Effective Teaching

It can be hard to take PD and turn it into effective teaching practices in your classroom. In this episode, I interviews Valerie Young to discuss how her school goes about implementing their professional learning, supporting teachers and using international resources.

I recently watched the sugar movie with my 6-year-old daughter and it confirmed a number of things I already knew and talk about in my book - Work Less, Teach More. Discover some of the effects sugar is having on your workload.

Empowering our students to become successful learners is so important. In this episode, I give 3 strategies you can use to enable your students to become successful in your classroom. Notes Empowerment is crucial because it motivates students and engages them in learning Encourage voice and choice (basic, but still good. Provide options, create choice boards, or tic, tac, toe lessons) Let them choose the what or the how or the where etc Provide opportunities for leadership (students teaching others, being the expert, Jigsaw puzzle technique, simple as marking the roll for you) Technology can be a great thing to help with this. Create choose your own adventures, or create back channels in forums during Socratic circles) At the top end do collaborative tasks or PBL. Challenges: Student resistance - start small and build up. Explain why you are doing it, and work with other teachers as you go. Get feedback and observation Great talk on this during the ET conference - access the recordings at teacherspd.net/conference

In this episode, I discuss some of the time-saving ways we can use Chat GpT as teachers in order to save time and improve our productivity.

In this episode, I interview motivation psychologist - Don Berg to discuss how we can help our students to be motivated to learn in our classrooms. You can get a free copy of the book Work Less, Teach More at https://www.teacherspd.net/freewltm

In this episode, I reflect on some of the key learnings that came during the Effective Teaching Conference from the likes of John Larmer, Suzie Boss, Jay McTighe, Alice Kim, Kasey Bell, Kelly Bell, Brendan Lee, Jen Giffen, John Hattie and many more. Get access to the recordings for just $97

It's time to round up the year, reflect and set goals. This is the last episode for the year. I look forward to talking with you in 2023. Register for the effective teaching conference Reflect on your year. Gather some evidence (survey your kids, ask others to give feedback, use some sort of criteria such as the teaching standards in AUS) Identify how you will use your strengths to help others around you. Maybe volunteer to run some PD at school, for your teachers association, or your local network. Identify how you plan on improving your weaknesses. What books will you read? Who do you know whom you can learn form? Can you find some focused PL such as a workshop, online course or something that will help you strengthen this area.

Discover the joy that comes with lots of short breaks, both for you and your students. There are plenty of great benefits. Research indicates that multiple 5 min breaks are better than a larger single break. so… Give students regular short breaks… every 45-90 min provide 5 min (used to do brain breaks at SEDA) Give yourself regular short breaks… time them and don't allow them to interrupt your flow. If you are scheduling meetings make them 25 or 50 min instead of 30 and 1 hr so incorporate some form of a break between activities. Learn more about the Conference here

Discover 3 things that can destroy your mojo and have a negative impact on you and your students. We all need to avoid these. Learn more about the conference at https://www.teacherspd.net/conference

Dan interviews Stephanie Howell and Tara Ruckman to discuss their new #1 Amazon best-selling book "Control the Choas". Discover how you can help control your blended classroom by developing student executive skills. Get a copy of the book Get a copy of the book Control the Chaos: What it takes to create order in the classroom and teach executive functioning skills on Amazon AU Get a copy of the book Control the Chaos: What it takes to create order in the classroom and teach executive functioning skills on Amazon US Links mentioned in the Episode You can get the form discussed by going here If you are keen to register or learn more about the Effective Teaching conference here *The transcript below is automated and may have some errors

Discover how to save time as you write your reports and mark tasks with this simple hack Parkinson's law - work expands to fulfil the time allowed for its completion. We prioritise and get work done by their due dates eg) report writing or mark submissions We can benefit from this by creating our own deadlines etc to get things complete. Simple as doing the task in a shorter time limit than normal. Eg) mark papers in 2 hrs instead of allowing yourself all night. Set a timer. It helps you focus and do a single task at a time. OR plan your lesson in 40 min instead of an hour. If things don't have deadlines or time limits they expand massively. You see it in the classroom as well. If you give kids 5 or 10 min to get something done with a visible timer they are better at keeping on task, but if you just ask them to get it done that lesson they get distracted until the end when you might say it has to be done before they can leave…. Take advantage of this simple hack and set timers for your tasks and then stick to them. It may not always work in terms of being finished, especially when you push yourself, but it will always speed you up.

I really enjoyed interviewing Jon Bergmann (flipped learning pioneer and author of multiple books including recently "The Mastery Learning Handbook". Here Jon lays out what mastery learning is, how to plan for it, and how to manage it in the classroom. Jon Bergmann Jon Bergmann is one of the pioneers of the Flipped Class Movement. He has coordinated and guided Flipped Learning programs around the globe. He is the author of ten books, including the bestselling book Flip Your Classroom, which has been translated into 10 languages as well as his recently released Amazon best seller The Mastery Learning Handbook. Jon Bergmann has been an educator since 1986. He has served as a middle and high school science teacher, lead technology facilitator, consultant/public speaker, and is now back in the classroom working with his amazing students. Learn more about the Effective Teaching Conference Please note the transcript is automated.

In this interview with Brendan Lee (former Assistant Principal and classroom teacher in both primary school and high school) Dan and Brendan discuss explicit instruction. Brendan explains exactly what explicit instruction is and isn't before we go on to explain when it should be used. Here are some links Barak Rosenshine's original Principles of Instruction Rosenshine's Principles in Action by Tom Sherrington Blog article from Tom Sherrington Exploring Barak Rosenshine's seminal Principles of Instruction: Why it is THE must-read for all teachers. Hollingsworth and Ybarra's Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI): The Power of the Well-Crafted, Well-Taught Lesson If you want to get into the Science of Learning more, here are some good overviews: Ambition Institute: LEARNING: WHAT IS IT, AND HOW MIGHT WE CATALYSE IT? - provides a coherent, high-level overview of the domain – organised around nine insights, with a taste of what the implications of these insights are for our classrooms. Deans for Impact: The Science of Learning - The purpose of The Science of Learning is to summarize the existing research from cognitive science related to how students learn, and connect this research to its practical implications for teaching and learning Ambition Institute: The Learning Curriculum 3.0 - This handbook is targeted at teacher educators as a guide to help explain the science of learning to teachers.

These 5 ideas will help you stand out from other lessons to classes and get your students engaged in learning right from the beginning. Notes Purple cow classroom. Lessons are all the same and can get boring… be the different teacher Create a new world Decorations Dress up Start with the problem and don't provide solutions Use music to set the tone for the lesson (eye of the tiger, Chopin or something) entering, exiting, transitions, Start with something fun and exciting eg) make something from balloons, get some craft stuff and set a challenge bonus points if a struggling student will be successful Give some out-of-this-world rules to change things up… eg) have to put a hand on your nose all lesson, if you have a question you sit down on the ground instead of raising your hand…

Discover 2 simple strategies you can apply to your calendar to save you time and increase your energy levels, enthusiasm and passion for teaching again.

Discover a simple feedback process you can use to get great results from your students, but also that energizes you as a teacher.

Learn how to enjoy life after work by enabling your brain to be free of the worries and thoughts of school life. Use these 3 steps to switch your brain off from work. You can get a free copy of the book Work Less, Teach More at https://www.teacherspd.net/freewltm

It's time to reduce your meetings and save yourself some time. If you are a school leader, let's stop having regular recurring meetings just because. Reduce your workload further by getting s copy of my book at teacherspd.net Notes Delete all your meetings all and email the organiser to ask: What is your role and contribution to the meeting? You won't be attending but will send someone else in your place. You won't be attending the meeting as it has no purpose for you and you won't be contributing anything. You may even suggest that the meeting doesn't need to exist. Keep meetings short (30 min max) only 5 people max, Replace meetings with videos

Discover the keys to improving your students' motivation levels in your classroom. There are plenty of great tips in this episode to help get students interested and motivated to learn. Join the Effective Teaching Series

Learn how to help your students analyse, evaluate and create as I look at the top of Bloom's taxonomy. Register for the Free Effective Teacher Series here

The bottom of Bloom's pyramid is often neglected and I want to give you some tips to help students to remember, understand and apply content. The basis from which, higher order thinking can happen. Register for the effective teaching series

There is a culture in teaching, which promotes the concept of being "busy". In the wider culture, it is #hustle and it is creating workaholics. It's time for us to be more counter-cultural and focus on effectiveness instead of busyness. Register for the 3 part video series at https://www.teacherspd.net/etseries

Feedback can take a lot of time, but this simple 3 step method is simple, fast, and effective.

Flipped learning can save you time, improve your differentiation and a whole lot more. Listen to this episode where I talk about the benefits of flipping your classroom and how to deal with students who don't do their homework. Free 10-Step guide to help you flip your first lesson at https://www.teacherspd.net/10stepflip

Research tells us that the teacher's voice dominates discussion in the classroom and boredom kills learning. Let's look at 4 things you can do instead of giving presentations and lectures to your students.

Why I encourage every teacher who wants to reduce their workload to schedule their time.

This episode contrasts a working culture with one of learning in a school classroom. There are plenty of tips to help a teacher create a more learning-centred classroom. Grab a copy of my book Work Less, Teach More

Learn how to use cognitive load effectively in your classroom. How to reduce the load in some areas and empower your students' cognitive load in others.

Discover the similarities and differences between inquiry-based learning and project-based learning. Which one should you use for your subject and which one is best for student learning?

Discover how to be an effective teacher by ensuring you have these 6 characteristics. Effective teaching results in long-lasting, high-impact teachers. Get your free copy of the physical book Work Less, Teach More: How to be an effective teacher and live a life you love. By clicking here

Discover how collaborative tasks can be used to reduce students' cognitive load and deepen their learning. As we continue to look at how students learn and applying this in our classroom this episode brings together cognitive load theory and collaborative tasks. How to create collaborative tasks to maximise the advantage on cognitive load: complex enough to justify the collaborative approach, if not the “extra collective working memory” leads the group members to become distracted and the learning does not happen. The collaborative task should have guidance and support. This can include group roles, topics to focus on, and scaffolds. The group requires good collaborative skills. If the students don't generally collaborate well or have these skills it will cause an increase in cognitive load and distractions. The fewer members in the collaborative task the better. 3 is probably the ideal number. more than this causes an increase in cognitive load and a decrease in learning. The more the group has worked together the better the collaborative task will be at decreasing cognitive load and increasing the learning happening.

Do you want to work less and be an effective teacher? Then this video and this book are for you. Discover how you can reduce your workload while still being an effective teacher in the classroom. Having your own life does not have to compromise that of your students. In this episode, I go through my book Work Less, Teach More: How to be an effective teacher and live a life you love. This book was a number 1 seller on Amazon when it first came out. Discover some of the great content such as: How to identify your highest priority tasks How to use schedules to enable you to say no to requests on your time How to improve your personal effectiveness How to set your day up for success How to select tasks to never do again and so much more. You can get a free copy of the book at teacherspd.net/freewltm It's time to cut the fluff and start being effective not just productive!

Most teachers know what Bloom's taxonomy is and use it in a very basic way. This episode takes a closer look and identifies how to leverage this taxonomy and improve student learning.

Imagery is such a great way to help our students learn and remember content. Whether it be memorising a set of facts or connecting concepts. Imagery is what our brains are wired for.

How do you apply spaced recall in the classroom to help students be successful learners? Check out this episode for great tips on applying this to your classroom.

Learn how to leverage the greatest influence on what students can learn to set them up for success in your classroom.

Welcome to a new miniseries helping you apply how students learn to your classroom. This week Dan discusses the importance of retrieval for developing long-term memory giving your plenty of easy-to-apply strategies along the way.

Gamification is a great tool you can use to help your students enjoy their learning, but often teacher think it takes too much time or leads to less learning. I ask Lindsay to provide to guidance around some of the barriers to using gamification and where you can get started with your journey. Lindsay is the co-founder of PurpleZA providing professional development to teachers in South Africa and around the world. She is an international keynote speaker, passionate educator, and an all-round wonderful lady. You can connect with her over at www.purpleza.co.za

Dan shares 5 key strategies teachers use to create lifelong learners. Listen and discover simple adjustments you can make to really improve your students' ability to learn. https://www.teacherspd.net/100 Enter the book competition here Students MUST have a why? Without a why? There is no motivation, no willingness to learn. We cannot make them learn, only they can do that. Focus on the learning, not the teaching Check for learning and build on it, don't just teach the content and tick a box eg) have students tell you how they are going, what they know well or don't and then help them discover what to do next. Teach the skills for learning not the content Use the content to develop the skills Check skill development eg) always ask students what they are going to do about not knowing or being able to do something? Ask them how they are going to solve the problem. What process will they use to learn the next content? etc Care less about assessment and results Grades are not all they are made out to be Success does not require a mark or a grade just an attitude and skill Assessment does not always show the learning. Find more ways to know what your students are capable of. eg) a student with poor writing skills may actually know how to create amazing stories, just ask them to share one about their life or something they care about with you. The brain adapts to how it is used Students can change their intelligence They don't have to be “dumb” or “smart” Explicitly teach students how to learn and get them to practice learning in order to develop their brain/learning power eg) explain how to read for understanding, demonstrate it for them Bonus great reads Check out The Learning Power Approach and everything by Guy Claxton I am currently enjoying Jim Kwik Limitless Mind, motivation, method If you as a teacher need some work life balance, or just feel overworked and constantly busy, check out Work Less, Teach More.

Learn what we are doing wrong with formative assessment and how we can fix it. In this episode, Dan discusses the purpose of formative assessment and challenges Hattie's statement that all assessment is first and foremost for teachers. What are we doing wrong? We always focus on what we should be doing. We focus on what we should be doing to help the students. I am guilty of this, and have promoted that formative assessment is for teachers first to adjust our approach and help our students. Agreeing with many experts around including John Hattie But I have since changed my mind. The Learning Power Approach I am reading The Learning Power Approach by Guy Claxton and after reading a single line I felt I had a big realisation This podcast is meant to be about how we help our students become lifelong learners. There are other topics, but many focus on this. If formative assessment focuses on what I do as a teacher how is it helping my students become lifelong learners? A: It's not Who is formative assessment for? Sorry Hattie, I now disagree. If we focus on what we can do differently this does not help the student develop the thinking skills needed for lifelong learning. It just helps them get more used to being spoon fed, as the teacher changes the spoon and the drama to try and get them to eat. No, we need to see formative assessment as something used by and for the student to help them identify what they need to do next. We need to teach them how to use assessment or really evidence of learning to feedback to the student how they are going. What their strengths and weaknesses are and to guide them to develop their weaknesses. Teach the skill So as teachers then, we are focusing on the skill for the student as they learn to check their own understanding and then develop actions based on the result. And yes, the formative assessment helps us help them, but the focus in on helping them learn to help themselves, not to find another way we can teach them. It is to help them discover what they don't know and another way they can learn it. This week If you do a formative assessment of any kind, switch the questions around. Instead of asking yourself what you can do differently so the student gets it, ask them how they think they are going? Where are they struggling? And then as them what they are going to do about it? If they don't know, provide some leading questions or ideas, but don't do the work for them.

Kailey introduces us to the methods she uses for herself and to help other teachers have a calm and mindful classroom. These strategies will help you maintain your sanity and provide you with go-to activities you can easily implement with your students when you can feel them struggling to focus. Check out Kailey's resources at Educalme

As a school looks to improve, one of the key aspects is trusted leaders. Discover what you will learn from "TrustED: The bridge to school improvement" by Toby Travis. You can check out the show notes and win a free book by going to https://www.teacherspd.net/TrustED

Dan discusses how focus impacts our effectiveness. Our culture of distraction is training our brains to avoid focus, but focus is vital for effectively doing hard work. Access the show notes at https://www.teacherspd.net/96

Discover the benefits of beginning each lesson with a classroom circle designed to help you better understand your students and improve their ability to become lifelong learners. Free questions are available at the show notes page https://www.teacherspd.net/95

We often set goals as teachers and then stray from the path as the term gets busier. In this video, Dan explains how he uses a weekly schedule to help him keep on track to achieve his goals and prioritise what is most valuable.

In this interview, Jake explains how he created student-paced units and lessons to help his students take more control and ownership of their learning and become lifelong learners. Watch the video on YouTube here Want the free chapter from my book head over to teacherspd.net/workless Connect with Jake Miller at jakemiller.net

Dan interviews Monica Burns to discuss how technology can be used to help create lifelong learners by fostering curiosity and inquiry with our students. Get the full show notes at https://www.teacherspd.net/92

Lesleigh is one of the founders of Google Educator Group - Global. She has plenty of teaching experience and is with us today to talk all about the benefits of a global PLN for your classroom. Get the shownotes at www.teacherspd.net/91

What do cows have to do with teaching? That is a fantastic question. Learn how Seth Godin guru of marketing can help you increase your impact on your students. Grab the show notes at https://www.teacherspd.net/90

If you need to reduce your workload this video will help you get started. Learn how to identify your high-impact tasks as a teacher and discover which tasks you can ditch completely. You can learn more about the book at https://www.teacherspd.net/workless