In this episode we listen to a variety of guests of varying ages, who share with us something they wish to thank their teacher for, or for something positive that they remember about their teacher. This is a heart-warming episode that makes you proud to be a teacher!!

#053 - Happy Birthday TICK!! What a great milestone, considering TICK is very lucky to have seen the light of day! In this much shorter episode, I am being interviewed about the memories I have and the things I have learnt over the last 12 months.

In this episode we talk about how the Happy School program came about and how we can build high staff morale within our school.

In this episode I share with you 20 time saving ideas that I have used, seen and discovered. I got very excited researching what other teachers have done and wanted to share some of these with you as I'm all for making our job that little bit easier!

In this episode we meet Cathy Banks, senior counsellor at National Association of Loss and Grief (NALAG) in Dubbo, NSW. She shares with us her knowledge, experience, strategies and resources, for teachers (or anyone really) to use in their classrooms.

Meet Reg and Lily who share with us their journey of changing how they assess their students. The most profound thing they have done is removed summative assessment tasks. This has created more engaged learners, due to students not just studying or learning for a particular task, but learning and improving on everything they are being taught!

In this episode I talk with Kylie who works at an IB school in Wagga Wagga, NSW. She shares with us her passion for education and how her own pedagogical practices align so well within the IB programs.

In this episode we meet Karen, a Gamilaraay woman, who is a trained primary school teacher and currently works as the Aboriginal Education Worker in a local high school. She is a wearer of many hats and absolutely loves her job helping Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

In this episode we meet Liz who is a teacher's aide, and who gives us an interesting insight into what it means to have this very special job!

In this episode we meet Marty, originally from Scotland, who came to Australia as a Science university lecturer then moved on to the independent school, Skillset Senior College in Bathurst, NSW. This school is an alternative to those kids who may not 'fit in' with mainstream high schools, for whatever reason. Marty and his team are doing a great job with these kids, particularly with his research project on mental health, ensuring they have an opportunity to finish their schooling and in some cases go on to further education.

My guest in this episode is Donna, a teacher of the Deaf for 25 years. Donna shares with us her story of how she became a teacher of the Deaf after studying and working initially as a Primary School teacher. She shares the things she loves about her job as well as the challenges. Donna also shares with us some strategies that mainstream classroom teachers can use to make things a little bit easier for these students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

#043 - In this episode we meet Jess, who shares with us what it's like to be an Education Officer at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, NSW. Her days are never the same and she gets to share her love of teaching with her love of animals. Jess also explains how resourceful the zoo is with all the programs they offer schools, students and teachers, that even amazed me, and how they are continually updating these resources. She also tells us about the zoo's website which also has valuable resources for us to use - a gold mine for teachers!!

In this episode we meet Ian or sometimes affectionately known as "Cave Man" who shares his knowledge and experience about just how special the Wellington Caves are. These beautiful formations, found in Central NSW are significant to the Wiradjuri nation and hide a history that is around 400 million years old! The Wellington caves are significant to the Science world with what can be studied, but they are significant to students too. They are a great place to learn about obvious and not-so-obvious topics. Why not visit the Wellington Caves for your next school excursion!!

In this episode we listen to Serena who shares with us her knowledge and experience around Positive Behaviour for Learning. There were a few 'a-ha moments' during this conversation and I got to see different ways of looking at things multiple times. It just goes to show, even when you think you know about something, you can always learn a little bit more. I hope you learn something from our conversation too!

In this episode I talk with Lou, who has a Science background and eventually made her way into teaching. We talked about one of her passions (which is one of mine as well!) of making learning real. Lou is part of an authentic research program where students in high school have the opportunity to work with university academics and be involved in breast cancer research. How amazing is that! What are you doing in your classroom to make learning real?

Do you think teaching music, dance and drama are a waste of time that could be spent elsewhere? This episode may change your mind! In this episode we listen to Lou, the RFF (release from face to face) teacher at her school who teaches Creative Arts. We discuss the highs and lows of her role and how important building those 21st century skills are, which is exactly what her subject area does!

In this episode I talk with Education Officer Vicki, who shares with us her passion and excitement about data literacy. We laughed about whenever you mention the word 'data', people's eyes seem to glaze over, but data literacy is more than just crunching numbers. We discuss the importance of transparency, validity and reliability in our teaching which is exactly what being data literate does!

In this episode we meet both Susan, a principal of her school and Wally, her therapy dog she takes to school 3 days a week. In our conversation we talk about the invaluable work that Wally does at the school for both students and staff. He is loved by everyone!

Imagine if every child you taught could read, and could read well! Imagine how much learning could take place if students could read fluently and comprehend what they were reading! Imagine! After talking with our guest in this episode, Sarah McDonagh, I believe that our students are capable of this. Sarah shares with us the importance of explicit, quality teaching practices, that can bring positive results to our students' reading!

Reports are a time consuming task combined with a time poor teacher - not a great combination! Nevertheless, they are a necessary evil! In this episode we listen to Tiff who shares with us her tips and tricks on how she writes Reports and what she does to make the job that little bit easier!!