Originally published in TEACH Magazine, September/October 2025 Issue
By Jenna Vandenberg
The summer before I started teaching, my cousin and fellow teacher gave me a beautiful notebook, and implored me to set aside time to write and reflect in it every day. She warned that classroom days would fly by quickly and at winter break, I’d have no idea how I’d gotten there. She told me to pause after the chaos of each day and take time to untangle all the student outbursts, questions, instances of non-compliance, and “ah-ha” moments.
To my shame, the notebook sat unused in my desk drawer.
Jenna Vandenberg is a mom and a public school teacher in Everett, WA. After 6th period ends, she’s a Substack writer at Jenna Repeats History.
