Posts by Mark Taylor
163: ClearMinds Education with Tana Macpherson-Smith
Tana Macpherson-Smith founded ClearMinds Education in 2015 to combat the rise in mental health issues in children and teenagers. She has created an educational programme, Monkey Wisdom, which draws on her skills as a teacher, coach, storyteller and therapist to help children and adults alike, to easily understand how and why children are developing emotional and mental health issues that can last a lifetime.
Monkey Wisdom teaches children and teenagers the power of their thoughts to hold them in pain and negativity and provides simple, highly effective tools to help them take control of their thinking, get a grip on their mind-monkeys and step out of their emotional issues and into bright futures.
Tana has worked as a teacher and senior leader in secondary schools, as a boarding school housemistress, school governor, marketing director and creator of life-changing events for young people. She is also a Child, Adolescent and Parent Coach; a Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA) trainer; a Psy-Tap, EFT and NLP Practitioner.
Tana has herself experienced serious mental health illness. An unexpected breakdown in 2013 resulted in a six month spell in a London psychiatric hospital, ended her career as a teacher and led her to fulfilling what she now recognises as her true purpose: to prevent the development of emotional and mental health issues in children and thus reduce the impact of mental health illness on future adult generations.
www.clearminds.org/our-mission
Resources Mentioned
Show Sponsor
The National Association for Primary Education speaks for young children and all who live and work with them. This includes parents, teachers, governors and all those interested in primary education. Get their FREE professional journal at nape.org.uk/journal
162: Money and financial education with Pockets Change
Pockets Change is a hybrid organization (s-corp and non-profit 501c3) working with K-12 and college communities across the country. They provide workshops, curriculum, and ongoing support where students, parents, and educators develop an understanding of their personal relationship with money, new ways of thinking and talking about money, and the skills to take action and advocate for themselves and others.
It all happens through Hip Hop pedagogy, which focuses on understanding self-identity in relation to the whole. By connecting Hip Hop and Finance, we develop an understanding of ourselves and our relationship with money. We build financial habits that resonate with our personal identity. We discover how we process information and how to effectively communicate & collaborate. Pockets Change curriculum and programming empowers youth, their families, and their educators to see money as a tool and financial decision-making as a personal path that they can navigate.
Together we are working to address systemic issues of educational equity and the racial wealth divide. Their program supports youth in taking agency in their personal financial decisions through peer conversations, unpacking systems, developing habits, identifying personal values, and advocating for what they want now and in the future. By starting with self-care and personal agency we build our individual capacity to take part in social justice efforts where youth-led problem solving and professional relationship building for social impact can happen.
ANDREA FERRERO
CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Andrea Ferrero became an educator over a decade ago to be part of changing the world. Teaching on the Navajo and Hopi reservation where she grew up, Andrea saw how even the brightest students faltered when money moved from math class to practical application. Looking for tools to address issues of educational equity, Andrea stepped into the world of financial literacy and ed-tech.
She brings over a decade of experience in teaching and learning, curriculum and program development, and community capacity building together to design award winning educational programs and digital products. Andrea holds a teaching credential in PreK-12th grade multiple subjects and two Master’s in Educational Leadership and Curriculum & Instruction with Multicultural Contexts.
Leading Pockets Change, Andrea works with schools, organizations, and businesses to make finance fun through innovative educational approaches and meaningful ed-tech tools. She has served as a delegate to the World Innovation Summit in Qatar, the ASCD Supervision and Curriculum Development Delegation in China, the Multi-Age Learning Institute in New Zealand, and the Mozilla Open Leaders in England. Andrea is also a board member of the California Jump$tart Coalition.
She is always happy to share coffee and a conversation about changing the world through the development of financial capability.
Social media
@PocketsChange
Resource mentioned
Savage Inequities – Jonathan Kozol
Show Sponsor
The National Association for Primary Education speaks for young children and all who live and work with them. This includes parents, teachers, governors and all those interested in primary education. NAPE is a non-political charity and works tirelessly to support teachers in the classroom.
161: Satchel – Online Teaching & learning tools for staff, students and parents
ABOUT NAIMISH GOHIL
Naimish is an award-winning entrepreneur and in 2018 was named one of the Edtech 50 – a group of individuals recognised as the best of the UK’s edtech industry leaders. His passion and dedication to the education technology sector is also demonstrated by the range of industry talks and events he is invited to speak at, where he can be seen sharing his learnings and experiences
ABOUT SATCHEL
Satchel began in the classroom, built by then Assistant Headteacher and now CEO, Naimish Gohil. Driven by the desire to reduce teacher workload and bring together teachers, students and parents Naimish started building tools that unlock teachers’ superpowers and unite all parties in the teaching & learning process. Today, over 1600 schools use Satchel products, with a third of all UK secondary schools using Satchel One to access flagship software, Show My Homework.Their team, based near the Olympic Park in London, are on a mission to help teachers and students realise their potential through the use of edtech software designed to meet their exact needs, solving a real problem, never replacing the skills and talent they already possess.
Twitter – @Team_Satchel
Resources Mentioned
How to win friends and influence people – Dale Carnegie
Show Sponsor
The National Association for Primary Education speaks for young children and all who live and work with them. This includes parents, teachers, governors and all those interested in primary education. NAPE is a non-political charity and works tirelessly to support teachers in the classroom.
Music – Back to school support
Schools are returning with most pupils in September. In this video Carol and Mark discuss some key points to note in relation to music – For Primary Teachers, Music Specialists and Instrumental Teachers.
160: The Trust Revolution in Schools with Jeanie Davies
Teachers are some of the kindest, most altruistic and smartest people on the planet yet they create some of the most claustrophobic and toxic cultures within which to work. Not with the children, but with one another. Why is this? How is this? What are the impacts? And, crucially, how do we resolve it?
I explore how to do this with author of The Trust Revolution in Schools – Jeanie Davies.
Ofsted, accountability, funding, workload and societal difficulties have led to a response in many schools that is fear based, generating staff cultures that affect teacher wellbeing and are leading to large numbers leaving the profession. This impacts not only staff morale and wellbeing but also has a highly detrimental effect on teacher performance and the outcomes for pupils and students. This book examines what underpins these patterns and sets out a practical model for embedding a trust-based culture in all schools.
Drawing together four key psychological concepts, the book explores what a trust-based culture looks like and the conditions that are needed for this to develop. It looks at the paradoxes that lie in how staff create harmonious and collaborative cultures and the practical steps that are needed to create a culture where staff that crave and give open, robust feedback are pro-active, learn from failure and have the ability to thrive through challenging questions.
Providing a comprehensive blueprint for schools to follow, this is essential reading for school leaders and thinkers who want to create a rich, healthy environment where collaboration, creativity and excellence in teaching and learning can flourish.
Jeanie Davies has worked in education for nearly two decades in the guise of teacher, school senior leader, coach and teacher trainer. She has run her own consultancy for the past six years, specialising in coaching, culture change, team building and school improvement, and promotes a trust-based approach to school leadership through coaching and bespoke school support.
Twitter – @jeaniedeens
LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/jeanie-davies-55016424
Resources Mentioned
The Executive Function Online Summit
Price increases Aug 25th @12pm PST.
You can get still get an all access pass for $99 and save $100. Click my affiliate link here for this great offer.
https://educationonfire–sethperler.thrivecart.com/tefos2020/
Show Sponsor
The National Association for Primary Education speaks for young children and all who live and work with them. This includes parents, teachers, governors and all those interested in primary education. NAPE is a non-political charity and works tirelessly to support teachers in the classroom.