The Teacher As...

Is your classroom filled with self-driven, collaborative learners? Do you wish your students were more confident and independent? In this episode, Melissa talks again with Paul Solarz who has created am amazing book, Optimized Learning, that helps teachers reach these ideals. Have a classroom where students have purpose and a clear sense of direction.

In this minisode season finale, Melissa continues to share one of her favorite articles about voice and choice by Alfie Kohn. Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide. In addition, she talks about a time management concept that can be applied to the classroom and she looks back at the episodes of the fifth season.

Candace Fleming is an author of many fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. Among other things, Melissa and Candace talk about the research process, the power of nonfiction and how teachers can help students get more specific in their research.   

In this minisode, Melissa shares from one of her favorite articles about voice and choice. Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide by Alfie Kohn lays out the rationale for voice and choice as well as what it looks like in practice. In this minisode, Melissa highlights the rationale and she will highlight what it looks like in practice in her next minisode.

Jane Reynolds, sister of author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds, chats about her work in helping teachers tap into their creativity so they can model it for their students. Her teacher education work with her brothers, Peter and Paul, is revolutionary including their soon to be Teacher Learning and Creativity Center in Dedham, MA. 

In this minisode, Melissa talks about the importance of read alouds and silent reading time. She shares some reading successes in her classroom and encourages teachers to  reflect on how far their students have come.

Evan Whitehead, M.Ed. is an author, speaker, Mental Health Advocate, and the creator of Balance Boundaries and Breaks.™️ Evan shares his struggles with finding balance that brought him to his new focus of helping all educators find a healthy work/life balance.

In this very short minisode, Melissa, with laryngitis, shares that listeners should go to the Episode 112 page on theteacheras.com to see her students' reflections about logic puzzles. The students share how the puzzles got easier with continued practice and how they created their own logic puzzles.

Dr. Nicki and Ann Elise share 10+ fun math puzzles you can use in your classroom tomorrow! Puzzles to practice math facts, understand algebra, and many more math concepts. "Puzzles are a portal to perseverance," Dr. Nicki Newton.

In this episode, math educator Jen Hawkins shares the 7 student vital actions in the math classroom that are grounded in equity and logical thinking/reasoning. Jen talks about the importance of productive struggle as well as all students regularly using math vocabulary as they share their thinking.

In this minisode, Melissa shares a powerful poem that she feels could be shared with students in fourth grade and up. It is about the process of changing and it's been around since the 70s.

In this episode, Melissa shares her amazing Spring lineup of guests. Just to list a few, math educators Jen Hawkins, Ann Elise Record, and Dr. Nicki Newton return to The Teacher As…Podcast. Also, Daphne Russell - self proclaimed educational evolutionist and chaos pilot- will discuss reading.

In this minisode, Melissa's students share why they love chess and why they think it should be played in schools.

This is a rewind episode. This was originally published on February 19, 2021. It has the most downloads of all my episodes. Dr. Nicki Newton and Ann Elise Record collaborate to create a top ten list of math routines.

In this episode, Melissa talks about the many benefits of students playing chess. From spatial reasoning and critical thinking skills to patience and time management, chess is a valuable addition to your indoor recess games and/or math centers. 

In this episode, Melissa talks to Janja Lalich, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Sociology, who is an international authority on cults, extremism, and coercion. Janja's work is promoting a deeper, more accurate understanding of cults with the intent to avoid their manipulation, exploitation, and abuse. Janja explains why people get into cults and the importance of cult education and helping people heal after getting out.  

In this Teacher As Film Editor minisode, Melissa talks about Walter Murch's term the "bad bits." Teachers are like film editors who sometimes cut out the "bad bits" of their lessons to meet the needs of their students. 

Melissa speaks with Dr. Ann Burgess, a leading forensic and psychiatric nurse who worked for the FBI for  over two decades.  Dr. Ann tells how she educated FBI agents in data collection and organizing their research. She also shares about her college teaching her work to help with threat assessment in schools. 

In this episode, Melissa shares Walter Murch's thoughts about editing as a "discovery of a path." Student accommodations are discussed as a path for general education teachers to reach the diverse learners in their classroom. The Multi-Tiered System of Support and District Curriculum Accommodation Plans are discussed.

In the 100th episode of The Teacher As...Melissa chats with professor and poet Penelope Pelizzon. We chat about her genesis of becoming the successful poet that she is and her ideas about teaching poetry to all ages of students. We get into the weeds about rhyme and theme and she talks about the process of writing a book of poetry like her latest creation. 

In this minisode, Melissa shares the top five most downloaded episodes since the podcast started in July of 2020 in honor of the 100th episode coming out on 12/3/23.

In this episode, Melissa chats with Heather Leonard, a Pre-K-12 curriculum coordinator, and Erin Burchill, a K-8 Humanities curriculum coordinator. They share their strong focus on collaboration in order to eliminate the barriers that stop teachers from being able to implement the curriculum successfully.

In this minisode, Melissa shifts focus from film director to film editor.  Paul Hirsch's book, A long time ago in a cutting room far, far away... will provide the parallels to teaching for this series of minisodes.

Kelly Dempsey returns to The Teacher As...Podcast. We talk about upcycling thrifted items and how Kelly teaches about a thrifting mindset in order to find great items to use for designs. Kelly sees everything in a thrift store as potential raw material. Kelly shares her design process and how she prepares to teach her classes. In addition, she gives some great thrifting tips and shares how Tim Gunn was an amazing teacher/mentor. 

In episode 95, Ryan Pelkey talks about the importance of paying attention to the mental health of teachers/staff. He offers ways to support each other and urges administration to focus on relationships.

In this Teacher As Filmmaker minisode, Melissa shares screenwriter/director David Lynch's philosophy on catching ideas for writing.

In Ep. 93, Sara Lodgen shares her work with The Welcome Project which is a nonprofit that supports adult immigrants and their families in the Somerville, MA area. It was interesting to learn about the different services/programs they provide. 

It is important to be prepared and to plan in order to be flexible and creative. In her Master Class, film director, Jodie Foster, shares the importance of planning in her work and the metaphors to teaching are powerful.

Michael Bycraft is a robotics, design, and makerspace teacher living in Thailand. Listen to episode 91 to hear about his fascinating student led approach to engineering.

This minisode focusing on director Spike Lee is part two. Spike's philosophy about rehearsal, collaborating, improvising, and bonding with his cast is parallel to the job of all educators.

This minisode focuses on Spike Lee's ideas about bringing out the best in his actors and the parallels to classroom teaching.

This minisode explains Melissa's inspiration for sharing these short episodes that drop every other week. Melissa begins by focusing on The Teacher As Filmmaker.  Each minisode is focused on a different teaching metaphor.  Listen to the minisodes and get teaching inspiration from some of the most talented filmmakers in the business!

In episode 87, the first episode of season 5, Aly Marie Moniz shares the steps she takes in programming her pilates classes and creating the best experience for her students. Her teaching philosophy and style are inspiring. 

You don't have to be a professional actor to read dynamically to your class. In the last episode of season 4, I share tips to make your read alouds more entertaining for your students. Adjusting your pace and/or volume, for example, can make your reading more captivating. Check out this episode for more detailed tips and examples.

Do you encourage your math students to struggle with new ideas and problem solve? Math consultant Jen Hawkins shares teacher moves in this episode that will foster more independent math thinkers.

It's helpful to check in with students in the trenches to see what we are doing right and how we can improve our practice, as well as remember why we went into education in the first place. In this episode, I chat with the amazing Anna, an 8th grade student who shares her interests and opinions. Anna has an important message for all educators in this episode.

Episode 82 is the other half of my chat with Dr. Claire Honeycutt. In this section, we talked about the pandemic and its effect on our students, as well as Claire's approach to homeschooling.

Dr. Nicki Newton and Ann Elise Record are back! This time they are chatting about meaningful math games. They talk about all different types of math games such as collaborative games, competitive games, card games and traditional games that students already know how to play like War and Jeopardy.

Are you looking for a 3rd-5th grade read aloud that will set your students' imaginations on fire? Malamander is it. Thomas Taylor, the author, joins Melissa to chat about all things "Eerie on Sea."

Dr. Claire Honeycutt is a college professor and she also homeschools her two young children. In this episode, the discussion centers around group work. Some topics include keeping in mind your learning objectives when structuring groups and providing opportunities for voice and choice.

In this episode, Melissa chats with teacher and singer/songwriter Vance Gilbert about the power of listening and "pedagogy on the fly."   

Melissa chats with veteran elementary music teacher, John Coffey. They talk about the importance of music education, how students need to move and get their energy out in order to focus and learn among other topics.

In this episode, Melissa chats with educator/author Miriam Plotinsky about secondary classrooms being student centered and "hover-free." Miriam shares her measured approach to get teachers closer to achieving ideal results with their students.

Recording a podcast episode with Milton Justice is a fun experience leaving much on the "cutting room floor." So this episode is mostly the leftovers, uncut Milton. He tells amazing stories about Tennessee Williams, Mark Ruffalo, and Bob Hope to name a few. There is not much of a connection to education in most of these stories, but they are a hoot to hear. Consider it a holiday gift from The Teacher As...podcast. 

Looking for that next great read aloud that will keep your students on the edge of their seats begging you to keep reading? Then check out my top five underrated read alouds for grades 3-6

What does innovative education look like? Brantley Turner, founding principal of the only Sino-US independent, cooperatively run high school in China shares her vision for innovative global education in Episode 73 of The Teacher As...podcast.

Are you afraid that bringing the ARTs into your classroom will just make more work for you? Elizabeth Peterson loves helping caring, creative teachers connect the arts with social-emotional learning strategies that are practical and meaningful. Elizabeth, a teacher herself, is the creator of SEAL, Social-Emotional Artistic Learning: a unique and holistic method of integrating the arts with SEL.

"The students tell me, without saying it, what they need to be taught." Melissa chats with the amazing Milton Justice. This Emmy and Oscar winner finds teaching actors is his true passion. He is the author of I Don't Need an Acting Class and has a successful podcast with the same name. Melissa and Milton talk about the parallels between teaching and acting. 

Aviva Summers, a former student of Melissa's, is now teaching as well at a Jewish Day School. She chats about teaching Hebrew and Judaic Studies at the same school in which her mom taught for many years. Working with young students K-2, Aviva shares what her focus is in Jewish education. 

Melissa chats with 11 year old youth runner, Michael Studer. He shares about his journey to becoming one of the fastest youth runners in the United States. Grit, dealing with disappointment, and understanding that his teammates are not his competition are a few topics discussed. Michael is an inspiring young man.