The Teacher As...

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 e…

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 relationshi…

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 th…

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 t…

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.

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 …

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…

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 e…

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 gam…

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 learni…

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 amo…