Beyond Good

Femi reflects on the last year with one particular class in mind and asks: "Are my lessons challenging enough?"

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!

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.

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.

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 thinking about a new class.

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.

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.

Matt and Femi discuss economy of language during explanations and the advantages of keeping teacher talk lean.Contact us at:[email protected]

Matt and Femi discuss a couple of really common issues that undermine teachers' ability to deliver powerful, clear and memorable explanations.

Matt and Femi discuss what to do with a comment often heard by the coffee machine... "This class doesn't retain things!"[email protected]

Matt and Femi talk to James Gisby about the challenges and intricacies of teaching History, and what good History lessons could look like.  

Matt and Femi discuss why effective learning can often look somewhat boring from the outside, and why that can sometimes be problematic in [email protected]

Matt and Femi discuss the importance of very prompt transition moments in lessons.  Reach out by emailing [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 curriculum time and therefore we don't have the 'luxury' of doing any retrieval practice.Share your thoughts with us:[email protected]

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.

Join Femi and Matt to hear about how and why Femi has finally decided to start to use mini-whiteboards in his lessons.

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]

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 holidays.  The next episode will be released mid-January.

Femi tells Matt about his visit to The Totteridge Academy, which he was thoroughly impressed by.

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.

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.

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.

Matt was in a reflective mood recently and shared a few of the things he has been working on and thinking about with Femi.

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]

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]

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 practice.Contact us at:[email protected]

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.

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.

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]

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 please send your thoughts to [email protected]

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.

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 work.Matt and Femi [email protected]

Matt and Femi discuss episode 3 of the great Teaching: Unpacked documentary series.Watch the documentary at steplab.co/watchGet in touch:[email protected]

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]

Matt and Femi chat about a rarely-discussed characteristic of teachers; having respect for the learners.

Femi and Matt explore the idea that some people are more coachable than others...

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

Matt and Femi discuss the idea of first success, and whether the copncept can inform thinking around teacher development and student learning.

Matt and Femi discuss Episode 1 of the Great Teaching, Unpacked documentary.Watch the documentary for free at:steplab.co/filmGet in touch with Matt and Femi:[email protected]

Matt and Femi discuss the critical importance of not letting behavioural incidents go unchallenged.

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]

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.

Matt and Femi dive into the phrase that you so often hear amongst senior and middle management in schools: "Holding people to account".

Matt and Femi speak to the executive head teacher and founder of Cobham Free School, Michaela Khatib, about the remarkable journey to plan, start and grow a school from nothing to over a thousand pupils.

Matt and Femi discuss the need for teachers to have a basic understanding of how learning happens, as well as barriers and solutions to the problem.

Matt and Femi discuss Femi's experience of working in both state and private schools, what the major differences are for teachers and what each can learn from the other.

This episode has 2 unrelated topics... In the first half of the episode Femi and Matt discuss what it means to have a culture where you can 'hold colleagues accountable' for the benefit of the whole team.  In the second part of episode (starting at 20:30), Femi and Matt turn their attention to the Power of Video - particularly with regards to modelling and feedback for teachers.

Femi and Matt discuss why improving our teaching (or anything) can be so difficult, and how that influences their thinking around coaching and PD.

Femi and Matt ponder the all too common phrase "people just aren't doing it"!