In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee had the opportunity of visiting Marsden Road Public School and then speaking to the Principal, Manisha Gazula. Marsden Road has recently featured in a number of reports from the Grattan Institute on role-model schools from around the country. This is the first of a two part series on the school. In the next episode, you will hear from Deputy Principal Troy Verey.  Manisha’s leadership style has been compared to Katherine Birbilsingh from Michaela Community School in the UK. However, in this conversation you will hear how Manisha’s clear vision, high expectations and relentless care have turned the schools results and culture around. Manisha also details their behaviour curriculum called The Marsden Way and their whole school curriculum - the  Core Program.   Resources mentioned: Joanne Dooner - www.training247.com.au/ Dan Willingham Mark Seidenberg The Grattan Institute - Jordana Hunter and Amy Haywood How to implement a whole-school curriculum approach  Ending the lesson lottery: How to improve curriculum planning in schools   You can connect with Manisha: Twitter: @manisha_gazula   You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website: learnwithlee.net

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee speaks to Kieran Mackle. Kieran is a primary mathematics specialist teacher from the UK, an author and is currently working with Complete Maths. He is also the host of Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, a podcast that should be on your playlist, and this episode is actually the second part of our conversation. In the first part, Kieran quizzes me for his podcast. However, in this episode you will get an in-depth look at how deeply Kieran has thought about primary mathematics. We look at a number of topics including:  Concrete, context, pictorial, abstract, language Threshold concepts Depth and Challenge Storytelling Word problems  In this episode, Kieran also analyses the lesson structure that I recently proposed.  Resources mentioned: Christopher Such Neil Almond www.thinkingdeeply.info/threshold-concepts Jonathan Hall - mathsbot.com Gareth Metcalfe - https://garethmetcalfe.wordpress.com/ Dan Willingham Nick Hart   Part 1 of the conversation: Episode 120 Thinking Deeply about Primary Education - In search of the Science of Mathematics (Teaching) with Brendan Lee Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-deeply-about-primary-education/id1546748470?i=1000609050064 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6De7GSKd2DlEoTxUFI4w0m?si=1RmPR-P3S6aYE54CsV1aDQ&fbclid=IwAR0yZzIAvzTgDrP3aN8_myL-3ZLBDi6KpAmJBYEfrGii2ObTkr1ABqplfhY&nd=1 My original blog post on A Systematic and Structured Approach to Teaching Primary Mathematics: https://www.learnwithlee.net/a-systematic-and-structured-approach-to-teaching-primary-mathematics-part-1/   You can connect with Kieran: Twitter: @Kieran_M_Ed Website: thinkingdeeply.info   You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website: learnwithlee.net

Karen Tzanetopoulos, a trained speech and language pathologist and co-author of "How Children Learn Math," shares her journey from a small office to becoming a math education expert. She explores the crucial link between language skills and math learning, emphasizing the need for innovative teaching strategies. Karen discusses how foundational skills, creativity in problem-solving, and early exposure to mathematical language can foster fluency. Her insights help bridge the gap for students with language disorders, making math more accessible and engaging.

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee speaks to Dr. Rouzana Komesidou, a researcher who fell into implementation science after seeing the gap between research and practice in schools. In our conversation, she gives an overview of what things schools should consider before implementing something, how leaders can support the process and what things to avoid.   Resources mentioned in this conversation: Dr. Tiffany Hogan Dr. James Mannion A Generic Implementation Framework for School-based Research and Practice: Pre-print: https://osf.io/6zpq7/  Toolkit: https://osf.io/mzb5d    You can connect with Rouzana: Twitter: @rkomesidou Website: https://mosinian.com/   You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website: learnwithlee.net

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee speaks to former principal, Greg Clement. In this conversation, we find out how he transformed Clayton South Primary School from the worst school in the network to the second best within 12 months. Greg also speaks about how a speech pathologist set him on the science of reading pathway, how he got buy-in from staff and the community and we go through his three year Action Plan.   Resources and people mentioned Greg Clement’s book - Transform: Achieving excellence through the science of reading Alison Clarke - What's wrong with predictable or repetitive texts Laura Sundqvist Toni Hatten-Roberts Emina Mclean David Morkunas Orton-Gillingham Approach Little Learners Love Literacy educeri.com You can connect with Greg: Twitter: @GregClement15 Website: https://principals-of-reading.com/ email: gregclementconsulting@gmail.com You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website: learnwithlee.net

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee talks to curriculum expert Reid Smith, founder and co-CEO of Ochre Education and Head of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction at Ballarat Clarendon College. Reid’s done a lot of research around the importance of knowledge for comprehension and cognitive load theory. In this conversation, Reid talks about: - The importance of working in teams - What we need to consider when designing a knowledge-rich curriculum - Why teachers need to lose the idea that we need to do it all - The origin story of Ochre Education - The components involved with the makeup of Ochre lessons - He mentioned the quote from Richard Elmore “You learn to do the work, by doing the work, not by talking about the work.” and related it to the importance of actually analysing real lesson plans, rather than just asking general questions  And much more!    Resources mentioned in this conversation: Greg Ashman Core Knowledge Foundation Wiggins and McTighe Read2Learn Syntax Project (I spoke to Steph Le Lievre, one of the creators in Episode 2) Oak National Academy Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) This is Reid’s paper that was mentioned: Reid Smith, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry & Lorraine Hammond (2021) The Role of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: A Critical Review, Reading Psychology, 42:3, 214-240, DOI: 10.1080/02702711.2021.1888348 You can connect with Reid Twitter: @Smithre5 Website: ochre.org.au Nlog: notquitetabularasa.wordpress.com/ You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee  

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers podcast, Brendan Lee chats to Tom Sherrington about how Tom randomly found some Bill Rogers videos that were transformational for him. How he worked out the need to deliver precise professional learning for teachers and the common challenges that schools face. Tom also goes through how schools are using Teaching Walkthrus effectively.   Resources mentioned in this conversation: Walkthrus.co.uk teacherhead.com teachingsprints.com.au Australian Walkthrus Workshop - Thursday 30th March Daniel Willingham’s Why don’t students like school Megan Sumeracki, Oliver Caviglioli, and Yana Weinstein: Understanding How We Learn Everything from Dylan Wiliam about Formative Assessment including he’s recent episode on Tom and Emma Turner’s podcast - Mind the Gap   You can connect with Tom: Twitter: @teacherhead Website: https://teacherhead.com/   You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website: learnwithlee.net

In this wide-ranging conversation, Brendan Lee chats with Daisy Christodoulou and Jeanette Breen about all things to do with education. On the 10th anniversary of the 7 Myths about Education, he asks Daisy if there are any changes or additions she would make. She also talks about why rubrics give us an illusion of a shared language and the positive impact that AI could have on teacher workload. Jeanette Breen provides her story of why and how she has used Comparative Judgement at her school and the impact it has had.    Resources mentioned: www.nomoremarking.com/ No More Marking Blog Article: Does spelling matter?    You can connect with Daisy: Twitter: @daisychristo Website: https://daisychristodoulou.com/   You can connect with Jeanette: Twitter: @jettybe3   You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website: learnwithlee.net

In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Lyn Stone. Lyn is an author, linguist and consultancy and tutoring practice, Lifelong Literacy. In this chat, she addresses a number of misconceptions about teaching literacy and provides loads of practical tips for teachers. You will find out how Lyn’s passion for literacy developed, why we can’t teach the English language like we have a transparent orthography and how reading and writing are not simple, but you can view them simply   Resources mentioned: Dolores G. Hiskes - Reading Pathways: Simple Exercises to Improve Reading Fluency Ollie Lovell - Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory in Action Ollie Lovell - Tools for Teachers Tom Bennett - Running the Room Lorraine Hammond Pamela Snow and Tanya Serry - SOLAR Lab www.etymonline.com/   You can connect with Lyn: Twitter @lifelonglit Website: lifelongliteracy.com/   You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website: learnwithlee.net

In this episode, Brendan Lee talks to Deputy Principal, Stephanie Le Lievre. She explains: - how the Reading Science in Schools FB group - that now has over 50,000 members, came about - why we need to "cut the fluff" - what a structured literacy block can look like for the pre-primary stage - what an evidence-informed approach looks like in the primary classroom - how she is using ChatGPT for fluency building!   Some of the experts and resources mentioned: Professor Pamela Snow Professor Lorraine Hammond William Van Cleave Lyn Stone Dr. Nathaniel Swain The Writing Revolution https://www.readworks.org/ https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/foundations/toolbox/ https://www.phormes.com/ https://readingscienceinschools.squarespace.com/ https://thesyntaxproject2022.squarespace.com/   You can connect with Steph: Twitter @StephLeLievre_   You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website: learnwithlee.net