Inspiration 4 Teachers Podcast

"Publicity is absolutely critical. A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad" ~ Richard Branson Episode Snapshot Kelly Long chats with Janet Murray, Journalist and PR coach.  Janet has been in the PR business for over 15 years, she has written and edited for national newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, Times, Sun and Daily Mail in the UK.  Together they dive into how you can maximise some of the free advertising that press releases can provide for you. In the first episode of the Social Media Marketing for School and Teachpreneurs series, Kelly and Janet will dive into how you can maximise your visibility in the press, what strategies to use to build PR relationship and produce news worthy content. The Power Pack of Tips Don't focus on sending our press releases.  Instead create and nurture relationships with journalists Don't be afraid to find out what publications want to publish Research the type of content publications

Episode Snapshot Kelly Long is interviewed by Gretchen Bridges the host of the Empowering Educators podcast.  Gretchen and Kelly discuss WHY we do what we do in education.  Together they dive into how to build relationships with pupils and create learning resources that give learners autonomy. Professional Challenge – Discovering ideas in teaching and learning: Belief, relationships and autonomy  Why belief is essential for learner development  Simple tips on how to build relationships with students in a busy teaching day Why reflective thinking and asking yourself WHY is important Ideas on developing resources that engage learner autonomy 

Episode Snapshot Kelly Long chats with Hannah Wilson, a co-founder and facilitator of WomenED, a grassroots movement which connects existing and aspiring leaders in education. In the third episode of the Educational Leadership series, Kelly and Hannah discuss gender inequality within senior leadership.   Teacher-Parent Relationship Techniques that Work! Empower parent voice Communication is the key to opening a positive and encouraging dialogue between the school, teacher and parent Professional Challenge – Gender Leadership Inequality   How to address gender inequalities at a senior level Ideas on developing your leadership confidence Where to find and how to form partnerships with others to help you overcome leadership inequality Best Advice "Don't take things personally, re-frame your mindset" Positive Habits  “Be authentic!  Don't pretend to be what you are not" Best Educational Resources Yammer - a leading enterprise social netwo

Episode Snapshot Kelly Long chats with Conor Heaven, an Infant School Middle Leader and an Advisory Council Member of NAHT Edge whose aim is to discuss and debate policy on behalf of all Middle Leaders. Conor is passionate about teaching and learning  and is curious about pedagogy, relationships, learning mindsets, first quality teaching, engagement, assessment and motivation. He believes collaboration is key to raising standards and wants to be part of the growing, sharing online community. In the second episode of the Educational Leadership series, Kelly and Conor discuss the challenge of how to be a successful leader and develop others on your team. Teacher-Parent Relationship Techniques that Work! "Share your passion for each and every child that you teach!" Create a buzz around the child's learning with the parent. Show parents the learning journey that their child has gone through. Professional Challenge – How to be a Successful Leader and Develop your Team Overcoming the fe

Episode Snapshot Kelly Long chats with Iesha Small, an Assistant Headteacher at a mixed 11-16 comprehensive school in Hertfordshire, in the UK.  Iesha writes a leadership blog as well as runs Mindshackles, a website dedicated to sharing the personal stories of reclaiming life from mental ill health. In the first episode of the Educational Leadership series, Kelly and Iesha discuss the challenge of unconventional leadership and how to overcome the bridge between perceived understanding of what leadership entails and its truth. Teacher Parent Relationship Techniques that Work! Your first interaction with a parent should always be a positive one! Parents are partners, not adversaries. Professional Challenge – Unconventional leadership Why should you become a Senior Leader? The three questions you need to ask of yourself to determine your core leadership values. What should be at the centre of every decision that you make? Best Advice "Leadership is always better in person!" Pos

Episode Snapshot Kelly Long celebrates 50 episodes of Inspiration 4 Teachers with guest co-host Emma Rickham.  Join them as they discuss the highs of 2015 and celebrate the inspirational work of Inspiration 4 Teachers' guests over the last year and all that is magnificent about teaching and learning. A lot has happened in 2015! The podcast has grown from zero to 4300+ downloads a month.  Inspiration 4 Teachers reaches out to educators in 84 countries and our primary social media platforms (Twitter and Facebook) are over 2500 dedicated followers strong. Rockin' in 2016 The podcast has featured leading educationalists who discuss innovative and creative workable ideas in education! The show goes from strength to strength in 2016 as Kelly, alongside new inspirational guests welcomes the Social Media Marketing for Schools and Teachpreneurs series, Wellbeing and Happiness as well as Creativity and Innovation in Education series. Kelly aims to improve the show further by discovering what she can do

Episode Snapshot Kelly Long chats with Tom Bennett a teacher from Dagenham, East London. He writes a weekly column and blog for the TES, is founder and director of researchED (a movement designed to promote research literacy and critical thinking in education).  Tom is also the chair of a working group asked by the DfE to look into improving behaviour management in initial teacher training. In this episode Kelly and Tom discuss the conflict that exists between what sciences know about education vs what teachers actually do in the classroom to facilitate learning. Challenging Behaviour Techniques that Work! All behaviour issues are opportunistic.  Help children to get out of those behaviour scenarios the best way that you can. Professional Challenge – What is the best way to teach? Understanding the dysfunction that exists between educational research and teaching. Helping teachers to be more research literate. Do learning styles actually work? Building par

Episode Snapshot Kelly Long chats with Martin Matthews about the challenge of school governance and the varying levels of accountability and legal responsibility within schools.   Challenging Behaviour Techniques that Work! Follow the behaviour process laid out by the senior leadership team.  Professional Challenge – The Challenge of School Governance  The only way to overcome this challenge is to keep learning. Read the legislation and regulations at the source. Know and understand legal responsibilities and there implications. Listen to those with expertise. Best Advice “Never stop learning!” Positive Habits  “Listen, read documents and then reflect before asking any question." Best Educational Resources #UKgovchat Shena Lewington who tweets as @ClerktoGovernor Jane Owens who tweets as Wirral Governors @WirralGov 

Episode Snapshot Kelly Long chats with Tawna Schmidt about the difficult challenges surrounding how to build successful teacher-parent relationships.  Together they discuss techniques for fostering stronger relationships with parents, how to develop classroom engagement guidelines and boundaries that lead to effective and supportive relationships for both the child and parent. Challenging Behaviour Techniques that Work! Don’t create an audience for tackling poor behaviour, it will work against you! Professional Challenge – Building Parent-Teacher Relationships Steps to pro-active parent-teacher relationships. Strategies that help create an environment for developing teacher-parent relationships. How to tackle challenging parents; understanding who should be managing the problem. Best Advice “Don’t blur your boundaries!” Put in place processes that allow you to give 100% to your work life as well as your personal life. Positive Habits  “Consistency

Episode Snapshot Kelly Long chats with Dawn Case Rose about the excessive amount of testing in the education system and why we need to return to a classroom environment where authentic learning is purposeful and inspiring. Challenging behaviour techniques that work! “Like your students!” Find out what makes your students tick and link the learning to their passions. Professional challenge – Essential Tips for Value Added Learning Testing, testing, testing vs. value added learning. Investing time into authentic learning. How to connect with students on a personal level. Recognising what student’s value and tailoring the learning to their passions. Best Advice “Use the Priest Filter!” Be a person of value. Use the Priest Filter, if what you are doing doesn’t add value to somebody else question why are you doing it? Positive habits  “Nothing ever ships on time!” Be flexible with Teaching and Learning. Best Educational Resources Don&rsqu

Episode Snapshot Challenging behaviour techniques that work! “Please Be Child Friendly - PBCF!” POWER – Giving the learner a voice. BELONGING - Get to know your students. CHOICE – Develop students’ responsibility. FUN – Making links with achievement in your lessons or within your learning relationships with students. Professional challenge – Doing what is right for teaching and learning. How to create an environment that fosters learning How to create a “need” for the learning in your classrooms. How to ask the inclusive questions of your learners and not exclusive ones that will exclude learners from participating in the learning environment. Strategies for developing learning dialogues. Best Advice 13 strategies to help teachers, here's four of them: There is no point in struggling on your own! Work out what you want to know before you ask a question. Always be a lifelong learner! Always be approachable. Positive habits  LQ Learning Intelligen

Challenging behaviour techniques that work! “Children make a choice not to behave!” What a teacher expects becomes acceptable!  Set high expectations of behaviour! Professional challenge – How to Improve Lesson Observations The key problems associated with observers making judgements on lessons. Strategies for developing lesson observations models that focus on collective development and growth. Why observing others frequently will improve your own teaching.  Best Advice Ask for forgiveness rather than ask for permission. Positive habits  Scaffold the learning for students, but remember they need to struggle in order to learn.  Creating “black spaces” for learning, where the scaffolded support is gradually taken away is as important at putting the support there in the first place.    Best Educational Resources What If Everything You Knew About Education Was Wrong? By David Didau      

“We don’t see things as they are.  We see things as we are!” Anais Nin Unconscious bias is where our background, personal experiences, societal stereotypes and cultural context can have an impact on our decisions and actions without us realising.  It is the hidden bias that holds you back! In this podcast workshop you’ll learn: How unconscious Bias is holding you back The research and scenarios of factors where unconscious bias most commonly occurs Unconscious bias training 5 Steps to address your own unconscious bias and prevent it from holding you back.

Episode snapshot Kelly Long chats with Chris Williams, who has been a teacher in primary and special school settings for over 20 years. He is committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for all children and has a background in supporting students with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and Speech, Language and Communication needs.   In 2012 Chris, alongside colleague David Andrews, developed methods which transform the learning process for all students, of all ages and abilities. These unique, high-impact whole school approaches have been embedded in hundreds of nursery schools, primary schools and secondary schools around the world. Together, Chris and Kelly discuss these methods to facilitate independent learning.   Challenging behaviour techniques that work! “Don’t give up on a child” Continuously strive to build on communication and relationship building. Professional challenge A fool proof formula for facilitating independent learning How to demonstrate tangible learning for

Episode snapshot Kelly Long chats with Maria Alexander-O'Neill, an educator of 14 years Maria has managed projects at a departmental, whole-school and regional level. She’s a lifelong learner and is studying for a Doctorate in Educational Leadership.   Challenging behaviour techniques that work! “Be the adult” Don’t bring yourself down to the child’s level.  Professional challenge Overcoming judgement and criticism in the workplace. Strategies for developing your confidence; turn your inner critic into your inner cheerleader! How to guard against the dream crushers.  Best Advice Don’t put yourself in a box or allow others to put you in one! Positive habits  Avoiding overwhelm by practising mindfulness, proactivity and time management. Best Educational Resources The independent, “can you take it further” thinking tool.

Episode snapshot Kelly Long chats with Bennie Kara an Assistant Headteacher in an inner-city London School, in charge of Teaching and Learning.  Together Kelly and Bennie discuss how to develop your leadership confidence.  Challenging behaviour techniques that work! “Plant your feet and exude confidence!” Use the partial agreement technique to disarm challenging behaviour. Professional challenge Developing your confidence. Strategies for developing your inner leadership voice. How to find your way up into leadership.  Best Advice The Mindset of Success by Jo Owen:  Show unwarranted optimism. See complexity as fun. Be a bottomless well of intellectual curiosity. Have a complete absence of paranoia and self-pity. Positive habits  Be a reflective and actionable list maker. Best Educational Resources Surviving and succeeding in difficult classrooms by Paul Blum Surviving your first year of teaching by Ross Morrison McGill  

Episode snapshot Kelly Long chats with Helena Marsh, a co-facilitator of the WomenEd steering group and a Deputy Principal at a secondary school where she is responsible for teaching and learning, achievement and self-evaluation.  Together Kelly and Helena discuss how to juggle leadership and life.  Challenging behaviour techniques that work! Develop a strong professional relationship with students. Set clear expectations. Be firm and show consistency to ensure that learning can happen. Professional challenge Overcoming the conflicts and challenges of family vs. career Sack the perfectionist. Apply the 80/20 rule of time management to identify what is most important to Teaching and Learning, your career and your family.  Best Advice Do things quick and dirty.  Get things done! Don’t feel guilty and worry about what others think! Positive habits  Medium term planning.  Don’t resource and teach hand to mouth. Best Educational Resources Lean Lesson Planning

Episode snapshot Kelly Long chats with Jules Daulby, a co-facilitator of the WomenEd steering group, former SEN Specialist Advisory teacher, mother of four and life-long learner.  Together Kelly and Jules discuss topics including how aspiring mature candidates can pursue roles in senior leadership. Challenging behaviour techniques that work! “Have unconditional positive regard for students!” The more challenging the behaviour, the more that child needs to be swamped with love and support – Relationships are key! Tell students that you like them! Invest time in getting to know individual students. Professional challenge Overcoming the challenges and barriers that mature candidates face when aspiring into leadership. Balancing the role of mother vs. leader. Getting back in the game and finding your leadership trajectory!  Best Advice Teach a couple of outstanding lessons a week, a few good ones and some howlers. Rotate the classes and repeat.  This is the best survival

Episode snapshot Kelly Long chats with Nikki Gilbey, Nikki is Head of Landbased Learning at Chichester College.  She is passionate and driven to support students, staff and opportunities for growth in the Further Education and Skills sector.  Together Kelly and Nikki discuss fast tracking into leadership. Challenging behaviour techniques that work! “Students push boundaries to check that they exist!” Develop a good rapport with students. Put in place strong boundaries. Always be friendly and approachable! Best Advice If you work really hard and are kind, amazing things will happen to you! Professional challenge Overcoming the hurdles of fast tracking into leadership if you are a young and aspiring candidate. Embracing change. Asking for help and guidance. Positive habits  Exude enthusiasm! Best Educational Resources Your local land based facilities via Landex 

Kelly Long chats with Ross Morrison McGill, Ross writes the most influential blog on Education in the UK over at @TeachersToolkit  He has been nominated for Debrett’s ‘500 Most Influential People in Britain’ and is one the the UK’s leading educational reformers.  Together Kelly and Ross discuss stepping up to Deputy Headship.