About
About Nicholas Kleve
I’m Nicholas Kleve — Mr. Funky Teacher. I’m a classroom teacher, college instructor, presenter, and podcaster who still believes deeply in the power of relationships, meaningful learning, and educators being able to stay healthy enough to keep doing work that matters.
Why Be A Funky Teacher?
My students gave me the nickname “Mr. Funky Teacher” years ago, and it stuck. Over time, the name became less about being flashy and more about a way of approaching the work: bring your real personality, stay flexible, care about people, keep growing, and do not lose the joy or purpose that brought you into education.
Teaching is difficult work. There is pressure, change, student need, behavior, testing, and a thousand things competing for an educator’s attention. I do not believe pretending those realities are easy helps anyone. I do believe we can be honest about the hard parts while still protecting what makes teaching meaningful.
Be A Funky Teacher is where I share classroom practice, reflections on teacher well-being and retention, leadership ideas, stories from the work, and lessons I am still learning after more than two decades in education.
The Funky Teacher mindset
Those words are not a checklist for perfection. They are reminders to adapt, bring something of yourself to the room, act with integrity, treat people well, and hold on to enough curiosity and joy to keep learning alongside your students.
What I focus on today
Classroom Practice
Engagement, student voice, relationships, classroom culture, and learning experiences that students remember.
Teacher Well-Being
Burnout, moral injury, resilience, retention, and the realities of staying in the profession without losing yourself.
Leadership & Growth
School culture, professional learning, leadership, reflection, and the choices that shape how we serve students and colleagues.