Beyond Good

Femi has been teaching a Science class and shares his approach and reflections with Matt.  They discuss 'learning to learn', booklets, AI, rounds of teaching and CFU, shed loads of practise, feedback and self-checking answers, precision and rigour and much more!

Amongst other things, Femi and Matt talk about how hard it can be as a middle leader to lead on change without strong models to refer to.

Matt and Femi discuss the subtle ways students can often make life difficult for teachers, and why this happens in some classrooms but not in others.

Matt and Femi have a chat about teachers using seating plan resets as a strategy, debate breaking down intangible aspects like 'feel' into granular concrete components when coaching, and the role and possible negative effects of prior information when it comes to planning seating plans and thinking about a new class.

Matt and Femi talk about coaching, and how teachers working on their craft will often need to stick with a particular focus and practice it with reflection and feedback to master it.

Matt discusses with Femi a recent conversation he had with a teacher that he supports regarding resetting a challenging class in which norms had severely slipped from previous high standards.  The conversation will be of particular interest to heads of department supporting colleagues in their team.

Matt and Femi discuss economy of language during explanations and the advantages of keeping teacher talk lean. Contact us at: beyondgoodpod@gmail.com

Matt and Femi discuss a couple of really common issues that undermine teachers' ability to deliver powerful, clear and memorable explanations.

Matt and Femi discuss what to do with a comment often heard by the coffee machine... "This class doesn't retain things!" beyondgoodpod@gmail.com

Matt and Femi talk to James Gisby about the challenges and intricacies of teaching History, and what good History lessons could look like.  

Matt and Femi discuss why effective learning can often look somewhat boring from the outside, and why that can sometimes be problematic in schools. beyondgoodpod@gmail.com

Matt and Femi discuss the importance of very prompt transition moments in lessons.   Reach out by emailing beyondgoodpod@gmail.com

Matt and Femi discuss the pros and cons of group / whole staff PD vs the somewhat more time-consuming approach of coaching, considering how to leverage each one for it's strengths and the symbiosis between the two different approaches. Get in touch! beyondgoodpod@gmail.com

Matt and Femi discuss two topics in this episode - the first is whether there is any merit in having students copy things down into exercise books, or even cutting them out and sticking them in.  The second is the complaint one occasionally hears that there is too much to get through / not enough curriculum time and therefore we don't have the 'luxury' of doing any retrieval practic...

Matt and Femi discuss the common situation of encouraging students to go back and check their work once they've done all they can on an exam or test paper.

Join Femi and Matt to hear about how and why Femi has finally decided to start to use mini-whiteboards in his lessons.

In this episode Femi and Matt talk about how incredibly useful it is to base coaching around video footage from the lesson, and go through the practicalities of doing it (what equipment, how to set up, etc.) Questions or comments?  Emails us: BeyondGoodPod@gmail.com

Femi relays some very concrete pedagogical observations from his daughter's drum lessons which apply equally well to teaching students in every day subject lessons in school. Matt and Femi will be taking a little break over the Christmas period and wish all listeners a restful break over the holidays.  The next episode will be released mid-January.

Femi tells Matt about his visit to The Totteridge Academy, which he was thoroughly impressed by.

Following their visit to Copleston High School, Matt and Femi discuss how they would each approach a hypothetical situation of being a newly appointed VP in charge of teaching and learning:  How would they get started and what would they be trying to achieve in the first few months.

Matt and Femi reflect on what they would say if asked the question "What's the single most important thing teachers should know?", and in the end come up with 3 things between them.

Matt and Femi respond to a listener question about steps to improve the quality of teaching in their department as a new KS3 lead or second in department.

Matt was in a reflective mood recently and shared a few of the things he has been working on and thinking about with Femi.

Prompted by listener feedback, Femi and Matt explore the idea that when it comes to teaching we are making something simple more complicated than it needs to be. Get in touch by emailing us: beyondgoodpod@gmail.com

Matt and Femi discuss what comes to mind when one hears a teacher say "We had a great discussion today about ...". Contact us by emailing beyondgoodpod@gmail.com