Sam Gibbs - Curriculum / Development Leader for The Greater Manchester Education Trust and Author - Manchester
In this episode I’m talking with Sam Gibbs. Sam is a former English teacher and curriculum / development leader for a school trust in Manchester. Additionally, she co-authored the brilliant The Trouble with English and How to Address It: A Practical Guide to Designing and Delivering a Concept-Led Curriculum. As we go onto discuss, making the shift to concept-led curriculum in English is a paradigm shift that ensures deeper learning for students. Consequently, Sam and Zoe’s book offers an excellent introduction to this change as well as practical advice for how to go about doing it. We discuss:How Sam advises on starting the shift to a concept-led curriculumWhether she suggests teachers start by exploring foundation concepts initially before then bringing in second-order ideas over timeExamples of how schools have taken on the concept-led curriculum and subsequently tried to build in assessmentWhether 'argument' is a foundational concept of EnglishAnd finally, the difference between 'structure' and 'pattern' as conceptsThanks again to Sam for giving up her time today as well as the amazing work she and Zoe Helman have done in bringing this book to the subject. If you want to be kept up to date on when educational chat like this happens, then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhkLinks: Sam and Zoe’s book: The Trouble with English and How to Address It
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Dr James Mannion - Director of Rethinking Education, Author and Podcast Host - Brighton
In this episode I’m talking to Dr James Mannion. James is co-author of Fear is the Mind Killer a book designed to guide, implement and evaluate a Learning Skills curriculum in schools. More recently he has written Making Change Stick, a book that brilliantly synthesises research on school improvement so that is can be practically implemented in a sustainable way. James is also a fellow podcaster, hosting the Rethinking Education podcast and is director at Rethinking Education. I was really happy to be able to speak with James after following his work on Learning to Learn for a long time and wanting to know his interpretation of the International Baccalaureate’s approach to this. Additionally, his more recent writing on implementation science is incredibly useful in providing pragmatic approaches for new and existing leaders of change. We discuss: What the distinction is between cognition, metacognition, self-regulation and self-regulated learningWhat James makes of the IB's Approaches to Learning framework How his Learning to Learn programme was sequenced Whether Learning to Learn should be tailored to respective subjects or taught through a bespoke class How much of the Making Change Stick programme would be relevant to middle leaders And finally, whilst compiling a fantastic collection of implementation strategies, who are James’ 3 or 4 pillars of the field in terms of researchers or texts that proved seminalThanks again to James for doing the hard yards in condensing a decade’s work of research down into an eminently readable books on two separate occasions. If you want to be kept up to date on when educational chat like this happens, then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhkLinks: James blog post on metacognition and self-regulationJames’ booksRethinking Education PodcastViviane Robinson’s Reduce Change to Increase ImprovementDiffusion of Innovations by Everett RogersThe Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM)
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WILF: Reduce Change to Increase Improvement by Viviane Robinson
In this episode, I’m explaining What I Learnt From: Reduce Change to Increase Improvement by Viviane Robinson. This is the third episode that sees me go through my annotations and notes for a book that explores an area of English teaching or leadership.This time, it’s a text that I was actually assigned as part of a Masters I did a few years ago. Amidst all the theoretical reading, Viviane Robinson’s writing jumped out as instantly practical and so resonant when considering my own experience with leadership. I subsequently listened to a brilliant episode she did with Ollie Lovell for the ERRR, which brought all of its ideas to life. As always with these books, I really recommend you take a look by purchasing for your department or self but particularly if you’re someone with middle leadership or management aspirations or responsibilities. Expect to hear: What the bypass and engagement approach to improvement areWhat a theory of action isHow to have constructive problem talkHow to respectfully inquire into others’ theory of actionAnd finally, the four phases of theory engagement that lead to lasting changeIf you want to be kept up to date on when educational chat like this happens, then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhkLinks:Reduce Change to Increase Improvement by Viviane RobsinsonOllie Lovell’s interview with Viviane Robinson on the ERRR
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1:08:34
Chris Youles - How to teach story writing - Taipei
In this episode, I’m taking to Chris Youles. Chris has experience being an assistant head, english lead, writing moderator, and a specialist leader in primary education. He is also a published author having penned: Sentence models for creative writing: A practical resource for teaching writing and more recently Teaching Story Writing in Primary: Curriculum-aligned, classroom-ready resources and strategies. It was regarding this latter book that i reached out to Chris for a chat, knowing that just like his first book, the more recent one would be packed full with practical insights that I could go about implementing in class as soon as possible.We discuss:1. Given that the vast majority of the book would be pertinent for my Y10 and 11 IGCSE cohorts, why did Chris go with 'Primary' in the title2. What does he make of Joe Nutt's observation that there is a vanishingly small number of students who will actually go on to be writers and therefore, time spent in the English classroom might be better spent on more practical or relevant modes of communication3. What are the constituent concepts that we can break story down to and introduce across the curriculum4. Why plotting is described as the most difficult aspect of planning or writing a story5. When Chris thinks classes or students can embark on truly independent writing6. And finally, Chris’ advice for best practice around student sourced ambitious vocabularyThanks a lot to Chris for the taking the time to talk with me as well as writing yet another excellent book about not just the how of expressing yourself through writing, but the why too. Keep an eye out for his next publication too: Sentence models for non-fiction writingIf you want to be kept up to date on when educational chat like this happens, then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhkLinks:Chris’ books
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David Didau - How to assess in middle school English - Somerset
In this episode I’m speaking to David Didau. David is a well-known and well-respected consultant in the world of English teaching and teaching more broadly. He has authored numerous books about education and the subject of English more specifically. Most recently, his book Bringing the English Curriculum to Life: A Field Guide for Making Meaning in English, with contributions from Claire Woozley, James Hibbert, Emma Levins, Kate Moloney, Tom Pinkstone, Amy Rose and Daniel Blackburn, has helped to outline how cognitive science and a concept-led English curriculum can be implemented in secondary schools.David is an educational hero of mine and as such it was a great privilege to speak with him again, this time on the topic of assessment in middle school English.We discuss:- Whether discussing themes is more suited to PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) as opposed to the English curriculum- How mastery assessment works and the way it shifts focus onto good teaching and learning- The amount of question level analysis needed and conditions assessments are done in- Whether there needs to be opportunities for kids to ‘play the whole game’ in English- What the data collected reflects about students’ learning through the external summatives done- And since writing Making Meaning in English, is there anything David has changed his mind aboutThanks again to David for taking the time to talk with me as well as his continued work within the subject. For me, all of this has helped English teachers better understand how the curriculum could look and how best to enact it in truly practical ways.If you want to be kept up to date on when educational chat like this happens, then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhkLinks: David’s interview with EduPulseDavid’s books
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