Episodes
Wednesday Feb 28, 2018
Programme 318, Claire Corroon on Teaching Maths, pt 2 (28-2-18)
Wednesday Feb 28, 2018
Wednesday Feb 28, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with primary teacher and mathematics teacher educator, Claire Corroon. You can access resources and opinions about mathematics teaching on her website, Primary CPD. Among the topics we discuss this week are the following:
- Her Views on Curriculum Revision in primary mathematics
- Differentiation in mathematics
- Assessment in mathematics
- Mathematics curricula in other countries
- Jerome Bruner
- Singapore Maths
- Sherry Parrish (https://twitter.com/numbertalks?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
- Jo Boaler
- Marilyn Burns
- Christina Tondevold
- Graham Fletcher (three act tasks for maths)
- The usefulness of mini-whiteboards
Wednesday Feb 21, 2018
Programme 317, Claire Corroon on Teaching Maths (21-2-18)
Wednesday Feb 21, 2018
Wednesday Feb 21, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
This week my guest on the programme is Claire Corroon a primary teacher and teacher educator with a particular interest in mathematics education. She has many resources on her website, Primary CPD, where she also blogs. In this, the first part of our interview, among the topics discussed are:
- How she got involved in mathematics education
- Courses she gives for teachers in summer and at evenings
- Number talks
- Concrete, pictorial and abstract representations in mathematics
- Her approach to teaching tables
Wednesday Feb 14, 2018
Programme 316, Alf Coles, part 2 (14-2-18)
Wednesday Feb 14, 2018
Wednesday Feb 14, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
This week I conclude my interview with Dr. Alf Coles from the School of Education at the University of Bristol. Among the topics we discuss this week are:
- Planning for the unexpected in mathematics classes
- His work with the charity “Five by Five by Five Equals Creativity”
- Using Cuisenaire rods and a tens chart to teach mathematics
- How the number naming system in the English language makes learning mathematics more difficult and what you can do about it
- Using the tens chart to teach decimals
- How our current curriculum limits children’s understanding of number
- Creativity in primary school mathematics
- What inspires him
- Whose work in education he likes to read
- What he would change about his current institution
- How his own schooling influences his practice in education today
Wednesday Feb 07, 2018
Programme 315, Teachers Learning from Video and the work of Caleb Gattegno (7-2-18)
Wednesday Feb 07, 2018
Wednesday Feb 07, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme my guest is Dr. Alf Coles from the University of Bristol School of Education. Among the topics discussed are:
- What teachers learn from using video
- Responding to video through description versus judgment
- Using video clubs for teacher professional development
- The centre for researching education across boundaries
- Who was Caleb Gattegno
- What is the Silent Way of learning a language
- What is an energy budget for learning?
- Four stages of awareness
- Inventing the geoboard
- Book, What we owe children by Caleb Gattegno
- How he became a teacher educator
- How he balances his teaching and research work
- How he practices teacher education
- Greg Simon’s blog: https://gregsimonmusic.com/blog/
- Gregory Bateson: https://mri.org/gregory-bateson/
Wednesday Jan 31, 2018
Programme 314, Páiric Clerkin & IPPN, pt 2
Wednesday Jan 31, 2018
Wednesday Jan 31, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with Páiríc Clerkin, the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN). In this part of the interview our conversation covers topics such as:
- What the IPPN does
- How he finds the role of CEO of the IPPN
- What teachers should think about before applying for roles as principal or deputy principal
- How will job of principal be different in ten years’ time to what it is today
- What inspires him
- What he likes to read/listen to
- Changes he’d make in the IPPN
- The five minute bench break
- How his own education influences his work as an educator
Wednesday Jan 24, 2018
Programme 313, Páiric Clerkin & IPPN, pt 1 (24-1-18)
Wednesday Jan 24, 2018
Wednesday Jan 24, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I look ahead to the 2018 annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network with the Chief Executive Officer of the Network, Páiric Clerkin. Among the topics we discuss are:
- Priorities for principals at this time
- School funding
- Droichead
- What to expect at the IPPN Conference
Wednesday Jan 17, 2018
Programme 312, Gerry O'Connell on Religious Education, pt 2 (17-1-18)
Wednesday Jan 17, 2018
Wednesday Jan 17, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with Dr. Gerry O'Connell from the Marino Institute of Education where we talk about religious education and much more.
Among the topics discussed this week are the following:
- Prayer and religious education and how mindfulness was introduced to Catholic schools over two decades ago
- The power of prayer and mindfulness
- How do you define a practising Catholic if not by their attendance at church?
- The problem with large class sizes
- How to develop one’s religious imagination
- Integrating religious education with other subjects
- Accommodating children who don’t take religious education in a religious school
- How do prospective teachers learn to teach religion? Dr. Gerry O’Connel outlines seven elements that are key to his approach:
- Waiting and wondering
- The threshold experience
- Asking the question
- Gathering around the subject
- Journalling ( What did I learn? What does it say to where I am? What am I going to do about it?)
- Pushing back the horizon
- Concluding ritual
Wednesday Jan 10, 2018
Programme 311, Gerry O'Connell on Religious Education (10-1-18)
Wednesday Jan 10, 2018
Wednesday Jan 10, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I speak to my colleague in the Marino Institute of Education, Dr. Gerry O'Connell about religious education. Gerry is a primary teacher and a teacher educator with vast experience and his ideas are grounded in this experience and in his scholarly work in the field. Among the topics discussed this week are the following:
- The difference between teaching religion and religious education
- The importance of starting with the students’ experiences
- The challenges of working with diverse student experiences
- The teaching methodology “Godly Play”
- Social media as a force of oppression
- Why contemplative space, depth of conversation or wonder and symbol or story are central to religious education
- Whether sacraments should be taught in school or in parishes
- What makes a teacher?
- Teaching as a vocation
- A perceived secularist agenda in some media organisations
Wednesday Dec 20, 2017
Programme 310, The Role of Questions in Teaching (20-12-17)
Wednesday Dec 20, 2017
Wednesday Dec 20, 2017
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I am joined once again by philosopher and retired primary school teacher, John Doyle. In the interview, John reflects on the role of questions in teaching.
Wednesday Dec 13, 2017
Programme 309, David Didau 3 & Buildup to Christmas (13-12-17)
Wednesday Dec 13, 2017
Wednesday Dec 13, 2017
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I bring you the third and final part of my interview with David Didau, author of What if Everything You Knew about Education Was Wrong? Among the people and websites referred to in this part of our discussion are the following:
The Neuroscience of Intelligence by Richard J Haier
How to Teach by Phil Beadle
My second guest this week is Jane Shimizu who is a primary teacher in a DEIS school in county Galway. For many years she kept a busy classroom blog and current updates are on the school website. As part of her discussion on science week, she mentioned the website www.rokit.com.