Episode 20 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores nine classroom backchannel tools that can be used for communication between learners.

Nine Classroom Backchannel Tools You Can Start Using Today

A podcast for teachers and trainers who want to love their jobs and be amazing teachers without sacrificing their own time, mental health and wellbeing.

Education

Training

Language Courses

Higher Education

K-12

Educational Technology

Self-Improvement

Links I mentioned:  The Wellbeing-Driven Productivity Podcast Notes by Martine Martine's Website Martine on Twitter 

An Update from Martine - April 2022

Hello, it's Martine here, I am recording this towards the end of June 2021 and I wanted to give you an idea of what's on the horizon for The Teaching Space - in particular, the podcast. Next year is the third and final year of my masters in education - my dissertation year. I know this is going to take up a lot of my energy and focus, but I am determined to reach the end. The reality of this is, of course, I need to refocus my priorities a bit. Podcasting is so much fun - I love doing it and I think I will always be a podcaster, but the reality is that it is incredibly time-consuming. Next year, I am going to take a break from my two weekly podcasting schedule and do something a bit different. I am going to focus on two things for The Teaching Space.   Writing   Informal audio   You might have noticed if you follow me on Twitter, that I have been working on my writing by doing the Ship 30 for 30 challenge. I plan to keep up the frequent production of short-form essays and will be publishing them in a variety of places including Twitter, Medium and my email newsletter. I'm going to experiment with informal audio over the summer - I am exploring Anchor and Racket to see what is the lowest friction. While it sounds like you might hear a bit less from me, in actual fact, I think you will see and hear more! So, here's what I'd like you to do if you want to keep up with what I am doing.   Follow me on Twitter: MartineGuernsey.   Subscribe to my email newsletter, The Teaching Space Extra.   Stay subscribed to the podcast in your favourite podcast app.   Join the community.   I'm planning a break over the summer, although I will still be writing on Twitter. Feel free to reach out by email if you have questions: hello@theteachingspace.com. Speak soon. Martine

What's Next for the Podcast?

Highlights  Notion has enabled me to conduct a yearly and monthly review consistently for the first time ever. I am also refining my weekly review process. This is the first time I have managed this behaviour consistently, and it is game changing. This is a personal review - but could easily apply to work and there is always some cross over. Undertaking personal reviews is enabling me to meet my goals. (01:13). On the subject of goals, that’s where it all starts, so I am going to walk you through my process. Annual review (03:09)  Review the year (screenshot). Consider your life buckets (e.g. health, work, business, personal life, travel, money etc) and use the plus, minus, next method to reflect. Identify your proudest achievement/s and biggest challenges. Set goals for next year and keep them visible (screenshot). You might like to set a theme or word for the year - mine is ONE.   Monthly review (07:50)  Now page - currently in Notion and template available. Now page template includes goals. Review: progress on my goals, achievements, what next, theme for the year update and currently reading. Share! Diary note for next month.   Weekly review (09:45)  Empty my quick capture inboxes (refer to episode 121). Inbox Zero. Plan for next week - calendar, tasks, exercise etc. Clear down tasks. Also an opportunity to plan meals. Don’t refer back to goals but perhaps I should.   Everything comes together in my Notion dashboard which works as well as it does thanks to Notion Mastery. Template available (11:13). Wrap up (12:33)  What do you do? Discuss in the community.    Helpful links  Plus, Minus, Next. Now page Notion template. Episode 121 Personal Knowledge Management for Teachers and Trainers.  Notion Mastery course. Notion dashboard video. The Teaching Space Community. 

The Power of a Personal Weekly, Monthly and Annual Review

Highlights  What is personal knowledge management? (00:47). “Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) is the practice of capturing the ideas and insights we encounter in our daily life, whether from personal experience, from books and articles, or from our work, and cultivating them over time to produce more creative, higher quality work” (Forte Labs, 2019). Ness Labs creator, Anne-Laure Le Cunff describes the 5 C’s of PKM as: creation, circulation, curation, collaboration and communities (Ness Labs, 2020). My interpretations of the 5 C’s (02:08):  creation: managing knowledge derived from learning allows the creation of new knowledge. circulation: that new knowledge can be circulated/shared. curation: it’s also a way to collect and curate things that make you think. collaboration: collecting information in this way can lead to collaboration. communities: you can share anything collected or created in communities (e.g. Twitter).   For me, PKM is about ensuring the content I consume is not wasted. How many times to you read or watch something and then forget it straight afterwards? (03:56). While I don’t expect to learn from everything I consume (ahem.. dog videos on TikTok), if I am consuming to learn and/or generate my own content afterwards, I want to increase my chance of retention. Furthermore, from an ethical standpoint, if someone’s work influences my thinking, I want to give credit. The best way to design a system for PKM is to draw it (I used Excalidraw) (05:28). Work out (07:18):  Input: where do you consume content? (Examples: YouTube, web, academic papers, reports, Kindle, Twitter etc). Also include ideas. Output: what do you want to achieve? (Examples: share notes, write blog posts/articles, write a dissertation, write a book, create a podcast etc).   I then divide my workflow into three levels (09:21):  Quick capture (temporary repository) Literature notes (notes taken while consuming content) Permanent notes (notes in my own words - usually atomic)   See diagram on show notes - loosely based on Zettelkasten. Tech stack (11:39):  Quick capture: Drafts, Highlights and Readwise (clear weekly) Literature notes: Notion (knowledge hub), Highlights and Readwise Permanent notes: Obsidian (public)   Obsidian is my digital garden (15:20). A Digital Garden is personal, but public learning space for live, interconnected notes. Or, more eloquently, “A digital garden is an online space at the intersection of a notebook and a blog, where digital gardeners share seeds of thoughts to be cultivated in public” (Le Cunff, 2020). Obsidian allows you to see connections between notes. Things planted in my digital garden might eventually become articles, podcasts etc (16:49). Wrap up: let’s discuss in the community! (17:12)  Helpful links  Martine’s Digital Garden Excalidraw for diagrams. Shower notepad. Notion Obsidian Readwise Drafts Highlights Zettelkasten method. Martine’s Twitter thread on this topic.  Notion Mastery course. The Teaching Space Community. 

Personal Knowledge Management for Teachers and Trainers

This episode topic was requested by Ashely in The Teaching Space Community. She said:  "I would love to hear about the most beneficial things you can have a student-teacher do before exiting the program and teaching on their own. This is my first time having a student-teacher."  In this podcast I am going to focus on general advice for those mentoring trainee teachers or new trainers as I do not have expertise in sectors outside of corporate and FE. To try to give a rounded response to this topic request, I also chatted to my wider Twitter network and will share some of their suggestions. I am mindful that this is a massive area, so will not aim to cover everything in one short episode. Incidentally, if you would like to join our community and help shape the podcast in the future, visit community.theteachingspace.com. I'm going to split this episode into three sections. First I am going to share some of the helpful information I got from Twitter about mentoring trainee teachers. Then I will share some previous podcast episodes that I think will be helpful. Finally, I will share some tips from my own experience, having mentored several trainee teachers in FE and also candidates doing QTLS and ATS. Highlights From Twitter (03:06) Nikki on Twitter (@nikkitel) said:  "I encourage them to consider their mental health from the outset and to understand that it’s ok to not know everything. I try to help them realise that if they don’t feel that they excel, it’s only for now. They don’t excel yet."  This reminded me of Carol Dweck's "the power of yet". I completely agree with considering mental health from the outset - remember your oxygen mask. Andy on Twitter (@guruteaching) shared an article on the topic he wrote, which I will include in the show notes. One thing I loved about Andy's article is his point about showing your trainee how far they've come. Andy said:  "Finally, it helps for our trainees to see not just where they are going, but also where they have been. It’s too easy for them to be uber-busy, planning lessons, dealing with behaviour incidents, giving feedback and learning new subject knowledge for tomorrow’s lesson. Sometimes, they simply can’t see the progress that they’re making. Set aside some time to step back with them and with a smile on your face, show them how they have grown since the beginning of the course."  Chase on Twitter (@chasemitsuda) said it boils down to starting with empathy and share a great Brene Brown video that I will include in the show notes. He also said:  "Also believing that we are all learners, and teachers who have just started their careers have so much to offer, including fresh perspectives."  Finally, Jonathon on Twitter (@jonmedeiros) said, as mentors we can:  "help foster curiosity, self reflection, and adjustment as natural and important skills."  Useful Podcast Episodes (07:27) I'm going to share and comment on a few recent episodes of the podcast that will help anyone mentoring trainees now in the future. Don't forget, you might need some professional development in order to fulfil the role of mentor effectively - some of these episodes will be helpful in this area. I'll mention episode numbers - all you need to put in your browser is theteachingspace.com followed by / and the episode number in digits. There are also links in the show notes. Following on from Nikki's wise mental health guidance mentioned a the start, it would be worth listening to my recent interview with Guernsey Mind's Chris Chamberlain (113). You could listen to help support your trainee better in this area - you could also recommend your trainee has a listen. My interview with Joanne Miles about coaching is a must-listen - it is episode 104. Mentoring and coaching are on a spectrum and you are likely to need to be a mentor some of the time and a coach at other times. Understanding the difference between both approaches is key in giving your trainee what they need from you. Episode 107 is an interview with Vanessa Mee who shares top tips for newly qualified teachers. Some of the tips Vanessa shares could easily apply to trainee teachers, such as time blocking, looking after yourself as a priority and planning to do less in the classroom (so the students do more). Episode 103 is about managing emails. Often, trainees become overwhelmed with the admin aspect of teaching, so being in a position to support and advise them in this aspect of their teacher role is essential. Similarly, episode 98 is my most recent time blocking episode - it is worth a listen so you can support your trainee to manage their time. My Tips (10:38)  Establish boundaries and expectations in the mentor/mentee relationship but also around work/study/life balance. Be available. Model, model, model. Facilitate. Encourage community participation. Encourage the use of research. Help them establish their teacher identity.  Helpful links  Carol Dweck's "The Power of Yet" TEDx talk Andy's article about mentoring trainee teachers Brene Brown video on empathy  Teachers and Mental Health - An Interview with Chris Chamberlain Exploring Coaching in Education and Training - An Interview with Joanne Miles Top Tips for Newly Qualified Teachers - An Interview with Vanessa Mee How to Stop Email Taking Over Your Life Time Blocking for Teachers and Trainers Revisited A Teacher's Guide to EduTwitter 

Nine Classroom Backchannel Tools You Can Start Using Today

Download our free app to listen on your phone