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 its 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 youll 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...
In this episode Matt and Femi talk about Adam Boxers Book: How to Teach Secondary Science. In particular, they discuss Adams 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 reflectio...
Todays 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 - ...
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 incl...
Todays 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 - Teachers being inclined to appease students rather than lead on behaviour. - If youre not in control its 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 students antis...
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 structura...
Todays episode is prompted by a recent post on X which posed the following question: What do you do with your mathematics teachers while you do your whole school professional learning on literacy, reading or writing? Femi and Matt discuss the two main failure modes for students on worded maths questions noting that the more common and critical failure mode is one that wont be addressed in a whole-school context. They talk about the rarely considered element of opportunity cost, optimum ways of d...
In todays episode, Femi and Matt discuss differentiation! They talk about adaptive learning, differentiation as an advanced teaching skill that relies on solid foundations of strong learning behaviour and pedagogical subject knowledge and the botheredness to actually go and do it (especially when classes are compliant.) They talk about prioritising differentiating to support weaker students first, priority learners, and really knowing who needs your help. The amount of one to one interactions in...
In this episode Matt and Femi discuss culture - particularly from the perspective of heads of department trying to shape the culture of teaching staff in their corner of the school. This one is not maths-specific the discussion is relevent to colleagues from any subject area or team. They consider the fact that culture exists whether you actively seek to shape it, or not, the characteristics of good culture, shaping and maintaining culture, so called toxic environments: and how incongruence, unf...
Today Femi and Matt are speaking about lesson observations and related activities such as lesson visits, coaching and feedback. They talk about being clear on why the observation is happening; good and less good reasons for doing lesson observations and some of the issues around lesson observations as part of the performance management process. On lesson visits i.e. walking the shop floor, they discuss culture, feedback and follow up and then get into coaching observations and feedback: 3 common...
Today's episode is about mistakes, disappointment and failure with the discussion ranging from 'recognising that my last lesson didnt go as well as I wanted', through to acknowledging and responding to under-performance at the level of the whole school. Matt and Femi discuss the importance of recognising and admitting when things arent good enough and taking responsibility for the outcomes, how to identify when outcomes havent been good enough, and also reflecting on when and why ...
Todays episode is about 'hit and run' CPD, which Femi and Matt approach with an attitude of constructive criticism and attempting to offer a vision of positive alternatives. 'Hit and run' CPD is really just any so called training which is a singular, stand-alone event, with no follow up. All too often these sessions will involve all staff in the hall, with no attempt to evaluate prior knowledge, and no differentiation for the widely varying contexts and levels of expertise. T...
Today's episode starts with Matt and Femi chatting about Femis observations of coaches at his 6 year old's summer tennis camp, which turns out to be a fascinating lens through which to discuss the characteristics of great teachers as it is all about the how of what is being done, and not the what which is so often the focus of discussions in teaching. They discuss the critical importance of enthusiasm and passion; Steven Kotlers model of motivation for flow; the ability to differentiat...
In this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt share their thoughts on four different topics selected from X (formerly twitter): 'textbooks', 'locking the toilets', 'group work' and 'moving schools'. They discuss what the ideal textbook looks like, mixed revision, and workbooks. The pros and cons of locking the toilets during lesson time, mobile phones, and managing students asking to go to the toilet during your lessons. Group work, independent practise, co...
In this episode Femi and Matt discuss Line management! The duo get into what good practise might look like; things line managers should do and should avoid, regularity of meetings, line management as a partnership so a collaborative process, and approaching line management outside of your specialism with genuine humility and curiosity. They discuss the importance of looking at material in advance of the meeting (when applicable), minimising admin, getting to know the subject and department that ...
In this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt discuss the ideas of Mastery and 'Conceptual Understanding' in teaching and learning. The conversation covers: - Mastery - Layers of understanding - A pragmatic definition of understanding - Common issues in the classroom - rich activities vs repetition - Chunking and isolating skills - aha moments - Knowledge is power - Mastery takes time - Traps for enthusiastic teachers - Split classes - Extending top end students in the classroom - The o...
Welcome to this bonus episode of the Beyond Good podcast! The idea here was just to offer a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes at Beyond Good HQ in a very casual chat between Matt and Femi. They share reflections on how the podcast has evolved, a few thoughts on Edutwitter, discuss Matt's view that we dont need any more 'maps of the territory'; and talk about teacher training, school visits and podcast guests. Nothing too deep here, we just want to say a big thank ...
In todays podcast Femi and Matt discuss Wellbeing. After making the important distinction between wellbeing and workload they discuss - Attitudes to work - Being present finding engagement with the task at hand - Meditation - Spiritual practice and gratitude - The effects of being asked to do meaningless or supercilious work - Socialising and social factors - Sport and the importance of physical activity - Truly meaningful relationships with colleagues and students: - Community and comradery - P...
In todays podcast Matt and Femi discuss two main topics which are 'setting', and 'de-escalation'. In both cases the points raised should be of interest to colleagues from all subjects. In the long-overdue chat on setting the duo touch on streaming vs mixed attainment; some reasons why different approaches might be more or less suited to different contexts; Why year 7 is not the start; sink groups; setting by ability not behaviour; tackling attitudes and historic mindsets arou...
In todays podcast Femi and Matt dissect the recently published findings of the DFE national behaviour survey. This is another conversation which is not at all subject-specific and should be of interest to all colleagues. In this episode the duo discuss the challenges with collecting and reporting the data; the student perspective; the gap between what leaders are saying and what teachers and students are saying; walking the shop floor; wilful blindness and false praise; the importance of accepti...
Today Femi and Matt discuss teacher effectiveness vs years of service and some issues with the word experience which is generally used as a proxy for competence . As is increasingly the case the discussion is pertinent to all subjects and is not by any means maths-specific. Theres a lot of thinking out loud here and, unusually(!), the boys actually managed to land some insight and conclusions that both found helpful. The conversation covers: - The will-skill matrix - Possible reasons why some pe...
In this episode Matt and Femi dig into the dilemma that is homework! Reflecting on their experiences over the years they ask; how effective is it (academically)?, weigh the costs and benefits, and highlight the demands on teachers. They discuss the different approaches to homework they have tried over the years, the problems each approach threw up and the strategies used to overcome them. They talk about the social pressures at play for students, setting homework for the benefit of parents, Matt...
Today Femi and Matt discuss their approaches to handling complaints. None of this is specific to maths and so the conversation should be relevent for colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds. The pair talk about - Receiving complaints well - Prioritising responding to parents and acting promptly - The importance for people of simply being heard - The pros and cons of different approaches to investigating complaints about a colleague. - Avoiding big surprises by knowing what is going on in you...
Today Femi and Matt discuss an article by Dylan Wiliam titled Teacher Quality: why it matters, and how to get more of it. In addition to this central theme the pair touch on the failures of policy initiatives to raise standards, teacher learning communities, considerations of the alignment of personal professional development with the school priorities, the learning cycle of teacher improvement, the common failings of school leaders to be strategic and to prioritise effectively, and the forces t...
Matt and Femi are in a pensive mood for a thought-provoking discussion on CPD. They discuss the good and bad of inset days, utilising skilled practioners to model and share expertise, team building, sequencing and differentiation in professional development, hit and run CPD vs sustained behavioural change, coaching and culture, Jim Knight and the Impact Cycle, video, email, the tremendous importance of being able to see good practise in action, the reluctance to recognise differing levels of exp...
In this episode of Beyond Good Tom Bennett joins Matt and Femi to discuss all things schools and behaviour. Tom Bennett began teaching in the East End of London, and is currently the Director and founder of researchEd and a Teacher Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. From 2008-2016 he wrote a weekly column for the TES and TES online, and is the author of four books on teacher-training, behaviour management and educational research most recently Running the Room. In 2015 Tom was long lis...
In this weeks episode, Matt and Femi discuss a comment made by Adam Boxer that the most common issue he sees in classrooms he has visited is that students are simply not properly paying attention to the teacher. This is another conversation that will be relevent to teachers of all subjects it is not maths-specific. The duo talk about why this is a problem and how it makes teaching harder, what good looks like in this respect and how norms are established and broken, ways that attention gets dive...
