Ep. 86: Rewriting the Rules of Student Engagement

Marc and Nick sit down with Stephanie Clinise, a ninth-grade English teacher at Hatboro-Horsham High School in suburban Philadelphia, to talk about what happens when a teacher leads with the hook every single time. Stephanie found We Will Write, a gamified writing platform out of Norway, got her students engaged in meaningful writing on their first try, and ended up on the floor at FETC 2026 sharing the story with anyone who would listen. The conversation digs into the teaching philosophy underneath all of it: why context has to come before content, how a classroom timeline stretching from the Transcontinental Railroad to the birth of Taylor Swift unlocked Shakespeare and Roald Dahl for ninth graders, and how Stephanie is navigating AI in the writing classroom with real structure and genuine optimism. If you believe the lesson has to earn student attention before it can teach them anything, this one is for you. GUEST LINKS @MrsClinise on Instagram @MrsClinise on TikTok Stephanie Clinise on LinkedIn We Will Write (platform featured in episode) Follow Marc: marcisseks.com @marcisseks on X (Twitter) @marcisseks on LinkedIn @edupyro on TikTok @edupyro on YouTube CAPTIVATE on Amazon Find State of Ed: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music stateofedpodcast.com