Be A Funky Teacher Podcast

About Be A Funky Teacher Podcast

Join Mr. Funky Teacher, Nicholas Kleve, for creative learning techniques, joyful teaching tips, and practical classroom ideas! This podcast inspires educators to stay motivated and empowered while building a positive classroom culture. Discover innovative education methods and effective teacher leadership development strategies that make learning exciting for both students and teachers. Whether you’re looking for inspiration or new ways to engage your class, this podcast is packed with resources to help you become a more fun, dynamic educator. Tune in and learn how to bring creativity and leadership into every lesson – because everyone can be a funky teacher!

Publisher

Mr Funky Teacher Nicholas Kleve

Category

education · health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Jul 2025

Latest episode

15 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

312 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Aug 2026

   I Need to Take a Step Back

   Episode Summary In this episode, I step away from my normal format and simply talk about where I am right now. After more than 300 episodes, multiple podcast series, book ideas, websites, teaching, and constantly creating, I’ve reached a point where I’m mentally and physically exhausted and realizing that something has to give. I share some of what my family has been carrying, including my brother’s recent hospitalizations, concerns about my dad’s health, and the emotional weight of returning to the same hospital floor where my mom died in 2024. At the same time, I’m trying to be present as a husband, a dad to three kids at very different stages of life, and a teacher beginning another school year. I reflect on something my grief therapist told me: something has to give right now—not everything and not forever, but something. I’m beginning to understand that putting something down is not the same as quitting it. I still love Be a Funky Teacher, Saturday Stories, Sunday School for Teachers, the Teachers Are Not Broken series, and the projects I want to create, but they do not all have to happen right now. I don’t know exactly what comes next, and I’m giving myself permission not to know. I want to spend a little less time producing my life and a little more time living it—being a husband, dad, brother, son, teacher, and simply myself. This isn’t goodbye. It’s me creating some space and trusting that when I’m ready to sit behind the microphone again, I will. Show Notes Why I’m stepping back from a publishing schedule Reaching more than 300 podcast episodes Family health challenges and emotional exhaustion Returning to the hospital where my mom died Being present for my wife and children The difference between quitting and putting something down Giving myself permission not to know what comes next Spending less time producing life and more time living it Key Takeaways Exhaustion does not always mean something is broken. Something important can be put down temporarily without being abandoned. Grief can return unexpectedly through places, memories, and experiences. Constant creativity and productivity can eventually become another obligation. Family seasons and time with the people we love do not last forever. Sustainability sometimes requires refusing to create another schedule. It is okay to say, “I don’t know what comes next.”

2. 

   13 Aug 2026

   More Responsibilities, Same 24 Hours

   Episode Summary In this episode, I look at one of the simplest realities behind teacher workload: there are still only 24 hours in a day. During my 24 years in education, the responsibilities surrounding teaching have expanded tremendously. Many of those responsibilities are individually reasonable, but when we continue adding them together, the total workload can become unreasonable. I explore the invisible ways teacher time disappears through email, documentation, interventions, meetings, technology, behavior support, data collection, communication, safety responsibilities, and other expectations. Planning time is often consumed by everything except planning, but the lesson still has to be ready tomorrow. That's how work quietly migrates into mornings, evenings, lunches, weekends, and teachers' personal lives. I also challenge the idea that every workload problem can be solved through better time management. Organization, technology, automation, routines, boundaries, and good systems can absolutely help, but they cannot make 10 hours of necessary work fit into an eight-hour day. That's why I believe addition should require subtraction. If schools add something meaningful, leaders should also ask what can be removed, simplified, automated, delegated, or stopped. Ultimately, I believe protecting teacher time is a teacher-retention strategy. Teachers are willing to work hard, but willingness to work hard should not become permission to continuously add more. Sustainable teaching has to leave room for teachers to remain human beings outside the classroom, and protecting that life may be exactly what allows great educators to keep showing up year after year. Show Notes How the scope of teaching has expanded The accumulation of “just one more thing” Email and other forms of invisible work Why planning time keeps disappearing Teachers quietly donating personal time Why productivity cannot fix an impossible workload Addition should require subtraction Protecting teacher time as a retention strategy Key Takeaways Individually reasonable responsibilities can create an unreasonable total workload. Every additional responsibility requires actual time somewhere in a teacher's day. When planning time disappears, preparation often moves into teachers' personal lives. Better time management cannot make an impossible workload equation work. Adding new expectations should require conversations about what can be removed. Protecting teacher time is a practical teacher-retention strategy. A sustainable teaching career must leave room for a life outside school.

3. 

   12 Aug 2026

   Parent Expectations Have Changed

   Episode Summary In this episode, I continue exploring the changing realities of teaching by looking at how parent expectations and family-teacher communication have changed during my 24 years in education. Many of those changes are positive, but technology and increased access have also created new expectations around availability, communication, grades, and how quickly problems should be resolved. I talk about the important difference between advocacy and entitlement. I want parents to advocate for their children, ask difficult questions, and speak up when something doesn't seem right. At the same time, children need opportunities to struggle, experience appropriate consequences, develop resilience, and discover that every uncomfortable experience does not need to be removed by an adult. I also explore why assuming positive intent, gathering the entire story, maintaining professional boundaries, and documenting important situations can strengthen communication. Parents know things about their children that teachers don't, while teachers see students in environments and situations families may never see. Neither perspective is complete by itself. Ultimately, I believe parents and teachers don't have to agree about everything to be on the same team. Strong partnerships are built on trust, respect, communication, accountability, and a shared commitment to helping a child succeed. Kids need great parents and great teachers, and they're at their best when those adults stand beside each other instead of on opposite sides. Show Notes How parent expectations have changed Increased access and teacher availability Advocacy versus entitlement Why productive struggle matters Beginning difficult conversations with curiosity Professional boundaries and documentation How repeated conflict affects teachers Building genuine family-teacher partnerships Key Takeaways Increased access to teachers should not mean unlimited access. Parent advocacy and trust in teachers can coexist. Children need opportunities to struggle and experience appropriate consequences. A child's version of an event may not be the complete story. Assuming positive intent can change difficult conversations. Professional boundaries help make teaching sustainable. Parents and teachers can disagree while remaining on the same team.

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Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

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