The Teacher As...

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 …

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 w…

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 st…

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 foc…

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 s…

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 pe…

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 produ…

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, Dap…

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 …

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 …

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 ac…

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…

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 organizin…

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 le…

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 po…

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 o…

In this minisode, Melissa introduces her shift in focus from film director to film editor.  Melissa's research into the parallels of film editing and teaching are explored in this series of minisodes…