The Teacher As...

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 minutes of weekly use. He emphasized the importance of teaching math as a language and gamification to reduce math anxiety. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and with...

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 highlights the importance of math discourse and the role of teachers as guides rather than leaders.  Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emph...

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 so it seemed like a good time to revisit it. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, a...

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 of coaching as a supportive, collaborative effort to help teachers improve. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized...

Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and career exploration, aiming to help students find fulfilling careers. Educators and professionals are encouraged to become mentors or volunteers. https://www.majorchoice.com/home-page5pdqllzu62926234 Check out Drama Notebook: https://www.drama...

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 provide high-quality, flexible resources for drama teachers, who often work in isolation. The site aims to make drama accessible and affordable for educators. Janea emphasizes the importance of creativit...

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 swim, using a program called Foundations of Change. She shares her journey from teaching kids to focusing on adults, driven by the need to address the emotional aspects of swimming. Cori discusses the imp...

Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and career exploration, aiming to help students find fulfilling careers. Educators and professionals are encouraged to become mentors or volunteers. https://www.majorchoice.com/home-page5pdqllzu62926234 Check out Drama Notebook: https://www.drama...

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 performance, songwriting, and music history. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, a...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and career exploration, aiming to help students find fulfilling careers. Educato...

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 years of hiding in plain sight, how she helped get the MA Genocide Bill passed, the story of her book getting written, and her resilience through it all. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for stu...

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, Creative Sound Play for Young Learners: A Teacher’s Guide to Enhancing Transition Times, Classroom Communities, SEL, and Executive Function Skill. The concepts discussed can be applied to elementary an...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program fo...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and wi...

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.    Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentors...

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. Major Choice is a career...

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.  Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and wi...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and career exploration, aimin...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, sel...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The pr...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and ca...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and career exploration, aiming to help students fin...

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. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasi...

In this minisode, Melissa's students share why they love chess and why they think it should be played in schools. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and career exploration, aiming to help students find fulfilling careers. Educators and professionals are encouraged to become m...