Knowledge for Teachers

09 - Karen Tzanetopoulos on the Science of Math Learning in Research and Practice

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee speaks to Karen Tzanetopoulos, a trained speech and language pathologist. Karen tells us about how she started working out of an office that was like a janitor’s closet to quietly do her own structured literacy with students and how her interest in math began while working in the public schools, as she observed that many of her students with language disorders also struggled to learn math and then she made a connection between the two. 
In this conversation, Karen goes through everything from the fundamentals that students need automaticity in, common misconceptions, the importance of language to maths, how to approach word problems and much much more.
 
Resources mentioned:
- How Children Learn Math The Science of Math Learning in Research and Practice (Nancy Krasa, Karen Tzanetopoulos, Colleen Maas)
- sternmath.com
 
You can connect with Karen:
mathandlanguage.com
Email: Karen@mathandlanguage.com
 
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
Website: learnwithlee.net

08 - Rouzana Komesidou on implementation science in schools

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee speaks to Dr. Rouzana Komesidou, a researcher who fell into implementation science after seeing the gap between research and practice in schools. In our conversation, she gives an overview of what things schools should consider before implementing something, how leaders can support the process and what things to avoid.
 
Resources mentioned in this conversation:
Dr. Tiffany Hogan
Dr. James Mannion
A Generic Implementation Framework for School-based Research and Practice:
Pre-print: https://osf.io/6zpq7/ 
Toolkit: https://osf.io/mzb5d 
 
You can connect with Rouzana:
Twitter: @rkomesidou
Website: https://mosinian.com/
 
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
Website: learnwithlee.net

07 - Greg Clement on achieving school excellence through the science of reading

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee speaks to former principal, Greg Clement. In this conversation, we find out how he transformed Clayton South Primary School from the worst school in the network to the second best within 12 months. Greg also speaks about how a speech pathologist set him on the science of reading pathway, how he got buy-in from staff and the community and we go through his three year Action Plan.
 
Resources and people mentioned
Greg Clement’s book - Transform: Achieving excellence through the science of reading
Alison Clarke - What's wrong with predictable or repetitive texts
Laura Sundqvist
Toni Hatten-Roberts
Emina Mclean
David Morkunas
Orton-Gillingham Approach
Little Learners Love Literacy
educeri.com
You can connect with Greg:
Twitter: @GregClement15
Website: https://principals-of-reading.com/
email: gregclementconsulting@gmail.com
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
Website: learnwithlee.net

06 - Reid Smith on buiding a knowledge-rich curriculum, collaboration and Ochre Education

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee talks to curriculum expert Reid Smith, founder and co-CEO of Ochre Education and Head of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction at Ballarat Clarendon College. Reid’s done a lot of research around the importance of knowledge for comprehension and cognitive load theory.
In this conversation, Reid talks about:
- The importance of working in teams
- What we need to consider when designing a knowledge-rich curriculum
- Why teachers need to lose the idea that we need to do it all
- The origin story of Ochre Education
- The components involved with the makeup of Ochre lessons
- He mentioned the quote from Richard Elmore “You learn to do the work, by doing the work, not by talking about the work.” and related it to the importance of actually analysing real lesson plans, rather than just asking general questions 
And much more! 
 
Resources mentioned in this conversation:
Greg Ashman
Core Knowledge Foundation
Wiggins and McTighe
Read2Learn
Syntax Project (I spoke to Steph Le Lievre, one of the creators in Episode 2)
Oak National Academy
Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO)
This is Reid’s paper that was mentioned:
Reid Smith, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry & Lorraine Hammond (2021) The Role of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: A Critical Review, Reading Psychology, 42:3, 214-240, DOI: 10.1080/02702711.2021.1888348
You can connect with Reid
Twitter: @Smithre5
Website: ochre.org.au
Nlog: notquitetabularasa.wordpress.com/
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
 

05 - Tom Sherrington on why we need effective and precise teaching techniques

In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers podcast, Brendan Lee chats to Tom Sherrington about how Tom randomly found some Bill Rogers videos that were transformational for him. How he worked out the need to deliver precise professional learning for teachers and the common challenges that schools face. Tom also goes through how schools are using Teaching Walkthrus effectively.
 
Resources mentioned in this conversation:
Walkthrus.co.uk
teacherhead.com
teachingsprints.com.au
Australian Walkthrus Workshop - Thursday 30th March
Daniel Willingham’s Why don’t students like school
Megan Sumeracki, Oliver Caviglioli, and Yana Weinstein: Understanding How We Learn
Everything from Dylan Wiliam about Formative Assessment including he’s recent episode on Tom and Emma Turner’s podcast - Mind the Gap
 
You can connect with Tom:
Twitter: @teacherhead
Website: https://teacherhead.com/
 
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
Website: learnwithlee.net

04 - Daisy Christodoulou and Jeanette Breen on knowledge, assessment and AI in education

In this wide-ranging conversation, Brendan Lee chats with Daisy Christodoulou and Jeanette Breen about all things to do with education. On the 10th anniversary of the 7 Myths about Education, he asks Daisy if there are any changes or additions she would make. She also talks about why rubrics give us an illusion of a shared language and the positive impact that AI could have on teacher workload.
Jeanette Breen provides her story of why and how she has used Comparative Judgement at her school and the impact it has had. 
 
Resources mentioned:
www.nomoremarking.com/
No More Marking Blog Article: Does spelling matter? 
 
You can connect with Daisy:
Twitter: @daisychristo
Website: https://daisychristodoulou.com/
 
You can connect with Jeanette:
Twitter: @jettybe3
 
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
Website: learnwithlee.net

03 - Lyn Stone on misconceptions about teaching literacy and how we should actually teach it

In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Lyn Stone. Lyn is an author, linguist and consultancy and tutoring practice, Lifelong Literacy. In this chat, she addresses a number of misconceptions about teaching literacy and provides loads of practical tips for teachers. You will find out how Lyn’s passion for literacy developed, why we can’t teach the English language like we have a transparent orthography and how reading and writing are not simple, but you can view them simply
 
Resources mentioned:
Dolores G. Hiskes - Reading Pathways: Simple Exercises to Improve Reading Fluency
Ollie Lovell - Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory in Action
Ollie Lovell - Tools for Teachers
Tom Bennett - Running the Room
Lorraine Hammond
Pamela Snow and Tanya Serry - SOLAR Lab
www.etymonline.com/
 
You can connect with Lyn:
Twitter @lifelonglit
Website: lifelongliteracy.com/
 
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
Website: learnwithlee.net

02 - Stephanie Le Lievre on implementing structured literacy across the school

In this episode, Brendan Lee talks to Deputy Principal, Stephanie Le Lievre. She explains:
- how the Reading Science in Schools FB group - that now has over 50,000 members, came about
- why we need to "cut the fluff"
- what a structured literacy block can look like for the pre-primary stage
- what an evidence-informed approach looks like in the primary classroom
- how she is using ChatGPT for fluency building!
 
Some of the experts and resources mentioned:
Professor Pamela Snow
Professor Lorraine Hammond
William Van Cleave
Lyn Stone
Dr. Nathaniel Swain
The Writing Revolution
https://www.readworks.org/
https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/foundations/toolbox/
https://www.phormes.com/
https://readingscienceinschools.squarespace.com/
https://thesyntaxproject2022.squarespace.com/
 
You can connect with Steph:
Twitter @StephLeLievre_
 
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
Website: learnwithlee.net

01 - Dr. Russ Fox on building relationships, routines and using reinforcers

Welcome to the Knowledge for Teachers podcast!
I (Brendan Lee) decided to start up this podcast because rather selfishly there are a lot of areas I would like to have more knowledge in and people that I would really like to hear from, so I thought why not start up a podcast so that I can share these conversations with other educators. I’m also really interested in finding out what those active ingredients are in actually getting evidence informed practice happening in our classrooms.
 
Very early on I knew that today’s guest, Dr. Russ Fox a former teacher and current lecturer in applied behaviour analysis at Monash University, was someone that I wanted to get on. I have had many deep and meaningful conversations with him previously about all things to do with education and he is truly across what effective teaching can be and how we can support teachers in implementing it. 
 
In this chat, Russ talks about:
- why we need to address the learning environment
- the need for teachers to use a safe sense of humour
- Error correct using the 3 step process (you'll have to listen to find out what that is)
- supporting students in building habits by using gradual release of responsibility
- why we need to meet the needs of the community
Some of the resources mentioned were:
Tom Bennett's book - Running the Room
Fox, R. A., Leif, E. S., Moore, D. W., Furlonger, B., Anderson, A., & Sharma, U. (2022). A systematic review of the facilitators and barriers to the sustained implementation of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports. Education and Treatment of Children, 45(1), 105-126.
 
You can connect with Russ:
Twitter @RsslFx
Email russell.fox@monash.edu
 
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
Website: learnwithlee.net