This week John (@jfcatto) wades through the Grattan Institute's mammoth report recommending the implementation of Instructional Specialists and Master Teachers. 

Pete (@mr_van_w) highlights the idea of Assessment Literacy for teachers and to question what inferences and conclusions can be made from assessments.  

John: Top teachers: sharing expertise to Improve teaching - Peter Goss and Julie Sonnemann

https://grattan.edu.au/report/top-teachers/

Pete: Needed: A Dose of Assessment Literacy - W James Popham

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar06/vol63/num06/[email protected] 

This week Pete (@mr_van_w) ponders an interview from one of our our stable mates ERRR that makes him question how progressive is too progressive.  John (@jfcatto) then discusses something close to his heart; teacher accreditation at the higher levels of Highly Accomplished Teachers (HAT) and Lead Teachers (LT). 

Pete:  Education Research Reading Room #038: Peter Gray on the Freedom to Learn - Ollie Lovell 

https://www.ollielovell.com/errr/petergray/

John: Incentivising Quality: It will take more than just carrots to keep teachers in the classroom - Melanie Ralph

https://lustreeducation.wordpress.com/2020/01/15/incentivising-quality-it-will-take-more-than-carrots-to-keep-teachers-in-classrooms/

Pete (@mr_van_w) and John (@jfcatto) return to the 2020 year with a rambling recap of their holidays. Pete identifies some of the obligatory media narratives that need to be trotted out at the start of another school year. John regales us with a parable illustrating the some of the nuances between Direct Instruction and Discovery Learning that are not taken into account by the quantitative studies

Articles:

Pete:  I haven't even started teaching yet, but it's already cost me $700 - and I'm not alone - Ellen Wengert

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-24/starting-costs-graduate-teachers-in-the-classroom/11872676

What can parents do to help their child's teacher? A 'recovering' teacher's term one wishlist - Gabby Stroud

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-29/what-can-parents-do-to-help-their-childs-teacher/11902654

John: Discovery Learning Experiments - Georgios Zonnios

https://georgios.blog/discovery-learning-experiments/

In another episode of the occasional podcast Teachers Talking Teaching John (@jfcatto) contemplates the the way in which schools and society frame resilience to children, particularly the ones that need it most. Pete (@mr_van_w) then discusses the equity of the HSC and subsequent university admission system. 

John: Rethinking 'resilience' and 'grit' - Alissa Quart

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2019/11/09/opinion/rethinking-resilience-grit/

Pete: In defence of the HSC - Blaise Joseph

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/in-defence-of-the-hsc/

The Sins of the Father - Pran Patel

https://theteacherist.com/2019/11/10/the-sins-of-the-father/

Another haphazard release finds Pete (@mr_van_w) just returned from ResCon in Brisbane where he was inspired by a presentation to go back to the work of John Dewey. John (@jfcatto) then is impressed by a innovative school but worried about how the motivations affect future implementation. 

Pete: John Dewey on How to Find Your Calling, the Key to a Fulfilling Vocation, and Why Diverse Interests Are Essential for Excellence in Any Field - Maria Popova 

https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/10/20/john-dewey-democracy-and-education-calling/

John: Kelvinside Academy open Nuvu Innovation School - Jody Harrison (@jodeharrisonHT)  

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17961074.kelvinside-academy-opens-nuvu-innovation-school/

In a triumphant return-from-hiatus episode John (@jfcatto) and Pete (@mr_van_w) make history by bringing so such synergy to the table that they that they have read the same article.

Students don't like the brain-sweats because it hurts their head. Unfortunately, learning is hard.

Articles: 

Pete: Study shows students in 'active learning' classrooms learn more than they think - Peter Reuell

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/09/study-shows-that-students-learn-more-when-taking-part-in-classrooms-that-employ-active-learning-strategies/

John: Study shows students in 'active learning' classrooms learn more than they think - Peter Reuell 

https://phys.org/news/2019-09-students-classrooms.html

This week Pete (@mr_van_w) and John (@jfcatto) are back and a bit more upbeat. Pete did a viva voce and really dug it. 

John discusses Personalised Learning and some peoples worries about privacy of third party companies from Silicon Valley.

Pete raises questions of the conduct of student evaluations of teaching, how much credence we put in student opinions and how those opinions can be implicitly biased. 

Articles:

John: The Messy Reality of Personalized Learning - E. Tammy Kim

https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-messy-reality-of-personalized-learning

Pete: Students evaluation of teaching are not only unreliable, they are significantly biased against female instructors - Anne Boring, Kelly Ottoboni and Phillip B. Stark

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2016/02/04/student-evaluations-of-teaching-gender-bias/

On Shame and 'Daring Classrooms': We Need to Fix Systems, Not Kids - Christina Torres

https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/intersection-culture-and-race-in-education/2019/08/on-shame-and-daring-classrooms-we-need-to-fix-systems-not-kids.html

This is just a quick little episode as a welcome to those new to the profession. It's the best job in the world but it's challenging.

Glad to have you on board.

Stay shiny Pony Boy!

Pete (@mr_van_w) and John (@jfcatto) have finally made Episode 100. Crack out a bottle of champagne and lets' celebrate... actually scrap that this one is a super downer. Listener discretion is advised.

Pete, a proud Kamilaroi man, gets super angry and about a teacher gamifying their classroom using the framework of colonialism.

John then brightens the day with new study from the OECD that finds that Australian teachers are have higher workload and more administration.     

Pete:

Gamifying settler colonialism - Benjamin Doxtdador (@doxtdadorb) 

https://www.longviewoneducation.org/gamifying-settler-colonialism/

John: 

Australian teachers have higher workloads, fewer resources: OECD report - EducationHQ News  

https://au.educationhq.com/news/60602/australian-teachers-have-higher-workloads-fewer-resources-oecd-report/

The Herd ft. L-FRESH the LION - 77% (live for Like A Version)

https://youtu.be/StORD4EgvWY 

This week/fortnight/month Pete (@mr_van_w) and John (@jfcatto) barely manage to get an episode out with John on the editing decks. He's pretty rubbish.

John ruminates on a listener comment and laments the perceived goal of edupreneurs of aiming bigger and not wasting their life in the classroom. 

Pete regales us with the link between teaching and magic and his admiration for Penn and Teller. Romance, precision and generalisation. 

Then John finishes up with a teacher who has put together a African-american book list so that little black boys and girls can read abut themselves. 

Articles:

John: Breaking Good: Ex-Chemistry teacher becomes a billionaire - Venus Feng

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/breaking-good-ex-chemistry-teacher-becomes-a-billionaire-20190613-p51x5t.html

Pete: Teaching: Just Like Performing Magic - Jessica Lahey

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/01/what-classrooms-can-learn-from-magic/425100/ 

John: Black Kids Like Reading About Themselves - Dwayne Reed (@TeachMrReed)

https://medium.com/@dwaynepreed_60537/kids-like-reading-about-themselves-c6b75c78ef2b