Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
Theme tune by David Vesey
On this week's programme I speak to Paul O'Donnell who is principal of St. Patrick's National School in Slane, Co. Meath. He is the author of Wild Teaching: Cross-curricular Lessons Outdoors for Agoraphobic Teachers which is published by Meath County Council. Among the topics we discussed are:
- How his upbringing fostered a love of the outdoors
- The influence of Paddy Madden on his work as a teacher
- How tempting it is to teach indoors all the time
- Having students gather resources for lessons
- Specific lessons in Wild Teaching
- Making the transition from teaching to being principal
- Challenges of principalship
- Eliciting voices of children in running the school
- Learning about life and death through keeping hens in school
- The school garden
- Minimising rubbish in the school
- Earning six green flags for the school
Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching