Marc-Andree Hennekes had hardly received the awards before he was gone again: A school trip comes first. The German Teachers’ Prize recently recognized the 49-year-old as one of the best teachers in Germany – as the only Bavarian representative. But instead of celebrating at home in Passau, Hennekes traveled straight from the event in Berlin to England. Since 2008 he has been teaching English, economics and computer science at the three-river secondary school and takes care of the school television “PengTV”. He is also a member of the extended school board and, as a seminar teacher, trains the next generation of teachers. A conversation about excellent teaching, artificial intelligence in the classroom – and what remains of the glory of the prize.
SZ: Mr. Hennekes, congratulations afterwards! In the staff room you’re probably some kind of superstar now?
Marc-Andree Hennekes: It’s not quite enough for the superstar. But of course I am very happy about the award and the school is happy too. The whole thing wouldn’t be possible without such a great staff: You can’t do well at a mediocre school.
Your students secretly registered you for the award last year. Surprise successful?
Definitive! My tenth class at the time made a film about why they thought I was a great teacher. That was just after her final exams. They even staged a drone flight over the playground, but I didn’t notice anything until one day the nomination email came. I felt very honored and happy forever.
In any case, your students didn’t skimp on the praise, and in their justification they said, among other things: “He was our best friend at school.”
And something like that from students who can no longer expect anything from me as a teacher. They shouldn’t have done that.
But now we want to know: What distinguishes you and your teaching, what do you value?
If I get bored of the class itself, I like to try something new. To do this, we use a large mix of media, whether PowerPoint, memes or artificial intelligence. Of course, things sometimes go wrong, but I allow myself and the students to make mistakes. Humour, transparency in grading, tolerance towards other opinions – I try to set an example as a teacher.
Artificial intelligence is the topic of the hour, and not just in schools. How exactly do you use it?
My current tenth grader asked me in English if I could put together a list of adjectives about environmental protection. So I said: Ask ChatGPT! It was similar when writing an essay: enter the text in ChatGPT and see what improvements the bot suggests.
Something like that always seems like an interesting contradiction: digital natives who need instructions for digital things.
But they need support, and not just on technical issues. Ethics, law, computer science, media competence – there’s just so much that goes into it. Luckily, the Bavarian curriculum at the secondary schools gives us some freedom here. And luckily I’m at a digitally well-equipped school, we have projectors, tablet classes and a digital learning laboratory.
You also blog about your teaching experiences.
I started this when I became a seminary teacher and wanted to learn more about the theories behind teaching. A blog was a good way to exchange ideas and reflect with other people.
You are now officially an “Distinguished Teacher”. You spent the first few days with this title on a school trip to England, but just missed the coronation of King Charles…
Nevertheless, there was a great atmosphere in London. The grandstands were still standing at Buckingham Palace, a large plaque with congratulations hung in Trafalgar Square and there were so many well-dressed people in the park. Great Britain really showed itself from its finest side.
And now you are back in the gray everyday life. What do you do with your fame?
Nothing at all. Why should I change anything? I take the award as the highest praise a teacher can receive.
There was also 500 euros in prize money.
I’ll spend it on our school television. We do a program about school life and current affairs every six weeks – and I will buy new microphones for that.