The Teaching Space

Introduction In this episode we will explore ways teachers and trainers can improve their presentations (specifically, how they can improve their slides, we will save the communication aspect for another show). This episode considers presentation slides as just one of a teacher or trainer’s teaching tools. If you use a presentation in every teaching session, or you are overly reliant on them, I encourage you to try a session without a presentation and see how it goes (after you’ve listened to this episode, of course!) 1. Consistent Design Set up a master slide so your design is consistent. Choose a colour scheme. Aim to create a stylish, aesthetically pleasing document. 2. Careful Image Use Do not use copyrighted image - especially those with watermarks! Choose age-appropriate images. Further reading: Free Photography Resources for Teachers and Trainers The Noun Project for Google Slides and Google Docs 3. Pay Attention to Fonts Pick a readable font (I favour sans-serif - it’s easier to read and looks

Introduction In this episode we will explore professional learning communities, often referred to as PLCs. What Professional Learning Communities ARE They are typically (note the word “typically”): Groups of teachers or trainers, from the same organisation, gathering regularly to learn together and share good practice and ideas Led by teachers, not senior leadership Part of an organisation’s CPD schedule Led by a teacher facilitator (although the facilitator could easily change every time of there is a standard agenda and process) Planned well in advance with themes Face-to-face (although there is no reason online wouldn’t work) What Professional Learning Communities ARE NOT PLCs should not be (note the word “should”): Moan fests For Union related discussion Negative To gather data Token CPD Benefits of PLCs There are many benefits to PLCs. They can: Empower teachers through the ownership of their CPD Create a feeling of togetherness - this is important for teachers in need of support Be a place for inno

Episode 43 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores the benefits of using keyboard shortcuts to improve productivity. Introduction  This episode is one of those that probably works best in a written format. If you don’t normally visit the show notes for an episode, then I will insist you do so on this occasion (in the nicest way!)  What Are Keyboard Shortcuts? Keyboard shortcuts are a key or combination of keys providing quick access to a specific computer function. Even if you don’t use shortcuts often, the one you are most likely to be familiar with is copy and paste. These are CMD + C then CMD + V on a Mac and CTRL + C and CTRL + V on a PC. Right Mouse Clicker Until recently, I wasn’t the person who used keyboard shortcuts (other than copy and paste options). I was a right mouse clicker. I used the right mouse button to access a shortcut menu. However, there are lots of reasons (aside from the productivity ones) you should learn keyboard shortcuts. Why Should You Use Keyboard Shortcuts? While using a shortcu

Episode 42 of The Teaching Space Podcast is an interview with Kate O’Sullivan discussing how we can be more inclusive. Podcast Episode 42 Transcript Hello, and welcome to The Teaching Space Podcast. It's Martine here, thank you so much for joining me. Today I am joined by a guest on the show. It's my great pleasure to introduce you to Kate O'Sullivan. Rather than me try to reveal the very, very large number of layers to Kate and all the amazing things she does, I'm going to ask her to introduce herself to you. Martine: So hello Kate, welcome to the show! Kate: Hello Martine, thanks for having me. Martine: It's my pleasure, tell us about you. Kate: Okay- Martine: That's a huge question. That's a massive question. Kate: Okay let's see if I can do it because I always go blank the minute we ask people this don't you. Tell me about yourself. So yes I am Kate. I currently am living in Edinburgh. It is freezing, we had our first frost here today. I have a daughter and a girlfriend and I'm self-employed as a writer,

Episode 41 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores some strategies to help teachers and trainers in saying “no”. Introduction This is the show I promised you in episode 37 - we will be exploring strategies for saying “no”. To avoid doubt we are focusing on saying “no” to colleagues when the right answer is “no” even though we feel like we should say “yes” and often do. Why Should We Say “No” Sometimes? If you Google “say no motivational quotes” you’ll find a whole heap of Instagram-worthy cheesiness answering this question. Normally I steer clear of this sort of thing but actually I found a few (un-attributed) crackers: Saying NO often means you can say YES to things that really matter. Sometimes you need to say NO to others to say YES to yourself. I thought these were so good I’ve made them into Instagram graphics for you to share as a reminder to yourself and others. Please free to use them in any way you like. You need not sign up to get them or anything - just right click and save the image. Here are m

Episode 40 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores how dictation could help you cut time spent typing emails. Introduction Did you listen to Episode 33? In it, I explained my secret method for working twice as fast as anyone else… touch-typing. Did you try it? Can you already type? This episode is for those who are still struggling. It’s for those who already type at ANY speed. In short, it’s for anyone who needs to get words down quickly. So… anyone! Today’s episode is all about dictation. I was going to call this episode How to be a Dictator, then I changed my mind! Back in the Day In the offices of the 90’s and early 2000’s (I’m basing this on my own memory by the way), dictation was used regularly. Someone would speak into a dictaphone (they had mini tapes!) and dictate letters, notes… anything really. The tape would be sent to the secretary or secretarial pool and the audio would be transcribed. As technology developed, people’s IT skills improved. The advent of email meant that many people developed typi

Episode 39 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores why we may need to evaluate our self-imposed standards. Introduction Shocking episode title? I hope so! Did I get your attention? Did you read it wrong? No - you did not. In today’s episode we are talking about the standards you impose upon yourself, not those imposed by your organisation or profession.  It’s time to audit those standards if you are struggling to get everything done and must take work home in the evenings. If your work/life balance is out of whack - you need an audit. As teachers, we are reflective practitioners. Evaluation is an essential part of the teaching, learning and assessment cycle. So let’s evaluate, or audit, our self-imposed standards. Why do we Aim so High? Sweeping assumption: I think your standards are high. Why? You are listening to a teaching podcast in your own time for personal and professional development. You take your position as a role model seriously. Areas Where Self-Imposed Standards Might be too High Assessme

Episode 38 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores some strategies and ideas on how you can concentrate more and be distracted less.  Introduction One of the biggest challenges of being a teacher or trainer is that we have such small gaps of time between sessions to get non-teaching work done. As a result, we attract more interruptions than most! (Perhaps not “more”, it’s just they are condensed into a shorter space of time). We also have a tendency to get distracted easily (again, because we are required to get focussed quickly and we don’t have long). Distractions and interruptions fall into two categories: people and things. I will tackle both together. My Top Six Here are my top six workplace distractions and interruptions, and techniques for managing them. 1. People (Physical Interruptions) When someone walks over to your desk to talk to you, stand up. This sends the message you don’t have time for a casual visit and will help them realise they need to get to their point quickly. When interrupted, state

Episode 37 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores why establishing boundaries with colleagues is important and essential within working environments.  Introduction In the last episode we explored setting boundaries with learners. I explained: I like to think of boundaries as positive limits. They aren’t huge walls with barbed wire on the top. They are a protective measures. Boundaries can relate relationships, physical elements and emotions. I found two great articles on this topic to help me prepare for this episode. You can find links to them in the show notes. Why Are Boundaries Important? Having boundaries in place allows you to: Navigate complex colleague relationships.  Protect yourself, specifically your role and responsibilities.  Preserve your mental health and emotional energy. Uphold your own standards and values. Be productive.  Examples of Personal Workplace Boundaries Some examples include: Job description: what you are required to do. Interpersonal: how you behave with others. Personal: your

Episode 36 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores why establishing boundaries with learners is essential in educational situations. Introduction In today's episode we're talking boundaries.  I like to think of boundaries as positive limits. They aren’t huge walls with barbed wire on the top. They are a protective measures. Boundaries can relate relationships, physical elements and emotions. This week it's about your learners. The next episode will be all about your colleagues. Why are Boundaries Needed? There are lots of reasons but as this is a ten-minute episode let’s highlight three: Each party in the learning relationship understands their role. This also translates well to real life so you are modelling expected behaviour, regardless of the age group you teach. Boundaries define the limits of your role as a teacher - this profoundly influences your workload and ultimately your mental health. Safeguarding reasons (age and location dependent as laws are different). In Guernsey we are bound by the Children

Episode 35 of The Teaching Space Podcast is all about how to use a to-do list PROPERLY!  Introduction We all know I like to geek out on productivity apps - this is not one of those episodes! Well, not entirely. In today’s show we are focusing on how to use a to-do list properly, regardless of the method you use. OK there might be a bit of app talk, but I will keep it to a minimum. Let’s get the app talk out the way first… Do you Need an App? No. Pen and paper works fine. But if you want an app, then there are lots of amazing ones on the market. App advantages: The ability to re-order your list without re-writing it.  Cross-platform accessibility and portability. Backups. Task or Project Manager? If you ARE going down the digital route: do you need a task management or project management app?  To understand your needs, analyse the work you need to organise.  At a guess: your work is probably project-based rather than task based. Example: if you have a pile of marking to do, the process has multiple tasks (ea

Episode 34 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores how audiobooks and podcasts can be helpful and perhaps are essential in CPD.  Here are the show notes for this episode. Introduction I’ve been listening to podcasts and audiobooks since before they were mainstream. Podcasts came first. I produced my first podcast almost 10 years ago, so I’d been listening to podcasts for a few years before that. My first podcast listening experience was an amazing knitting podcast called Electric Sheep. Sadly, she is no longer podcasting. But the fact that I could listen to someone talking about knitting, and knit was amazing to me. The division of my attention was so much better than, say, watching TV and knitting.  I always loved the convenience of audio podcasts and that convinced me to try audiobooks.  A Word on Multi-Tasking If you’ve been listening to the show for a while you’ll know my position on multi-tasking. There’s no such thing! It’s called task switching. You will get more done if you focus on doing just one thin

Episode 33 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores how touch-typing can help both teacher and learner to work much faster.  Introduction Learning to type was probably one of the best things I ever did and this applies to all roles in my life: student, adult, “corporate world me” and teacher. It enables you to work more efficiently at the computer. You get more done thanks to increased speed and accuracy. Touch-typing helps me every day with: Writing my book. Writing podcast outlines. Writing feedback for learners. Communicating by email. Anything that involves communicating using the written word and a computer!  If you can already type, keep listening, because this is a skill you should pass on to your learners and colleagues.  What is Touch Typing? Looking at your screen, not your fingers. Using all (or most) of your fingers to type. Technically, specific fingers activate specific keys (if you have been trained correctly).  Who Needs to Learn to Touch Type Simple - everyone who uses a computer to get th

Episode 32 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores the steps to take in order achieve Inbox Zero.  Here are the show notes for this episode. Introduction My blog post about achieving inbox zero is one of my most popular. It’s a long post though, so for those of you who prefer to consume my short podcasts, here you go. What is Inbox Zero? Not just having an empty inbox. You can do that (delete all/declare email bankruptcy) but that’s faking it. It’s an email management process which leads to your inbox being empty most of the time. If you have a trusted process to deal with your emails, you stop worrying about them. You stop being controlled by them. You free up space in your brain to focus on other things. The Problem With Email It’s not always the best communication method. It creates an urge to respond. It generates more emails. It’s not a task manager. It’s always there. The Big Clean Up First step, clean up your inbox. Set up ARCHIVE/S sub-folder under your inbox (just one). Delete emails that are no

Episode 31 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores the benefits of Meal Planning for both Teachers and Trainers. Podcast Episode 32 Transcript Welcome to The Teaching Space Podcast, coming to you from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Hello and welcome to Episode 31 of The Teaching Space Podcast. It's Martine here. Thank you so much for joining me today. This episode explores why meal planning is absolutely essential for teachers and trainers. I know it sounds really random, but do stick with me. Summer Break Goals I'm recording this episode while I'm on my summer break and one of the many goals I'm trying to achieve during this time is to develop a meal planning routine. You're still wondering what this has got to do with teaching, aren't you? Well, the first thing that goes out the window when I'm busy and I've got a heavy teaching schedule is my eating. My meals aren't good and my health, ultimately, gets affected. If I'm busy, I'll end up popping to the supermarket on the way home and just picking up someth

Episode 30 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores the benefits of using Google Calendar for teachers. Podcast Episode 30 Transcript Welcome to The Teaching Space Podcast. Coming to you from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Hello, it's Martine here and welcome to Episode 30 of The Teaching Space Podcast. Today I will be sharing with you Seven Reasons Why All Teachers Should Use Google Calendar. If you've been using Google Calendar for a while, you'll be aware that this year, it's had a bit of a makeover. I found a really good walk-through video on YouTube that I'll make sure I share in the show notes.  Actually if you don't normally look at the show notes, I'm going to really recommend you do it for this episode because I'm going to share lots of videos to help you understand the seven reasons I'm going to tell you in a second, a little better. So do hop over to theteachingspace.com/30, it will be worth it, I promise. 1. Co-ordinating with Your Family/Partner Let's get started then. Number one, an amazing reas

Episode 29 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores how learners can and should use images legally in the content that they produce.  Podcast Episode 29 Transcript Welcome to The Teaching Space Podcast, coming to you from Guernsey in the Channel Islands.  Hello, it's Martine here. Welcome to Episode 29 of The Teaching Space Podcast. Today we're talking about how to help learners use images online legally. Let's start with the why and then move onto the how. Why Is It Important? So, why is it important that we help learners use images online legally? Now, more than ever, we are asking our learners to produce content, often as evidence for assessment, and this content could easily be online. For example, things like blogs, presentations, leaflets, posters, that sort of thing. This type of content is usually enhanced by the use of images, so we should definitely be encouraging our learners to use images, but they need to use them correctly, in the same way that we teach our learners not to plagiarize. And with goo

Episode 28 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores how teachers can become Google certified and the positive effect this can have.  Podcast Episode 28 Transcript Welcome to The Teaching Space podcast, coming to you from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Hello and welcome to Episode 28 of The Teaching Space Podcast. It's Martine here. Thank you so much for joining me. Today's episode is about How Teachers Can Become Google Certified. Now, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you'll be aware that I am a Google certified trainer, and I think I've probably mentioned on the show in the past what a positive effect becoming a Google certified trainer has had on my practice and also my career. I've been working as an educational technology coach for a time now, and it's been a very, very positive experience. The Four Levels of Google Certification So in this episode, I'm going to take you through the four levels of Google certification. If this peaks your interest and you'd like to deep dive into it fur

Podcast Episode 27 Transcript Welcome to The Teaching Space podcast, coming to you from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Hello and welcome to Episode 27 of The Teaching Space Podcast. This show is all about books. I will be sharing five amazing books teachers will love. I recorded a similar episode right at the start of the podcast which was Episode 3. You'll find that here. Summer Break Before I start recommending books, however, I have a little bit of housekeeping to share with you. The Teachings Space is a term time only podcast and I am just about to start my summer break. So this will be the last episode until Friday the 7th of September, 2018. So there's going to be a bit of a break but do not fret. Over the summer break, I am going to be doing some very exciting research and prep for the next lot of episodes when we start the new academic year. I'm also going to be spending plenty of time in The Teaching Space Facebook group. I'm planning to do lots of live videos and also launch a couple of challenges

Episode 26 of The Teaching Space Podcast helps you prepare for a digital declutter to boost your productivity.  Podcast Episode 26 Transcript Welcome to The Teaching Space podcast, coming to you from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Hello, it's Martine here. Welcome to Episode 26 of The Teaching Space Podcast. In today's episode, I'm asking the question, do you need a digital declutter? I'm going to put myself out there and say I think you probably do. As such, in this episode, I plan to share some strategies to help you declutter and detox your digital space. Clutter Let's get thinking about clutter. On the face of it, digital clutter seems very different from physical clutter. There's a great example of this on a blog I like to follow called The Minimalists. If you go to theminimalists.com/digital, you'll find this example. Let me share an extract with you. Try to move 2,000 books to a new residence. Box up the physical books taking them off their shelves one by one, labelling each box with its appropriate