educator, a trusted colleague, a dedicated teacher, a loyal friend, and forever our favorite Bagel.

Support the show

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 shooting incident as a serious entry point, the conversation moves through the lived realities of school safety: lockdowns, shelter-in-place drills, fire drills, evacuation protocols, dismissal chaos, field-trip transportation, custody complications, and the impossible split-second decisions educators are expected to make under pressure. What makes the episode especially compelling is the contrast between formal safety protocols and the messy, human, unpredictable reality of school life. The hosts show how much of teaching happens outside the lesson plan: blocking traffic during fire drills, remembering which adult can legally pick up which child, managing 30 students on a subway platform, and trying to stay calm when the stakes are very real.

The episode is serious, funny, reflective, and deeply teacher-centered. It captures the emotional labor, physical demands, absurdity, and courage embedded in everyday school work—before ending, naturally, with wrestling names, old school stories, and plans for a future guest.

Support the show

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, including the COVID era. Along the way, the group reflects on mentorship, memorable colleagues, professional growth, and the kind of human-centered leadership that leaves a lasting mark on students, teachers, and entire school systems. 

Support the show

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 friendship, storytelling, and shared teacher chaos.

The team talks Season 2 plans, debates whether the show now belongs in comedy, society and culture, or education, and announces their first guest for the new season: Dr. Neil. Along the way, there’s discussion of standout past episodes, title changes, acting updates, and one unforgettable school story that closes the episode in truly unhinged fashion.

If you’ve been here since the early episodes or you’re just jumping in, this is a perfect snapshot of what Playin’ Teacher has become: part teacher talk, part life update, part comedy spiral.

Support the show

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 different educators use their desks, why some teachers avoid sitting at them, and how classroom layout affects observation, management, and student relationships. They also reflect on underused school equipment, storage-room mysteries, and the broader resource gap between classroom teachers and administrators.

What seems like a simple conversation about desks becomes a revealing look at school culture, teacher identity, and the politics of space in education. The episode also serves as a natural checkpoint as the team nears the end of Season 1 and starts thinking ahead to Season 2.

Support the show