Naylor's Natter

This week on the podcast, I am in conversation with Nicole Ponsford . Nicole describes herself as working in 'the corners of ed and tech' . She is a teacher, an EdDoctorate Researcher, CEO and founder of the Gender Equality Collective . She is also a TES columnist and the co-author of TechnoTeaching.

We had a natter about:

1) You started teaching in early 2000's as I did. Tell listeners a little about your early career mentoring NQTs and improving literacy across school.

2) You were quickly awarded AST status, we hear lots of negatives about ASTs (I am an ex AST) but the issue of promotion out of the classroom rather than promotion within it never seems to have been solved. How did you find the work of an AST , what was the best thing about being an AST?

3) What was the biggest challenge about leading teaching and learning across a school?

4) Technology in schools can be a thorny issue. What advice would you give listeners about how best to use technology in schools? Could you tell listeners more about techno teachers ?

5) Could you tell listeners about your experience of maternity leave and your move into freelance?

6)Narrowing the disadvantage gap is the biggest issue arguably facing schools today (it certainly is in Blackpool) . How did you go about this in your role at Achievement for all?

7) Gender balance is an important issue in schools, homes and businesses, could you tell listeners about your work on the gender equality charter?

8) Where can we find out more about you?

In the shameless plugs section:

We discuss rED Blackpool and my upcoming article for RSC EiC magazine entitled 'Promotion is it worth it?' out on Monday.

We also have our weekly input from our friends and colleagues at Teacher Development Trust 

Following on seamlessly from the interview with Nicole, the CEO of TDT David Weston shares some research and solutions on equality, carer development and fairness .

This week I am in conversation with the Teacher Development Trust CEO David Weston. This conversation marks the start of the podcasts proud and new association with TDT . This will bring expertise from the team in weekly inputs and will further broaden the range of teachers that I am talking to.

We discuss the following themes 

 1) You wanted to be a teacher from a young age, could you tell listeners about teaching your teddies their 4 times table? 

 2) What do you mean by professional learning?

 3) What are the ingredients of professional learning 

4) How do schools go about getting the culture of professional learning right?

 5) What are the building blocks of a developmental culture?

 6) Why should leaders prioritise and resource professional learning 

7) How important are school leaders in setting the culture

 8) To support and challenge schools, is it important to engage effectively with experts?

 9) How do you select and commission experts? 

10) I am very excited that Naylor's natter is now proudly in association with TDT , how do you see the future of this association?

 11) TDT have some very exciting events and conferences coming up this academic year, could you tell listeners more about these ?

We also have our first input from TDT. Maria Cunningham and Bethan Hindley discuss their experiences at the International Conference of World Association for Lesson Studies. They talk with Julie Jordan about Kyozaikenkyu

Stay tuned to the very end!

In the shameless plugs section at the end of the podcast , I remind listeners that I will be at rED National conference tomorrow so please come and say hello! 

In this conversation directly following  #rED Rugby , I ask Professor Young about:

The themes of his presentation

The idea of powerful knowledge and its influence on current educational policy

Social mobility and social justice

The re-professionalisation of teaching and the rise of subject associations and the Chartered College

Enjoy your return to school colleagues ! 

This week I am in conversation with Kat about LitDrive , maternity CPD, WomenEd and Imposter syndrome . We talk in depth about her new book which is called 'Stop talking about wellbeing' and is available here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stop-Talking-About-Wellbeing-Howard/dp/1912906481/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EJ8X6BM68K1L&keywords=stop+talking+about+wellbeing&qid=1565276920&s=gateway&sprefix=stop+talking+about%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-1

The podcast:

First gentle intro - your journey to this point . 

Listeners will be aware of your work with litdriveUK , could you tell us how you came up with this idea ?

You are very passionate about CPD, and something that you have blogged about recently is maternity CPD . Could you tell listeners about how you maximised your maternity leave ?  

 A very popular presentation you delivered was at WomenED , could you tell listeners about imposter syndrome and it’s features ?

 You have a new book coming out with John Catt , this is called stop talking about wellbeing . How did this come about and why is the time right for a book like this ?

  How have you used your expertise in research to help teachers take ownership of their workload?   When is the book out , are you out talking about it and working with teachers ? 

  Where can we see you next ?  Can you direct listeners to your website /blog  etc .  

I ask Emma about her exciting new project NewED , her writing for TES and her role as research and CPD lead . We also discuss the importance of the Chartered College and Bucks Fizz!

Here are some of the topics for discussion:

Usual intro -journey to this point question

As research and CPD lead for your trust , how do you go about sourcing the best CPD out there and how do you structure your CPD offering as a trust ? 

Could you tell listeners how you the idea of newED came about ? 

I know NewED November is now sold out but could you tell listeners about your speakers and future events ? 

There have been some exciting developments with this recently , are you able to give a naylor’s natter exclusive on the latest developments? 

On the other end of the career spectrum , you’ve recently written about how a 70 year old teacher is your hero . What do you think are the factors meaning more experienced teachers are leaving the profession and what can we/should we do about this ? 

I loved your article on should I stay or should I go and the saucepan analogy. Summer gives teachers lots of time to think about next steps and many will be thinking this is the year to go for that promotion...could you explain the saucepan analogy and how should you go about finding your lid ? 

How important is online CPD ? There are some brilliant people out there , who should listeners be aware of . I love the carpool you did for example ! 

Where can listeners find out more about you and what you are doing next ? 

This week I am discussing Mark's new book 'Teaching for Mastery' , which is now available as a kindle edition. This is a full and frank discussion (with some language to match) which takes in all aspects of the book and more besides including:

Get the book here- now available on Kindle too!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Mastery-Mark-McCourt/dp/191290618X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LF3QS9LVAXNR&keywords=teaching+for+mastery&qid=1565100620&s=gateway&sprefix=teaching+%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-1

This week I am in conversation with Patrice Bain about her and Pooja Agarwal's new book Powerful Teaching in the second of my summer specials 

About Patrice 

Patrice M. Bain, Ed.S. is passionate about student success using research-based strategies. As a veteran K–12 teacher, Patrice recently completed more than 25 years teaching social studies at a middle school in Illinois.

Patrice is the only teacher-author of the popular practice guide, Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning commissioned by the Institute of Education Sciences. Patrice's teaching approaches have been featured on TV (PBS's NOVA), radio (NPR), popular press, and multiple books.

Patrice frequently presents professional development workshops throughout the United States. She has taught education courses at the graduate level, and she was a finalist for Illinois Teacher of the Year and a Fulbright Scholar in Russia.

For more information about Patrice, visit patricebain.com and follow her on Twitter @patricebain1.

The natter:

Introduction: could you tell listeners about your career to this point , how you meet your co-author Pooja and how you decided to work together?

 What is powerful teaching and how and why did you and Pooja come up with this idea ?

Many Listeners will be familiar with the cognitive science behind the strategies suggested (my podcast is broadly evidence based) , what we are maybe less familiar with is how to incorporate these into our teaching , this is why I’m thrilled to speak with you .  Could you outline some suggestions on how to incorporate retrieval practice into lessons? 

Spacing is something that teachers may be incorporating as part of their schemes of learning or long term plans . How do you suggest teachers use spacing ?  I am fascinated by metacognition and have delivered keynotes and courses on the topic , I still find it incredibly difficult to explain what it is and how to incorporate it into lessons . Your book has some fantastic suggestions , could you outline some of these for listeners ?  

 Interleaving is used by many students during revision for example . How do you suggest that teachers best use interleaving as a classroom strategy ?

   Could you outline for listeners where you will be speaking next and where they can get your book?   Will you be coming to the UK ?  

This weeks natter is with the distinguished Dr Thomas R Guskey.

We discuss professional development and the importance of evaluating CPD. I ask Tom about his seminal piece of research:

Does It Make a Difference? Evaluating Professional Development

About Tom:

Thomas R. Guskey, Ph.D.

is a Senior Research Scholar in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville and Professor Emeritus in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. A graduate of the University of Chicago, he began his career in education as a middle school teacher, served as an administrator in the Chicago Public Schools, and was the first director of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, a national research centre.

Dr. Guskey is the author/editor of 25 award-winning books and more than 250 book chapters, articles, and professional papers on educational measurement, evaluation, assessment, grading, and professional learning. His articles have appeared in prominent research journals including the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Researcher, and Review of Educational Research, as well as practitioner publications such as Education Week, Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, and The Learning Professional, and School Administrator. He served on the Policy Research Team of the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future, and on the task force to develop the National Standards for Professional Development.

 Introductory questions

What is your 5 level model for evaluating professional development and how did it come about?

What do you hope people take away from your model?

England specific questions

Professional development has arguably never been more valued than it is currently. In 2016 the DfE produced standards for teachers professional development but stopped short of overtly suggesting evaluation . Why is evaluation so important in professional development and so often overlooked?

 In 2018, the EEF released an implementation guide which looked at how to implement professional learning (and other initiatives) and was pitched at decision makers within schools. This seems to sit across levels 3-5 of your model. What do you see as the best ways to evaluate at level 3 . The EEF guide talks about fidelity data but what procedures would you use to evaluate at level 3?

 In 2019, OFSTED have written into their grade descriptors for a school to be 'outstanding' that

"leaders ensure that teachers receive focussed and highly effective professional development. Teachers subject, pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge build and develop over time. This consistently translates into improvements in the teaching of the curriculum"

Firstly , what are your views on this? Secondly do you see this as sitting at level 4 and what are your thoughts on using observations of lessons to evaluate professional learning? Does improving the teaching of the curriculum automatically improve outcomes for pupils?

Episode produced and edited by William H Rushton (www.naylorsnatter.co.uk)

In this week's natter we discuss plans Chris's plans for CPD next year to include:

No formal observations

No requirement for particular marking (regularity or pen colour)

No data driven PM targets

Embed a coaching culture 

This natter puts some detail on these proposals, we discuss the implementation and intent behind these proposals.

Check out my NEW website for all things 'Naylor's natter'

www.naylorsnatter.co.uk

In this weeks podcast I have a natter with Kate about her book which i am a big fan of! The reason I like this book is that it combines the latest educational research with examples of exactly what this looks like in your classroom. The book is filled with research informed concepts and theories and is useful for all teachers.

We discuss 

Lesson starters and retrieval practice

How can teachers best use technology?

What is the best way to embrace literacy in your subject?

How much responsibility do teachers have for their own CPD?

If listeners would like to become patrons of the podcast and contribute the cost of a flat white to help the host, details can be found here:

https://www.patreon.com/naylorsnatter

Kate's website 

www.lovetoteach87.com

Twitter 

@87History

Instagram

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