PODCAST · education
Beyond Good
by Matt Findlay and Femi Adeniran
A podcast about teaching. We discuss teaching and learning, pedagogy, lessons and classroom practise, management and leadership, teaching of mathematics, training and trainees, mentors and mentoring, behaviour management, being a head of department and running a faculty, SLT and much much more!
Episodes
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September's Inset Day
Nothing advertises SLT being detached from reality more than forcing staff to spend entire day(s) sat listening to speakers in the hall. Matt and Femi discuss alternatives.
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Saying what you actually want to say!
Femi and Matt discuss what it takes and means to be clear with staff and say what it is that actually want to say!
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QA'ing Books
Matt and Femi discuss issues around QA of books, including the importance of a clear, shared understanding of what a book is for! Amongst much else, they touch on whether there are subject-specific variations, what qualities you might look for in work, and the crucial understanding that marking…
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Inclusive Teaching
Matt and Femi discuss the terms 'inclusive teaching', 'adaptive teaching' and 'responsive teaching'. The point is also made that great teaching is, by definition, inclusive teaching: if not all of your students are making great progress then it's hard to claim that the teaching is 'great'.
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Believing in students
Reflecting on a lovely message received from a former student, Matt and Femi discuss what it means to believe in our students and how that belief plays out in our actions and behaviour.
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Reduce change to increase improvement
Welcome to Season 4! After brief introductions for new listeners Matt and Femi discuss the first part of Viviane Robinson's book 'Reduce change to increase performance'. In particular they focus on the distinction between change and improvement, problem and goal clarity, the importance of...
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Are my lessons challenging enough?
Femi reflects on the last year with one particular class in mind and asks: "Are my lessons challenging enough?"
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A maths teacher's reflections on teaching science
Femi has been teaching a Science class and shares his approach and reflections with Matt. They discuss 'learning to learn', booklets, AI, rounds of teaching and CFU, shed loads of practise, feedback and self-checking answers, precision and rigour and much more!
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A dearth of good models!
Amongst other things, Femi and Matt talk about how hard it can be as a middle leader to lead on change without strong models to refer to.
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Gently testing the boundaries...
Matt and Femi discuss the subtle ways students can often make life difficult for teachers, and why this happens in some classrooms but not in others.
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Seating plans, seating reset and Intangibles
Matt and Femi have a chat about teachers using seating plan resets as a strategy, debate breaking down intangible aspects like 'feel' into granular concrete components when coaching, and the role and possible negative effects of prior information when it comes to planning seating plans and…
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More practice needed!
Matt and Femi talk about coaching, and how teachers working on their craft will often need to stick with a particular focus and practice it with reflection and feedback to master it.
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Class Reset
Matt discusses with Femi a recent conversation he had with a teacher that he supports regarding resetting a challenging class in which norms had severely slipped from previous high standards. The conversation will be of particular interest to heads of department supporting colleagues in their team.
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Economy of language
Matt and Femi discuss economy of language during explanations and the advantages of keeping teacher talk lean. Contact us at: [email protected]
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When the new knowledge enters the room
Matt and Femi discuss a couple of really common issues that undermine teachers' ability to deliver powerful, clear and memorable explanations.
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This class doesn't retain things!
Matt and Femi discuss what to do with a comment often heard by the coffee machine... "This class doesn't retain things!" [email protected]
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Humanities Teaching with James Gisby
Matt and Femi talk to James Gisby about the challenges and intricacies of teaching History, and what good History lessons could look like.
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Effective often looks boring!
Matt and Femi discuss why effective learning can often look somewhat boring from the outside, and why that can sometimes be problematic in schools. [email protected]
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Ruck speed!
Matt and Femi discuss the importance of very prompt transition moments in lessons. Reach out by emailing [email protected]
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Group PD vs Coaching
Matt and Femi discuss the pros and cons of group / whole staff PD vs the somewhat more time-consuming approach of coaching, considering how to leverage each one for it's strengths and the symbiosis between the two different approaches. Get in touch! [email protected]
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Copying / Sticking in, and 'There isn't enough curriculum time'
Matt and Femi discuss two topics in this episode - the first is whether there is any merit in having students copy things down into exercise books, or even cutting them out and sticking them in. The second is the complaint one occasionally hears that there is too much to get through / not enough...
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Go back and check your answers!
Matt and Femi discuss the common situation of encouraging students to go back and check their work once they've done all they can on an exam or test paper.
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Femi is a convert to MWBs!
Join Femi and Matt to hear about how and why Femi has finally decided to start to use mini-whiteboards in his lessons.
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Video for Coaching
In this episode Femi and Matt talk about how incredibly useful it is to base coaching around video footage from the lesson, and go through the practicalities of doing it (what equipment, how to set up, etc.) Questions or comments? Emails us: [email protected]
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My daughter's drum lessons
Femi relays some very concrete pedagogical observations from his daughter's drum lessons which apply equally well to teaching students in every day subject lessons in school. Matt and Femi will be taking a little break over the Christmas period and wish all listeners a restful break over the...
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My Visit To The Totteridge Academy
Femi tells Matt about his visit to The Totteridge Academy, which he was thoroughly impressed by.
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If you were a new T&L lead...
Following their visit to Copleston High School, Matt and Femi discuss how they would each approach a hypothetical situation of being a newly appointed VP in charge of teaching and learning: How would they get started and what would they be trying to achieve in the first few months.
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What's the single most important thing teachers should know?
Matt and Femi reflect on what they would say if asked the question "What's the single most important thing teachers should know?", and in the end come up with 3 things between them.
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How do I improve teaching as KS3 lead or second in department?
Matt and Femi respond to a listener question about steps to improve the quality of teaching in their department as a new KS3 lead or second in department.
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Some Reflections!
Matt was in a reflective mood recently and shared a few of the things he has been working on and thinking about with Femi.
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Are we overcomplicating teaching?
Prompted by listener feedback, Femi and Matt explore the idea that when it comes to teaching we are making something simple more complicated than it needs to be. Get in touch by emailing us: [email protected]
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Class discussions...!
Matt and Femi discuss what comes to mind when one hears a teacher say "We had a great discussion today about ...". Contact us by emailing [email protected]
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Attention, Participation, Thought
Femi and Matt discuss the utility, pros, and cons of looking at lessons through a simple 'attention, participation, thought' lens, discuss other approaches to diagnosis, ask if we are over-complicating things, and consider an alternative lens focussed on creating conditions for independent...
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Getting Independent Working Happening in Lessons
Matt and Femi discuss the importance of quiet independent practice for students, and get into the challenges and preconditions for getting this happening in lessons.
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Rachael Southern - Reading!
Matt and Femi catch up with Rachael Southern two years after her first appearance on the pod and she shares her knowledge around improving reading and thoughts about leading on it whole-school.
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Sarah Cottinghatt - Meaningful Learning & Coaching
Author, teacher, trainer, and expert coach Sarah Cottinghatt joins Matt and Femi to discuss her book 'Ausubel's Meaningful Learning in Action', and coaching! Follow Sarah's Coaching Cuts on Substack: https://cognitivecoaching.substack.com/ Contact the pod: [email protected]
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Rows v Groups & Detentions v Conversations
In this double episode Matt and Femi explore the arguments for students sitting in rows facing the front vs sitting around tables in groups, and then turn their attention to the issues around the effectiveness of issuing detentions vs a prompt and stern conversation with the student. As always...
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Characteristics of Poor Leadership
We've all experienced it! Matt and Femi lay out some of the most important characteristics of poor leadership in schools as they see it.
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"There's too much content to get through..."
Sometimes it really is a struggle to get through all the content. But there's also possibly room for improvement when that claim is used to justify not giving students adequate time for independent practice in lessons, or building in regular mixed revision consolidation lessons to the scheme of...
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Great Teaching Unpacked - Episode 3 Review
Matt and Femi discuss episode 3 of the great Teaching: Unpacked documentary series. Watch the documentary at steplab.co/watch Get in touch: [email protected]
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High Frequency Teaching Errors
Matt and Femi discuss some of the most common problems they've noticed over the course of many years of lesson visits and drop-ins. Contact us by email: [email protected]
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Respect for the Learners
Matt and Femi chat about a rarely-discussed characteristic of teachers; having respect for the learners.
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Coachability!
Femi and Matt explore the idea that some people are more coachable than others...
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Great Teaching, Unpacked Documentary - Episode 2 Review
Matt and Femi discuss episode 2 of the Great Teaching Unpacked Documentary - which focuses on behaviour, norms, routines and merits. Watch the documentary for free at: steplab.co/watch
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First Success!
Matt and Femi discuss the idea of first success, and whether the copncept can inform thinking around teacher development and student learning.
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Great Teaching, Unpacked Documentary - Episode 1 Review
Matt and Femi discuss Episode 1 of the Great Teaching, Unpacked documentary. Watch the documentary for free at: steplab.co/film Get in touch with Matt and Femi: [email protected]
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"A dog with a bone"
Matt and Femi discuss the critical importance of not letting behavioural incidents go unchallenged.
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Policies
Femi and Matt discuss the concept of school policies and policy documentation, and what makes them more or less effective. We're not on social media but we love to hear your thoughts, feedback, reflections and requests so please send us a message at: [email protected]
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Micro Interactions
Matt and Femi discuss those brief interactions with students that set the tone for the lesson, or help transform the way students think about themselves.
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'Holding To Account' & 'Won't, Can't, Forgot'
Matt and Femi dive into the phrase that you so often hear amongst senior and middle management in schools: "Holding people to account".
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A podcast about teaching. We discuss teaching and learning, pedagogy, lessons and classroom practise, management and leadership, teaching of mathematics, training and trainees, mentors and mentoring, behaviour management, being a head of department and running a faculty, SLT and much much more!
HOSTED BY
Matt Findlay and Femi Adeniran
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Beyond Good have?
Beyond Good currently has 162 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Beyond Good about?
A podcast about teaching. We discuss teaching and learning, pedagogy, lessons and classroom practise, management and leadership, teaching of mathematics, training and trainees, mentors and mentoring, behaviour management, being a head of department and running a faculty, SLT and much much more!
How often does Beyond Good release new episodes?
Beyond Good publishes regularly with 162 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Beyond Good?
You can listen to Beyond Good on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Beyond Good?
Beyond Good is created and hosted by Matt Findlay and Femi Adeniran.
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