This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of being a new teacher. This week's talk is on interviews. It breaks down how to succeed in an interview for a teaching position by exploring three key areas: preparation, how to give a good impression on the day, and how to answer some common teaching interview questions. I hope you find it helpful and supportive in your classroom. If you are preparing for an interview, this episode should also b...
Feb 28, 2024•17 min
Today's episode of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher podcast' is with Jonathan Firth and Nasima Riazat. Jonathan is an author, teacher and researcher focused on the psychology of education. Nasima is an author, lecturer and school leader. They are also the authors of an excellent new book 'What Teachers Need to Know about Memory'. In this episode we answer: what do new teachers need to know about memory? I also ask Jonathan and Nasima: 1. What is memory? 2. What is the difference between long te...
Feb 26, 2024•45 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. This week's talk is on motivation in the classroom. It explores some of the motivation traps that we often fall into as teachers, before going on to outline some practical strategies teachers can take to motivate their students. I hope you find it helpful and supportive in your classroom. Any feedback on how to...
Feb 21, 2024•16 min
Today's episode of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher podcast' is the monthly episode with Colin McGill. Colin is my colleague in the PGDE at Edinburgh Napier University, and is the programme leader. You can follow him on Twitter @colinmcgill. This episode will be most useful for those who are in their first year of learning to be a teacher, and those who mentor student-teachers. It answers the central question: what can student teachers do to make a positive start with a new class? In answering ...
Feb 19, 2024•40 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. This week's talk is on self-compassion for teachers. It explores what compassion is, what some of the misconceptions about self-compassion are and some practical steps for helping teachers to apply self-compassion to themselves. This includes: challenging the internal narrator, understanding the role of mistake...
Feb 07, 2024•16 min
Today's episode of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher podcast' is with Adele Bates. Adele was a teacher for over twenty years working in a range of different contexts. She now works with school leaders and staff to helps pupils with behavioural needs thrive in the classroom. She is the author of the brilliant book 'Miss I don't give a Sh*t', Engaging with Challenging Behaviour in Schools.' You can read more about her on her website: https://adelebateseducation.co.uk. In this episode we answer: ho...
Feb 05, 2024•47 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. I am very fortunate to be spending the next three weeks observing the wonderful Edinburgh Napier English PGDE students teaching. The talks over the next three weeks will be some key learnings from these observations. This talk focusses on the importance of assertiveness in the classroom. It looks at why it is i...
Dec 01, 2023•16 min
Today's episode of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher podcast' is the monthly episode with Colin McGill. Colin is my colleague in the PGDE at Edinburgh Napier University, and is the programme leader. You can follow him on Twitter @colinmcgill. This episode explores how to succeed in a lesson observation. The conversation explores the three parts of being observed: what to do in preparation, what to do during the observation and what you can do after the observation. We also answer the following q...
Nov 29, 2023•41 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. I am very fortunate to be spending the next three weeks observing the wonderful Edinburgh Napier English PGDE students teaching. The talks over the next three weeks will be some key learnings from these observations. This talk focusses on something I am also working on in my own teaching: how to manage and prev...
Nov 24, 2023•16 min
The guest on this week's episode of 'Beyond Survival: the new teacher podcast' is Sarah Philip, back for her second appearance on the show. Sarah is a psychologist, coach and host of the Curious Conversations podcast. She also does a huge amount of work supporting schools and teachers. In this interview Sarah answers the central question: how can new teachers create psychological safety in their classrooms? In answering that central question, we also explore the following: 1. How would you defin...
Nov 22, 2023•43 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. This talk is an extract from my book 'Teacher Resilience: Managing stress and anxiety to thrive in the classroom' , which came out three years ago this week. The chapter is called 'Self-Talk' and the extract focusses on how to work against negative internal talk. It gives a range of practical strategies to appl...
Nov 09, 2023•18 min
Today's episode of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher podcast' is with Andy Mclaughlin. Andy is a former senior leader and digital development officer, who now runs the History PGDE at Aberdeen University. This episode explores technology in teaching, answering the question: how can new teachers make good use of technology in their teaching? In doing so, we explore the following questions: 1. What are some of the main reasons new teachers should engage with technology? 2. Are there are things new...
Nov 08, 2023•45 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. This talk explores the concept of the circle of influence. Based on habit one from Stephen Covey's book 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People', it looks at what is in a teacher's circle of influence in terms of looking after our well-being and building positive relationships. I hope you find it helpful a...
Nov 02, 2023•16 min
Today's episode of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher podcast' is the monthly episode with Colin McGill. Colin is my colleague in the PGDE at Edinburgh Napier University, and is the programme leader. You can follow him on Twitter @colinmcgill. This episode explores perfectionism in teaching, and how the teachers at the start of their careers can practically apply the philosophy 'good is good enough'. In doing so, we explore the following questions: 1. How would you define perfectionism? 2. What d...
Nov 01, 2023•41 min
Ten years ago, today's guest and I worked in a school that was undoubtedly toxic. I was an assistant headteacher, and Elizabeth Bowey was an NQT (known as an ECT or probationer now). In this very personal episode, we explore what made this school a toxic environment to work in. Elizabeth shares what teachers can do if they find themselves in a toxic environment and also answers the following questions: 1. What does education mean to you? 2. What is your own experience of toxicity in schools? 3. ...
Sep 28, 2023•45 min
This month's education book of the month is Sam Chrome's brilliant 'The Power Of Teams'. The Power of Teams explores evidence from across sectors, including education, to find out what high-performing teams share, and how we can adapt the most effective teamwork strategies to the unique environment of a school. Sam Chrome, who is also a director of education, coach and deputy headteacher, answers the central question: How can new teachers thrive as part of a team? In answering that central quest...
Sep 22, 2023•47 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. This talk explores some of the traps we fall into when we manage behaviour, and how to be self-aware of them. It then goes on to look at some key tips including: knowing your audience, positive to negative ratio and the notion of choices. I hope you find it helpful and supportive in your classroom. Any feedback...
Sep 20, 2023•16 min
Today's episode of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher podcast' is with Sophie Green. Sophie has just finished a very successful probationer year, her first year of teaching in Scotland. In this episode she answers the question: how can new teachers thrive in their first year in a school? In answering that central question, she also answers: 1. What were the main differences from your PGDE to your first year in a school? 2. What helped you to manage behaviour and build positive relationships in yo...
Sep 20, 2023•41 min
Today's episode of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher podcast' is the monthly episode with Colin McGill. Colin is my colleague in the PGDE at Edinburgh Napier University, and is the programme leader. You can follow him on Twitter @colinmcgill. This episode explore how new teachers can build positive relationships. Colin answers the following questions: 1. What are some of the common mistakes new teachers make with forming relationships? 2. How can a teacher's lesson content help in building posit...
Sep 13, 2023•43 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. This talk explores the power of curiosity in teaching. It explores practical strategies for how you can build more curiosity into your lessons and how you can take a curiosity mindset into your improvement as a teacher. It also gives an overview at the end of the talk of 'The Curious Teacher' conference that we...
Sep 10, 2023•15 min
The guest on this week's episode of 'Beyond Survival: the new teacher podcast' is Shannon Docherty. Shannon completed her PGDE (post graduate diploma in education) last year. This is the teacher-training year in Scotland. In this interview she shares some brilliant tips on how you can thrive and succeed in this challenging year learning to be a teacher. She answers the following questions: 1. What do you enjoy most about your PGDE? 2. What did you find most challenging? 3. What tips would you gi...
Sep 06, 2023•40 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. This talk explores the importance of names for young people, and how we can aim to create a classroom that is 'name rich' and building positive relationships. It also gives some practical tools for how we can learn names. I hope you find it helpful and supportive in your classroom. Any feedback on how to improv...
Sep 03, 2023•16 min
The guest on this week's episode of 'Beyond Survival: the new teacher podcast' is Sam Strickland. Sam is a headteacher, behavioural specialist and author of a range of brilliant books on education. His latest book is the excellent 'They Don't Behave for Me: Fifty classroom scenarios to support teachers'. You can follow Sam on Twitter @strickomaster. In this interview, Sam answers the central question: How should newer teachers manage behaviour at the start of the year? In answering this central ...
Aug 30, 2023•44 min
This episode is the first of the new monthly education book of the month series. Each month I pick one education book that I feel listeners would really benefit from, and give some takeaways for listeners to implement. In this fifteen minute talk, I give some key takeaways from Sam Strickland's excellent ‘They Don’t Behave for Me’ 50 classroom behaviour scenarios to support secondary phase teachers.' I explore three of the scenarios that Sam writes about in the book, summarising some of Sam's id...
Aug 27, 2023•16 min
The guest on this week's episode of 'Beyond Survival: the new teacher podcast' is Doug Lemov. Doug is an American educator and author. He is currently Managing Director of Uncommon Schools, a non-profit charter management organisation that manages 42 charter schools across New York, New Jersey and Boston. He is the author of a range of books, including 'Teach like a Champion' which has had a significant impact in the quality of teaching across the world. The latest version, 'Teach like a Champio...
Aug 23, 2023•45 min
Welcome to season two of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher Podcast!' This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. This talk explores how we can make a really positive first impression with a new class. It explores how we can prepare and manage any nerves we might be experiencing, student behaviour, and the kind of content that might help to enthuse and in...
Aug 21, 2023•15 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. In this final episode of season one, I explore some of the key themes and messages from the 48 episodes that have made up season one. I break that down into three key themes about teachings, and three key themes about well-being. If you have time I would be hugely grateful if you would take five minutes to fill...
May 11, 2023•16 min
The guest on the final interview episode of the first series of 'Beyond Survival: the new teacher podcast' is Sarah Philip. Sarah is a psychologist, coach and host of the Curious Conversations podcast. She also does a huge amount of work supporting schools and teachers. In this interview Sarah answers the central question: How can new teachers find balance in their work? In answering that central question, we also explore the following: 1. What do you think makes it challenging for teachers to s...
May 10, 2023•46 min
Today's episode of 'Beyond Survival: The New Teacher podcast' is the monthly masterclass with Colin McGill. Colin is my colleague in the PGDE at Edinburgh Napier University, and is the programme leader. This episode is a masterclass in explanations. Colin answers the following questions: 1. In your work with new teachers, what mistakes are often made when delivering explanations? 2. What is the curse of knowledge and how does it impact explanations? 3. How can new teachers simplify explanations ...
May 03, 2023•44 min
This episode is this week's 'Teacher Talk': a fifteen minute talk that explores an important aspect of classroom practice, with practical strategies for implementing it in your classroom. Today I am using this episode to talk about an online behaviour management training fundraising event I am running. This month a group of staff and students from Edinburgh Napier University are running various distances at the Edinburgh Marathon to raise money for Health in Mind. The online training is on Thurs...
May 01, 2023•9 min
