Beyond Good

Science teacher Pritesh Raichura shares his successful classroom strategies focusing on explicit teaching, sequential questioning, and the importance of character development. The discussion also touches on the significance of educational booklets, fostering a positive school culture, and engaging students through verbal questioning and rehearsal.

In this episode Matt talks to Femi about the things he has learnt from his visits to some of the highest-performing schools in the country and reflects on the ways he would change his teaching as a result.The pair talk about answering in full sentences, paired talk, choral response and rehearsal, amongst many other things.Get in touch with comments, questions and suggestions: @BeyondGoodPod on X

A short announcement from me to say that we have decided that the last published episode will be the final episode in Season 2, an announcement which simultaneously heralds the arrival of Season 3. I’m excited to say that you can expect more guests on the show in the coming series – Our interviews with star science teacher Pritesh Raichura, and eminently sensible super head Barry Smith are both in the editing pipeline, and we’re aiming for something like a 1:1 ratio of episodes with guests to episodes with just me and Femi.  New series and next episode coming very soon, thank you for your patience, and have a wonderful summer term!

Today Femi and Matt discuss their career changes, both recent (in Matt's case) and forthcoming (in Femi's) and how they are thinking about teaching and learning, and education going forward.  This context should throw some light onto some of the conversations they have had recently or that are coming up.  

The discussion today was prompted by a listener question about students being late to lessons, so Matt and Femi each give their take on that.  They discuss what they think the relevant psychology is and how they each handle this situation.  They talk about whole-school policies and dealing with a culture of lateness as middle and senior leaders – and different ways that schools approach the starts and ends of lessons, as well as transitions.  Femi and Matt also muse on some of the interesting situations they’ve faced in which the more effective approach contradicted school policy. 

The topic of today’s discussion is Matt's visit to Ark Soane Academy, and in particular the impressive whole-school culture and the remarkable impact of that on student behaviours, attitudes and learning.  Femi and Matt talk about the best science lesson Matt has ever seen, and wider discussion about starting and running schools and embedding shared routines across the school.As always, all questions or comments welcome: @beyondgoodpod on X.

The topic of discussion this week is warning systems – so very much a behaviour-based episode rather than a maths one.  Matt and Femi cover a fair bit of ground: from classrooms with names written on the board and hundreds of warnings being issued each day through to classrooms with no warnings and students absorbed in their work.  And from supporting colleagues with behaviour issues through to the prospect of creating a school-wide culture around behaviour that leaves deleterious learning behaviours at the school gates.  

This week Femi and Matt debate the pros and cons of homework - a particularly slippery beast to nail down.  They get into some general principles and challenges of setting good homework, and what they have tried and each do now, among other things.  By all means let us know if you think you have this one cracked:@beyondgoodpod on X. 

In this episode Femi and Matt talk about modelling - in all it’s various forms from leading on behaviour through to explicit teaching strategies.  In particular they discuss pre-made teacher models and explanations vs modelling live, in real time, and explore some really interesting nooks and crannies of that facet.X:@BeyondGoodPod

In this episode Femi and Matt discuss setting, the term ‘bottom set’, attitudes towards, and working with students who have low prior attainment.  As you’ll hear both advocates of ensuring that those students get the highest possible quality education, that we meet them where they are, and that we work hard, carefully and mindfully as a community to ensure that we divorce that honest recognition of differing starting points from any judgements of value or personal worth. Contact us @BeyondGoodPod on X.