The Teacher As...

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

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." 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...

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

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

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

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

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 fro...

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 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 fulf...

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

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. Ma...

"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.  Major Choice is a career...

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

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

"All the tedious research is worth one inspired moment." -Uta Hagen   Actors prepare and teachers prepare. Retired theatre professor, Jane Cox, shares that there are many elements of acting that we can use in the classroom. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and career e...

In the last episode of Season 3, Melissa talks about her exciting new podcast that she is cohosting with Robert FitzPatrick called Ponzinomics 101. She also shares about giving herself a break when things don't go the way she planned and how one account on Instagram @akprzy helped her gain some perspective.  Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilitie...

Some multi-level marketing companies target teens. In this episode, Melissa focuses on one that seems to be the biggest offender, Cutco Knives/Vector Marketing. If parents, high school teachers, and college professors know about these companies, they can speak up when they see a student getting fooled by the deception. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disab...

Teachers differentiate for their students in the classroom. Shouldn't they do the same for their students when going on a field trip/school travel? In this episode, Luke Liddle, Managing Director for Independent Schools Cultural Alliance, explains how he allows for student agency in his work with international student travel.                                                                   ...

Dr. Nicki Newton and Ann Elise Record are back! They each have their own lists of the best ways for students to practice problem solving and they collaborate to create one essential top ten list. Dr. Nicki and Ann Elise are so fun and knowledgeable. They share amazing resources for math teachers.   Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program...

In this episode, Melissa chats with Libo Valencia, a high school/college math educator who incorporates math play into his instruction. K-12 teachers will be inspired by Libo's creativity and enthusiasm. 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 hel...

In this episode, Melissa chats with Eric Gibbs, President of Ouriginal, a plagiarism software for K-12 and higher education. Eric shares how teachers can use the software as part of the writing process to help students learn how to create original work.   Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exp...

In Part Three of her anti-mlm series, Melissa shares clips from her chats with Dave Vaughan and Sarah Haidar. Dave and Sarah share their thoughts on such topics as teaching about high control groups, the normalizing of MLMs in the workplace, and how to talk to someone who is in an MLM without it turning into an argument. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without dis...

In Part Two of this Anti-MLM series, Melissa shares her personal MLM story, explains why she just recently became obsessed with this topic, and matches her experiences directly to Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control.   Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and ca...

This episode is Part One of a three episode series about Anti-MLM education. Melissa chats with author, activist Robert FitzPatrick about the dangers of MLMs and why public education is not addressing these issues in curriculum at the middle school/high school level. Robert has been in many documentaries about MLMs including the recent Amazon documentary LuLaRich. He has a lot of current, vital in...

Educators are lifelong learners and their students benefit from having well rounded, curious teachers. In this first episode of Season 3, Melissa shares how the purpose of this podcast is changing for her. She is focusing on exploring her own interests and how they relate to education. Nature, writing, podcasting (especially with students), film, and her new obsession coercive control/cults/MLMs a...

In the last episode of Season 2, Melissa takes a stroll around her school to find out how her colleagues stay positive with all the changes and upheaval in education due to the pandemic. Enjoying the students' positive energy and having a work life balance are among the topics mentioned. Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphas...