The Well Teacher

There is no denying that the first few years of a teacher’s career are hugely challenging: the retention statistics in the UK speak for themselves.

Last year I completed an educational masters, and the dissertation looked at ways to improve the experience of teachers in their first five years. I interviewed a wide range of teachers for this – and one of the things that resonated was teachers feeling overwhelmed with expectations and struggling to create a meaningful work life balance. You can read about the findings here. 

That is why the interview with today’s guest Adam Riches is so important. Adam’s new book is written specifically for teachers in the first five years of their career. ‘Teach Smarter’ is packed full of practical guidance on how teachers can thrive in their first five years, and just how they should spend their time.

In our conversation, we discuss the research that teachers should prioritise at the start of their careers, how to become more efficient in planning, what feedback should really explore, and how to become a more reflective and confident teacher.

I hope you enjoy the episode, and it helps you to embrace the smarter teaching approach!

This is the first of a series of interviews on 'The Well Teacher podcast' called ‘Lockdown CPD.’ It will explore with teachers the piece of research or book that has had the most impact on their teaching practice. Each interview will look at the practical implications of that learning in their classroom: what has changed, what has improved as a result of the reading they have engaged with?

Mark Enser, Geography teacher, author of two superb books and TES contributor makes a brilliant first contributor. He talks about the impact of one of his favourite books about education, Making Every Lesson Count’ has had on his teaching. He breaks down how it has changed his approach to challenge in the classroom, and how he now puts modelling at the core of what happens in his classroom.

Mark also shares some brilliant other reading tips, and a fascinating guide on how to start a effective teaching and learning blog and write a book on education. He also walks us through some of the aims of his brilliant book ‘Teach Like Nobody’s watching’ – including a clear strategy for how to develop your curriculum through sequencing and, at the close of the interview, he shares with us how schools can help teachers become expert teachers.

As always this podcast is to raise funds for Vintage Vibes and Health in Mind, two superb Edinburgh charities. If you would like to donate, please visit this page. 

I will be taking a fortnight break now but have a range of brilliant interviews lined up for after the Easter break. Until then there are six brilliant interviews available now on 'The Well Teacher Podcast', ranging from how to manage anxiety, to starting a running habit, to growing and improving as a teacher.

Thank you for listening; I hope you stay safe and well over Easter.

This episode of 'The Well Teacher Podcast' is pure escapism, a chance to take forty five minutes away from the walls that might be closing in on us, to step away from the endless news stories and to have a furtive espace from family members!

Instead, I am really excited to take you on Jennifer Bradley’s journey. The only British woman to have ever run across America on foot, she covered over 3000 miles, an amazing 43 miles a day over 80 days without a rest day.

You know you are about the meet a very determined individual, when this Theodore Rossevelt quotation begins the about section of her fascinating blog:

In this episode we discuss how in eighteen months she went from jogging a couple of times a week, to running double marathons every weekend. We talk about movitation, perseverance, and what Jennifer has applied to her work as a Civil Servent as a result of completing these increadible challenges.

I hope you enjoy the episode, and find it motivates you as much as it did for me.

Thank you for listening.

It has definitely been a very strange week. My wife is working at home, so like many people out there I’m sure, I have my two year old boy full time, alongside trying to wrestle with our new online teaching world.

As joyful as it is getting to spend some time with the wee lad, I’m sure I’m not the only one who is a bit concerned about the sudden void of more intellectual stimulation that this new isolated existence is presenting. I'm sure I'm asking the same question as a number of teachers: what can we do to keep ourselves motivated, engaged and developing in this classroom free environment?

A man who can answer these concerns, is Tom Sherrington. Tom runs the hugely popular Teacher Head blog, and is the author of a wide range of excellent books about teaching and learning. His new book ‘Teacher Walkthru’s' with Oliver Caviglioli, which is out this weekend, is exactly what we need in this lockdown CPD mode. It is a brilliant step by step guide on how to improve all aspects of what we do in the classroom.

In our wide ranging conversation we discuss his new book and explore how teachers can continue to develop – even without teaching, the research and the books that can keep our passion for teaching going, what really does make effective CPD – and what qualities do we need as a teacher to improve? Finally for those who might be using this time to work on curriculum, Tom shares his thinking on how to do it effectively.

The country, as we all know far too well, is now in lockdown. We have, however, one glimmer of hope – once a day we can escape the confines of our homes and exercise.

One of the most efficient and effective ways we can do that, is to go for a run. I will happily admit now that there is an agenda in this podcast and this aim to spread the running joy: I am a running obsessive and have been running since I was around 13.

In the more than twenty years of taking up the habit I have been lucky enough to run all over the world. My crowning running achievement was after university, when I was living in Australia and working in a running shop. My second place and 73 minutes in the Adelaide half marathon is what I bore my students with all the time – robbed from victory by the fact the South Australian orienteering champion turned up to run.

Anyway, I believe that it has a massive impact in boostering well-being, and am recording two episodes over the next few days to try and encourage people to give it a go. This episode is with English teacher, author and runnersword writer Jonny Muir. Jonny has published a range of brilliant books about running.

In this episode we explore how we can build a positive running habit, what will get us motivated to get out the door and run, and what Jonny has leart about mentality and focus from completing a range of incredible running challenges. That, combined with some cracking tips for how we can get our kids to engage with exercise in this difficult time for families, means you are in for a real treat!

In order to try and build a community of runners online, I am setting up an online running club on Twitter: educating runners. There are two terrific coaches who work in education and have kindly volunteered to support people with running aims. Stephen Logan, who has just run every single day for a year, and Zoe Enser who also is on a running streak of over 200 days in a row.

If you have any running questions please just ask myself or them and we will get back to you! You can also use the #educatingrunners to post a picture of your daily run and share tips and strategies. Hopefully that will help to create a community of teacher runners that can provides something positive through all this.

As always, this podcast is to raise funds for two charities I volunteer with Health in Mind and Vintage Vibes. If you would like to donate or find out more about the charities, please visit my website slowteaching.co.uk

Thank you for listening to this first special on running, the next episode with Jennifer Bradley – who ran across America – will be out later in the week.

Reflections of a self-isolated teacher: finding calm and purpose.

Kat Howard @SayMiss is a woman on a mission: to stop the patronising wellbeing advice often offered to teachers, and instead have a real intellectual dialogue about what we can about teachers being driven out of the profession.

Kat, a deputy headteacher and an English teacher is the first guest on 'The Well Teacher podcast.'  She is the author of the brilliant 'Stop Talking about Wellbeing', which aims to challenge the narrative on teacher wellbeing and provide guidance on how schools can improve workload for teachers.

In this episode she outlines her vision for improving wellbeing in schools, one that is utterly pragmatic and based on placing teachers first.

In the episode, we discuss how collaboration should be at the heart of what happens in school, and ways to build a more collaborative school community. We look at what leaders should be doing to streamline life for teachers, and help them to achieve more of a balance. We then unpick what this means on an individual level, what should teachers be doing to make sure that they can find both purpose and development in their work? Finally, we discuss how to build relationships based on trust and empathy in the complex interpersonal world of a modern school.

Fundraising Podcast

This podcast has been set up to raise funding and awareness for two brilliant charities that I volunteer with: Vintage Vibes and Health in Mind. If you would like to support the work of the podcast (and my marathon running attempts!) and donate to the charities, I would be hugely grateful. You can donate to Vintage Vibes here, or Health in Mind here.

A huge thank you to John Catt Educational, the publishers of Kat's superb book, who have donated one hundred pounds - which will be split between the two charities.

Thank you for listening - go well!
Jamie @teachgratitude1