Teachers are being told - by tech companies, policymakers, and sometimes even our own students - that speed matters more than craft.

This week, we’re flipping that script. One tool challenges students (and us) to write with intention instead of shortcuts, and one study asks a bigger question: what makes someone a teacher—content knowledge or the identity you build?

Some things AI can generate. Others, you have to become.

Here’s how you’re about to become an even better teacher in the next 6 minutes:

• Noteworthy News: Why do people switch to teaching? 🧑‍🎓 

• Tech Tool: When AI doesn’t make them lazy 🦥

• Brainy Bit: What employment history creates the best teacher? 😯

🚀 Noteworthy News

👉️This is unsettling: Can you tell human from AI writing? Here’s how to spot it.

👉️ Didn’t see this coming: From corporate to classroom: Why more are pivoting to teaching.

👉️ Brace for debate: The ‘science of reading’ is flawed—why phonics isn’t the silver bullet.

🔉But first, a word from today’s sponsor for our US-based teacher-readers 👇️ 

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And now back to making you an even better teacher 👇️ 

TECH TOOL

Make Better Writers, Not AI Users

We’ve all heard the fear: AI is going to make our students lazy writers. But what if a tool did the opposite—making writing harder in the best possible way? 

That’s where this week’s tool steps in. It doesn’t write for you. It coaches you into writing better.

The Solution: ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid works like a built-in writing mentor. 

Instead of just “fixing” sentences, it highlights weak phrasing, repetition, or vague language—and explains why it matters. That small shift turns editing into a thinking exercise rather than a correction game. 

It’s ideal for high school English, Writers’ Craft, or any class where students are actually producing original drafts.

Right now, they’re running Novel November, a challenge that walks users through writing and even publishing their own work. 

Imagine adapting that in your classroom—maybe not 50,000 words, but a mini challenge that celebrates voice, revision, and stamina. 

Bonus: the free version is enough for most classroom use, making it accessible without budget hoops.

Is This for YOUR Classroom?

This tool shines where students are drafting independently and ready to reflect. Early grades may find the feedback overwhelming, and students expecting AI to “do the work” might push back when it actually asks them to think harder. If your goal is real writer growth—not just clean-looking paragraphs—this hits the mark.

Strategies That Work:

1. Classroom Novel November: Run a mini writing challenge using the free version and reward progress, not just word counts.

2. Why It Suggested That: Have students accept or reject one AI suggestion and justify their choice in a quick reflection.

3. Teacher Passion Project Lab: Work on your own piece alongside students using the same tool—they love seeing adults write too.

ProWritingAid won’t write the story for your students—but it might help them find their voice. Used right, it turns AI from a shortcut into a craft lesson.

Brainy Bit

Two Paths, One Classroom

TLDR: Walk into any staffroom and you’ll find two types of teachers: the ones who always knew they were meant for the classroom, and the ones who lived a whole other life before ending up here.

A Swedish study on a fast-track teacher program shows that both types bring something powerful—if schools recognize those strengths instead of treating one as “the real teacher” and the other as “the emergency hire.”

The Study: Building a teacher’s knowledge and identity

Researchers followed 41 adults in Sweden who left careers in business, engineering, law, and finance to complete a one-year accelerated teacher training program. 

Through interviews and surveys, the study examined how these career changers built their teacher identity, learned pedagogy, and navigated the uneasy shift from “experienced professional” to “new teacher.”

Unlike traditional teacher candidates, these recruits brought confidence, expertise, and a clear sense of purpose. But the compressed training meant they had to absorb classroom management, pedagogy, assessment, and identity-building almost all at once—skills that career-long teachers typically develop slowly through years of cultural osmosis in schools.

The Results:

• Career-long teachers bring:

  • Classroom instincts

  • Culture know-how

  • “Make it work” superpowers

  Career changers bring:

  • Real-world relevance

  • Content confidence

  • Fresh purpose students notice

  Both need support:

  • Career changers need pedagogy & routines

  • Veterans need their expertise valued too

  • Identity grows when both types are invited to lead

In YOUR Classroom:

Most of us already work beside both types - our schools get stronger when we stop ranking them and start learning from each other.

Here’s how this study might improve your school culture this week:

Strategies That Work:

• Name the strengths out loud: Let veterans lead on pedagogy, and let career changers inject real-world context. Students benefit from both.

• Mentors, not gatekeepers: Pair new teachers with experienced ones for school culture, but also let career changers mentor on industry links, tech, or life experience.

• Identity beyond survival: Don’t just teach new teachers how to “cope.” Give both groups space to grow into confident professionals, not just exhausted survivors.

The question isn’t “Which type makes the better teacher?” It’s “What happens when both are valued for what they bring?”. 

When we blend expertise with heart, culture with innovation, and experience with fresh eyes - students win.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

We would LOVE to hear from you!

Reply to this email, or send us a message on Instagram! We’re here to walk with you in these crazy times!

Part of what makes The PEN Weekly community so special is the fact that our readers are teachers from around the world! We’re not going to lie, we think that’s pretty darn cool!

We’ll see you again on Monday 🍎

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