Classroom games and strategies, student reactions included.
Monica Genta presents low-prep ideas such as a classroom mystery box, would-you-rather prompts and a Yahtzee-style behavior competition, then describes how they went with real students. The energy is high, the language is occasionally salty, and the goal she keeps coming back to is what she calls crushing it for kids.
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This Teacher Life is a classroom-practice show built on specifics. Episodes often start from a problem teachers will recognize, like a quiet room that feels like crickets or a class that keeps interrupting, and then Monica Genta offers something to do about it. The fixes are cheap. The Classroom Mystery Box needs only a box or a bag with something hidden inside. Students take turns asking questions, and Genta holds herself to answering honestly without giving the object away. She adjusts the clues by age, making them more obvious for a first grader than for seventh or eighth graders, so one activity works across a whole school. One moment she clearly enjoyed came when a student pointed out that she was in the room too, so she should get a question. Would-you-rather questions get similar treatment, framed as a way to spark conversation and social and emotional learning. The payoff is a student answer. One student would rather make a silly mistake in a championship than lose in the first round after family members had given up their time and paid an entry fee. For Genta, that kind of reasoning is the reason to ask strategic questions at all. Behavior management is another thread. In Classroom Yahtzee, the class plays as a team, and a group of eighth graders earned the right to rename themselves the low taper fade crusade after a strong first day. Genta admits she did not know the meme and had to look it up. She still kept her word, a small example of the clear, consistent follow-through she argues for. She calls a replayed episode with guest Jack Berckemeyer one of the most downloaded of the previous season, and it covers three behavior ideas meant for any classroom and any age. Relationship building is treated as a strategy, not an extra. Her example is noticing a student's new haircut and making a big deal of it, because kids can feel self-conscious and want someone to notice. She is also willing to be the ridiculous adult, showing up to a dress-up day in a visor and a fanny pack stocked with old-fashioned candies. The show also turns to school leadership: a Principal Appreciation Day episode asks teachers to rate how much they love their principal and argues that leaders face heavy scrutiny. Its ideas include a parent group sending flowers and students spelling a message in cups pushed into a fence. Genta's own material comes up along the way, including a curriculum she named 180 Days of Awesome SEL and a virtual course called Crushing It For Kids. That phrase, crush it for kids, is the closest thing the show has to a thesis. She reminds listeners that new episodes arrive on Sunday nights, in time for the Monday commute, and she signs off by thanking teachers for living this teacher life.
Made for: Suits a classroom teacher who wants a low-prep activity, behavior idea or relationship-building habit to try this week, and who likes hearing how real students responded first.
What sets it apart: Each strategy comes with the classroom story behind it, like eighth graders earning a meme-inspired team name or a student weighing a first-round loss against a championship mistake. The delivery comes from a teacher who is willing to look silly for the sake of the room.
A weekly podcast for teachers full of tips and tricks, stories and strategies, celebrations and struggles, all from the real life we are living every day. Welcome to This Teacher Life with Monica Genta.
Dice in a cup become a classroom behavior challenge when you need a fresh way to reset expectations.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A box, honest clues, and one student loophole turn classroom talk into the lesson.
A simple box gives This Teacher Life a clean setup for honesty, inquiry, and classroom conversation. In Classroom Mystery Box, students question a teacher who knows what is hidden inside but cannot lie, with clues shaped for the group in front of them.
A strategic Would You Rather prompt turns a tournament choice and a participation certificate into a serious classroom conversation about purpose.
This Teacher Life treats Would You Rather questions as more than a quick icebreaker, framing them as a practical way to build learning, communication, and social-emotional discussion.
A cup-filled fence and a flower arrangement make principal appreciation feel doable and student-friendly.
This Teacher Life treats Principal Appreciation Day as a chance to make school leadership feel noticed in a concrete, classroom-friendly way. It starts with a pointed question about how much teachers love their principal, then broadens into the pressure principals absorb from…
A familiar dice game gives classroom expectations a memorable, playful structure.
A cup of dice turns classroom management into something students can see, track, and care about. The episode follows a Yahtzee-style class competition built around daily expectations: when a class meets the standard, it earns a roll.
A rowdy, sincere reminder that the school year can end with students feeling noticed.
The episode frames the end of the school year as a chance to build trust, using “crush it” as an acronym for five relationship-minded habits. Its best moments come from the host’s concrete, oddball examples: the visor with 100-year-old hair, the PBS T-shirt, the fanny pack of…
Barstool talk from a tired Chicago teacher.
Experienced teachers, honest classroom talk.
Smart teacher talk with civic memory.
Educator talk with heart, news, and tools.
Classroom management with a Christian center.
A teacher shares a simple, cost-free idea that improved student engagement and attendance.
Monica Genta frames "This Teacher Life" around the Classroom Mystery Box, a zero-prep activity built from a box or bag and one yes-or-no question per student.
This episode explains how to use Would You Rather questions to boost student engagement and social-emotional learning in the classroom.
Monica Genta asks teachers to rate their principal from 1 to 10 and says the same leader can be a 10 for one staff member and a 2 for another.
Monica Genta turns Yahtzee into a classroom competition for seventh and eighth graders, using dice rolls to reward clear expectations and steady behavior.
A teacher shares five pillars (acronym CRUSH IT) to end the school year positively and impact students.
Monica Genta argues that teachers can build retirement wealth by combining TRS benefits with Roth IRA and 403B accounts.
A teacher shares three behavior management ideas for any classroom, addressing common frustrations and offering practical strategies.
This episode offers a replay of a popular segment on simplifying and improving parent-teacher conferences with a new structure to reduce stress and increase effectiveness.
This episode discusses the two biggest stressors in schools—student apathy and attendance—and offers strategies to reduce stress and improve engagement, featuring guest Jack Berckemeyer.
This episode presents a simple system to motivate students to turn in high-quality work and ensure no kids fail, addressing declining work ethic in education.