Lorna Good and Joe Burkmar, Head of Coaching, Poole High School and Partnership Director, Wessex Schools Training Partnership
I don’t know about you but I love a good blog or Twitter trawl for all things educational.
Getting lost in the Twitterverse can consume hours and before I know it I have fallen down the proverbial education ‘rabbit hole’. Add into the mix CPD events and the TeachMeets I was attending and voila, that’s a very large proportion of the time I am not in work spent on work-related things. I realised that I couldn’t fit it all in. There is so much out there to support us in all elements of our classroom practice – but I was finding it hard to balance my thirst for pedagogical morsels with actually having a life.
It was after one TeachMeet that I was talking to my colleague, Joe Burkmar. We often share ideas and engage in many conversations about teaching and education; sharing a passion for what we do in our lessons to best benefit the learners, as well as musing over the latest headlines and initiatives going on in education. It was during one such conversation that the idea of a podcast popped into our heads.
We both listen to a range of podcasts on all sorts of topics: when out running; on our way into work; cooking the dinner or whenever we have a spare few minutes. Yet neither of us had found an educational podcast that was targeted towards ‘anyone’ involved in education and explored the issues surrounding this behemoth. Don’t get me wrong, there are some fabulous podcasts out there (Tes, for example) but we wanted that mixture of conversational flow, combined with hot teaching topics along with some top tips to take away and embed into your practice. It was from this moment that Joe and I decided to become ‘The talking teachers’.
We were committed to sharing our passion with people across key stages, in any type of education, at any stage in their teaching career and at any level, including leadership. Each episode focuses on the issues that are important to us as classroom practitioners and lovers of learning. We deal with topics from workload and wellbeing (Episode 1) to behaviour management (Episode 2) and so much more.
During each episode we welcome a guest that is an expert, passionate about the topic or shares a genuine interest in the chosen focus. This platform for ideas allows us to debate what is happening in education as well as learning more about pedagogical strategies. Future episodes will include discussions on ‘Flip Learning’ and ‘Agile Learning Spaces’ as well as ‘Leadership’ and the ‘Power and Impact of Coaching.’
Teachers’ real-life experiences merged with hard-hitting facts create the cornerstone for our discussions and authenticity is crucial. We are teachers, working in schools now, listening to and participating in those staffroom and corridor conversations about the things that matter to us in ‘eduworld’. Joe and I wanted to create ‘staffroom’ for all of those involved in education or thinking about training to become a teacher and let them join in the conversation. Not only that but also getting a ‘takeaway’ of tips to help keep those young people learning, our wellbeing working and our CPD growing. Teaching can sometimes feel like a very solitary profession but not when you join with us.
‘The talking teachers’ podcast is available to download on iTunes, Spotify and Podbean. If you would like to join in further then please follow us @TheTalkingTeac1 and leave your questions or comments.
Provider details: Wessex Schools Training Partnership
Website: www.wessexschools.uk/
Twitter: @WessexSchools
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