Podcasts
Zooming In on Balance, Boundaries, and Breaks with Evan Whitehead
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.
Powerful Poem for the Classroom: There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk
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.
Spring Episode Preview
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.
Rewind: Top Ten Math Routines with Dr. Nicki Newton and Ann Elise Record
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 of math routines.
The Teacher As Film Editor: The Bad Bits
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 of their students.
The Teacher As Film Editor: Student Accomodations
In this Teacher As Film Editor minisode, Melissa talks about Walter Murch’s philosophy that film editing is the “discovery of a path.” Melissa shares the parallels to teaching and specifically to accommodating for diverse learners.
Ep. 100: Zooming In on Poetry with Penelope Pelizzon
In the 100th episode of The Teacher As... Melissa chats with professor and poet Penelope Pelizzon. Penelope shared her genesis of becoming the successful poet that she is and her ideas about teaching poetry to all ages of students. They get into the weeds about rhyme and theme and Penelope talks about the process of writing a book of poetry like her latest creation.
Ep. 97: The Teacher As Filmmaker/Film Editing Part One
In this minisode, Melissa shifts focus from film director to film editor. Paul Hirsch's book, A long time ago in a cutting room far, far away... will provide the parallels to teaching for this series of minisodes.
Ep. 96: Zooming In on Kelly Dempsey’s Design and Teaching Process
Kelly Dempsey returns to The Teacher As podcast. We talk about upcycling thrifted items and having a thrifting mindset. We also talk about Kelly’s design and teaching process.
Ep. 95: Zooming In on Teacher Mental Health with Ryan Pelkey
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 relationships.
Ep. 91: Zooming In on the Engineering Design Process with Michael Bycraft
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.
Ep 90: The Teacher As Filmmaker/Spike Lee Part Two
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.
Ep. 88 Introduction to The Teacher As… Minisodes
This minisode explains Melissa's inspiration for sharing these short episodes that drop every other week. Melissa begins by focusing on The Teacher As Filmmaker. Each minisode is focused on a different teaching metaphor. Listen to the minisodes and get teaching inspiration from some of the most talented filmmakers in the business!
Ep. 85 Zooming In on Math Teacher Moves with Jen Hawkins
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.
Ep. 84 Zooming In on Middle School with Anna
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 episode, I chat with the amazing Anna, an 8th grade student who shares her interests and opinions. Anna has an important message for all educators in this episode.
Ep. 81 Meaningful Math Games with Ann Elise Record and Dr. Nicki Newton
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.
Ep. 80 Read Aloud Zoom In: Malamander with Author Thomas Taylor
Are you looking for a 3rd-5th grade read aloud that will set your students' imaginations on fire? Malamander is a humorous, well written fantasy/science fiction story with a mystery at its core. Students love it.
Ep. 72: Zooming In on S.E.L. and the Arts with Elizabeth Peterson
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.
Ep. 71: The Teacher As Actor Part Two with Milton Justice
"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.
Episode 66: The Teacher As Anti-MLM Advocate
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.