NetSupport Radio

Welcome to another episode of Insights with NetSupport. In this episode, I was thrilled to welcome Meika Billings Dopwell to the show. 

In this episode, I was keen to pick Meika’s brains about top tips for teachers to best support learners with speech and language difficulties in addition to some of the technologies and approaches we use in our classrooms and schools. 

Here are the questions that we covered:

1. You’re new to Twitter... As someone in education, how are you finding the experience, what benefits are you experiencing and what top tips would you have for others just joining the platform?
2. As a speech and language specialist, could you share some of the difficulties young people face in the classroom?
3. Linking to the previous question, what advice would you share to educators looking to help students feel more included within the classroom setting?
4. I know you have a bit of a special interest in the ways technology can be used to support learners with speech and language difficulties. Could you share some of the tools and techniques/approaches that you’ve found to be effective? 
5. Schools are more than just ‘the classroom,’ so what advice might you have for principals or district leaders or those with responsibility for ensuring inclusion and accessibility about how to successfully support learners with speech/language difficulties in their setting?

As you might expect, these questions brought about some fantastic responses and conversations, but you’ll have to watch or listen to the episode to hear all of the insights shared!

For some of the tools and resources mentioned, for ease of reference, we thought we’d list some of them here which included, although not exhaustively:

Websites:
• https://wow.boomlearning.com/ 
• https://kahoot.com/ 

iPad apps:
• Speech Tutor (Helps children say sounds in words to increase intelligibility) where the web version is FREE; the tablet version allows you to record and watch practice trials
• Category Therapy (Great for category and discrimination practice)

Join Al Kingsley and Justin Weinberg in the newest episode of NetSupport Radio. Justin is the Co-founder and CEO of Aktiv Learning using his decade of experience teaching math and science as a tutor and teaching assistant to bring Akiv Learning to STEM courses across North America.  

STEM classes are all the rage in today’s schools but for students to get the most out of it, they need to be fully prepared to learn to properly engage and understand the lesson. In this episode, Al and Justin discuss ‘Engaging and Preparing Students for STEM Classes’.

Here are some of the questions we asked

• Justin, your journey to the education sector has certainly been a unique one, can you tell us a bit about it?
• STEM subjects, universally, have always been harder to teach and retain student engagement, how do you think this can be helped?
• Is this where your idea for Aktiv came from?
• Can you tell us about the free resources that you provide?

Insights with NetSupport with Gary Henderson

When it comes to ensuring that technology across a school runs smoothly, the often-unseen heroes within education are the network managers, technicians and directors of IT who play that pivotal role of ensuring continuity of learning and consistency of access. 

The importance of their roles came into significant focus during the various lockdowns during the pandemic. It is fair to say that, without their patience, hard work and often long hours working, many educators and learners would not have had the support and access they required to ensuring consistency of learning. 

In a high-pressure role, often facing significant challenges, their workload and wellbeing are areas that should be high on the priority list for support in their various settings. 

In this episode of Insights with NetSupport, popular blogger, tweeter, ANME ambassador, MIEExpert and Director of IT at Millfield School, Gary Henderson, took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with us about some of the ways that he manages his wellbeing and supports that of his team, alongside some pragmatic approaches around their workload and managing the expectations of colleagues at the school where he works. 

In this episode, we are joined by Maggie Layfield. As a former teacher turned ‘EdTechie’, Maggie is passionate about seeing technology used intentionally in the classroom to help increase engagement and lead to positive learning outcomes. She serves as the VP of US Sales for NetSupport Inc, and is recognised leader in EdTech. She lives outside of Atlanta with her husband and two kids (plus one on the way!). Maggie loves to bake, solve puzzles, play word games, and read in her spare time, which is rather limited these days.

In this episode we discussed Taking early years education to 'the big kids.'

Here are just some of the questions I asked:

• Your degree was in English/Language Arts Education- why that particular subject?
• You mentioned your background in education could you tell us a bit more about that and how you moved into the world of EdTech?
• You mentioned when we talked before that your specialism was with 12–18-year-olds, but somehow you ended you working with some pre-kindergarten kids (under 7-year-olds) too. What was that experience like?
• Were there any teaching strategies you took away from that experience that you thought could be beneficial for older learners?
• Why do you think sometimes that engaging and fun learning is missing when teaching at middle and high school?
• And what about vice versa- is there anything from working with the older pupils that could be taken into those earlier grades to benefit younger learners? 
• What do you think about opportunities for mixed age-group learning? How could you see this working?
• What would be your top-tips for taking early education strategies into the higher grades?

You can follow on Maggie on Twitter at @LayfieldMaggie  or on LinkedIn
You can also email her at [email protected]
Check out www.netsupport-inc.com for more information about NetSupport’s solutions.   

You can follow me (Kat Cauchi) on Twitter at @ReallyschoolK
Check out #OPIP and #OfPrimaryImportance for more content 
If you are interested on coming on the show or have a topic suggestion, send me a DM!

From sending one-way messages that can’t be ignored, to streamlining communication and ensuring everyone has received and read the message – NetSupport Notify can help in any scenario!

Sensitive information: Deliver sensitive information discreetly without using the overhead PA system – perfect in hospitals for code calls.

Adverse weather: Help keep your staff informed about any natural disasters or severe weather that may affect them.

Emergency or lockdown procedures: Using a three-hotkey combination, quickly notify staff of emergencies (such as bomb threats or active shooter situations) so they can initiate any lockdown or emergency procedures swiftly.

Recurring events: Schedule notifications for recurring events (such as routine system maintenance) or to notify staff to power off devices, for example.

Wellbeing/health updates: Send important health messages and updates to keep staff safe.

We've got an action packed #CheckItOutShow lined up tonight featuring some amazing guests! Tune in to hear about the latest education solutions and services!

We are excited to share with you a brand new video case study from Hampton Lakes Primary School. In this video our Product Manager Kat Cauchi interviews Head of School Zoe Trigg and Head of EYFS Helen Lloyd about their experiences of using ReallySchool.

Here are some of the questions we asked:

• Hello Zoe and Helen can you tell us a bit about your school please?
• What were your main challenges with observations before using ReallySchool?
• What were your first impressions of ReallySchool?
• What would you say are the main benefits for you, Helen, as Head of EYFS and for you, Zoe, as Head of School?
• What would you say are the main benefits for pupils?
• Could you talk more about your experience of using ReallySchool with parents?
• Do you think that ReallySchool is inclusive?
• Has ReallySchool supported you in identifying and addressing learning gaps?
• Did ReallySchool have an impact before lockdown and how was that different during lockdown?
• Did it enable you to keep track of learning and progress while students weren’t in school?
• Do you think there was a greater level of dialogue with parents during that time?
• Zoe, from a leadership perspective does ReallySchool have any wider school benefits?
• Would you recommend ReallySchool to others and if so why would you recommend it?

In this episode, we are joined by Sammy White. Sammy is a former maths teacher with experience in a wide variety of settings including alternative provision (AP), further education (FE) and secondary. She is currently a teaching & learning specialist at TextHelp. Sammy is also recognised as one of ‘The EdTech 50’ for 2021. 

In this episode we discussed ‘Engagement, support and boundaries- relationships between parents and educators’

Here are some of the questions I asked:

• You are both a mum and an educator. Can you tell us a bit about if and how that impacts on your relationship with your children's teacher?
• What kind of professional boundaries have you needed to set and how would you advise others to go about setting their own?
• As a parent how do you feel schools engage parents well, and where do you see potential for improvements?
• What is the role of EdTech in parental engagement and how can schools best utilise this?
• Speaking of EdTech, you recently attended the Bett show! (It was amazing to meet you there by the way) Can you tell our listeners a little about what Bett is and your experience there?
• Coming back to parental engagement, you wrote an article for R.I.S.E. Magazine about maths anxiety in parents- could you talk a little more about what kind of anxieties you found parents have?
• Is parental anxiety in mathematics more common than in other subjects and if so why do you think that is?
• How can educators best support parents in overcoming their anxieties of supporting their child with maths?
• How can people get in touch with you and find out more about what you do?

You can follow Sammy on Twitter at @WhatTheTrigMath
You can also check out her website and YouTube channel 

You can follow me (Kat Cauchi) on Twitter at @ReallyschoolK
Check out #OPIP and #OfPrimaryImportance for more content 

Welcome to another episode of Insights with NetSupport! 

In this episode, Abid shared lots of great insights and top tips – from advice on interactions with other colleagues, to developing powerful and positive relationships and approaches to collaboration. There’s lots for both network managers and school leaders and teachers to take away from this episode. 
 
During our chat, Abid responded to the following questions and shared some great approaches. Here are the questions I asked him: 
1. How do you explain to a teacher that something won't work?
2. What tips can you share about how to approach working with teachers that fosters positive relationships?
3. What tips and resources are there for collaboration for technical IT staff that you'd recommend?
4. What are your insights on how and why connecting with educators at events is important?

In this episode, we are joined by Juliet Park the director of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) for the Share Trust. She is also a languages teacher and national MFL consultant-supporting schools and academy trusts. She is a successful author of languages resources. Juliet is an experienced examiner, and she regularly delivers training for awarding bodies and trainee teachers. She is also a specialist for the Secondary School Admissions Test (SSAT) in Dylan William’s formative assessment programme, and she supports primary and secondary heads to introduce this in their own settings.  She is passionate about developing a lifelong love of languages and linguistic mastery in young children.

In this episode we discussed ‘Tips for success in teaching a new language’ especially for teachers without a language specialism. 

Here are some of the questions I asked Juliet:

• You recently had a book published- could you give us a summary of what the book is about and why you decided to write it?
• As you know language teaching in primary schools often isn't taught by specialists- what kind of barriers do teachers without a language specialism have to teaching a language?
• How can they overcome these barriers?
• If a teacher is going to be teaching a series of language lessons what are your tips for being prepared for this?
• How can teachers ensure pupils not only learn a language but retain that knowledge?
• What are the barriers to language learning for pupils and how can teachers help them overcome these?
• What do you think is working well in schools for language learning and what do you think is needed to support this more?
• What skills are important to teach pupils that will help them be successful in language learning?
• Where pupils struggle with their Literacy how does this impact on their progress in learning another language and how can staff help them?
• There are lots of benefits to learning another language could you share some of your key ones?
• Is there any training/resources/support you would recommend to teachers and how can people get in touch with you?   

You can follow Juliet on Twitter at @julietdpark

You can also check out her book ‘Tried and tested: The ultimate guide to teaching primary languages and her languages resource website 

You can follow me (Kat Cauchi) on Twitter at @ReallyschoolK

Check out #OPIP and #OfPrimaryImportance for more content 

If you are interested on coming on the show or have a topic suggestion, send me a DM!