Simon Hunt (Mr Hunt from the Front): Taking learning bigger than the classroom

In this episode, Claire meets with Simon Hunt, a Year 4 teacher at Tottington Primary School in Bury.Alongside his teaching, Simon has developed his own website ‘Mr Hunt from the front’, and built online social media feeds, from where he offers advice, resources and CPD for teachers and schools.    Although arriving in teaching slightly later than normal, Simon has taught across all phases of Primary Education, and has worked in a variety of schools as a supply teacher and a permanent member of staff.    Simon talks with Claire about how sharing some resources on a Facebook page ‘took off’ and led to him reducing his teaching hours to offer CPD opportunities and work on a number of different projects with schools and other organisations such as HP and BT.    Discussing teaching in the classroom, Simon talks about the importance of giving children a purpose for their work, how beneficial it can be to take risks in teaching, and how technology can be incredibly useful if used well.   Simon shares exciting stories from his career including how a video of him ‘flossing’ went viral, and how a unit of work in class around the film ‘Blackfish’ eventually led to him taking a group of children to Brussels to deliver a petition to the European Parliament, attend a red-carpet film premiere, and take on representatives from SeaWorld in a question and answer session.       KEY TAKEAWAYS Never be afraid to take risks and give things a go.The best lessons and most valuable learning experiences can follow from activities where a bit of risk is involved. Being risk-averse can also inadvertently mean we put a ‘cap’ on where activities might go without considering what could actually be achieved. Taking risks does, of course, mean that things might go wrong or not work, but it’s worth remembering that usually a lot will go right.  Remember that teachers should be facilitators of learning.In an ideal lesson, teachers should be able take a ‘step back’ with the children doing the work. While teachers do still have a role teaching and helping to guide what happens in their lessons, with a little groundwork, children can usually confidently guide themselves in their learning more than we might think.  There are no limits to where lessons can take you.By allowing children to take more of a lead with their learning, a lesson’s direction can go in an infinite, and exciting, number of ways. It can be surprising and enlightening to see where children can take the direction of a lesson and what learning opportunities present themselves. Teaching children how to be resilient, to think critically and how to analyse arguments are incredibly valuable skills in the modern world.With almost constant social media exposure and pervasive factually incorrect reporting, giving children the skills to critically analyse what they are told and be resilient enough to deal with negativity is crucial. While there are many valid reasons for us to be wary of, and keep a watchful eye on, use of social media, it should not be something to shy away from using as it does offer many opportunities both through opening up teaching and learning points, but also for building links with other individuals or organisations who can offer valuable opportunities. Work with a purpose.Keeping the work that children do purposeful and valid will be a powerful motivator for them to continually do their best. Writing to or messaging real people or companies (in particular authors) who can look at the children’s work, give interviews or write back to the class will give the children a reason for their work and encourage them to put their best into tasks knowing that the result might be seen by others outside the school. Learn from mistakes.Things do go wrong or just don’t work as intended – particularly where risks are taken. Teachers can be especially self-critical, but we need to learn to be ok with it when this happens. Even things that go wrong are learning opportunities and, as long as you’re learning, it’s worth it. Tap into creative writing by allowing children to write for themselves.It can help to promote interest in writing where children can experiment with language and can write for themselves without worrying about it being assessed and marked. Having their own ‘draft’ book or ‘jotter’ just to have a go at writing whatever they want can take the pressure away from feeling like they should only write if it is going to be their best. Use technology wisely.Technology in the classroom can be incredibly useful and can really enhance learning. However, it shouldn’t just be used for the sake of it or because it’s there. Tablet computers which are just used day-in-day-out for internet research are not making the best use of that technology. Likewise, loading 60 apps onto a tablet that people don’t know how to make the best use of will likely go unused. BEST MOMENTS“It’s great because I get four days in class which is still the favourite part of my week.”“When I do CPD sessions for example, or when I go into schools, everything I talk about that works, I can say I know it works because I did it last week or I did it the week before. I think teachers relate to that because I’m still in the classroom, I’m still in touch with what’s going on.”   “I’m glad I took that risk. If I hadn’t have done I wouldn’t have known about these other things that could have happened. I would have still loved it in my class, I’d still have been in class full-time but I wouldn’t have had these opportunities that I’ve had. I love teaching. I think it’s the best job in the world and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”    “It was the best lesson I’ve ever done. I literally just stood in the corner while the children had a full-on debate and discussion with a scientist - someone that’s been on TV.”    “That saying ‘whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’... schools should have the opposite effect. Whatever happens in the classroom should go out of the classroom. That really explains what I’m about. By giving children the tools to look at both sides of an argument and make their own viewpoints, it’s just a skill to have no matter what you look at.”    “Sometimes things don’t always go well, but I think you learn just as much from those things that don’t go well as something that does.”    “A lot of the children say they want to be a YouTuber [when they’re older]. That’s one of the number one things. As a teacher you can either just ignore that or you can tap into it a little bit. When we do poetry we always record it because poetry is supposed to be performed. Whenever we do lessons we record it and put it on YouTube.”     VALUABLE RESOURCES   Mr Hunt from the front:  https://www.mrhuntfromthefront.com/https://twitter.com/simonjameshunt?lang=enhttps://www.facebook.com/mrhuntsideasMr Hunt flosses: https://twitter.com/tps_pri/status/976519244333580291?lang=enThe Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/  ABOUT THE HOSTClaire Riley    Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.    Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.   Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.    The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.