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Playing Teacher
🎙️ What is a teacher, really?
And what’s it actually like inside a New York City school?
Welcome to Playing Teacher, where veteran educators Matt and Rob—with over 40 years of combined experience teaching in NYC—pull back the curtain on the myths, realities, and moments that make education unforgettable (for better or worse). From the mysterious teacher’s lounge to the myth of “summer off,” they explore what really happens when the classroom door closes.
This isn’t a shiny brochure version of school. It’s the real deal:
🧠 Learning vs. schooling.
❤️ What kids actually carry with them.
🔥 How teachers and counselors survive systems built to burn them out.
And when we’re lucky enough to have her, we’re joined by Beanie—school counselor, educator, and recurring co-host—who brings powerful insight, grounded compassion, and the kind of perspective only someone who's worked both inside and around the classroom can offer.
👥 Guests range from teachers, students, and administrators to learning scientists, former kids (yes, really), and other unexpected voices from the world of education.
Whether you're in the classroom, supporting from the sidelines, or just trying to make sense of how we learn and why it matters—this is your hallway pass to the inside.
Playing Teacher
Episode 8: Teaching and Learning During COVID in NYC
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 emails, the lost students, the tech failures, the eerie silence of empty classrooms. But we also talk about the grit, the creativity, and the small, quiet victories—like the student who turned on their camera for the first time, or the day a class full of muted icons finally laughed in unison.
We explore how the pandemic didn’t just test our ability to teach—it forced us to reimagine what learning could look like, and what school even meant. From digital access disparities to the emotional weight of teaching through trauma, this episode captures both the cracks in the system and the light that somehow got through.
This one’s for the teachers who taught through tears, through masks, through screen fatigue—and who found new ways to connect, inspire, and hold space when the world felt like it was falling apart.
