The Leading, Language and Literature Podcast

In this episode, I’m talking to Tom Sherrington. Tom is a former headteacher, current education consultant and author. He writes the popular blog teacherhead.com and his books include The Learning Rainforest and best-seller Rosenshine’s Principles in Action . He also co-authors the Teaching WalkThrus series with Oliver Caviglioli and edits the In Action series of education books. I was really exci...

In this episode I’m speaking to Anthony Cockerill. Anthony is the new director of NATE, which is the National Association for the Teaching of English. NATE is an independent, non-funded, not-for-profit educational charity that provides publications and training for English teachers at all key stages that has helping English teachers from around the world since 1963. I wanted to talk to Anthony fol...

In this episode I’m talking to Dr Jo Castelino. Jo is is a curriculum leader for Science at a school in the UK and author of The Homework Conundrum, a guide for how a successful homework culture can be built in a school and within the classroom. I was so keen to speak with Jo after reading this brilliant book and as a result of always feeling a little insecure about the quality and quantity of hom...

In this episode, I’m explaining What I Learnt From: Adam Bradley’s ‘Book of Rhymes - The Poetics of Hip Hop’. This is the second episode that sees me go through my annotations and notes for a book that explores an area of English teaching or leadership. This time, it is the first part of the eye-opening and eminently readable ‘Book of Rhymes’ by Adam Bradley. As a teacher of the IB’s DP Language a...

In this episode, I’m talking to Joanna Kolota. Joanna is the Curriculum Leader for Multilingual Learners at Trinity Academy Leeds, in the UK. She has written, spoken and worked to support multilingual students in primary, secondary and tertiary education and is now a published author after completing the brilliant Empowering EAL Learners in Secondary Schools . As someone who works in an internatio...

In this episode, I’m talking to Alison Yang. Alison is MYP coordinator here in Hong Kong and prolific blogger of all things MYP at https://alisonyang.com. It was due to this prodigious output that I became aware of Alison’s work and reached out with a few questions that I have always harboured about the framework in the hope that I can improve these aspects of my practice. We discuss: How to suppo...

In this episode, I’m explaining What I Learnt From: Mary Oliver’s ‘A Poetry Handbook’. This is the first in a hopefully long list of shows that sees me go through my annotations and notes for a book that explores an area of English teaching or leadership. This time, it is the unsurprisingly beautiful writing of Mary Oliver who shares with the reader her thoughts and considerations after a lifetime...

In this episode, I’m talking to Eoin MacCarthaigh. This is the latest in a running series of conversations between Eoin and I, where we share 3 things each from the world of education that have been causing us some consideration. We discuss: Why ‘white tables’ are better than ‘white boards’ in English How we can better address issues with reading fluency in the English classroom The different stag...

In this episode I’m speaking to Jennifer Webb . Jenny is nothing short of a legend in English teaching after writing a number of hugely beneficial books ranging from how to teach reading and writing to metacognition as well as grammar instruction for secondary professionals. On top of this, she is a constant source of insight via her in person and virtual CPD events, which encompass advice on almo...

In this episode, I’m talking to Eoin MacCarthaigh. This is the second in what we hope will be a long line of episodes focused on issues in and around English teaching. For anyone who hasn’t listened before, we bring forth 3 unknown issues to be discussed each, relating to things that we’ve thought, learnt or considered lately. We discuss: Uncertainty around the purpose of grammar and language teac...

In this episode I am speaking to Shane Leaning. Shane is an organisational Coach, international educator, author and podcaster. As a prolific creator in a number of different spaces, I was keen to get Shane on to discuss what it takes and what it’s like to make the switch from teaching students to advising schools around the world. We discuss: 1. What made Shane transition from the classroom to co...

In this episode, I’m talking to Eoin MacCarthaigh. This is the first in what we hope will be a long line of episodes focused on issues in and around international English teaching. It’s important at the outset to explain that this is an unapologetic rip off another podcast that I personally love, namely Craig Barton and Ollie Lovell’s Tips and Tools for Teachers . For anyone who hasn’t heard this...

In this episode I’m speaking with Professor Guy Claxton. Guy is a cognitive scientist, author and one of education’s foremost experts on practical ways of expanding young people's relationship with and capacity for learning. His most recent book, The Future of Teaching, And the Myths that Hold it Back , a work that seeks to reclaim the nuanced middle ground of teaching that develops both rigorous...

In this episode I’m talking to Professor Nutsa Kobakhidze. Nutsa is a Director at the Comparative Education Research Centre and Assistant Professor at Hong Kong University. Her areas of expertise include comparative education; privatization of education; globalization and education and large-scale international assessments. I wanted to speak to Nutsa particularly in regard to the privatization of...

In this episode I’m talking to Sarah Cottingham. Sarah is Associate Dean at Ambition Institute, author of Ausubel's Meaningful Learning In Action , a Professional Development Consultant and former English teacher. I was really eager to speak with Sarah after reading her work about Ausubel’s theory and applying it to recent discussions about how English can be approached in a more conceptual manner...

In this episode I’m talking with Drew Perkins. Drew is Director of Thought Stretchers Education and host of the ThoughtStretchersEducation Podcast. I wanted to speak to Drew as I continue my exploration of what inquiry looks like in the classroom and particularly how it applies to English. Drew is an active advocate for implementing inquiry in a meaningful manner within education and has helped th...

This week I’m talking to Zach Groshell. Zach is an instructional coach, teacher in the American school system, has a PhD in instructional design and hosts the Progressively Incorrect Podcast . I have listened and loved Zach’s podcast for a long time now, particularly as the first season deals with the tension of progressive ideas and ideologies around inquiry based teaching as well as direct instr...

In this episode I’m speaking with Sarah Donarski. Sarah is a Head Of English Department, PGCE & NQT mentor, speaker, blogger, researcher and author of The researchED Guide to Assessment. I recently relistened to an episode of Craig Barton’s Tips for Teachers with Sarah and immediately jotted down a number of questions and I had about assessment in English, which she has been kind enough to com...

In this episode I’m talking with Kirun Goy. Kirun is the co-founder and co-host of the BrainTools podcast, a show dedicated to sharing practical brain science for everyday people. Additionally, he is a Leadership Facilitator with Harvard Business Publishing. I was lucky enough to have Kirun run a workshop for teachers at my school recently and after looking up his podcast, I realised it was rare t...

In this episode I’m speaking with Andrew and Dave of the IB English Guys. 2023 saw the first roll out of the IBDP English A course’s Paper 2. As such, teachers across the world rallied to prepare students for a comparative literature essay that featured unseen prompts and the opportunity to select any of the studied texts from across their two years of study. I was keen to chat with Andrew and Dav...

In this episode, I’m speaking to Chris Youles. Chris is a Classroom Teacher at Taipei European School and author of Sentence models for creative writing: A practical resource for teaching writing. Chris’ book is one of the most instantly applicable teaching books that I’ve come across in recent years and coupled with a robust grammatical understanding for students, it can really help students to u...

In this episode, I’m speaking with Craig Barton. Craig is an author, maths consultant, former Secondary Maths Adviser to TES and OG podcaster who originally hosted a TES podcast before going on to produce the Mr Barton Maths Podcast and Tips for Teachers podcast. For me this was an enormous highlight of my own podcasting experience so far given that Craig’s was the first teaching focused show I ev...

In this episode I’m speaking with Carly Leung and Vinci Tam. Carly and Vinci are Development Director and Business Executive respectively at V’air, Hong Kong. V’air is a youth-initiated environmental education organization with the mission to promote low-carbon local tourism as a means to mitigate climate change. V’air uses its digital platforms, ecotours and public education events to recommend l...

In this episode I’m speaking with Kate Beatty. Kate is the first returning guest I’ve had on the podcast and one I’m always very pleased to speak with about all things MYP. Kate is an IB Consultant, workshop leader, IB school accreditation team leader and programme leader, executive coach and author of educational resources including the INTHINKING MYP English Language and Literature website. For...

In this episode, I’m speaking with Leon Furze. Leon is an international consultant, author, and speaker with years of experience as an teacher in the UK and Australia. Leon is currently studying his PhD in the implications of Artificial Intelligence on writing instruction and education and as an English teacher is very well placed to advise how recent innovations in AI may affect the subject. We d...