Innovative Practices and Uncommon Parallels
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, Daphne Russell - self proclaimed educational evolutionist and chaos pilot- will discuss reading.
In this minisode, Melissa's students share why they love chess and why they think it should be played in schools.
In this guest blogpost, Jen Hawkins talks about student vital actions focusing primarily in the math classroom, although these vital actions can be applied to any classroom.
Aly Marie Moniz, Pilates instructor extraordinaire, explains why teaching is an artistic skill. Make sure to check out podcast episode 87 The Teacher As Pilates Instructor with Aly as well.
You don't have to be a professional actor to read dynamically to your class. This blog post accompanies Episode 86 where I share tips to make your read alouds more entertaining for your students. Adjusting your pace and/or volume, for example, can make your reading more captivating.
Math consultant Jen Hawkins shares her thoughts on productive struggle and student independence in math class. Jen was my guest in Episode 85: Zooming In on Math Teacher Talk.
This blogpost is chock full of math games that were discussed in Episode 81: Meaningful Math Games with Ann Elise Record and Dr. Nicki Newton.
Dr. Claire Honeycutt, college professor and homeschooler, writes about psychology based strategies that apply to working with students in this guest blog post.
In episode 76, Melissa chats with educator/author Miriam Plotinsky. In this guest blog post, Miriam shares some of her published work in her area of expertise.
Melissa breaks down Lt. Pete Mitchell as a teacher in Top Gun Maverick. Pete, known as Maverick, has his students doing and practicing and he limits his lecture time. He scaffolds skills and works on building a team. He also assesses them along the way. This reluctant teacher crushes it.
Actors react to their scene partners in different ways. As teachers we have so many ways to react when students are confused and struggling. Focus on empathy and a culture of taking responsibility for our learning.
Elizabeth Peterson, guest on episode 72 of The Teacher As was kind enough to share more in this guest blog post about the power of creativity and the arts integrated with social-emotional learning.
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.