Mr Barton Podcast
I have been listening to the Mr Barton Podcast for about a year now. It makes my journey to and from school each day a bit more interesting. And it has changed my teaching.
This is no understatement. Ideas that I have heard in this podcast have had a huge impact on me, along with the research that the guests have suggested. Some of the things I knew about, but not in detail. Others have shattered some of my preconceived ideas about education.
The podcast involves Mr Barton interviewing a guest. In the beginning the guests were mostly maths teachers from the UK (as Mr Barton is himself a maths teacher), and it focused largely on teaching maths. But as the podcast has grown he has interviewed some of the big names in educational research, across multiple subjects, covering important aspects of education across the whole age and subject range.
In each episode, Mr Barton gives a brief introduction to what will be covered, then the interview happens, and afterwards Mr Barton comes back with his takeaways from the interview. This last part is especially useful as it incorporates the view of a practising teacher, and how he could use these ideas.
There is also a written overview of the "show notes" on each of the pages below, along with links to any accompanying documentation that was discussed.
I am going to recommend four episodes here:
Dylan William - the godfather of assessment for learning.
Tom Bennett - the behaviour guru.
Daisy Christodoulou - the assessment expert.
Robert and Elizabeth Bjork - the masters of memory.
I would say that listening to these podcasts has been some of the best CPD I have gone through. They have made me think in depth about my teaching and the students learning. They have pointed me in the direction of further research. And they have opened my eyes to the amount of educational research that exists, and that we as teachers should be incorporating the things for which there is evidence into our teaching.