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.

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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 the different services/programs they provide.

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 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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.