Teachers Talking Teaching

In this episode of "Teachers Talking Teaching," hosts Pete Whiting (@mr_van_w) and Shawtima Rakovski (@shawtimasmiles) discuss the insightful article "Australian classrooms are among the 'least favourable' for discipline in the OECD. Here’s how to improve student behaviour" from The Conversation. Join them as they unpack the key points and share their perspectives on enhancing classroom discipline for better student outcomes.

URL: Link to the article on The Conversation

Show Notes:

• Introduction to the episode and hosts Pete Whiting and Shawtima Rakovski.
• Overview of the article highlighting the concerning statistics on discipline in Australian classrooms.
• Discussion on the factors contributing to the current state of student behavior and discipline in Australia.
• Analysis of the strategies proposed in the article for improving student behavior and fostering a positive classroom environment.
• Personal anecdotes and experiences shared by the hosts regarding classroom discipline challenges and successes.
• Insights into the role of teachers, parents, and the education system in creating a supportive and disciplined learning environment.
• Practical tips and recommendations for educators to implement effective behavior management techniques in their classrooms.

In this episode, we talk about local competitions and politicians who give teenagers NO QUARTER!

Also congrats to Queensland for not ruining the election for the rest of us, in fact well done for being oddly progressive.

Generally, we talk about Chile’s largest sensei and about the protective factors of a growth mindset for students from a lower socioeconomic background.

If you wish to reach out, find us at 

https://twitter.com/Mr_van_W

or

https://www.chess.com/member/mr_van_w

or Shawtima

https://twitter.com/ShawtimaSmiles

In this episode we talk about a more lady-like approach to decision making, apparently. We dive into the research of Dr Johnston et al out of WA regarding the Ethic of Care and this as a framework for our decisions and interactions both within and without the classroom.

That can be found here!

Shawti has finally drunk the kool aid on Teachers Pay Teachers - The Teachers Talking Teaching Kool Aid that is. Burn it to the ground, support teachers sharing.

So this episode was recorded a month ago (maybe more) as an answer to some Patreon questions and then our world all fell apart. Between sickness, pandemic and adventures in heart failure (all is good now I promise, just little cardiac-hiccups) we actually thought that this episode was gone. But here it is!

If you want to help us be more regular, at this point there are two places that we would love some support. First, there's a Patreon, this costs real dollars to put out and any help is appreciated. Go here for that: https://www.patreon.com/CatfishEducation Secondly, the real barrier for us at the moment is editing. If you want to help us edit our podcasts and help get those episodes out, we would be eternally grateful. Obviously, we would like to pay for this but as we said before, the pod costs not earns but if you’d like to be part of the team and help out - by all means let us know.

We love you all and we’re glad to be back.

Books Mentioned on the Pod:

The Cultural Practice of Teaching

Sand Talk - Tyson Yunkaporta

Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Friere

Teaching to transgress : education as the practice of freedom - bell hooks

The Practical Practice of Teaching

Creating Cultures of Thinking - Ron Ritchhart

Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners - Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, Karin Morrison

Also, Red Dwarf sucks.

In this episode Pete and Shawtima get pumped for the new teaching year and settle in for the new normal.

Shawtima mentioned using Tango as a tool for making instructables for team members and also violently threatens her team members. But then Shawtima dives deeply into some teacher wellbeing strategies. It’s not always the big moments and stunt work that counts. 

If we can work on the simple unsexy stuff then maybe we can have a more sustainable worklife. Also, Pete says he’s fine, just fine… too many times for it to be believable.

On a positive note, Shawtima explains some excellent tools for people with Anxiety that Pete has 100% been using since then and it totally has helped.

I tell you what, Libraries are rad and they should be the hub of all schools. Pete had an article but he got distracted by library activists and history. So, enjoy that.

Tiny Wow.

Small individual applets instead of buying large software for processing files.

https://tinywow.com/

Z Library

https://z-lib.org/

Chess vs Pete

https://www.chess.com/member/mr_van_w

… not that Pete recognises the UN in any way shape or form.

Shawtima talks differentiation this week. Look, differentiation is tricky in the classroom, but it’s worthwhile. There are many aspects of teaching that keep getting harder and harder, but you know what, sometimes that’s the deal. 

In good news, Pete’s kids have started watching Bluey and it’s magic.

You can join us at https://www.patreon.com/CatfishEducation. Your support really does help us keep the show running.

Huge shout out to our first Teachers Aide and newest Patron, Amberly. You are truly a great human.

The Culture Wars are alive and well. Schools are the battlegrounds once again. Education is a political act and again we see how the conservatives/trads are looking to push education History and Maths education into a back to basics approach. It makes Shawtima’s tummy hurt.

Pete learns about Temptation Bundling, this is something that he does all the time. 

But our jobs are always political, schools are where the next generation’s culture is started. If it looks like a fascism, smells like a fascism, walks like a fascism, it’s probably a fascism. But this has outcomes that are purely skills based and academic - regardless of the impact on the culture at large.

Streaming/tracking also hinders students and their education. This isn’t surprising at all, but a large collection of data is reviewed. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/06/04/california-math-class-detrack-race-equity/

The greatest moment of televised sports in human history. How are you human if you keep it together watching this.  FULL MATCH - Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair – Career Threatening Match: WrestleMania XXIV

But we end it all in a nice reflective phase where we give thanks for those that helped us become the teachers we are.

Also, if you know how Daylight Savings works, don’t at me, I just don’t care.

Here is the Cancelled podcast that led to our long ramble open https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/cancelled/id1580836614  

Shawtima talks (in the most round about way possible) Habits of Mind. Like, it legitimately started that way and ended up talking about LoLs in the classroom instead. Then we get all kinds of pedagogical and talk about Newman's Error Analysis. This became something fun for me to play with since recording.

Pete starts digging into the positive effects of ethnic studies in schools on the lives of students who fit into various ethnic groups as well as those of the dominant culture surrounding them. Obviously, this is something that we never talk about on this podcast so get ready for some totally new ideas. Turns out though, he could have just watched Remember the Titans.

When we talk a bit more about class times, we start talking about some gamified, Star Trekified space unit where the kids get choices.

Also, let’s not forget that Nicky Winmar is a national treasure.

In this episode we dive into some listener mail with questions about privilege and then we talk about the Tortoise and Hare thinkers. This involves the systemic bias in artificial examination environments and the harm it does to all of our students. Thanks Revisionist History!

In this episode, we talk about the readjustment of back to home learning for Australian/NSW teachers and the value of non-essential roles in schools. Also, how great is book week!

But Pete has a big focus on Inquiry-Based learning and the recent articles by the Conversation and several trad articles that have a real problem on student-centered learning. Apparently, the majority of teachers rely on inquiry-based programs. This however is clearly not the case. In fact, teachers use loads of different modalities because they’re professionals.

The Learning from Home resources via the AISNSW

https://www.aisnsw.edu.au/learning-from-home

The Look of a Compass Points done digitally via Padlet.