Ep. 86: Rewriting the Rules of Student Engagement

About this episode

The episode discusses innovative approaches to student engagement in writing through gamification and contextual learning.

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…

People in this episode

Hosts: Marc Isseks, Nick Simone

Guest: Stephanie Clinise

Topics covered

• student engagement
• gamified learning
• writing education
• teaching philosophy
• AI in education

Keywords

• student engagement
• gamified writing
• teaching philosophy
• AI in writing
• ninth-grade English

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: We Will Write

Books & works: Shakespeare, Roald Dahl

Places: Hatboro-Horsham High School, suburban Philadelphia

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