Mark Taylor's Year-End Review: Growth, Challenges, and Insights

Hello, my name is Mark Taylor and welcome to the Education on Far podcast. The place for creative and inspiring learning from around the world. Listen to teachers, parents and mentors share how they are supporting children to live their best authentic life and are proving to be a guiding light to us all. Hello and welcome back to the Education on Fire podcast. My name is Mark Taylor. This is the end of 2024.

This show was originally planned as a kind of roundup, clips of different episodes, things that I've really loved, and a way of just sort of bringing the the year to end, much like many shows happen at this time of the year. And then we got into December, all the Christmas stuff was starting to go. There were lots of concerts, there was all the family related stuff, lots of planning. And I suddenly realized, is this really what I want to be doing and how I want to put it together?

Yes, I could bring everything and make that kind of show that I just mentioned, but am I doing that because I ought to, because I want to? And how am I actually fitting all the things that I've learned and all the conversations that we've had over the year into my life? And am I just sort of doing this sort of painting by numbers kind of thing or am I actually taking action? Am I actually showing up in a way that I want to?

This all sparked from the fact that by the end of December, you know, really, really been busy through the last couple of months trying to fit lots of different things in different aspects of my life. And I thought, actually I'm not sure that I am and I think I need to sort of re evalu this.

And I thought I could just do this on my own, but maybe this is something which might be useful to you, but it might also certainly be interesting for me and give us a way of kind of sort of working through the things that we want to do together and how we're going to plan moving forward.

So the first thing I want to do is just to show you the sort of the five things I want to cover overall so that we get an idea of what it is that we want to sort of structure this episode on and the reason that I'm doing it. So the five things are going to be what do I do? And why do I do it? Number two is going to be what do I do and what do I want to expand, what do I want to grow? What do I want to do more of?

Based on what we've spoken about in number one, Number three is going to be about putting me first we talk a lot about how that works on the show and especially if you're working within a school situation and it's really hard to kind of have that home life balance and that kind of well being and an idea of what it is that you need as well as fulfilling your obligations within your job.

Number four is how I show up exactly in that sort of school situation, in an education situation, in anything that's happening. What am I doing? Am I toeing the line? Am I being outspoken? Am I being truthful? Am I being honest? Am I kind of feeling a little bit handcuffed? Maybe that's something that's worth exploring and actually touching on as well. And then number five, what have you learned? What would you like more of?

Tell me some of the episodes, some of the guests that we've had that have kind of had a big impact on you, your school, your environment, your family, your children. What is it that's been really helpful and supportive because then we can start to guide all of the things that we put together here on education on fire towards exactly what you want and that's the reason that we're here. So going back to number one, what do I do and why? Well, as many of you will know, I'm a musician.

I went to music college in London. I've been a professional musician since let's say the 90s. The exact year doesn't really matter to which, but let's say the mid-90s. So I've been doing it for a very long time. I've had the real pleasure of playing in some of the greatest orchestras in the UK and ballet companies and opera companies. And I still get to continue to do these things. I get to share my love of that through my drum and percussion teaching in a couple of schools.

And it was going through all of those things enabled me to see within the education environments some of the people that were really struggling and needing some help. So I was going into schools, doing music workshops and seeing those teachers in the staff room literally sort of banging their heads against the brick wall going, I came into this profession to really make a difference and I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to make that happen because I'm form filling.

It's the red tape, it's all the things you have to do around all of that stuff. And we cover many episodes about how people go about that and sort of balance those things off. But that was where the podcast started back in 2016, was that kind of because I was Going into so many schools doing these workshops, I was able to think, well, if I could actually share what's happening in school A with this teacher that's struggling in School B, maybe that would make a difference.

Maybe it would be directly to what they can put in their classroom. Maybe it'd be something they could take to their senior leadership. And that kind of became the sort of the real focus, sharing things that are happening within the school environment.

And then it started to grow, because what I realized was that it's the child that's the center of those things. So what are parents doing that are helping this situation? What are mentors doing? What are organizations doing that are sort of one side or one foot outside of the education system, but actually helping the education system?

Because all of these stakeholders, all of these people are actually part of what makes up a fantastic learning experience or an education experience, or what it is that we can do to support people moving forward. And that's continually been what it is that I do. I do more of it in different ways, but that's what I do. And that's why I do it, because I just want to be the sort of conduit. I want to be able to share these wonderful conversations.

I love hearing and learning about what's going on, and I want to be able to put these things together so that you can actually think, I hadn't thought of that, or I never heard of that organization, or that book might make all the difference to me, or maybe to someone that I know that that may be needing that bit of information. So whatever it is that I think will help someone that's listening, support children going forward, then I want to do more of that.

And I can do it personally when I'm teaching one to one, when I'm doing my drum and percussion teaching, we can do it via the podcast in the way that we've been doing that as well. And I think that enthusiasm, performing that idea of live, is why I love doing the podcast. It's why I love live streaming. It's why I love the live shows that we've done.

It's why I'm so excited about the Creative Amplifiers YouTube channel, which isn't about education per se, but it's about giving a voice to those people who are using ECAMM and are actually live streaming and using some of this amazing technology to share their stories about whatever they're passionate about. And a big shout out to Lisa and Neil, who co host that show with me, because it's a fantastic thing. If you haven't come across that yet. Please do check it out. It's Creative Amplifiers.

Just put that into YouTube and it will pop up and you'll see there's quite a few episodes there already. So what do I want to do? And in terms of what do I want to expand, what do I want to grow? Well, one of the things is everything related to this world of podcasting, live streaming is something that I really, really do love.

I love being able to create an environment that people are learning, that we can create something that people can use this technology to help share what they're doing as well. And I want to spend more time doing that. And certainly since COVID and the way that the, the world has changed and everything I've had spent more time within schools doing more kind of drums and percussion teach.

I looked at actually how that was going to be and because of other professional commitments from a playing point of view and being my, an orchestral manager that I do for an opera company, I decided I was going to stop doing one of those schools. Not because I didn't love teaching the children, because I still teach three days in another couple of schools, but it's because I needed that time to focus and put the energy into here, into the things that I actually wanted to do.

And there were certain things which I won't go into here, that I wasn't showing up in the best kind of way because I didn't feel like we were getting the support. There was various things that were happening in the school that I didn't like and I tried to use some of those skills that we talked about in terms of speaking to senior leadership, speaking to the headmaster, speaking to the department leaders to try and help these things. And actually I felt like I came to a dead end.

And actually, because I was wanting to create some space, that was my decision in the end to actually decide, decide to stop teaching in that school. Maybe that's another whole episode for another time, but that's kind of the main reason was the fact I wanted this time to be able to step in, to do more of what we're doing here for the Education on Fire and all the podcast related things. So I want to grow that more.

I want to do more of the live element because I think that fits into my performing as a musician. I like being live. I like chatting to people, I like creating this environment where we can just feel like we're having coffee and actually bring all these things together. It's an exciting thing to be able to do.

But then the Question comes in. Number three was about putting me first. And I can get very drawn into all these things. Let's set loads of things up, let's do it in a different way. Let's set up all these workflows in terms of how we can make this work and we can cram all this stuff into the hours that were available. But then I realized when was the last time that I put reading a book in my diary before an episode of a podcast?

When was the last time I put in a regular piece of exercise, some yoga, some tennis playing in the diary before everything else? Or when was it that I was able to do the reverse? You know, oh, I'll do a little bit of that once I've done this, you know, once I've got all the podcast related stuff done, once I finish working for the day, I'll then see if there's time rather than putting that time in first and taking control.

And then I thought about a lot of the conversations that we've had on the show about the longevity that you need within the education world now. How do you do that? It is involved putting yourself first in a positive way. And of course I believe in harmony. There's ebbs and flows. There are times when you're busy doing certain things. There are times when you can kind of take your foot off the gas a little bit.

But I kind of just sort of realized that looking back, maybe some of those things are a little bit back to front. There's certain things that I can do to help do that. And I think with that more regular time, more regular exercise, a healthier lifestyle, all the things which are going to help me be a bit of a better version of me, hopefully then transforms into what we can produce to be a better version for you.

The things that we can do, the people that we meet, the way I can show up, the amount of energy I've got, the way I can actually bring all these things together is going to be helpful for you. That's my reason for doing it. It's for me, but it's for me, which then comes to you. And that's. I really hope it's something which we can really make a big difference going forward.

Now, one of the biggest things I mentioned there about the school that I decided to leave, you know, how do you show up in that school environment? How do you show up in that education environment? And I just thought it's really difficult sometimes when you kind of feel like you've got lots of barriers. You people aren't Listening to what you're saying, you're trying to be as supportive as you possibly can.

You're trying to have a creative environment, you're trying to have a dialogue with people which is really positive. And then you feel like you're being sort of battered down or there's a blocked doorway there, or no one's really listening. And I thought maybe that's just a percentage game. Another reason for creating this extra day to do what I really love doing, like the podcasting and being online, because then it's about the balance.

There's enough of me in those other days that enables me to show up in a better way. I can see the bigger picture without feeling I'm sort of a little bit battered down. I can understand these people are doing the best that they can in the situation that they are. The children that I'm teaching, it's maybe only half an hour a week that I see them. They can only learn so much in the way that I teach and the things that I believe based on all the things that we talk about here.

If the rest of their week looks a little bit different and we have some fantastic conversations in the way that we go about learning drums and percussioning, and I hope they take that into some of their other learnings as well. But it's a difficult thing when the percentages are so one sided, you know, half an hour a week as opposed to the rest of the week where you're learning in a different way. And it's great when you're working in an environment where it's supportive.

And some of these amazing conversations we have with schools where they really get it, they really understand that bigger picture, how you're learning together, how the workforce, how the team, how the staff and everyone is sort of really sort of singing off the same hymn sheet, but we know that isn't always the case. And so I think you being that little spark of good of a bright star in, in whichever situation we're in is really good.

And that goes back to what I said, putting myself first so that when I do show up on those days, I don't get drawn into everything. I can have my little bubble in a positive way that hopefully kind of brings some sort of ray of sunshine into what's going on. And I hope that that sort of will come across in what we're doing here and will really help you do that as well. So then, number five, finally, what is it that you've learned? What would you like more of in relation to educational fun?

Would you like more specific content that's for parents, for teachers, for secondary schools, for primary schools. At the moment we do a really sort of broad kind of age and sort of diverse in terms of being in America or being in the UK or somewhere else around the world. What will be helpful for you? And I'd really, really like to hear one.

What is it that you've lear and someone that you've enjoyed and also someone that maybe you'd like to hear or an area that you'd like to cover that we can sort of look into getting more of as well. Because essentially I'm here for you.

Like I've said before, I'm a conduit to bring the people that want to share their message and they've got something to say to those of you that haven't come across them yet, whatever that happens to be, whether it's a teacher, whether it's a education environment, whether it's a charity, whether it's an author, whether it's a mentor, whatever it happens to be. Like I said, we're all stakeholders and trying to create the best environment we possibly can.

So do please let me know everything you need to know to get hold of me. Just go to educationonfire.com and you can get in touch really easily through there. So I really would appreciate sort of hearing what that's going to be. So those are the five things.

That's what I do and why I do it, what I want to expand and what I want to grow into more, how I'm going to try and sort of put me first, you know, put some of these things in the diary before, some of these work related things, how I want to show up more and more in school environments and really hearing what it is that you've learned and sort of hearing back on there. So we can put all these things together to help us into 2025. So some positive things that are going to be happening.

We're going to continue doing the podcasts in a video format. So they're all on YouTube. You can always go and look at those things and see sort of face to face as well. I know some people like looking as well as hearing.

We're obviously going to continue it here on the audio side, we're going to have more live streams, we're going to have more live related content so you can actually get involved, share your comments, share your thoughts as we're doing it and maybe more specifically about things that are going to be really helpful for you in advance. So for example, in January we have a session art and mindfulness, and that's something you're going to be able to do. We're going to show you what that is.

You can take part. And hopefully they're real practical things that you can do that will be helpful for you in terms of this putting yourself first in a way that's just not talking about education vacation. It's about how you're showing up with those things as well. We're going to have lots of those as well as just some live chat as well. So that's certainly something I've really enjoyed in the past that we're going to go into even more again.

What that does creates more work for me in terms of the amount of time to put these things together. But I really think it's worth it. And I wanted to put it into place to see if people were going to be watching, if people seem to be getting more out of it. And from what people have said and the feedback that I've had, it seems to be something which is helpful. So we're going to keep doing that for the foreseeable future and see where it takes us.

I think another thing for me is the mentorship conversations that we've had. I think that idea of how do we show up within the education environment and what does that look like, a learning environment? We know it's people in schools, it's teachers, it's the support staff, it's everyone that's working within a school. But it's also people around the outside of that, the wraparound people, the people that are doing clubs.

It might be something outside of school, it might be a specific mentor, it might be a specific tutor. All of these people are really, really integral to people learning and growing and students really getting the essence of what it is that they need. And the one thing that comes across loud and clear all the time is always that sense of who is it that's made the biggest difference in my life. And it's always the teacher that saw me.

It's the teacher that actually understood me, that was going to put me together and actually see me for who I then the learning and the education and everything that grows from that comes from there. So that's the thing that has really, really been something I've really got excited about and hearing all the different types of mentors, the different organizations that are doing it and how they're doing that.

Certainly Dr. Elmitra L. Berry, when she was talking about it, because I really understood that sense of when she was working within schools, that sense of feeling handcuffed or tied and gagged, not able to say what she really, really wanted because there were certain things related to her job that were going to make a difference.

And actually there was having a consultancy being able to be her own person, really saying it, how it is to really help people in a real way, then she was free to be able to do that. And I can really identify with that. And I think finding that balance between what you can do within your particular situation and actually be yourself, to make these changes and to change the system for every person as well as sort of the global effect is an important thing. So that's the. That's me.

That's the episode for this, this 2024 roundup. It's kind of what I think, what I want to do, what I want to go going forward, and how we can help and support each other. And I hope you've had a fantastic holiday season. I hope your 2025 starts with a lot of passion, a lot of joy, and a lot of creative input. And hopefully we'll be there on that journey together. Thanks for listening to the Education on Far podcast.

For more information of each episode and to get in touch, go to educationonfire.com Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.