The Teacher As...

Melissa discusses the inspiration that came from a Metallica Master Class titled "Being a Band." Milner emphasizes the importance of collaboration, using Metallica's jam session rules: focus, listeni…

Brad and Tricia, co-founders of Major Choice, discuss their mission to help young people, especially those on the autism spectrum, figure out their post-school paths. They highlighted their program w…

Melissa chats with Caroline Starr Rose, a middle grade and picture book author, discusses her journey from teaching to writing. She shares her experience of writing "May B," a historical fiction vers…

Melissa Milner talks with Erika Bare and Tiffany Burns who have collaborated on a book titled "Connecting Through Conversation: A Playbook for Talking with Students." Erica, a superintendent, and Tif…

In this episode, Melissa shares the process of planning for her afterschool drama club. She talks about one main resource that she is pulling from, dramanotebook.com created by Janea Dahl. 

Melissa talks to Dr. Aditya Nagrath, founder of Elephant Learning, who discusses his company's program, which has helped over 175,000 students learn a year's worth of math in three months with 30 min…

Melissa discusses her experience with the WIDA course on developing language for learning in mathematics, which aligns well with her district's Illustrative Mathematics (IM) curriculum. She highlight…

This was the first of three episodes about podcasting with students that was originally published in July, 2021. I am teaching a workshop on this topic at the Reynolds TLC Center in Dedham, MA in May…

Lana Montero, a K-8 math coach with 12 years of experience, discusses her transition from the classroom to coaching, emphasizing the importance of feedback and collaboration. Lana emphasizes the role…

Melissa chats with Janea Dahl, the creator of Drama Notebook, a resource for drama teachers with over 1,500 lesson plans, royalty-free scripts, and tutorial videos. Janea founded Drama Notebook to pr…

Melissa chats with Cori Myka. Cori runs Calm Within Adult Swim, a swim school focused on helping adults overcome water fears. Corey emphasizes the 80% mental, 20% physical approach to learning to swi…

Melissa chats with Jon Ryan, founder of the acapella group Ball in the House. Ryan discusses the group's origins, evolution, and educational outreach. Ball in the House teaches K-12, emphasizing perf…

Melissa talks with Megan Daly, the author of My Teacher Doesn't Like Me. Megan shares the inspiration for her first book and her writing and publishing process.

In this episode, Melissa speaks with Janet Singer Applefield, author of Becoming Janet. She is a child survivor of the Holocaust, author, notable speaker, and change agent. Janet spoke about her year…

In this episode, Melissa speaks with Hayes Greenfield, the founder of Creative Sound Play, an interconnected, play-based, generative learning system for Pre-K educators. Hayes shares about his book, …

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…

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, sh…

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 h…