Hollie
Hello welcome back to the English and maths birth. My name is Holly Barnes and this week. I'm joined by the wonderful Josh Spears.
Josh
Hello thank you for having me holi.
Hollie
Hello.
Hollie
Hollie
You're very welcome. Thanks for joining us do you just want to give a bit about yourself to our alister's?
Josh
Absolutely yes, my name is Josh I teach reset GCSE English in a College in the North East of England. I teach it to both 1620 teens and I also teach it to adults as well.
Hollie
Fabulous I'm so how's your week going Josh?
Josh
So far, it's absolutely lovely. We're off for Easter break. Although it's mostly been taken up with us or doing ur preparation for teacher assessed grades.
Josh
So a bit of work, a bit of play a bit of sunshine. It's been spring pretty good, so far.
Hollie
And as we were called today, it's sunny saves so far this year, I think.
Josh
I know definitely up here. It's approaching 18 degrees. Hopefully gets to 20. Today would be nice and warm good for the plants outside the very least crap.
Hollie
Morning.
Hollie
Practically tropical.
Speaker 3
Hollie
So um Josh? What is what's happening at the moment with your with your learning? Are you all online are you back in the classroom.
Josh
We are doing a blended approach, mostly we're now back on site teaching face to face but there are some elements where we've moved online, including a couple classes that have elected to stay entirely online. So we do have a blended approach. It's working really well for us.
Speaker 3
What?
Hollie
That's good, I think that's what most are most colleges about where we're similar so we do one online. In 2 lessons face face so fearlessness who who don't really know kind of the settle for English and maths. We have to fulfil 3 hours a week isn't it but that's round could be an hour or it could be 2 sets of.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Hollie
One and a half hours as well. Yeah.
Speaker 3
Hollie
Cool so how how we found online learning.
Josh
So I absolutely loved it, I've always been a bit of a tech head. I was one of the only people in the college to have done a Google for education certification.
Josh
So we you know, we used primarily just G suite and the early days of the pandemic. You know all those all those months ago near enough year to the day. You know, we were thrown into that with very little warning and we were thrown into that with very little expectation of what we need to deliver.
Josh
And because I work with such a professional and excellent group of people who are willing to learn listen and do we actually created our own virtual learning environment using Google chat Google meet or classroom and were able to retain our students and keep them engaged at a time where our students were effectively cut off from the outside.
Josh
Felt so online learning for that for those kind of was it 6 weeks leading up to summer is that what is that?
Josh
How long it was you know was all spent just you know engaging with those learners getting them to not feel so.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Josh
Alone my checking up on them, checking up on the mental health became a big part of our job, making sure they were felt felt safe and also continuing with their education in in in the?
Josh
Piece of
Josh
All that gonna be exams. We were effectively being asked questions that even the people above us didn't know the answer to.
Hollie
There.
Josh
And then you know summer came and online learning came up back again in I think what was it. We had on and off its online learning.
Josh
You know in the in the winter term because you know, entire classes were being isolated and what not and it was almost like a return to normality.
Josh
But then we have the experience. We knew what we were doing were exceptionally skilled team online. So we did really well, Anne and then came January 33 months of back tomorrow.
Josh
Cause and you know, I couldn't have been happier with how my learners really rose to the challenge and we got some great work done.
Josh
We started working on these new units. We taught entirely taught entire topics virtually and they got them. Just proving that with the right knowledge and the right skill and the right attitude towards this digital learning can be.
Hollie
Wow.
Josh
As effective if not more effective than in class learning.
Hollie
Yeah, there is this, I don't know if it was the same kind of feelings that with you. But I think there's a lot of warrior monks or for English teachers that I've spoken to about trying to teach reading and writing online and the difficulties actually off that not just from an engagement point of view, but you know trying teach reading skills. When we don't know if they've read the text or you know, we don't know if they're going to be able to have that same interpretation? Are we
Hollie
Going to have the same discussions.
Josh
And I found that I mean, we were prepared with an anthology. We've made together as a Department and so we were all singing from the same sheet hymn sheet and our learners have access to the anthology from day one both in print and digital form.
Josh
We got them used to reading digitally whenever we could coz we knew back in August and September that we were going to be in lockdown again. I think we all knew it in the education industry so we plan for it.
Josh
And we taught them how to use Google Docs to to make comments on what they read to use the colour highlights to still have those transferable skills.
Josh
So if they worse was going to be an exam. They could just get on there and highlight and do their usual thing.
Hollie
Absolutely.
Josh
Yeah, so we did. Okay, we did Alright and the learners have kind of adapted quite well as well.
Speaker 3
Hollie
Yeah, and I think this you know, we with spoken to quite a few guests and obviously a lot. A lot of people in industry and sector.
Hollie
Sorry and you know, there are there happens really fantastic parts of of online learning. You know for some of my learners writing is what they are more confident with and actually being able to write on a computer and type. Everything up and searching have those images of problems that's really helps develop their writing as well.
Josh
Absolutely having it.
Josh
Digital tools have enabled our most needy learners to to achieve.
Josh
In in all areas of the exam, but especially writing as well. Cos. I no longer held back by that perception that their handwriting defines them.
Hollie
Absolutely and so we were just having a chat with prices. We've been talking away and.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Hollie
We're talking about about.
Hollie
The the cultural poverty side of things that we see in the classroom and.
Hollie
Now, for some of our learners, they've never experienced certain situations and the difficulties of put in those situations across whether they really quite simplistic or whether they wanna on a larger scale. You know whether it's taking you been out and not being able to write about it or writing about time where you been at the seaside and I think that's all though they may not have experienced those kind of scenarios whilst. We've been online and there's there's been.
Hollie
That's been another barrier hasn't it with online learning is trying to maybe engage them into those types of topics.
Josh
Absolutely absolutely it and it's it's locked down as only.
Josh
Has only made this worse as they've been unable to get outside and from another kind of Flipside of this, if you think about it, you know how many learners had to borrow equipment from from college take to get online? How many of them were are are sharing a laptop between 55. Other members of their family. How many of them? Don't have reliable Internet access. They live out in the sticks.
Josh
Um?
Josh
We end up with this kind of massive disparity of learning between the haves and the haves, not and this cultural poverty just drives that forward. I mean, there's a there's a figure.
Josh
There's a figure out there so that 30% of learners are in some degree of of financial.
Josh
Poverty and financial poverty in culture poverty. They are not necessarily synonyms for another, but they are related and they will.
Josh
And that relation is is close to parity enough in that many students who come from poor backgrounds do not have access to museums.
Josh
Art Gallery's theatre libraries, nature walks, and thus their their learning and working class have a licence to have those basic human experiences.
Josh
Is not there and they suffer for it.
Hollie
Yes.
Hollie
And we kind of have a duty No 2 to encourage them to go out and experience. These things you know there. There's almost like a barrier. Sometimes I think it's maybe teenage hormones. But you know where where they say you know what about going to this. This particular place or you. Have you considered reading. This book and and immediately. It's kind of shutdown because it's out of their their normal you know that it's not something they've done before and quite frankly it's not sometimes it's not called that it think so. I'm not gonna go to museums, it's not cool.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Hollie
And she said.
Hollie
It off, but then we have to be a driving force for trying to show them experiences that they could have life.
Josh
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And So what I always try to include important cultural landmarks in the text. I give them as you will know, being a fellow English teacher you know we have to give these kids extracts from 20th and 19 century texts are non fiction depending on what exam board or with an actual gateway.
Josh
That's how you can show them these new and interesting kind of landscapes and worlds out there that they can then engage with and you have to.
Josh
Fight them by degrees as well. One of the things that I did for many, many students who couldn't access the seaside or access even transportation to A to a more rural area to explore is I use Google Earth to create guided tours around literary characters.
Josh
I've got one up right now which takes you around the one of the living areas of Beatrix Potter. You get to explore the lake that she wrote at and I've got that so you can click on the button. It will take you through.
Josh
Slideshow of St Views and they can go through it bit by bit.
Josh
And explore that.
Hollie
What if I buy clear that's brilliant?
Josh
Yeah yeah, it's called Google Earth, which is not people know about it. But the minute I think the education sector gets their teeth into it, we're going to see a huge take off.
Hollie
Yeah, definitely the Bizzle even on my Apple Maps now on phones is there, you can zoom in on a place and it will give you a tour around the city.
Josh
Absolutely yeah.
Hollie
So the numbers you know been to Andover country or you. You know you've never been made the outside of your area you can now.
Hollie
Explore.
Hollie
City centre, Manchester and Edinburgh and it will walk almost like a flying visit so that that's a bit. Yeah, that's very useful tool actually I need.
Yeah.
Hollie
I'm definitely need to look at bringing that more into the classroom, especially because we we talk about this creative side.
Josh
Yeah.
Hollie
And you know, creative writing is is reliant on creativity, but we will try and draw on experiences in all of our areas with its breeding. All creative writing there to pull it forward like you were saying, you know.
Speaker 3
Hollie
It's it's difficult if you're go to lesson. For some teachers, it could be you know his his picture of the seaside.
Hollie
Now use the five senses to talk about it. Well, how do you know what? How do you know what CS melzack if you never been there? So just as well, it smells salty. You're okay, cool, well, just write it down.
Exactly.
Josh
Yeah exactly, we have to provide the landscapes for which we want them to write about.
Josh
And and I thought, you know, we're past the age where we can. Kind of, you know, just walking entire class out for an impromptu field trip.
Josh
You know, this just doesn't happen anymore unfortunately. But what we can do is open windows and getting to look out.
Josh
And we were quite lucky where I work. We have quite a large. We have a beautiful garden outside my my window that's tended to by our by approach.
Josh
One of our one of our learning programmes and it's absolutely lovely to watch them. Kind of, you know, digging up and planting.
Josh
Falling flowers and you can smell it. When the couple across and tell him to get the window in. Just gonna take that.
Josh
And they come away from that feeling a little bit silly because you know they will be around a window, but they feel much happier cause we haven't been able to do that this year because of the size of the pandemic and we've had to kind of about to kind of narrow it down.
Josh
Look in the room. What do you smell? Is it cooking? How would you hear sounds of your family and get them to Congress?
Josh
Express that and get used to being kind of five sensory being are we forget that our learners are very much a sight and sound orientated people. They've allowed their phones or the phone.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Josh
And give you a sight and sound. And when you expose them to the rest of the universe effectively they they get a bit confused. But we get there and they become writers through that.
Hollie
I'm going to play devil's advocate Josh. So what if you know we're talking about a theme of holidays? Would you? Would you still prefer that to a group? You knowing that maybe 75% of them have never been on holiday?
Josh
Well, the issue we've got there and you are quite right to raise it is that you know majority of the questions that come up in in the taxi arrive at time you went somewhere and they struggle to to do that.
Josh
So what do you do? Well, what I've been doing is I've been showing them video clips in episodes from not just here. David Ambrose, life on Earth, but of.
Josh
Of bit of carpet.
Josh
Kingston when he goes on he's a idiot abroad stuff and they think that's the most funniest thing I've ever seen in their life.
Speaker 3
Best surface.
Josh
And I said, well, how do you think he felt there? And they'll produce these in little kind of, you know, paragraphs about being him walking through, you know Egypt in the dust and dirt and smells, so you can still engage them.
Speaker 3
Josh
You just have to show them you have to give them that stimulus and then you can after their. They're capable of seeing something on a screen and being able to put themselves.
Josh
In a character shoes in there able to perform the most vital kind of task of alright switches to become empathic with your reader and create a sense of empathy.
Josh
Coz that's wall or what it's about an international writing as well. What if they get after a travel guide and they've been out of the county? You know it's going to be.
Josh
It's going to be hard for them.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Hollie
Yeah, and you know these merchant was saying in another episode with with Steph about these situations are are they fit for purpose that were seen in the exams? Are they? Are they engaging? Offer learners want to talk about? I know you're not with them with a QA.
Hollie
When with AQA, we've had exams that are about like you know, bicycles, but how many? How many of our learners cycle or own a bike and having to talk comparison different viewpoints?
Hollie
She knows not explicitly about by export. There's an overarching theme of that you know linking to transport, so some of our learners that live near our college are most likely to walk and not actually get on a bus or.
Hollie
And now some of that cycle because they live an hour and a half bus journey away so that there are somethings that they can link to, but still not entirely in that topic just cause they have a little bit about transport. Or they can relate to little bit. Does it mean they can make the wider kind of connexion?
Josh
Yeah, absolutely you. You write the exams are not are not fit for purpose.
Josh
And although that excels doing that is start the initiative of English language Lift to try and kind of change the dynamic.
Josh
It's unfortunately signed to skew it in the opposite direction where it's making it far more functional. When these young people haven't even got a clue to what functionality really is, we should be inspiring their creative selves and being we should be opening up these these young learners to the world, not shutting them away, not telling him.
Josh
I'm teaching him that it's just it's an equation. Life is an equation to be solved, but it's a journey to be.
Josh
Walked and we need to start helping them have these experiences and more importantly working with the exam boards and that exam boards are great.
Josh
They do these consultations to share our experiences with them and share our experiences with each other as educated because no one educator can afford to be an island as well, we need to riff off each other in that respect.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Hollie
So going back to well, sometimes we talked about it. What? What is it that we think?
Hollie
That our learners need.
Hollie
So what about what do they want to, what they need in order for them to be successful? What things need to change, do you think?
Josh
I think this is quite it's quite a large question. Hopefully I couldn't be more succinct with it, so our learners.
Speaker 3
Open.
Josh
Firstly, they need a space into which to grow into adulthood. That's the first thing they need to be respected, and given the and given the.
Josh
Need to to earn that respect with you. I operate in my classroom. I have two boxes. The box of shame, the box of awesome you mess around too much.
Josh
You go in the box, shape you in there three times. You know I'm going to write you up on our.
Josh
Our monitoring software is going to go to your head of department now if you do something amazing. If you contributed to write something beautiful.
Josh
If you have a good idea or you help another student, you go in the box of awesome. You go in there three times.
Josh
I write you to buy right positively and because of that they had to change the system used for monitoring to add like a positivity column because English and maths as you well know Holi is often considered to be the source of most problems for departmental areas in terms of discipline, a student shouldn't comes into college not to do English and maths.
Josh
But they come in there to do the vocational qualification of their choice when they feel for English and maths.
Speaker 3
No.
Josh
They don't get on with it and behavioural issues that wouldn't be an issue in the main qual are a massive issue for English and maths, but if we praise these students.
Josh
If you reward them, if we if we respect them, they will suddenly go. This isn't like school at all.
Josh
I can be my authentic self here and they can grow into themselves and become adults and some of them that you know that's not going to happen. But for the ones that it works for, it's just beautiful to watch.
Speaker 3
Well.
Hollie
Yeah, yeah, absolutely right. And you know, we've spoken about the.
Hollie
The respect in the classroom that that and how we have to build that and how those those first initial weeks are really, really important for creating that environment.
Hollie
We're not just talking about, you know. The routines and rituals have welcomed the men and and you know, saying hello, how's your day and and that?
Hollie
And we were talking about the entire kind of experience. Aren't we an from from the saw? And how we how we move forward?
Hollie
That, and it's true. You know, we we so simply do have a lower attendance in English and maths.
Hollie
At college we when we do have different behavioural issues that crop up and that.
Hollie
They stem from different reasons. They don't know. You know that if they're playing up in vacation or it may be a different reason, or is it spurred on by some dance, but we know that a lot of them can be deep rooted down to loss of hope or just pure fear of being in the classroom as well.
Hollie
So yeah, I definitely think that this there's a lot of things that need to change for English and maths learners, and I think that we we is English and math teachers have to be the driving force that we have to find what they are and we have to make those changes initially. Don't wait, which is what a lot of fantastic educators like yourself for doing so.
Speaker 3
Hollie
So we'll just move on to a final question. Then Josh is what's your most memorable left?
Speaker 3
Which.
Josh
So so yeah, so I was teaching.
Josh
About 15 Level 1 bricklayers and plumbers.
Josh
And very much an attitude related class. Very a bunch of tough lads in there not know ladies in there. Unfortunately they all kind of trying to posture imposed to one another.
Josh
And of course I try to make it engaging. I basically I do a bit of extra from Game of Thrones and they still look at it a bit skew.
Josh
If not reading them engage and I'm thinking if Game of Thrones isn't getting these kids motivated, I don't know what it is.
Josh
You know, you know this is a really fantastic fantasy epic. Why they're not engaging with it, and I chose a fairly tame passage cause you know how that show and not showing that book could have been, but I it was quite, you know, descriptive and beautiful in its own way anyway. At the end of the lesson, this one kid stays behind. This kid is a troublemaker.
Speaker 3
Phil.
Josh
And he stays behind. I thought what's he gonna kick off about now? And he goes so I really like Game of Thrones yeah, what you think about stock it would.
Josh
What do you think his character arc is going to be and I'm and I'm literally my. My brain is exploded coz this kid is not only talking to me about something that he likes to post a wise miserable all the time but he's talking about book and I find out he's readable.
Josh
And this is a number of like I've actually done it. I've got a kid to talk about literature in a positive light and it was just it blew my mind.
Josh
It just shows that just because a class does not engage with you as a unit, those individual learners might walk away an it might change their life forever and that proved it to me.
Hollie
Oh, that's so lovely. It is so lovely when those like small pockets of joy come out, isn't it? You know, if you can, you can connect with one of them on on whatever level that is.
Yeah.
Hollie
Whether that is an education level or something that they leave, that's really thought provoking. I think you know you're absolutely winning, so it sounds brilliant.
Hollie
We're coming to the end of our our time, Josh. Although we could definitely talk forever and I'm sure we will.
Hollie
We'll catch up after this, but thank you so much for coming on. Did you just want to pop your them?
Hollie
Tell us your Twitter handle so.
Hollie
People can follow all the way they're doing.
Josh
Absolutely absolutely. My Twitter is at World Smith 1680.
Josh
At Wildsmith 1680 you can also read my blog posts on voice.com/users/josh educates also YouTube channel with Josh educates. Just give it a search and there it is mostly just GCSE English stuff. Don't expect me, no games or anything. It's quite quite boring if you're not an English teacher will learn, but there it is.
Hollie
Thank you will do is will put those into the.
Hollie
Bio, so you'll be able to click on those directly.
Josh
Fantastic.
Hollie
From the sun casts, thanks.
Hollie
Thank you so much for joining Deja.
Josh
No worries, thank you so much. Thank you so much honey. Have a great time. Bye bye.
Hollie
And you.
Speaker 3
Speaker 3
Speaker 3