About the Author: Jenn Breisacher
The first time I realized the strategies for classroom management plan I was using weren’t working, I was standing near the pencil sharpener, watching a sophomore slam his chair into the floor for the third time that period. I’d told him “no” about something minor. Can’t even remember what it was now. What I do … Read more
The best collaboration project I ever ran started with a message on ePals. I created a profile seeking an international partner class to compare World War II family narratives, and a teacher in Germany reached out. He taught a similar age group and was covering the same period. We decided to have our students write … Read more
I was sitting at my desk during my planning period, grading a stack of essays from my high school history classes, when the guidance counselor appeared at my door. “Jenn, I just got a call from a parent. She wants to schedule a parent teacher conference. Her son’s grade has dropped significantly this quarter, and … Read more
I was on a call with a kindergarten teacher last fall. It was a virtual coaching session, the kind I do regularly with teachers who reach out for support outside of school hours. She looked exhausted. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. There were stacks of papers behind her on the table. … Read more
My third-period sophomores were presenting their history projects, and I couldn’t stop glancing at the classroom across the hall, where students were completing a similar project. Through the window in my door, I could see my co-worker’s students. They were standing at the front of her room, speaking with real authority, answering questions from their … Read more
I’ll never forget the look on my juniors’ faces. They filed in, grabbed their daily schedule sheet from me at the door, and sat down. But instead of the usual quiet rustle of backpacks and notebooks, I heard whispers. “What are we doing today?” “I don’t know, but it’s never boring.” One kid actually said … Read more
I was standing at the front of my fourth-period U.S. History class during the second semester of 2015, feeling pretty good about myself. I had spent the weekend crafting this incredible lesson on the New Deal, complete with primary sources and a mock congressional hearing. My sophomores were going to be so into it. About … Read more
My good friend, Dr. Joe Lizza, runs campus activities at Rowan University, and we chatted on my podcast about student life a while back. He told a fascinating story during the interview. It turns out, during the first months of COVID, when everything shut down, his team discovered that a surprising number of college students … Read more
I remember sitting in my classroom at 4:47 p.m. on a Tuesday, staring at a stack of essays I hadn’t touched in three days. The hallway had gone quiet an hour earlier. My coffee was cold. I had a splitting headache that had started somewhere around second period and never let up. A parent email … Read more
I was one of the teachers who signed up to do after-school detention. It was easy money, but patterns began to emerge the more frequently I sat in. It seemed to be the same community members from our student body appearing over and over. They weren’t bad kids, but they were definitely frustrated, overwhelmed, and … Read more
The first time I really understood what testing does to a kid’s brain, I wasn’t even teaching my own subject. I was proctoring a state reading assessment for a group of sophomores, walking the rows as you do, when I noticed one of my history students staring at his screen with that glassy, thousand-yard look. … Read more
I remember standing in the hallway during passing period, coffee in hand, when a student I’d never taught came up to me and just started talking. About her morning. About a fight with her mom. About how she didn’t know if she could make it through the day. I didn’t know this kid, but she … Read more