Beyond Good

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.

In this episode Matt and Femi talk about Adam Boxer’s Book: How to Teach Secondary Science.In particular, they discuss Adam’s concept of ‘Directions of travel’, which provides a nice framework for characterising the way that we move through explanations.  Both feel that many teachers could spend more time thinking about and planning explanations than they tend to, so Adam's conceptualisation is useful because it enables us to expand our vocabulary and add nuance to our discussions and reflections on explanations.

Today’s topic is Year 11 mock examinations.  Matt and Femi discuss:-          Holding 2 or 3 sets of mocks vs just 1.-          That mocks should not be the main means by which we discover what students can and cannot do.-          Conditions for students to learn and improve on knowledge gaps exposed by tests, the  implications for ‘going through’ the test in lessons, and why that is rarely effective-          Best practice for giving feedback from mocks, and some examples of poor practice.-          Issues with question level analysis-          How Mocks can crystallise classroom culture, and setting up and capitalising on their success-          What happens when mock results are not so good or students are not prepared for them-          Giving scores back-          Turning around the marking of papers-          Postcards, emails or letters home praising effort-          Running mocks well-          Lending equipmentAs always you can get in touch with Matt or Femi through @BeyondGoodPod on X.

Femi and Matt speak to Dave Taylor on the topic of the maths curriculum.  Dave is a maths specialist and lead practioner, well known in maths circles for his ‘increasingly difficult questions’ and ‘backward faded maths’.  Dave has thought long and hard about curriculum issues such as sequencing and mastery, and has experience of creating maths curricula, so the trio go deep on the considerations, nuances and complexities of developing and implementing an effective maths curriculum.Topics covered include:-The value of having schemes of work-The fact that students don’t come into Y7 all at the same starting point, and the implications of this-Streaming and Pathways-Mastering material that is prerequisite to moving on-Setting, setting philosophy and setting conversations-Resources, and issues with centrally prepared lessons-Space and flexibility in the scheme work to do retrieval work, fill gaps, or push ahead-Designing a scheme of work that maximises students’ opportunity to succeed by accounting for their starting points-Importance of testing students on what they have been taught and the stupidity and cruelty of giving students summative assessments that contain topics that they have not yet covered.-The domain-specificity of teacher expertise, why it is hard to develop and some possibilities for doing that better-And Increasingly difficult questions, amongst other topicsYou can follow Dave on X @taylorda01, and listen to his own podcast here:https://taylorda01.weebly.com/podcast.html

Today’s discussion is prompted by the Bill Rogers interview that recently appeared in the TES titled: ‘Bill Rogers: Where we are going wrong on behaviour’.Matt and Femi discuss:-          The problem of COVID and re-victimising students-          Teacher’s being inclined to appease students rather than lead on behaviour.-          If you’re not in control it’s not a safe environment-          Relationships and how to respond and relate to students-          How do things change when you know the causative pathology for the a student’s antisocial behaviour-          Curriculum for behaviour, and the problem of differing conceptions of what teachers mean by poor behaviour-          Restorative conversations-          The power of behaviour routines (and the risk that they become performative)-          And the unhelpful contributions of commentators who do not understand schools and classrooms

‘Passive passengers!’ - students who are not especially engaged in lessons.Matt and Femi discuss some of the indicators and consequences of passive behaviours, how we might think about that as teachers in terms of tackling it vs accepting it, some causes of passivity, and how we might tackle it.

Today's guest is American Educator, Coach and Podcast host Dr Zach Groshell for a fascinating discussion about his work in US government funded schools and his drive for an increasingly evidence-based pedagogy.Matt and Femi talk to Zach about his role as an instructional coach, more and less directive coaching methodologies, the configuration of coaching within US public schools, characteristics of more effective teachers, implementing whole-school changes, high expectations, and structural impediments to raising standards in US schools.They discuss professional development, and some common misconceptions that are still being promoted, the adoption of pedagogical advances in the science of reading in contrast to more regressive approaches in mathematics.  Accountability, ideologues, ego-protection, the consequences of confusing ‘means with ends’ when designing teaching approaches, and Zach’s hopes and optimism for the future.Zach is active on X under the handle @MrZachG, has his own blog: www.EducationRickshaw.com and hosts the The Progressively Incorrect podcast.