The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward: Recent Episodes

Selena Woodward, Edufolios

How do I take care of teacher registration without too much stress and even more work? How do I find great evidence for my accreditation portfolio? Demonstrate my skills and understanding without having to do more work than I need to? Selena Woodward digs into this and more in the Reflective Teacher Podcast. In addition to great stories and insights, each episode is designed to help you take immediate action with supporting steps, strategies and advice for growing your practice and meeting your admin requirements in one go.

In this episode, we speak with Stevie, a passionate educator who recently discovered that she has ADHD.

Stevie shares her personal journey of coming to terms with her neurodiversity and how it has helped her become a better teacher.

She also talks about the challenges she has faced and how she has created a community of support for other neurodiverse educators.

Stevie's story is both inspiring and empowering, reminding us that it's okay to embrace our differences and that we can use them to excel in our careers.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to learn more about neurodiversity in education and how we can better support neurodiverse educators.

Join us as we dive deep into Stevie's experiences and learn valuable lessons about inclusion, acceptance, and empathy.

Show notes at: edufolios.org/162

#neurodiversitycelebrationweek #NeurodiversityWeek #ThisIsND

In this episode, we celebrate Neurodiversity Week by exploring the importance of early detection of neurodivergent children. We delve into the common misconceptions held by educators about neurodiversity in early childhood, and why they may feel that way. We discuss a different approach to understanding neurodiversity and the value of inclusion in the classroom.

By aligning with Standards 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, and 1.6 of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, we can create a supportive learning environment for all students.

Join us for this thought-provoking discussion and learn how you can make a difference in the lives of neurodivergent children.

#NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek #NeurodiversityWeek #ThisIsND

As we enter Neurodiversity CeIebration Week, in this episode we're focusing on neurodiversity and how to create a neurodivergent-affirming culture in schools. Perfect for educators looking to understand and embrace neurodiversity, support all students, and promote a more inclusive understanding of neurodiversity in our society.

We explore how essential it is to build strong relationships with neurodivergent students and create a supportive learning environment that acknowledges and respects neurological differences.

Our guest, Kate Donohue, has been working in the disability sector for more than 20 years. She shares her experience of supporting hundreds of neurodivergent people and their families, educators, therapists, and employers.

Kate provides practical tips for working with neurodivergent students and colleagues and encourages listeners to be open-minded and willing to learn new strategies to support them.

At Edufolios, we love to help you see the impact you're having so you can celebrate it and grow! So, when Chat GPT came along, we got curious about how this AI tool could help you to plan, assess, communicate with parents AND learn more about your practice as a teacher. In this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward, we're breaking it down. Just what is Chat GPT, is it REALLY anything new? What kinds of things can you do with it as a teacher? Is it any good at them? and... how can exploring Chat GPT's tools and systems help you to see, celebrate and grow your teaching practice

Tune in to find out Check out the show notes at: Edufolios.org/159

Watch our mini series of Chat GPT how-to vids and see these examples in action: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu0RzwJcDfuilwVObcYEBnjQ-2VHMhIU6

This week, we are continuing our conversation about effective reflective practice.

However, we're zooming right in on the tricky subject of getting feedback. You know, the lesson observations? Learning walks? Evaluations?.. feels awful doesn't it?

Well, tune in to hear what the research suggests about feedback methods you could use, right now, to get curious, gain perspective, and receive the feedback you need to grow! and without all that scar, icky stuff!

Reflective Practice becomes ineffective if we don't avoid these 4 common mistakes "It is quite true what philopsy says, that life must be understood backwards. But, then one forgets the other principle, that it must be lived forward.

Soren Kiergegaard Tweet Reflective practice is actually “the ability to reflect on an action so as to engage in a process of continuous learning”. (Thanks Reflective Practices: A means to Teacher Development 2017)

It’s NOT a snapshot in time that we record in some kind of time capsule and walk away from and it’s something very different to a lesson rationale, where you might focus on just the WHY of the choices you make. The truth is, reflective practice is an incredibly powerful tool… If you understand that it is a practice and a process.

In this week’s episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward, I’m going back to basics. What exactly IS reflective practice and how do you make sure the time you spend on it is worth it?

The kids are through the roof, their behaviour is exhausting I'm not sure I can keep this up! In this episode I am joined by Behaviour Mangement consultant Tarun Stevenson as we explore what "behaviour" is, how relationships with parents are key and what you can do to create a clamer classroom. Tune in to hear some great stories of practice, learn how behaviour management connects in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers AND grab a FREE download with some practical tips that you can use RIGHT NOW to help get those kids back down from the roof. Show notes and links to the freebie at: Edufolios.org/155

Looking for tools to connect what you do already to the teaching standards so you can nail accreditation quickly, easily and with purpose? Head to Edufolios.org today and grab a free 14 day trial.

So you're feeling nervous about creating evidence for teacher accreditation?

You want to get your teaching portfolio done for accreditation, but you're really nervous that you will make mistakes that will cost you time, money, and your confidence.

I get that.

You'd love to find a way to avoid these mistakes so that you can create evidence, but when you consider starting, all you see are 142 focus areas, across four career stages, across a load of 'judgey' language (that you don't really understand) and a timeline of work that seems to endlessly stretch before you.

Creating evidence for teacher accreditation, using the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, can feel really overwhelming and time consuming.

But, if you can avoid five common mistakes, you will find the process of reflection to be quite enlightening.

What if you had a tool that supported you in avoiding 5 common mistakes made in teacher portfolios?

In this episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward, we are going to share these five mistakes and how you can avoid them using an Edufolio.

Tune in to find out what these mistakes are and how Edufolios helps you to avoid them.

These include:

Being clear about who you are impacting.
Understanding the language of the focus areas in their career stages.
Knowing how to plan to write about your impact.
The choice of artefact that you make to support your evidence
How to communicate the context that you are working with to an alien on another planet entirely (lol.. no, seriously)

Life is too short to avoid the career progression that you deserve. Save time and money now with these with an Edufolio and avoid these mistakes right now.

The story, culture and voice of Australia's First Nation People is important and needs to be heard...

and yet, so many of us feel completely underqualified, ill-equipped to do a great job at “providing opportunities for students to develop their understanding of (and respect for) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages.

At the start of 2022, when we ran the numbers in Edufolios, standard 2.4 was one of the most neglected focus areas across the board.

The reality is that some of us feel really nervous about moving into this space.

We fear that we will say or do the wrong thing

and we may even tell ourselves that we don’t have ATSI students at our site so we don’t have to do this..

I get it, my own portfolio is woefully low on evidence of how I support reconciliation by learning and sharing ATSI history, culture and language. Why? Because it feels like I’m likely to tread on something very sacred and I am terrified that I will say the wrong thing. There is most definitely a sense of a deep, painful wound that needs to be healed. I’ve recently come to realise how important our role as teacher is on that pathway to healing. If we can share the history and the stories of the first nations people of Australia we can work towards shared knowledge and healing through understanding. In fact, I’d go as far as saying it’s vital for our future. That’s why there are two specific Teaching standards that address ATSI priorities and a cross Curricular priorities for us to address.

but it’s not easy. I’m a white woman, with an English background. There’s a strong sense of imposter syndrome there (Hello blame…Hello shame…) … for a number of reasons and so I would often feel like I have no place talking about ATSI perspectives.

My solution might be to go and find an aboriginal person to share their stories… but then I realise that this chick from Birmingham has absolutely no connections to anyone who would fit that bill.

Then it all goes in the too hard basket and the cycle continues….. unless…. we can find a way forward. A way forward in understanding and compassion. Just one small step at a time….

Let's take a small step towards a deeper understanding of Australia's first nation's people and what we can do as educators using the Australian Curriculum and the AISTL standards.

This week I am joined by Stewart Bogle and Emily Haegi from Australians Together and I’m sharing my learning journey with you live on the podcast!

Both Stewart and Emily have been on their own journey as educators developing an understanding of ATSI perspectives. So much so that their passions have led them to work with educators to help heal a wound in our nation created by our history and.. honestly, our apathy. I can totally relate to the feeling they share of the moment you begin to understand that actual truth of what happened here in this beautiful land. Can you? Is there a sense of social injustice that you can connect with?

I can remember the moment this hit for me. I was teaching “Australia Studies” in a school in Adelaide. A Pom, who’d just moved to Adelaide and was learning (through the textbook) about some of the things that my British ancestors chose to do when they landed here. I was horrified. Shocked and, honestly. really angry. I can tell you now, that in the UK we do not hear these stories either. Not even a little bit. We have no idea.

Interestingly, it seems, there’s a generation of Aussies who are in the same boat. There are many of us who were also never given the opportunity to understand, to connect and help heal this wound.

There's a story that needs to be told because a new chapter needs to be written

Steward Bogle - Australians Together

The reality is we are all a part of that chapter. We are all Australian Citizens and so, like it or not, we are a a part of the story. So are our students.

You are part of writing that new chapter. We can either choose to add to the ignorance by not being brave enough to take a step towards understanding or we can address our fears, take those steps and begin to work with our community to do our part to heal that wound in our nation.

This is powerful stuff. This is a really important conversation and I am so honoured to make some space for it here on the podcast.

I have learnt so much from Emily and Stewart. Things that have helped me to better understand the importance of these conversations and… HOW I can be part of that without the shame, the blame or the fear overwhelming me.

This is an incredibly valuable conversation and I am sure that you will get so much out of it. Make sure you let us know in the comments… Here’s what you’ll gain by tuning in….

Join me on a very raw and vulnerable learning journey towards a deeper understanding of why I’m avoiding 2.4
Understand how to move from stuck and overwhelmed to understanding some small steps you can take right now.
Consider how our own cultural understanding of some subjects , like history, is influencing our ability to understand and connect with ATSI perspectives.
Learn about some amazing resources that available to you right now to help you make the connections you need between your curriculum areas and First Nation’s cultures, histories and language.
How the ATSI conversation shows up in the standards and how you begin measuring your impact (with your students, your colleagues or at your site) in this very important aspect of our teaching.
What to do with the language of the standards…. and how intimidating it is (let’s be honest). Who here has a “broad understanding of ATSI cultures and histories when graduating uni? .. and that’s even before we get to proficient.
Put down the fear and be inspired and impassioned towards action
Get permission to be imperfect in your approach and see this as an opportunity to learn how to take small steps
Gain access to some amazing resources to create some structure for your journey

Looking for a way to validate your teaching practice and get some challenges?

You've been teaching for a while now, and you have this feeling (let's call it a gut feeling) that you might be ready for Highly Accomplished certification.

Although you know in your heart that you've got this... as soon as you start to look at the process, the documentation, and consider actually sitting down to reflect on your practice and take a DEEP look at your impact... you start to feel some doubts creeping in.

You really want this. You just know that this process will provide you with the kind of challenge you relish. It's a way to progress your career and move towards leadership without leaving your classroom.

You just want some direction.

You long for someone who can validate your practice and advocate for you as an awesome educator. You're looking for that direction, a path forward...

But you just don't have it... yet

What if you experienced a mindset shift that left you in a calm and empowered place with the teaching standards?

The story above echoes the conversation I had this week with Emma Potter about her journey with the standards and accreditation,

This was where she was at BEFORE she joined the Evidence Engine.

In this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward, she shares her journey with us.

It's a very inspiring journey with what might be, for some, an unexpected twist.

You see, Emma is now an empowered educator who can use the standards so effectively that she is able to create opportunities to see, measure, and grow impact in her P.E faculty.

"I am just getting really excited about the direction the standards have given me.. they're not about judgement, they're providing so much momentum and growth for me" - Emma Potter.

Tune in to hear how Emma

Now sees the Standards as a "kind of mentor" that supports her growth
She is using the standards to shape decisions around the processes her team use to grow
Has begun the practice of gathering evidence for HA and is not feeling the same overwhelm or panic

This is a really cool interview and one that I just know will inspire you.

Don't forget to leave Emma a comment on the YouTube video below. Let's celebrate together!

Full Registration is so hard when you teach at multiple schools...

I see you, teacher friend.

You're a relief teacher, a peripatetic music teacher who teaches classes across multiple sites. You're a teacher who doesn't fit the mould of the guides you find online for accreditation.

The clock is ticking.

You need to get full registration (or proficiency) by the end of the year.

The pressure is on.

You've asked around and received advice like. "well... you can group your evidence by standard or by evidence blocks," and, although that advice was well meant.. it left you none the wiser.

You still don't know how to put it all together in time.. especially when you're teaching in so many contexts across so many sites.

It's tough, overwhelming, and way out of your comfort zone.

Is this even possible?

"If you're a specialist at 6 different schools, you can gather your evidence for proficiency!"

This week, I am joined by Cristina Filgueira from Western Australia. She is a specialist Music Teacher who works across six different schools. Yep.. you read that correctly... SIX different schools.

Just like you, she had to get her full registration sorted, and she was feeling all of the same overwhelm and confusion.

This episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward is all about the steps she took to overcome those barriers and submit her proficient evidence.

Cristina is a really fabulous example of an educator who took action to reach her career goals and succeeded.

Tune in to hear how:

She had a major mindset shift that helped her to see the process from a whole new perspective
How she was able to learn the skills, she needed to see her impact everywhere.
The way her relationship changed with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
How she now uses the standards to support her to develop her practice in a really meaningful and powerful way

Why on earth would you bother with Teacher Accreditation? It takes so long and is really hard work.

For the first two career stages (Graduate and Proficient), we have very little choice but to complete the reflection and evidence gathering process.

The next two steps - Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher - and your decision about whether or not to continue with the process is influenced by many factors.

Collecting evidence at any career stage is a skill. There are different ways to do it and, it would seem, different reasons too.

The reasons behind WHY you are completing this "paperwork" have a lot to do with the reason many choose NOT to continue beyond Proficient.

I hear things like

It's a hoop jumping exercise.
I don't want to have to prove myself against the standards. It feels wrong and uncomfortable.
It's a massive job, and I don't have time.
I need to have taught for (insert personal limit) years before I can consider that.
I don't have any evidence.

There are healthier, more helpful ways to view the teacher accreditation process.

And these ways of thinking will help you stay connected to your purpose, make the process more valid and get you to the finish line faster

Over the past few weeks, I've had the pleasure of talking to many of you about The Evidence Engine. The competition closes very soon, and I am really enjoying talking to so many of you about your hope, dreams, and.. yes.. fears when it comes to the accreditation and reflection process.

In this week's episode, I want to share 6 of the most common reasons I hear for moving forward with teacher accreditation.

Reasons that are better aligned with education, teaching and learning, and self development.

Reasons that I hope will inspire you too :)

They are certainly the kinds of reasons that mean these people belong in the Evidence Engine Course :)

Whilst on your journey to Teacher Accreditation (at Prof, HA or lead), do you wish you had a supportive team to learn with?

Working through teacher accreditation can sometimes be a lonely thing. Especially if you're at a site where the teaching standards are not a part of your every day. There may even be people at your site telling you that it's all a LOT of work and probably a waste of your time....

It can be even more difficult when you want to turn to your line manager or principal for help and they shrug their shoulders. They aren't trained in the teaching standards. They want to help you but they can't.

Once, a beautiful teacher I was working with actually submitted stage one of highly accomplished after working with her colleagues. They told her evidence was amazing. She was a great teacher (and she really is!) so of course it would pass. Sadly, these well meaning, beautiful colleagues were not trained in gathering evidence of impact and, despite the fact this educators WAS amazing at her job, she submitted her hard work and failed.

All of these scenarios are heartbreaking.

You need support and you can't find it. Or, you get the wrong advice and are left feeling really shocked and confused.

Teachers don't need to be stuck in this vacuum of doubt about reflective practice and teacher education.

"Thank you to you Selena too. I really appreciate you helping us on this journey because I don't think we'd be here without you and without Edufolios and The Evidence Engine. It has been really helpful in having that program. Just set us in the right direction where we feel confident and supported and now able to give that confidence to others. Thank you so much!" -Sarah Birell - Manly Vale PS

You know that at Edufolios, we are all about making sure accreditation can be a celebration of growth. We work hard to support you to see the teaching standards (and the accreditation process) as a pathway to ongoing development. Accreditation is NOT a final exam, it's a journey. Yes! I know that's cheesy but it's sooo true!

When a teacher truly understands the difference they are making they are empowered to make an EVEN BIGGER impact. They do this by tweaking what they're doing, not by doing MORE of anything. In fact, often they get razor focused and do far LESS.

This week, I am absolutely privileged to bring you the story of one of the schools I LOVE working with.

We’ve run workshops together, they’ve got Edufolios as their evidence tool and have sent two staff along to the Evidence Engine to get trained up! Introducing the amazing Manly Vale Public School in NSW.

This is the story of a school that decided that they wanted to support each other, change the narrative around reflection and accreditation and celebrate each other along the way.

Tune in to hear from Sarah Birrell as she shares how her site has approached accreditation (at all levels). How, even through covid, they're keeping each other motivated, accountable and EXCITED about using the standards to celebrate and grow.

Hear more about how:

Manly Vale have set up a working party of teachers all working together to achieve accreditation at different levels
The Evidence Engine has support Sharon and Sarah to lead the group and keep the self-doubt and overwhelm at bay
How empowered the team are in seeing the impact they are making in their classroom and how evidence engine and Edufolios has made that easier
How to celebrate ongoing development
The freedom of seeing the process of a journey with some submission along the way.
How celebrating impact can ignite and recharge teachers.

and more!

"The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers just Create a Sense of Overwhelm in me.."

The Australian Professional Standards for teachers. A massive rubric that is used by educators across Australia in an assessment that helps someone decide whether or not our teaching is of great quality.

Associated with bureaucracy and paperwork, it's generally NOT a document that teachers turn to when they're feeling lost or confused. In fact, most would tell you that the rubric creates both of those feeling immediately for them.

Is that what happens for you when you think about GTPA, Proficiency, teacher registration, Highly Accomplished and Lead?

So, if you're looking to meet a goal... A mission let's say, in term 3. Would it occur to you to turn to that rubric for guidance?

Would you know how to?

If the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers is a rubric... then shouldn't we be able to use it to focus our practice and improve?

This week, we're continuing our conversation about getting razor focused and avoiding the overwhelm in Term 3.

This time, we're giving you an activity to complete that will help you to USE the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers to get even more clear about your mission.

If you defined your mission in Episode 146 and then cleared the culture in 147 then you might still be looking at a mission that you're not entirely clear on.

Do you need some guidance on the steps you might need to take to MAKE THAT MISSION HAPPEN?

Well my friend, the Australian Professional Standard for Teachers are here to help.

Yes... i did say HELP.

In this episode we're going to explore a refreshingly different approach to using this rubric.

Join me for a step by step reflective process that will ensure you know exactly what primary tasks you need to complete to reach your goal.

Why do teachers find themselves feeling so overwhelmed, over worked, and tired?

I recently read a news article about educators leaving the profession because they were … well... done. The overwhelm and stress of the way we manage productivity as a profession has gotten them to a space of burnout and disenchantment. They were on a mission to teach and now they're putting down their tools and walking away.

How does that happen? How do dedicated, passionate educators find themselves in a position where they just can't do it anymore? Where their productivity is depleting them not empowering them (or their students!)

The answer to that question has many faces, angles, and perspectives. It depends on culture, state requirements, and that teacher's view of their reality.

I get it though. Teaching is a BIG job with high stakes. Of course, there are a number of things that can be done to make things better for us. One of them might even be being a little clearer on our mission and making sure that we only focus on the things that bring us closer to that mission. Productivity is important but only when we are clear about what we're trying to achieve.

If you listened to last week's episode, then, chances are, you are now very clear about your mission. Now, it's time to empower you to stay on mission and remove that overwhelm.

How can having a clear mission and 5 productivity hacks support you to feel great about your role as a teacher?

This week, inspired once more by Mr. Miller, we're going to explore 5 productivity hacks that can support you to avoid the burnout and feel great about what you're doing.

We're going to learn:

To define, repeat and focus on our mission (what ever it may be)
Get that to do list out of your head and onto paper so we can evaluate and prioritise tasks.
Protect time and label it as "mission" time.
Know which time to protect to maximise your productivity
Know what a primary or secondary task is and what to do with them as a teacher

You can even download our productivity hacks workbook to help you walk through this activity simply enter your name and email below and it will wing its way to you. Let's see if we can reframe these tasks and get focused on our mission. What is your productivity rise and your overwhelm drop.

Teachers... these last few terms have left us feeling exhausted, worn out and overwhelmed

There have been so many strange things going on in the past few terms. Colleagues and kids disappearing and reappearing for various reasons (mostly co-vid) have left us feeling like routine and plans have gone out of the window. Am I right?

When someone then mentions teacher registration or teacher accreditation at the same time a VERY LOUD voice might be shouting HECK NO! In your head.

You've got enough to deal with right now!

Having spent a bit of time looking at the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, the requirements, the place I have to share it all ... maybe you've even been to a PD session about it all...... you may have come to the conclusion that this isn't for you right now.

Infact, there may even be a voice telling you that the "paperwork" is annoying and will take you away from what you need to be doing right now.

Can you relate to that? I certainly can! That's exactly how I used to see things too.

All teachers are on a Mission. Can you define yours?

Just like any great story, as one of the lead characters in the lives of your students, your colleagues, and your community, you COULD have a mission you're trying to achieve.

A clear focus in Term 3 that helps you to move away from the overwhelm AND gives you permission to evaluate opportunities and tasks as they arise and choose to say ".NO"

Just imagine that.

In this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward, we are exploring a technique shared by Donald Miller that could be used to help focus you, your students, your colleagues, and your site (it's a pretty awesome technique) in a way that keeps you all "on task" and creates a beautiful shield against overwhelm and wasted energy.

Tune in to hear

The importance of having a really clearly defined "why" or mission
A formula for creating a mission for yourself in Term 3
How you can say "no" and why that's ok... in fact, why that's really important
Ways to say "No" by reframing tasks to align with your mission.
The impact of staying "on mission"

Next week, we're going to take this mission and use it to start planning the tasks we do each day. This will help us to stay focused, increase our impact and stay super cool and calm - even if the world continues to be nutso!

Make sure you share your Mission with us in the comments under the video for this episode or via our socials!

We can't wait to see, share and celebrate your plans! You rock!

What happens when I say the words:

"lesson observation"?

"performance review"?

or even "Peer Review"?

Do these words bring up emotions? Uncomfortable feelings in your gut? A sense of dread?

Oh, I hear you! Every time I knew I was being observed the panic would set in. I'd start overthinking everything as I tried to craft the "perfect" lesson. I'd spend hours creating fancy resources and writing detailed lesson plans.

I would end up exhausted and... honestly... VERY NERVOUS as I delivered that lesson.

Half the time, it wasn't any more fabulous than the lessons I'd teach without all the funfair... but, for some reason, I felt I needed to prove myself as a teacher and that this was the way I did that.

Does that resonate? Do you get super nervous when someone's going to give you feedback?

What feedback loops do you even have at your site? How do you know you're making a difference? How do you know what to work on next?

Why are we so nervous about feedback and yet we give it so freely to our own students?

A feedback loop is one of the most valuable assets a teacher can have. We are all on a mission to make a difference in our student's lives. We want to help them to achieve everything they want to achieve. We are VALUEs driven.

To make sure we stay in that place we need to understand the difference we make, and we need to feel like we're doing a great job. We also need to know where we can grow and how we can do that. That's what makes a good teacher great.

So, in this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast, we explore three ways you can create powerful feedback loops for your teaching practice. Highly accomplished educators, this is the episode where you learn how to avoid needing to write those awkward emails where you have to ask people to say nice things about you. Instead, we learn how to create a learning environment for ourselves where feedback is valued, expected and so.. soo empowering to our practice.

Tune in to hear three specific, actionable things you can do today to help you see your impact. Help you support your colleagues and to show you the difference you are making every single day.

Scared to have that conversation with THAT parent about THAT child?

Behaviour management... Parents and Carers....Oh yes. We've all been there.

When a child needs more support to help them learn at school and you know that support needs to involve home... it's time to pick up the phone and make a call.

And yet, you're not too sure how they're going to react. Are you delivering bad news? Are they going to get defensive? Is this conversation going to be awkward.

The funny thing is... there are millions of parents and carers wondering the same thing when they go to call their child's teacher. Will they react ok when I tell them what my son or daughter is feeling about school? Am I delivering news that's going to get my child into trouble? Are they going to get defensive? Is this going to be awkward?

The reality is, the relationship between carer/parents and teacher need to be respectful, trusting and on an even keel if we're going to have productive conversations about behaviour. Conversations that lead to better outcomes for everyone but, most of all, the child.

Standard 7.3 has strong connections to Standard 4... Have you spotted them?

In the third and final episode in our series on parent carer relationships, we're talking behaviour management.

Tune in to get some practical insights in how we can manage relationships with our students' first teacher.

We explore resources available to use to frame conversations (and interventions if needed) and Selena shares some stories from her own experiences that you're likely to recognise as we explore parent carer relationships through the different career stages of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

Working "sensitively" with parents and carers.. better check policies and consider how I show up...

What does “sensitively” communicating with parents meant to you?

Often, the answers I hear or see are thoughts about policy, data security or sensitivity, having hard conversations... all of which are emotionally loaded and tricky. Especially when we want the choices we are making around sensitivity, the WHY we’re doing that, to have a positive impact for the students (And their children) and their experience at our school.

Standard 7.3 and 3.7 of the Australian Professional Standards for teachers can be tricky as a result!

We all want to develop better relationships with parents and carers. These relationships are vital for helping us to improve outcomes for our students. If you're a relief teacher or a student teacher on practicum it can often feel like you don't get much of a chance to exercise your parent/ carer relationship muscles because parent teacher interviews and letters home don't always take a large part of your job.

Yet being sensitive to the needs of parents and carers can make a massive difference in the way in which they show at school. The Education Endowment Foundation's research evaluation has also shown that i can make as big a difference as a couple of months EXTRA progress for a child too. So, understanding what Sensitively working with parents and carers actually looks like is really important.

Here are Four ways to show sensitivity in a Parent/Carer relationship at school

In this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward, we're getting super practical about the word “sensitive”. This word is used in 7.3.. explicitly in the graduate standard but is a HUGE part of actually having parents engage with you. This doesn’t have to be just about sensitive data... This can be about so much more.

The research from the EEF showed a few things including:

Being sensitive to the commitments that parents are managing outside of school... especially when you ask them to rock up at 7pm
Being sensitive to parental experience around school
Being sensitive to negative emotions around needing support and making sure we market things in a way that is inclusive and doesn’t create divide or shame
Being sensitive to the fact that we are professionals who speak a very niche language and that can be very intimidating.

We are delving into each of these potential opportunities to build better relationships with your students and hit 7.3 square on

Building relationships with parents and carers can be really hard as a teacher Relationships with parents and carers.

Tricky right?

Some of them are lovely, easy to get along with. Others imposing, tricky or just down right scary!?

And yet, there are two whole focus areas in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers dedicated to how we build and use our relationships with parents and careers to increase our impact on our students.

The Education Endowment Foundation over in the United Kingdom, recently reviewed the research literature on this topic as it searched for answers to the question. How do I create relationships with parents and carers that increase the impact for my students.

It revealed that although 80% of school leaders felt that it was the responsibility of ALL Staff to build these relationships...

Less that 10% of teacher said they’d ever had any training in how to build and maintain meaningful relationships with parents.

So, you’re not alone if this all feels like a mystery to you.

In this week’s episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward we’re going to start by evaluating the WHY. Why do we need or want to build these relationships?

We share 5 key reasons that schools should invest the time to upskill teachers and give you some case studies, found in this research, to set you off on a journey of discovery.

There are suggestions here for lead projects at your site and opportunities for our Highly Accomplished teachers to share some expert knowledge with their colleagues.

We explore parent and carer relationships for:

Improving educational outcomes by giving parents the support they need to help children learn
Safeguarding children
Improving attendance at your site
Building trust and respect so you can get to know your students better
Increasing the resources available to you as an educator.

We also share two case studies. One in Primary and one in Secondary and explore the differences these little tweaks made to literacy scores and more.

Can social media really be used as evidence in my AITSL teacher portfolio?

Many educators use social media to share, practice and connect with other educators. Building a following on social media platforms like Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, tick tock and more. Can be fun. But is it damaging to your career progression?

It's easy to understand why there is so much fear about being a teacher online and talking about what you do every single day. However, millions of educators around the globe are using social media, with great success to develop, a professional learning network (pln) of educators they can rely upon to help them improve their practice.

You could say that engaging in a professional teaching network on a social media platform, means that you are connecting with “external professionals” to “broaden your knowledge and practice as a teacher” (Grad 7.4). Yes, these words come directly from standard 7.4. In fact, the reason that we have social media widgets all over the Edufolios teacher portfolio platform is because social media is a fantastic opportunity to engage in such professional development.

What if social media? Is actually a place to find professional communities. And engage in “forums”?

In today's episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast, we talk about social media and 7.4. I provide three things that you can try, right now, to increase your engagement in these professional learning networks and find evidence for 7.4. We include conversations about tweetups, Facebook groups and sharing tips via reels and stories.

Whether you're at university trying to demonstrate that you understand where professional learning opportunities might show themselves in professional learning networks, or you're a highly accomplished educator who wishes to contribute to professional networks in order to build productive links with a wider community to improve teaching and learning, this episode is full of tips for you.

Make sure you head to the YouTube video shown below and add your Twitter, Instagram, Reddit. Facebook groups, etc. Don't miss the party that is happening over on YouTube as we all help each other to engage in a large online professional learning network.

Looking forward to liking following and learning from each and every single person who chooses to engage in this wonderful opportunity.

Engagement? If your lesson isn’t about TIK TOK or Fortnite you might as well give up.

How are your students doing right now? How is their level of engagement? Their ability to tune in, to get excited about what you’re learning together?

I ask because, over and over again, I am hearing that it’s getting harder and harder to keep students focused and engaged in learning. When kids aren’t engaging it makes it much harder for us to help them grow their skills. Much harder for us to understand what’s working and what they need. In fact, you could argue that engagement is the first ingredient you need to get right in order to begin any process of growth and impact as a teacher.

So, what can we do to help? Does engaging students in learning really mean that everything has to be, in some way connected to TikTok or Fortnite? Is that all they care about?

What if our students just need a little tweak in our perception of what “engagement” actually is.

Let’s start by asking the question

“What does student engagement look like?”

Most teachers will tell me it's when students are “on task”. Maybe it’s a quiet classroom where everyone is busy. If you walk into a classroom and every student looks like they’re busy learning, then you are on to a winner.

I can totally understand why you might see it that way. Engagement can look like that. It probably looked a lot like that when we were at school. Being quiet and focusing was always encouraged as the gold standard of learning.

But, here’s a secret... if we see engagement as “busy” and “on task” then there’s a real danger that what looks awesome... Is actually NOT learning at all.

Yep.. Read that again

What looks like engagement could actually be the opposite of good learning.

Why? Because learning can be messy, noisy, disruptive, and social.

I know you know all of this.

I also know we are all tired.

So are the kids.

So, in this episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast we’re going to hit the reset button.

We’re going to remind ourselves what engagement REALLY is... (clue: It’s NOT compliance).

And I’m going to share some practical strategies you can use... right now to tweak “engagement” and measure the impact of those tweaks.

Are you finding it hard to keep your students motivated and engaged right now?

With all the stresses out there, it's even more important to find ways to help our students connect to their passions and values. We need to consider what research and skills we can employ to increase engagement. Increasing meaningful engagement in our lessons will then give us more opportunities to have a strong impact on our students' outcomes.

Right now, some of our students are overwhelmed by the big, wicked problems that surround them in the world. With war In Europe, COVID across the world, fires, floods, and global warming. They are really feeling an urgent need to make a difference. And yet, they are also feeling completely overwhelmed.

Is our current education system, our current way of working, supporting them to have the skills they need to break down these big problems? Helping them to understand their value and their values. Are enabling them to understand their world and make a plan to make the difference they want to see?

How can you support them, as a classroom teacher, in developing these life-changing skills?

With more and more people turning to entrepreneurial lifestyles, building businesses, and solving the problems they are passionate about, it's time to consider how entrepreneurial education could be the most important step you can take in 2022 to increase student engagement and efficacy

Feresh Pizarro and Dee Edwards have been working at the Flinders New Venture Institute to create resources to support teachers to bring the entrepreneurial mindset into their classrooms. In collaboration with Flinders New Venture Institute, eNVIsion Barossa Yorke Mid North, Feresh Pizarro Education Consultancy, and with funding from the Federal Department of Education, Skills and Employment Entrepreneurship Facilitator Service, they have created some amazing resources and opportunities for teachers to use right now to solve this big problem of student engagement.

Their 'Entrepreneurial Teacher Practice Guide and tools are available for you to use right now to help you make real-world connections between the content that you are teaching in the Australian curriculum and the big, “wicked problems” that your students long to solve.

By developing new skills in creativity, resilience, problem solving, value creation, critical thinking, divergent and convergent thinking, Feresh, Dee and their team, have created a powerhouse of resources and opportunities for each and every one of us. Resources to help us reinvigorate our curriculum with the skills our students need to increase their own impact in the world.

They even have a professional development opportunity available to you in this Easter school holidays. See the links below paragraph

Tune into this episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast to learn how this entrepreneurial teacher practice can help you and your students develop new engaging lessons that help and empower your students to solve. Wicked problems and he really deeply engaged in the learning.

Head to edufolios.org/podcast for show notes links and more episodes of the Reflective Teacher Podcast!

You've been trying your hardest to get your evidence sorted for teacher accreditation. Countless hours going over those AITSL teacher standards and trying to connect them to what you do in the classroom and you still feel no happier about the evidence you've gathered for accreditation😒 You're tired. You're loosing confidence and you're over it! What if, we could change everything? There are three common mistakes that educators make when they start building their evidence of practice in their teacher portfolio. Are you making them? Tune in to find out.

For all the show notes from todays episodes and useful links to more support with teacher accreditation, head to Edufolios.org.

Grab a free trial to our Teacher Portfolio creation software at Edufolios.org

Got a looming Curiosity about Teacher Portfolios and Accreditation? Have you ever felt a looming curiosity about teacher portfolios? You know you're going to need one for teacher accreditation at some stage so you start to wonder "how do I build one of those?" Google brings up products for you to try (Edufolios is one of them - of course!) and you've even found some examples to scroll through. You join some Facebook groups too and start asking around but still... it doesn't feel any better.

What if the question "How do I build a Teacher Portfolio?" is part of your problem?

I am curious.. What is it that you are really looking for when you type "How do I build a Teacher Portfolio?" into your search engine?

Are you looking for a tool that will build you a website?

Are you looking to have someone share their story of HOW they built theirs?

What do you feel, right now, about the process?

What's driving you to ask that question?

Are you getting the answers that you actually need?

Creating evidence of practice is often coupled with a lot of questions isn't it? Well, in this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward, we're going to help you get the answers that your ACTUALLY NEED to move forward with your evidence gathering. Instead of focusing on what you're going to build it in... Today, we're going to explore what you need to "understand" in order to be successful with your evidence. What knowledge is a pre-requisite to helping you to develop your skills as a teacher as you build your teacher portfolio and get it ready for submission.

Tune in to:

Consider your level of knowledge of the Teaching Standards
Understand the impact of not knowing them well
Learn the questions that you REALLY need to be asking as you build your teacher portfolio
Find out where to get the answers to the problems that are Really holding you back as you build you teacher portfolio.

At Edufolios.org you'll find everything you need to support you with teacher accreditation and teacher portfolio creation.

Join Edufolios to take advantage of our amazing evidence building tools, resources and training.

Find the videos of our podcast over on our Edufolios YouTube Channel!

If the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers seems alien to me... I must be a bad teacher. Right?

We’ve all been there. You start with the intention of exploring how to complete the teacher accreditation process. You head to the AITSL website or explore the documentation on your local teachers registration boards website. The Rubric for the standards looms before you and the thoughts start to pop up, one by one in your mind.

“I don’t know what this is asking me for”

Becomes

“Why don’t you understand this? Aren't you a teacher?”

Becomes

“You can’t be very good at your job if this doesn’t make sense to you”

Becomes

“what if I'm NOT good at my job?”

Becomes

“I’m garbage at this!”

And it all turns into one massive, overwhelming, confusing, terrifying place that you just don’t have time for right not.

You justify this with thoughts like “I’m busy enough.”, “I hate the fact they expect me to do this EXTRA work”, “It’s a waste of time..” etc.

Does that resonate with you? Have you ever found yourself suddenly surrounded by negative thoughts that build and build until your stood in the middle of a very uncomfortable mind storm? It’s Not a nice place to be is it?

Did you know that every time a negative thought pops into your head, if you don’t address it, your brain adds to it... every 20 seconds! No wonder it becomes overwhelming and you feel like you’re being chased by an AITSL shaped bear... one with big sharp claws.

What if we did stop, take notice and choose to find the next best thinking thought?

This week, I’ve been inspired by some work I was doing with my son and some of things I’ve heard from you during my calls for the Evidence Engine competition we have open right now.

This week, we’re talking about WHY these thoughts pop up and what they might be trying to tell you. I’m coming along as a ray of sunshine to move these clouds of discomfort away and help you see the wood for the trees.

along as a ray of sunshine to move these clouds of discomfort away and help you see the wood for the trees.

Do you feel qualified to help someone else through the teacher accreditation process? Every single teacher in Australian has to go through the teacher accreditation process at some point. Whether that’s at university (as they learn their craft) or to show they can meet the proficient strand, we’re all required to keep developing our skills and measuring our impact. Teaching is a profession. A profession requires accountability. The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers provide a framework for that accountability. The teaching standards are also pretty intimidating and the process to demonstrate your impact can be confusing. So, it’s no wonder that so many of us are left in a position where we find it hard to help others. Sarah joined the evidence engine because she wanted to find a community of educators who understood where she was at with her accreditation journey. Teachers she could connect with and share ideas with. The Evidence Engine™ was the perfect place for that.

Coupled with it’s step by step guides and a clear focus on her impact, what she learnt during the course helped her to move from fearful to empowered.

What if there was an online course that gave you the exact steps you need to move from overwhelmed to empowered? “Before I started, there's no way I would have had the confidence to try and help anyone in this area. I was completely fearful and felt like I would never understand it. To go from that to actively helping people with their accreditation is huge”

Join us for this week’s episode where, Montessori educator Sarah Bazylenko shares her journey through accreditation to highly accomplished and what the Evidence Engine meant to her. We talk about:

What her challenges were are she worked towards the Highly Accomplished accreditation process
Why a community of like-minded educators was really important to her progress
How the tools inside of the Evidence Engine have helped her to mentor someone going through LEAD... whilst she works toward HA!
How the Evidence Engine changed the way she plans to gather her evidence for HA and why that has made things MUCH easier for her.
The importance of learning WHEN to ask HOW to ask for authentic evidence from your colleagues (so that you can show the impact you are having on them) without it feeling weird!
How the mindset shift in the Evidence Engine removed the pressure and created a clearer pathway for success.

Teachers are not allowed to show they’re in the Pit of despair... We can’t afford to make mistakes and grow...

Growth Mindset has become a really important piece of the pedagogical puzzle for us. Teacher everywhere are sharing the “pit of despair” with their students and encouraging them to dive right in.

We know that to learn and grow, there has to be some discomfort as we push through a big phase of development. We know that our kids can shape their minds however they want to. That neuro plasticity is real and we can help them to shape themselves into anything they want to be.

Yet. If we ask YOU whether, as a professional, how you handle that same “pit of des[pair” what would you say?

Do you avoid it completely?

Would it make you less on a teacher if you were struggling?

And yet... I bet there are times when a voice in your head tells you that lesson was rubbish, that you don’t know how to handle that class... that there’s no way you're ready to apply for that next career stage...

It’s time to explore how reflective practice can help You to focus on your Purpose and reframe your mindset away from stress.

This is one of my absolute favourite episodes. I’m genuinely really excited to share it with you.

This week, I am joined by the amazing Jen Rafferty, founder of Empowered Educator. And we’re going deep.

Jen Rafferty started her teaching career as a middle school teacher in Central New York for 15 years. She founded Empowered Educator in 2020 as a response to teacher burnout during the pandemic. Jen is known for bringing her energy, humour and expertise in her presentations while inspiring educators to stay connected to their "why." Jen is a certified Emotional Intelligence Practitioner and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology.

She’s doing some amazing work with teachers to help them understand how their view of the world is shaped. She's showing us how we have complete agency and control over the stress and how to use reflective practice to move to a powerful place of growth and development (for ourselves and our kids!)

We talk about

How you can leverage your own neuroplasticity to change how you show up in your classroom for the better
The importance of stopping and reflecting to NOTICE and grow
What the research shows about the benefits of writing and reflective practice for your mental health
Why teacher wellbeing CAN NOT be all yoga and bubble baths
The meaning we choose to make of teacher accreditation and how that meaning could be holding you back.
Using Breath to snap yourself out of fight and flight
Toxic positivity vs Reflection and growth and much more!

Do not miss this one! It’s rich with opportunities for really BIG aha moments!

Don’t forget to reach out and let us know your takeaways! Subscribe to us on YouTube and don’t miss a single episode or bonus!

Is it possible to beat the overwhelming feeling of the teacher accreditation process? Have you ever felt overwhelmed and lost in the teacher accreditation process?

The pressure of working with the requirements, of proving yourself and completing the paperwork feels like WAY too much. Right?

You’re not alone.

This is something that I hear all the time, something we’ve all felt as we work outside of our comfort zone to evaluate our practice and shine a light on what we do every single day in our classrooms

The more you focus on the process, the requests, the gaps, the artefacts, the evidence sets, the teacher standards, the more you start to feel like you are drowning. That awful feeling in the pit of your stomach as your pulse races and you begin to hear a voice that tells you this is all too much and you’re NOT READY for this.

Your mindset shifts into a place that actually starts to get in your way and you begin to put up barriers to your career progression. Everywhere....

It’s the same thing your kids do when faced with a hard assignment. Do you recognize it? What do you say to them when they have these moments? Are you saying these same encouraging things to yourself? Are you giving yourself the time and space to have some grace here?

Let’s PAUSE for a moment shall we and explore what actually happening there. Can we shift it?

This week, I am joined by Jaeden Schafer of “Self- Pause” who shares some awesome research and resources around affirmation and meditation. Resources that he has kindly offered to give our listeners for FREE for a limited time.

What’s happening when you start to get that overwhelming feeling is a flight response. Your body doesn’t like what’s happening and it’s pushing you away from your uncomfortable goals back to what it think is safe and easy. You’ve stopped focusing on your values as an educator. You need to stop and remember them!

Jaedan invites us to explore the possibilities of tuning back into WHY you’re making this choice to move forward with your career, WHY you want to be a teacher and WHERE you want to see yourself in the next few months

By creating affirmations and playing the 3.6,9 game with us, this episode is going to help you to kick goals in all aspects of your career. Let's take just 5 minutes every day to complete an affirmation meditation help you to remove stress and anxiety and practice being who you want to be.

Jaeden has even offered us Self-Pause Premium for free for 2 months!
1. Download the Selfpause app and sign up for an account.
2. Visit the promo code page on our website: https://selfpause.com/promo/
3. Type in your account email and the Pin Code: fem

Please note: you do not need to sign up for a subscription on the app. Simply create an account and the website above can be used to upgrade your account.

Make sure you share your affirmations with us as we go on this journey to calm and manifestation together.

Before I begin accreditation I need to make sure I have “stuff”….

Oh I hear you!

I can’t believe how many people I coach who come to me with a big box/onedrive/folder full of stuff and proudly tell me

“I’m ready… I just need to put this into evidence sets”

The box or folder of “stuff” includes work samples, data, screen shots.. so many things that they were convinced were great artefacts or evidence.

The thing is though… none of this stuff has a context anymore and, a lot of it happened ages ago… so long ago that, if anything’s missing it becomes a nightmare to fill the gaps in the evidence.

They’ve been gathering this stuff because that felt like progress.

They’ve been gathering this stuff because they thought that’s what accreditation is.. you get “stuff” that shows the standards. Right?

Wrong…

The process of accreditation is about showcasing your IMPACT not your “stuff”

…and there are key things that you just must practice before you are ready to put your evidence togethers. In some cases (well most cases) it’s actually better NOT to have any “stuff”. Not before you learn the key pieces of information needed to successfully put together a story of practice, with the right artefacts, talking about the right impact on the right people!

So, in this episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast we’re busting this myth about needing to have all the evidence in a box (or in your head) before you begin. It’s wrong. It’s one of the number one reasons teacher accreditation in Australia is so hard.

What you need is space to practice some key skills.
Skill that we touch on in today’s episode! Tune in right now!

Who needs to write lesson plans anyway?
Teaching is an art and lesson plans are the maps we use to help us meet the needs of our students. Without them, we might not take the opportunity to pause and consider the needs of each of the children in our classroom. Lesson planning is something that is also a really important part of understanding the impact you’re having on your students. If you’re not planning to try something, to see if something works, how can you begin to measure your success and adapt your practice to increase your impact?

Well… sometimes, you need a bigger plan too. The lesson plan is where all the fun, details about resourcing, differentiation, strategies and more go.. so where does the content sit and why is that even important to your reflective practice?

Let's zoom out on your planning and see what we can reflect on...There are some amazing opportunities to hit multiple focus areas in your medium and long term planning too. In episode 131, we talked all about how each of these stages of planning supports each other. All so that you can focus on the details of the pedagogy, teaching strategies, differentiation and more. If you’re busy focusing on the content and NOT the way in which you’re delivering it… how can you see the impact you’re having.. not easily!

In the episode, I walked you through an example of an LTP and an MTP and talked about how that supported me as a teacher to deliver awesome learning outcomes for my kids.

Tune in because you’ll want to explore that with me. Download a copy of this episodes freebie too. It contains screenshots of the documents I was mentioning and then some reflective questions you can use to delve deeper into your own practice.

How do you make sure your learning goals challenge all your students?

You've planned your unit, and your lessons using the Australian curriculum's achievement standards to guide your expectation. But... it's super hard to judge what might be considered a open quotation marks challenging close quotation marks learning goal of a cup from a couple of sample portfolios and a one paragraph summary of an entire year's worth of learning.

We've all been there. We get it.

And yet, the level of challenge in your classroom is vital. If it is set too high or too low the consequences can be big. The impact that you are making can be jeopardized.

Here are four ways to measure the challenge in your classroom

In this week's podcast, we're talking about all things focus area 3.1 “establishing challenging learning goals”. I'm going to share four ways that you can explore the impact of the strategies you're employing right now and measure how well your level of challenge is actually working in your classroom.

These strategies will help you to measure set and support your students to rise to the level of challenge that pushes them, extends them and helps you to have the biggest impact possible on them as learners.

Tune In to learn how to tune up your lesson planning when it comes to challenging learning goals that work for different students at different levels and with different needs.

Beginning a New School Year Online will cause Damage to Students’ Social Emotional Development The first week of school is one of the trickiest. You know nothing about your kids and can only use data, guess work and the advice of the previous teacher (if you’re lucky!) to begin to try new pedagogies and lesson ideas that will work.

It’s a key time for getting to know each other both academically and personally. This time is really important. Without relationships, learning gets really hard... for all of us.

So, starting the school year online and not face to face might feel like a BIG ask. You don’t know your kids, they don’t know you... and, if you’re teaching in early childhood, you’re not going to get much of an opportunity to practice classroom routines and other social and developmental milestones that are so important to establish at this early stage of the year.

Yes. We’re talking 1.1. We’re talking about knowing your students, how they learn and what their social, emotional and developmental needs are. AND... we’re talking about doing that without being in the same room.

NUTS! RIGHT?

Research Based, online tools exist to help you measure and plan to meet their needs better

What if you used this time to try some online tools that will actually help you to BETTER understand your students’ social emotional needs?

That’s right, in this week’s episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast, I’m sharing a very cool tool that you can use... right now.. With all of your kids (face to face or online). A tool that is specifically designed to help you measure the impact of your practices (online or face to face) on your student’s social-emotional wellbeing.

This week, we’re talking about Microsoft’s Reflect tools and the amazing possibilities open to you to tackle this challenge head on... and get measurable results!

Teacher accreditation applications drop as Co-vid grips the nation It’s a headline that you’d expect to see after the past 12 months of uncertainty pressure and stress isn’t. Teachers have most definitely been inundated by tasks and learning that are very much outside their comfort zone .

It’s no wonder then that reflective practice and gathering evidence for accreditation would take a back seat.

Right?

And yet.

2021 also saw educators learning new skills (er thanks Ms teams, Google Classroom, online learning, etc) faster then they have had to before.

It gave us plenty of opportunities to feel uncomfortable and… perhaps more importantly, it may have given us permission to get things wrong and try again.

At Edufolios, we help educators to tell stories about their practice and then use the Australian Professional Standards for Teacher to understand (and celebrate) their impact.

That means we have thousands of data points to explore. Data points that tell as story about what teachers in Australia have been focusing on the most during 2021

What’s the real story of teaching practice in 2021?

In this week’s episode we:

Celebrate those of you who have continued to reflect on your practice. ( nearly 9000 focus areas got tagged last year.. yep 9,000 – reflective practice is alive and well!)
Look at which focus areas the uni students are talking about the least and come up with a plan to create an opportunity for the HA and Lead teachers to use this information to help improve their pre-service mentoring.
We look at how teachers’ focus have shifted… significantly… from the last time we did this in 2020 and what we can learn from that to help us move forward
I share the one focus area that, for the first time ever, has become the least talked about focus across three career stages.. and it’s NOT a good thing peeps…
I celebrate that 6.2 (professional development) NO LONGER holds the top spot for most talked about standard
We use the data to consider plans for professional development in 2022 so that you can move forward with confidence (even when teaching is so uncertain!)

There’s a massive difference between being a uni student and a “real” teacher right?

You’ve spent years at university studying so that you can take your place as classroom teacher. There will be 30 students (maybe more) waiting for you to guide them, to support them. You’re about to get the opportunity to make a REAL difference in people’s lives.

On Prac, you had a mentor who could steer you in the right direction and, gave you security. The buck, ultimately, stopped with them. Not you.

Now things are different, and it feels pretty scary. Right?

The truth is most teachers feel that same feeling at the start of every new term… you are not alone!

There are thousands of teachers who are moving to new sites, new year levels, new subject and… most definitely, new kids and they are all feeling the pressure to make an awesome difference this year.

Many of them will also be thinking about working towards proficiency, towards getting full registration and moving through the proficient teaching standards.

So, whilst things are new and a little out of your comfort zone, this podcast is here to give you five things to help you transition from uni student to classroom teacher.

In this week’s episode, I’m sharing five things I wished I had known as an early career teacher. Five things that fly in the face of all the people-pleasing and burning out….

Be prepared for a bit of a mindset as we explore boundaries, what happens when you choose to say “yes” all the time and how important it is to make time for YOU.

If you’re about to begin your career in the classroom, to move from prac. student to THE TEACHER, then things can feel a little daunting, can’t they?

Becoming an early career teacher is like moving from L’s to P’s, it’s time to take full responsibility for some students and to apply what you’ve learnt at uni. You’re the one behind the wheel, making all the choices but there’s no one there with a second set of pedals to hit the brakes or adjust your steering. You’ve got to have GOT this…

I can totally understand why you feel this way. There are so many stories about early career teachers, expectations, job prospects and burnout.

It’s a cultural thing and we’ve been taught that pleasing others (often at the expense of ourselves) is a way to make connections and impress. We’ve also, somehow, learnt that making mistakes will look bad.; that teachers can’t do things wrong. Even a spelling error can belittle your career and cause judgements around whether you’re fit for work.

Well.. I’m here to tell you that none of that is helpful or even good advice and you have a choice to reject it all! Being an early career teacher DOES NOT mean sacrificing yourself, being perfect and never asking for help… There are actually plenty of people who can support you and would encourage you to make lots of mistakes so you can GROW!

Seven tips to help you create amazing context statements

When your assessor looks at your evidence, you want them to see the impact you have made. No matter WHO you've been working with. To do that, you need to show them the context of your work. How can they see the difference you've made if they don't know where your students, colleagues or site were at to start with. Learn how to make sure your impact is OBVIOUS to your assessor with these simple tips

If you're working on your evidence of practice and you're wondering how you know you've got the right artefact, what on earth you're meant to talk about and how you can be sure you're on the right track then this replay is for you.

We're heading all the way back to episode 003 to learn exactly how to answer these questions. Grab your free Colour coded companion guide at edufolios.org

Planning to get your portfolio of evidence done this holidays?
Right now, classes aren’t on. Planning can wait and marking is non-existent.

It might be a great opportunity to start getting to grips with your evidence sets for teacher accreditation.

Whilst we’d encourage you to take a well-deserved rest right now. We get it. This task feels big and now there’s some space you could choose to fill to get it done…

So, how do we make sure that your valuable time is spent on all the right things?

This is a replay of a very popular episode. Episode 072 of The Reflective Teacher Podcast walks you through exactly how to approach gathering evidence against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. We’ll help you to focus on the right things so that you’re not wasting any time!

Don’t forget to share the reflections you right with @Edufolios on any social platform you like! We can’t wait to read them!

Teaching has never been so strange. With lockdowns, home learning, vaccinations, teaching whilst also managing your own kids… I’m not sure how we got through it all!

There will be kids who you’ve loved and know you’ve had an impact on. The same may be true for your colleagues in fact (you highly accomplished teacher you)

But, because you are human, there will also be things that have happened this year that have felt heavy and hard. Students you may not have been able to reach, plans that didn’t go according to plan, lessons that felt bad… We all have those moments.

It’s important that we look at those and then let them go

I want you to move into the school holidays with a clear head and the motivation to move to where you want to be in 6 months time.

Join me as we answer 5 simple questions to help us celebrate the teaching year 2021, learn the lessons from that heavy stuff and let it go!

Grab your post-it notes my friend!

We’re going to use the power of brain dumping and the most versatile sticky note on the planet to push past those doubts and mean voices and take a good look at all you have to celebrate this year!

In this, the second episode in our series on getting ready to create evidence, we’re unlocking ALL of the evidence you want. Armed with post-its, a timer and some encouragement from Selena, you are about to have more stories of practice than you can shake a stick at!

Don’t forget to share a picture of your finished post-it wall with us! We’d love to showcase it RIGHT here on the Edufolios website

How do I know what my comfort zone is?
This week, we’re starting a three-part series on getting ready to reflect.

In this week’s episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast, we are going to start with checking in with your comfort zone.

We will talk about how you can tell what your comfort zone is
What happens to your career if you stay in that comfort zone
How you can use your evidence sets to identify these zones of comfiness
and what you might do with the information you create as we reflect

If you're stuck trying to work out whether you're a Highly Accomplished or Lead teacher then this episode is for you. We're going to delve into exactly what it means to be a Lead teacher in Australia.

Teachers are often surprised to realise that they have been Highly Accomplished teachers for some time... Let’s get clear on this… A highly accomplished teacher is someone whose impact has expanded beyond themselves, beyond their students and has started to influence the other teachers around them.

If you are someone who loves to “support” others, who has a keen eye for “evaluating” and “developing” ideas, tools, processes, planning (and more!) or you have found yourself modelling a teaching strategy for a colleague or a pre-service teacher… then you’re already hitting several focus areas, a highly accomplished in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

What next?

This week I’m talking about the basics of Highly Accomplished.

Tune in to hear

Who (or what) is a Highly Accomplished teacher?
What kinds of artefacts would I need in a Highly Accomplished Portfolio?
What kinds of things do I need to write about and show to be a Highly Accomplished teacher?
What’s the format of the evidence?
What’s the process of the application and what do I have to put together to apply to be certified as highly accomplished?

What are the important things you need to know about Proficiency and the Proficient Career Stage?
The proficient career stage of the Australian Professional Standards for teachers is your opportunity to celebrate the impact you are now having on your students.

Whether you’ve been teaching for 12 months or 10 years, if you’re making a difference to the lives of students and their families and you can connect your professional judgements to that success, then you are ready to apply for full teacher registration (SA) or proficiency.

The great news is, this process does NOT have to be anywhere near as onerous as the one you experienced at university

Phew! Right?

I’m going to share 5 key ideas that will help you to stay focused and get your evidence sorted for proficiency.

Tune in as we discuss:

What it’s like to be a relief teacher trying to get proficiency
Who the hero of your story is
What kinds of things are you going to need to gather and discuss?
How do you avoid getting the wrong advice?

Graduate Portfolios and GTPA are about the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
The Graduate career stage of the AITSL standards is most definitely a guiding feature of any pre-service teachers life. 37 specific focuses have to be shown to qualify as a teacher here in Australia.

You’ll hear about the teaching standards a lot as you train to be a teacher. Every module of your degree has been mapped and assessed against them. They are a BIG part of training to be a teacher.

Then comes that one prac or topic where you have to build what feels like the worlds most enormous document. The teacher portfolio or GTPA. Your chance to show what you know about the standards… right?

You get to work, building your graduate teacher portfolio. Working with your teacher-mentor on prac and your lecturers at uni to build evidence that you can meet these 37 elusive traits.

It feels HUGE

Heavy and huge.

Let's look at the Graduate Standards through some new lenses
In the first of a series about the career stages of the Australian Professional Standards for teachers, we reveal 5 key ideas that are going to make the processes of gathering evidence a lot clearer for you.

Mentor teachers (HA folks you are!) tune in too. You have a BIG part to play in this.

We explore the perspective of the mentor teacher vs the student-teacher and how this can cause tension in this process. We also talk about what can be done to solve that!

The lens and focus on the Graduate focus areas seem pretty clear.. unless you’re looking in the wrong direction. We share some simple mindset shifts here that will get you to open your eyes and professional minds to some key focuses you MUST address as you build your evidence.

Tune in and let us know which one of the five ideas resonated most strongly with you.

If you become a teacher so that you could make a difference in the world then teacher accreditation should be about celebrating the difference you make. Yet, many educators tell me that as they’re building their evidence, it’s hard to stay celebratory and joyful. It’s hard to stay focused on the impact, the success. Their eyes have wandered away from the REAL why behind their career progression goals. Away from what matters to them towards trying to understand and meet the needs of something that is far less worthy of their attention.

We all know that, if you feel good, good things happen. When this quote came up for me from Gabby Bernstein’s Deck “Super Attractor”, it got me thinking about my work with educators across Australia.

For many of them, the process of teacher accreditation is NOT feeling good. It’s feeling heavy and hard and overwhelming.

So, what can we do differently to feel good about our practice?
In this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast, we explore what happens during the process of teacher accreditation to move us away from that deep connection we have with teaching and our students.

We discuss why that happens.
Explore patterns that I see recurring through educators every single time and how you can avoid them straight away.
What’s happened to mean that we only write and reflect because of teacher accreditation.
We ask what that tells us about our profession and what needs to change

Overwhelm, Doubt and Confusion. Teacher Accreditation can be tricky
When you think of accreditation and the Australian Professional Teacher Standards which emotions come up for you?

Often, I hear a sense of panic, overwhelm, confusion and self-doubt. I’ve been coaching people through the process of reflective practice and evidence creation for years.

That’s why I created The Evidence Engine™, an online course with weekly coaching designed to give Australian teachers a way forward.

A step-by-step process that’s full of recipes, tricks, tips that will bring you a BIG sigh of relief as you create evidence of practice.
Listen to the Inspiring Stories of Corrina, Jenny, Sean, Katie and Kerry as they share how they used the Evidence Engine™ to move beyond their barriers to success

I am absolutely honoured to be joined by Kerry, Corrina, Jenny, Sean and Katie as they share their journey through the Evidence with you.

They share what their struggles were before they came to the course, what they did as they worked through the Engine and what impact that had on them as educators. There is so much to learn here from them. From their view of the process, their responses to the teachings and where they have gone on their journey as they complete the Evidence Engine™

I am so proud of these wonderful, dedicated teachers. I am sure you will be too. Tune in to witness their growth, development and understanding. It’s all a celebration in here!

Thousands of educators are creating portfolios of evidence right now. Some of you are working on your Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA). Some are ticking the boxes on proficiency and others are striving towards Highly Accomplished and Lead.

No matter which career stage you’re working towards, the process of gathering evidence can feel really, REALLY intimidating!

I get that.

This is a time where you’re being asked to reflect and gather evidence against the Australian Professional Standards.

That can feel judgemental

It can feel like you’re being asked to prove yourself

and…

If you’re not clear on how those standards work then, not only do you have to be vulnerable about your practice.. you’ve also got to get your head around a VERY LARGE document.

What if, the overwhelm and fear surrounding that document wasn’t there. What if you could see that rubric as something that helped you to move forward and celebrate?

You KNOW that’s what we specialise in here!!

Teacher accreditation is a HUGE job with big risks involved
The teacher accreditation process in Australia involves four career stages. Only two of them (That’s Graduate and Proficient) are mandated. The other two, (Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher) are a choice for us.

With all the school lockdowns happening across Australia, we’ve been under extra pressure this year too. Right?

Whilst you stare at the rising amount of work before you, the idea of adding to that workload with an extra portfolio task seems so daunting.

You’ve been to the training session on Highly Accomplished and it feels like something you could do.. then the feeling of overwhelm sets in… It’s right there in the pit of your stomach. It’s such a huge job and there are no guarantees that your efforts will be met with success.

Can you relate to thoughts like:
“I’m not organised“
“I don’t have time or can’t manage my time well”
“I haven’t been teaching long enough anyway”
“Lockdown!!”

Have you considered that these are beliefs (NOT FACTS)...and you're in charge of them?
I totally understand where all of these thoughts are coming from. As an accreditation coach, I hear them all the time.

The thing is…. they aren’t REALLY the reason you’re NOT working towards your next career goal.

Tune into this week’s episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward, to take a moment to explore what some of these beliefs might be trying to ACTUALLY tell you.

Let’s bust these beliefs wide open and see if we can’t get you moving forward.
Don’t forget to share the reflections you write with @Edufolios on any social platform you like! We can’t wait to read them!

Lesson Observations are a big part of professional growth
Everyone has to be observed as part of every career stage progression, whether that’s graduate, proficient, highly accomplished, or lead.

And we might only have one lesson… or worse… 20 minutes to showcase our teaching and our student’s learning.

There is so much to think about. The planning, the resources and then SHOWING why you made those choices in the first place. Not all of that can happen in a 20-minute slot.
So, how can we make sure that IMPACT is evident during that lesson observation?

In this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast, I’m going to share with you some top tips to make sure that, whenever you’re observed, you know how to showcase your kids and their growth in your lesson.

This episode is great for a mentor teacher who’s looking to see how they can better frame a lesson observation. It is wonderful for our uni students who are working on their graduate teacher portfolios (sooo… many examples in here for you!) AND it’s even got some tips for those of you who are preparing for observation at stage two if HAT or LEAD.

During the episode, I share one of my own lesson plans and the resources I gave an observer in one of my most successful lesson observations EVER. Freebie available at Edufolios.org/110

Data sets are an essential part of all evidence of learning. The Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA) has you explore data in great detail.

Data is something that we all have as teachers. It's something that we all use to varying degrees of success. Some say they don't need it. Is that really true?

In this episode, we look at the importance of data in your GTPA or accreditation process. We explore how it's important to the success of your students and what exactly the assessors are looking for as you interpret it and apply your professional skills.

What should I be collecting on prac for my Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA)?

This is a question that gets asked, on repeat, on various Facebook groups, Twitter chats and across the table at the uni coffee shop.

I get it.

The Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (or GTPA) is going to ask you to show what you know and you’ll need evidence to prove that. Evidence means you’ll need stuff… artefacts like lesson plans, student work and more.

You want to make sure you know what to take photos of, what to photocopy and what to store away until it’s time to start putting your GTPA together.

Right?
Actually, there's a more efficient way to gather evidence for GTPA
The Graduate Teacher Performace Assessment, just like a Graduate Portfolio, is actually asking you to demonstrate that you can meet the requirements of the Graduate Standards. It’s got very specific tasks and topics it wants you to cover AND it’s about much more than the things you can collect.

In this episode, we’re going to unpack three very simple facts that will help you move forward, into your GTPA in the most efficient way possible.

If you’re listening to this before you start your final practicum then grab a pen and take notes.

This episode will move you from foggy and confused about what the GPTA is about to clear, focused and inspired to get going. If you're mentoring, it's going to give you some ideas to really show YOUR impact on your pre-service teacher too.

Remember when you used to hate being on the webcam? Remember how intimidating it felt to "dial-in" to something online?

Has that shifted for you now?

In the last few months (maybe even the last year) you've gained some seriously cool new tools in online teaching and learning. Most of us, at one time or another, have experienced teaching online. Things have shifted.

Hopefully, you've been measuring your impact on your students (proficient) as you go... but.. have you considered how you could use these new skills to create a wider impact on your colleagues? (highly accomplished)

In this week's episode, I'm going to share my experience of building The Evidence ENgine with you. How my course business mentor Amy Porterfield helped me overcome my fears and barriers and why, as a teacher, her course gave me the opportunity to experience curriculum and planning like never before.

This is a story that I hope will inspire you to explore the idea that you too can make an impact on a wider audience. Sharing your knowledge and passion for teaching and learning with others and gathering evidence of the impact that reaches beyond your own site to colleagues all over Australia.

There's even a really fun quiz to help you see if this might be an option for you!

Did you know that habits help create happy, creative, calm educators?
It’s true!

But don’t take it from me… science backs up this factoid.

According to psychologist Robert Cialdini, when you commit to do something and become consistent in that decision, it serves you well because you’ll want to stay committed to that consistency.

And consistency, well that equals good habits… and good habits create solid success for your business’s needs.

"Where attention goes, energy flows," they say.

That’s why I’ve been thinking about ways we can all find more freedom for ourselves in our 24 hour day.

Thanks to some great advice and mentoring, I’ve been able to create daily habits that support me to make that space. That give me the freedom to walk on the beach, be more creative and re-energise myself.

I’ve learnt to use these habits to say “yes” to myself.

and it’s having an amazing impact on my well being

If you’re feeling tired, overwhelmed and worried that you will never have time to get everything done… and you want to create some new habits that will help you reach your career goals AND create more freedom in your day for YOU then this episode is for you.

It’s even got a bonus; an amazing freebie!

I’m super excited to share my digital course creation mentor, Amy Porterfield’s brand new, free guide, Create More Freedom & Live Your Best Life: 6 Daily Habits To Swear By, with you.

Once you download the free guide, hit me up in the DMs (just use @edufolios) and let me know your takeaways.

I want to cheer you on as you go!

Outdoor Ed? That's for Recreation Right? I'd never get evidence of practice there, would I? “School camp”. We’ve all taken our kids on these. I’ve been on loads of class retreats and camps myself. The idea, to get the city kids into the country, to give them a chance to experience things they had before and to create opportunities to build stronger bonds between them and with them.

Did I consider school camp to be part of the curriculum? Critical thinking, personal development, science and environment studies?

Honestly. I probably hadn’t really thought about it like that. How about you?

So many of my “outdoor ed” experiences have been about adventures across rope bridges, hiking and other physical pursuits. All of which gives an opportunity for teamwork and bonding between us all. A chance to pus beyond our comfort zones and see what we can do

  What if Outdoor leveraged the environment to create and hold a space that transformed students?

"I've changed as an overall person from this trip, my self confidence has increased and insane amount. Knowing that I'm good enough and letting go of that self doubt has caused me to be so much happier"

ANON YEAR 11 STUDENT

  This week, we are joined by Mark Cridland, Chris Dennis and Rhi Flavel as they share the amazing work they are doing in their outdoor and environment centre in Queensland.

As we work with this site, it has become more and more apparent what amazing pedagogical practices they implement to create an incredibly unique, boutique and powerful experience for the students and staff they work with.

Rhi has been leading the charge to bring in the work of Arne Rubinstein to the students that grace their beautiful environment. Working through an amazing process called “The Contemporary Rights of Passage”

In this truly emotional and powerful conversation, you’ll hear how Mark and his team have used Rubinstein’s research and work to implement something truly transformative.

Connected to curriculum, to country and to the ultimate wellbeing and development of children.

Rhi and Chris walk us through the four stages of the process which involves using nature and country to create a space where students can shed their armour, go within and honour both themselves and their friends.

Powerful transformations occur at Tallebugera as they combine The Contemporary Rites of Passages with environmental education, critical and creative thinking and student lead pedagogy.

Every student who has the privilege of working with the team is given the opportunity to walk away transformed and truly connected to self, to their goals and their way forward.

Tune in to listen to their journey and how they are measuring this amazing impact.

Free resources and links, as always are below in the further reading section. Don’t forget to let us know what came up for you as you listen!

When talking about ICT in my portfolio I just need to show I'm using some tech... right?

Technology. It’s “sexy”, “desirable” and expected to appear in our teaching tool kit. It even has two of its focus areas in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. (2.6 and 4.5)

Parents love to see their children using technology. iPads, VR, Kahoot, Minecraft.. they’re all signs of an innovative and future thinking school. Right?

When it comes to the evidence in your stories of practice, to cover ICT, you’d be forgiven for thinking that all you have to do is talk about a tool you’ve used. Because, honestly, that’s what you see all the time… Technology is “engaging”, the kids are always on task when they’re “doing Kahoot”.

The thing is. Engaging and fun doesn't always mean the intended learning is happening.... It’s there in the research (ooh standard six alert!). In fact since 1984 (I was 4 back then!!), Seymour Papert was warning us about putting the tech before the learning.

It’s so easy to think that, if we have the latest tech tools, our kids will learn more. They’re engaged! but…. digital distraction is REAL and so, skillfully using technology “to expand curriculum opportunities” (Grad 2.6) or “using effective teaching strategies to integrate ICT into learning and teaching programs to make selected content relevant and meaningful” (Prof 2.6) requires something deeper than just the latest tech.

There’s a really important piece of the puzzle that we MUST attend to….

IMPACT

That’s why I’m really excited to bring researcher and speaker Bron Stuckey to the Reflective Teacher Podcast to share her “Planning for Virtuality Framework”.

Her framework has everything you need to plan and deliver a lesson with ICT that will meet every verb, what and why in 2.6 at any of the career stages.

I'm not a leader. I'm not a DP, a Principal or a Head of Curriculum. I'm just a teacher...
I’ve had this conversation so many times with the teachers I work with.

The culture in our profession has “leadership” defined by title and status. Status through time- travelled as a teacher, or through career progression. It’s been that way since… well. forever... Right?

What if Leadership is about people? About helping them to develop their potential?

This week I am joined by Dare to Lead™ and Daring Classrooms™ Facilitator, Anna Ranaldo. As the founder of Collective Courage, she has worked with schools and educators to help them to understand just how they go about taking “responsibility for finding the potential in people” and where the courage comes from to “develop that potential”…

That’s leadership…

and in this episode, we’re going to unpack that.

We get vulnerable here. I share some stories about my own leadership and personal struggles with “the shame cave” and anxiety and how that has impacted me as an educator.

This episode is REAL, it’s powerful and it will get you thinking.

When you’re done listening, reflect on what you have learnt about yourself as a leader. No matter what stage of your teaching career you at. Our entire reason for being a teacher is to unlock the potential in those we teach.

In that way, we are all leaders.

How does that make you feel?

Reflect on it in your Edufolios and share it with Anna and I. Check the Further Reading section for more links and resources.

Are teacher portfolios still even a thing?
Teacher portfolios. Everyone’s got one right? They’re needed for job applications, accreditation, teacher registration and digital footprint management.

With the dawn of the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment, the many different systems that educators have to use in different states and territories AND the pressure of it all (gah! ) you’d be forgiven for thinking that a teacher portfolio is all about compliance and so… if your uni doesn’t ask for one.. they’re not a thing…

At least that’s what I overheard in a Facebook Group recently….

Let's unpack what a teacher portfolio is for...
Portfolios are most definitely a thing. Thousands of people are using Edufolios right now to create one and fill it with their evidence of practice.

In this episode, I want to pull apart our beliefs about portfolios and their roles in our professional lives.

If you’re a principal, then I’d be really keen to hear your thoughts on some of these ideas and beliefs. Make sure you message us!

Tune in to hear:

Why your own experience might be different to someone in another state, uni, sector, school or leadership team. Yep.. Culture and process time!
How the pages you’re being asked to create for an interview should be in a portfolio! and WHY!
Why we ask our kids to create portfolios of their learning in one way… and ignore all that knowledge when we create one about our teaching
Why having it online doesn’t mean you can’t supply evidence on paper.
The new, upgraded export tool in Edufolios
Why your principal would be impressed that you have a portfolio.

We all know that teacher accreditation has a compliance arm. We all have very strong feelings about the box-ticking element of career progression. What if we looked at career progression through a slightly less armoured lens?

Let's look at it in the context of a shared purpose. A purpose of increasing the positive impact we're having in our classrooms and schools every day.

If we can keep that conversation as our focus and use the language of the career stages and standards as our model for healthy striving and celebration.. what happens to the culture of our site? What happen to the results we get for our students?

Join me as we explore this and I share examples of good practice I've seen at some of the leaders in schools we work with.

Is it possible that you are a lead teacher? Seriously... What does it mean to be "Lead" and how is that different to being in a leadership role at a site? In this episode, we explore what leadership is. Why it's not about you single-handedly taking on a project and why it will be a story that involves your colleagues and the impact you have helped them to achieve. With a little help from Brene Brown's "Dare to Lead", we will break apart any assumptions about the word "lead" and see how you feel about it!

Let us know what this brings up for you @edufolios on Twitter, FB or Insta

What is it like to go through the lead teacher process? Should you do HA first?

In this episode, we are joined by Angela Phillips from Westminster School in South Australia. She shares her journey to Lead with us in this case study. As a recent recipient of lead status her incites are Invaluable.

If you've been feeling some doubt about whether to go for HA or LEad (or anything at all!). If you're in charge of a program to help others become accredited (or a part of one) and if you'd like to hear what a difference it makes when you focus on Impact and NOT the standards.. then this episode is for you :)

Sadly, artefacts, by themselves do not qualify as evidence.

so, If you collect examples of impact (Artefacts) you won't have a heap of evidence

No matter what career stage you're working at, in order for someone to assess what that artefact shows they're are going to need some context and some explanation. That's why, in this episode, we talk about the context for your artefact and what you need to do with it to make it an important piece of a successful evidence set or story of practice.

Tune in to learn why you may need to PEE all over your evidence. (Point, Evidence, Explanation) and where the artefact fits into all that! Let's get your artefacts a comfy spot to sit in your evidence where you feel confident you've got the right one, with the right context (point) and a powerful explanation that uses the standards LIKE A BOSS.

I can't submit this evidence! It's too long and I'm not sure it's highly accomplished 😱

If you've sat down and written an evidence post for your stage one application for highly accomplished... (or, for that matter, at any career stage), you're moving in the right direction.

You know there's a word count for each highly accomplished (HAT) evidence set. (It's about 500-600 words for the context statement and 200-250 words for each annotation ... check with your assessors for your jurisdictions exact numbers).

You just sat down and let the story of your teaching practice flow. You even enjoyed it as you talked about your kids, the work you've been doing with colleagues (because... that's highly accomplished!) and the impact you've been having.

The trouble is... what you've written is well over the word count. You're not even sure it's HA. Even though you enjoyed writing this, you've now got that horrible sinking feeling in your stomach as you realize you might not have done this right. 🤢

Let's wind this back a moment. In your day to day work...

you know... teaching...

If you set your students to work and they got everything right the first time they did it.... you'd need to up your challenge right?

Give yourself some Grace! Your HA evidence was never going to be perfect straight off the bat

In the last episode, we talked a lot about that sinking feeling. We also talked a lot about giving yourself space to learn. To get it wrong and then move forward.

I can not tell you the number of times I've heard... just get started... as the first piece of advice coming from our most successful subscribers.

Congratulations... You got started! 🥂

Now.. let's get this evidence you've written focused and powerful. Let's turn that sinking feeling into celebration, confidence and pride!

Tune in to this week's episode to continue our conversation on making sure your evidence is focused and clear.

We've got four more tips for you this week that will help turn your novella into several, shorter, more focused POWERFUL 💪 evidence sets for your Stage 1 application at HA or LEAD.

It's so hard to know I'm focusing on the right things in my stories of practice!
As you begin to tackle the process of writing and creating evidence sets, a million questions enter your mind. You start by writing a story about what happened in your classroom today.

You’re actually enjoying the process as things pop into your mind. Questions about why that worked so well and what you could do differently next time for that one student who just wouldn’t stay focused. Then you remember that this is an evidence set or a story of practice and you start to feel like, ENJOYING this is the wrong thing.

Doubts start to creep in. It shouldn’t be this easy…it shouldn’t feel this much fun. If I start here, how will I even know that I AM hitting ANY focus areas? Your heart races, you feel that familiar drop in your stomach as it lurches with nerves and the frustration that you might have just wasted 30 mins of your day causes no small amount of anger. You STOP and feel defeated… again.

This is an all to familiar story and in this two part-er, we’re going to unpack that and share some sneaky secrets that will help keep you in that confident and curious place and away from that pit of doom that you keep falling into…

The key is..
Impact, Character, Permission to be Messy....
There are three pieces of advice in Part One. Our focus today is on the purpose of the story you are writing and the hero of that story (and how it is definitely NOT you OR the standards). We’re also going to look at where this desire to hit all the standards… in fact to KNOW exactly which standard you are hitting… as you write.. is coming from!

Would you expect your students to hand up just one version of their coursework or would you let them explore the ideas and themes in their books.. mark that and give them feedback… then let them do a draft… which you mark and give feedback on and then… once they are more comfortable go for the gold? I thought so.

Let’s talk about being kinder to ourselves. I share some processes and a two post-it system (I’m not kidding!) to keep that horrible fear and overwhelm monster away!

Jocelyn Brewer, Cyber Pshychologist and Teacher talks with Selena about ICT in our classrooms, how we need to stay curious, brave with it and what that means for us as teachers.

ICT shows up in standards 2.6 and 4.5 right?
There are only two focus areas in the Australian Professional Standards that ask you to write about ICT and computer use in your classroom. 2.6 asks you to talk about ICT as a resource that enhancing learning and teaching and 4.5 is all about the social and ethical protocols and practices when you’re using ICT. Have you found yourself scratching your head when it comes to meeting this two in an evidence piece?

If you’re thinking, do I just talk about the software I used with year 9 last week? What are the social and ethical protocols I need to cover? Have you found yourself with a bit of a knot in your stomach over this one? Not really sure how you’re going to evidence it? Particularly at HAT or LEAD teacher level? Well… what if I told you

When you use ICT you SHOULD hit a lot more than 2.6 and 4.5
This week, I’m talking to Jocelyn Brewer. As part of Sydney University’s Cyberpsychology research group, she has been examining the intersection of psychology and technology for over a decade. A former educator, a parent and a very passionate advocate for giving our students what they need to stay safe, connected and happy in online spaces, she shares some amazing insights and research into how ICT meets a whole lot more than 2.6 and 4.5.

As you listen, you’re going to start to see opportunities to think and talk about ICT in new ways in your evidence portfolio.

Things I love about this interview:

We talk, quite candidly, about the mess we’re in with ICT. How complicated it is… who is responsible for all this and why and how that impacts YOU.
She shares so many resources for you to explore that I had to break the further reading section into two columns! (go check that out!)
We talk about this through the lens of the teacher, but also through the lens of the parent. Lead applicants… this might spark a project that would impact your entire site as you explore “the mountain” of ICT use at your site.
As two researchers who love to talk Edtech WITH a research lens. You can expect us to cut through the BS of fear-mongering and tell you what the research actually shows… (and where its gaps are).

This episode was just so much fun!

Don’t forget to do the challenge at the end! Comment your reflections, or tweet / Instagram your posts. Tag us @edufolios as you do and we’ll have a look! #rtpodcast

The Evidence Creation Process is Overwhelming, Hard Work and UNFAIR!
We all know that evidence and portfolios are now a fact of life for all Aussie Educators. Right!?

We also know that putting together your portfolio of evidence can be hard. It’s time-consuming and it can feel overwhelming.

If it were easy to put your evidence together, you have done it already, wouldn’t you? Because you want (and deserve) to progress your career journey!

I get it! Every time you try and set aside time to get this done in the “next school Holidays”, “ mid-semester break” or when you’ve got X, Y and Z all lined up something inexplicable happens and it just DOESN’T GET DONE

Every time those goals slip by, un-met, it can be really easy to beat yourself up, can’t it?

It's not your fault! You were NEVER TAUGHT THIS
That’s where The Evidence Engine™ comes in

You’ve heard me talk about this a lot on the podcast and NOW is THE TIME to get yourself a ticket and join the other educators who are about to learn the secrets to creating evidence in under 30 days.

I’ve been sharing tips and tricks with you for 94 episodes now 20,000 of you have downloaded those episodes and used them to help support you on your Evidence Creation journey.

Now is your chance to work with me.

Side by side

Step by step through the evidence creation process

But..

The doors to the Evidence Engine™ close at 8pm tonight (the 13th April)

Tune in to hear more about the Evidence Engine and how it might help you I can’t wait to work with you very soon!!

See you onboard! Edufolios.org/yes

FREE WEBINAR: Edufolios.org/freepd

Mentoring, it's all about helping another, less experienced educator, grow. Probably because you've been doing it longer, have more experience or just more confidence and they can learn from you.

That can be scary, can't it? One thing teachers find tricky is to celebrate their own success and stand in the power of the impact they're having. (It's one of the reasons that accreditation can be so confronting). It's also kind of nice to feel "looked up" to, isn't it?

But... what if we've got it wrong?What if mentoring is actually about learning MORE than it is about you passing any knowledge on? What if you used mentoring as a process through which, you could grow and develop too?

Moving away from the pressure of the fountain of all knowledge and towards someone who is willing to learn from someone who has far less experience than you... but a different perspective.
Mentoring can be as much about your OWN growth and development as your mentees.

In this episode, we explore how portfolios and the standards can help you do that as I share four ways YOU can stake your claim as the chief learner in your classroom.

"I don't have time for this right now!"

It’s nearly time for the term break. What plans do you have?

I often hear from my students that that they are planning to get onto of their evidence or portfolios “this holiday”.

Somehow, the holidays have become the time when you get this “extra” work done. There’s no time for it in the school term is there?

I mean, there’s barely time for lunch and a quick trip to the loo!

We all have 24 hours in our day... so why is it that some people CAN find time?

It’s so easy to beat yourself up about feeling like there’s “no time” for reflection, accreditation or portfolios. How many times have you promised yourself that you’re going to get it done this holidays… and then it just doesn’t happen?

It’s ok. If you could see everyone reading this.. you’d see a lot of hands in the air. It’s something that we all suffer from.

Teachers are TIME POOR.
The question is … why?

Is this really about NOT having enough time or is something else going on?

In this week’s episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast, we look to answer that question. We explore why it is that some people seem to get this done without extra work whilst others spend hours of their time working on it and seem to get nowhere fast.

Is this really about time?

Or is this about support, advice, mentoring, coaching and a missing process?

Tune in to find out…

My Teacher Portfolio? Oh I'm waiting until...
Can you complete the sentence above? Has it crossed your mind that there things that you need to wait for before you begin your journey to teacher accreditation? Maybe you’ve been waiting until your final prac, until you’ve been teaching for a couple of years. Perhaps you’re waiting until you’ve got all the evidence you need… before you start?

I can understand why you might be thinking this way. If we focus on the outcome of accreditation or passing a module at uni. then it’s easy to wait. Wait until the deadline comes a little close. Because the process involved evidence and annotations, I can see why you might be thinking you need both of those things BEFORE you start putting together a portfolio. It’s all very logical. It’s also all very wrong.

The best time to start your teacher portfolio is RIGHT NOW.

The thing is, every time you stop yourself reflecting on your practice, every time you create a reason to wait to start your teacher portfolio, there’s a cost. A cost to your time, a cost to your learning and a cost to the impact you could be having on your students and your confidence as a teacher.

In this podcast episode, we talk about what these conditions mean and why they are so detrimental. This episode is a call to action. A rally to start focusing on your impact. To understand that the accreditation and reflection process is NOT just about career progression. It’s about being the kind of teacher who cares deeply about their impact and wants desperately to know they’re doing a great job in their classroom. Your teacher portfolio is a place to learn and grow. The rest will just happen. Trust me.

Why would you complete the "Highly Accomplished" Process? It's just more 'stuff' to do.

In my work with Edufolios, I am finding myself mentoring and supporting more and more educators as they go through the Highly Accomplished process. The decision to attempt Stage 1, the portfolio, can feel like a BIG one. In fact, there are many beliefs about the process out there. Ideas like you have to teach for at least 5 years before you can apply for it, that it’s so much extra work it’s not worth doing, that, if your state doesn’t give you the pay raise automatically why would you do it?

Kat, is someone I have worked with for nearly 4 years now. I’ve had the pleasure of walking alongside her through the proficiency (or full registration as we call it here in SA) stage and on through to her recent success as a Highly Accomplished educator. Her story is inspiring and she is awesome. I love working with her. In this episode, I had the pleasure of stepping back through the processes she followed to move from self-doubt to self-confidence.

Kat’s journey through HA, like many educators I work with, was thwart with doubts, overwhelm and limiting beliefs. It was also full of amazingly powerful growth, development and transformation.

"I found it found it really powerful to go through a process where I could really focus on what I was doing and the impact that was having."

In this podcast, Kat shares her journey to nationally certified Highly Accomplished Teacher (HAT) Status. We talk about:

What kind of evidence did you put in your HAT portfolio?
What made for a good artefact?
How did you know you were ready for HAT?
How did you pull your evidence together?
and much more.

Tune in to gain real insights into the process and to her the surprising bonus the HAT journey has for its applicants.

"I need to know that I'm putting my energy into the right things..."
Teaching is a ridiculously demanding job. Your time is so precious and there is a never-ending list of things that need to be done. “I don’t have time” is a catch cry for so many of us as we try hard to juggle the challenges and responsibilities of our role.

Our students are our main priority and we will fight to do what’s best for them. Honestly, we fight so hard it’s can be detrimental to our own health and personal relationships. Having no time, being time-poor, not wanting to waste our time on something until we know we’re going to get it right… oh, wait…

Are we afraid of wasting time or getting it wrong?
Whatever your reason for feeling so time-pressured, in this episode we’re going to have a frank and open chat about what it might mean if you’re too busy to stop.. not even for five minutes. We’ll chat about shifting mindsets so that you can start to see evidence and reflection more as “being” in your teaching day than “doing” something extra.

You can even download this free handout which accompanies today’s episode and is full of handy links and notes. Head to Edufolios.org/089 to find them

Get ready to start seeing evidence everywhere. More than that, get ready to understand how to start the process and finish it whilst making sure that not a minute is wasted. We’ve got:

A 5-minute process that you can add to the end of your day. One that will show you where potential stories of practice lurk.
An app that will help you find artefacts to support that evidence.
A new way of seeing the structure of the teaching standards that will help keep you razor-focused and
the ultimate assessment tool that can reveal impact in 20 mins.

Are you a Teacher Mentor? Need to work with the Standards?
What if I had five sneaky secrets to help you be the best teacher mentor… ever… in the world? Tune In I’ve got them here for you today.

Before we go any further, I want you to think about the term “mentor” and what that brings up for you. Because… we are ALL mentors… every single educator. Whether you’ve been teaching for 20 years or you’re in the first year of your teaching degree. If you sit and listen and support another educator in any way (that includes coffee and cake… in fact that’s highly encouraged) then you are a mentor to someone.

When you thought of the word mentor did you associate yourself with it? What emotions did it bring up for you? I ask because we need to move more of us away from this limiting belief that we have to be teaching for x years or achieve some self-set goal before we are worthy of supporting another human being in this career. Stop it! We all have different experiences and so we all have something to share with each other. I learn as much from a new teacher as I do from a colleague who’s been teaching for 20 years.

Yes, you are. We are all teacher mentors. Here are 5 tips to help you support others.With that in mind, I want to share five very quick (and sneaky) secrets that will help you to increase the impact you’re having on your friends and colleagues as you work with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

These sneaky secrets will help create more clarity for you and your mentee (or friend) and, at the very least can be used to guide some really powerful learning conversations for both of you.

So, tune in to hear about:

Focusing on Impact NOT Standards
The Myths around the structure of the standards
The secret code in the descriptors that reveal the holly grail
How Artefacts are NOT evidence (yes! STOP collecting stuff!)
Why you should start with your stories NOT the standards.

and don’t forget to tell us what you think over on our facebook, twitter or insta accounts

"They see the standards as the answer, not the question..."

When you approach the Australian Professional Standards for teachers. When you look at the rubric, what do you see? For so many, they see the answer sheet. You know, the document you have alongside as you check off your evidence. The document that tells you whether you’re doing it ok. The thing that enables a judgement to be passed.

We’ve been talking to a lot of principals recently about adding the Principal standards into the Edufolios platform and a lot of them are feeling disconnected with their standards too. I’ve heard the standards be labelled as “not relevant” to early childhood, to outdoor ed, to special ed, to gifted ed. That’s only possible if we give them a context that restrains them. If we turn them into the answer.

What's stopping you from seeing the Standards as a question?

What if we approach the standards in the same way we would ask our students to approach a problem or enquiry they were facing? What if, instead of seeing them as the tick sheet, the mark book, the answer… we moved towards seeing them as goalposts? Goalposts and weigh points that guide us on a journey of exploration and critical thinking about our own practice.

If we choose to see the standards as a tool that can guide us to better understanding what happens to the process of accreditation? What happens to our levels of impact in our classroom?

These are the questions we are tackling in this week’s episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast. We talk fear, overwhelm, conditions and more…

"The bell doesn't dismiss you! I do!"

Have you ever found yourself working through a process in your classroom, at your site or in your professional career and thinking… “I can see a different way.. This is so frustrating”?

I know that many of you feel that way about teacher accreditation, that’s for sure, (That’s why Edufolios exists). Have you ever considered how we find ourselves emulating what came before without ever realising it? If we’re honest, there are many times in our career where we find ourselves borrowing lines from our old teachers. We emulate what came before us, without a second thought. Phrases like “The bell doesn’t dismiss you. I do!” come spilling out of your mouth almost unconsciously. They aren’t your words, there’ your tear 8 Math’s teachers words… and you’re using them. The same is true when we become leaders. In some ways, we might follow the example that was set. Should we?

Culture is a huge part of Education because Education is about people. So many of us end up feeling frustrated inside of that culture. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard teachers give up on their innovative ideas because there are no resources, head office wouldn’t like it or they’re just scared to speak up and jeopardise their position at their site. All of these are real issues. Issues that hold us all back if we let them.

"...we need to create conditions, where people feel that they can share their thoughts and their ideas without pushback."

Our guest this week is George Couros. Some of you may have met George has he toured around Australia eight years ago. I know he left a significant footprint on the educators he was working with here in Adelaide. George is the author of two books “The Innovator’s Mindset” and “Innovate Inside the Box.” and is a passionate storyteller. His years of experience as teacher, principal and department leader over in Canada have sparked some amazing insights that are shared in these books. Inspired by his most recent book ““Innovate Inside the Box.” I talked to George about:

How the way we see compliance (teacher accreditation) can be transformed from an obligation to empowerment.
School leadership and the important role that plays in creating a safe environment. One where, a teacher with a great idea has the freedom to share it, to feel heard – without fear.
We talk about the importance of being open to new ideas, to new experiences. In fact, one experience he had here, in Adelaide, helped shape the way he structures his professional learning days all over on the other side of the world.

It’s time to consider what influences your practice, how you make space to connect with and learn from that and, most importantly, how your students know what you’ve been learning and benefit from it.

Tune in to hear some amazing examples of innovation. Some practical tips to support you in transforming your practice and some insights into how being concious of the choices and mindsets you have in your professional life can hold you back or help you (and your team) flourish.

When we work Towards Accreditation, we Start with the Standards
With a process that involved paperwork and lots of box-ticking, (boxes with standards next to them of course!) I can completely understand why this might be the way you see things. When we do so, we feel like we have to learn an entirely new language. The language of the standards. It gets overwhelming pretty quickly.

That’s why at Edufolios we do things the other way around. Start with your stories. Tell us (or rather the system) what you’ve been doing in your classrooms, in your uni lectures, at your staff meetings, at PD (anywhere where you’re developing and using your professional skillset) and THEN look at what the standards can tall you about your practice.

So, it’s probably not too much of a surprise that I received a question from a new Edufolios member wanting to know how they could be sure that they were using our standards guide right. That they were selecting the correct focus areas for their evidence.

Here's how to flip the process. How you know which standards you're talking about.
In this podcast, we explore why it is that we choose to see accreditation as a box-ticking exercise. What compels us to go standards first?

We also explore the tools and resources (see the further reading section below) that will move you from that overwhelm and confusion and into some clarity and purposeful reflection.

We also reveal a few up and coming changes to the Edufolios platform that users can expect to see in the coming weeks. Exciting times my friends!

2,960,000,000 people in the world have a fixed mindset. Are you one of them?

Recently, I bought my 8-year-old son a book. It’s called “You Are Awesome – Find your confidence and dare to be brilliant at (almost) anything” and it’s written by British Ping Pong Champion turned motivational speaker and author, Matthew Syed. It used two characters to tell its story; Kid Awesome and Kid Average. As I went through this book with my son, I was quietly surprised to note that, despite my research and ability to teach growth mindset, I had a lot to learn from Kid Awesome.

In this episode, I ask you to think a little deeper about your mindset around accreditation, around teaching and your abilities as a teacher. Using Matthew Syed’s work, we explore what it takes to be an “Awesome Teacher” or Teacher awesome – if we follow his format

Let's take the opportunity to stop, reflect and move towards Awesome!

If you’re busy thinking things like, “growth Mindset, not that again” then I want you to pause… because…well… that reveals a bit of a fixed mindset doesn’t it? The ability to decide that you have nothing new to learn from a new perspective…that’s fixed.

As I read this book with my son, I was challenged in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Challenged to consider my phrasing and attitudes and what I was modelling to him, myself and my students. Matthew’s book got me thinking and connecting some dots.

Join me as we talk about 4 key things we can consider in 2021 as we move one step closer to awesomeness!

This is the week the kids come back for 2021!
The Edufolios and Reflective Teacher Podcast community is full of passionate educators. Educators with one goal, to have the best impact they can have on the students and families they work with. That’s why, in this episode, we hand the mic over to you.

Over the past few weeks, the Podcast voicemail has been collecting your stories, your advice and your support for teachers in 2021. The result? A string of golden wisdom to start off the academic year.

Here is the advice that your community wanted you to hear.
With massive thanks to Kerry, Ash, Judy, Marian, Linda and Rachael, it’s time to tune in and gather some pearls of wisdom. From establishing boundaries to tuning into your learners there is some great advice here.

Thank you, all of you for listening each week and tuning in. Thank you too for your continued support of Edufolios as we forge forward on our mission to make Accreditation meaningful and powerful for all of us.

Enjoy the episode! Show notes are at Edufolios.org/083

It's an new year! It's time to set a new goal!

Well this episode is about to give that goal a whole new sense of power. This isn’t the usual guide to goals setting. In fact, you’re about to learn how really effective educators plan their academic year define their goals and then reach every single one.

Great goal setting has nothing to do with a resolution or a list....
In this episode, we reveal a new way to create your goals for this academic year. We even provide you with a workbook to use as Selena coaches you through a process that will provide clarity and direction for you in 2021.

Whether you’re still at uni, in your first or 32 year, this episode will get you thinking very deeply about:

The things that are stopping you reaching your teaching goals
What you should say “No” to in 2021.
How to make sure you reach your career goals in 2021.
The lessons you learnt in 2020 and what you can do with those to increase your impact in 2021

We can’t wait to help yo define and reach the goal of your dreams in 2021. Grab your freebie at Edufolios.org/082

Too Tired to Celebrate?
Oh my goodness. Me too.

As the academic year draws to a close I am left feeling the most tired I think I have ever been!

We have so much to celebrate here at Edufolios. With record numbers of downloads on the podcast and a recent win in the Boosting Female Founders grant, we should be dancing a jig. But I need more chocolate and cheesecake if that’s going to happen. I don’t know about you but the academic year 2020 has been a challenge. So many things have had to be altered from the norm.

How were your usual school markers and traditions affected this year? Your routines and cultural norms at your site?

How many times did you have to come up with a slightly different way to do something that happens every year? From assemblies to school trips and parent-teacher interviews. It was all a bit.. well… different this year wasn’t it?
Are we so tired because of Creative Fatigue?
This phrase “create fatigue” was introduced to me by a senior leader at a site I’ve been working with recently. I think she hit the nail on the head.

This year we have all had to think outside the box and change direction SO MANY TIMES. It’s crazy!

In this week’s podcast, we take a moment to pause and reflect on that. To celebrate what that meant for you, your students and your professional experiences.

Reports are in. We're done with those for the year right?
If you’ve just finished your report writing for the year then congratulations! What a mammoth task that was. I bet you spent hours putting those together. PJs on, chocolate to hand typing away with the Australian Curriculum Descriptors as your ever faithful guide.

How easy did you find the process?
What steps did you have to take to put those reports together?
What if there was a way to make report writing a little less painful next time?
What if there was a way to see these reports you have written as a means to an artefact end?

In this, the last episode in our series on assessment, I’m joined by special guest, Rachel Mac from Savvy Teachers is here to share her top tips and thoughts on the whole report writing process. From the purpose of reports to what to do when you have to talk about something negative and how you should structure them, Rachel has you covered.

We talk about reporting as the end stage of a longer process of planning, marking, assessing and then… reporting. All very standards five of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers! Of course, we don’t stop there. With stories of practice from both us that touch on students and how they learn, policy and practice and much more, our conversation will show you how report writing can really dance all over those seven teacher standards!

Check the links at Edufolios.org/080 for access to more of Rachel’s amazing resources as well as the opportunity to connect with her and be involved in her excellent teacher mentor programs.

Assessment happens at the end of a unit right?

Summative assessment practice may have us thinking that we can’t really measure our students progress until they sit that test, write that final piece for the exam or finish their coursework. Alternatively, formative assessment might be a great way to check in now and then, but is it really a useful piece of data that I can use to measure impact?

er.. yes.

Especially, if we have a look at some of the different assessment strategies found in pedagogical practices like Assessment for Learning

What if assessment was a part of your practice every lesson?

Assessment for learning is a process or practice that makes assessment one of the key features of every single lesson. It changes everything, from the way in which you communicate and frame learning to how your students are enabled to take ownership of their own learning journeys.

If you’re keen to explore how assessment can be used really powerfully to really drive everything else you do in your classroom then it’s time to explore Assessment for Learning in more detail.

That’s exactly what we’re doing this week on The Reflective Teacher Podcast!

We assess against the curriculum... is there another lens to consider?

When it comes to standard 5 – “Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning” we tend to shy away. In the last few episodes of The Reflective Teacher Podcast, we’ve been exploring what might be causing this strange phenomenon.

Surely, Assessment should provide us with all the data and artefacts we need to show impact. A good “before” and “after” snapshot of a student’s progress should be a big part of meeting this standard. Yet, for some reason, we aren’t always confident in meeting the 5 focus areas of this standard.

It's time to think about cause and effect

In this episode, we discuss how we can use the standards as a guide to help us apply a different lens to our students’ work, exams and results. The lens of cause and effect.

There’s a little reflection task for you to complete too and a great freebie to help you connect with the verb, what and why of standard 5. In fact, we even have a chat about the difference it makes when there is no “why” to a focus area. Head to Edufoios.org/078 to grab your copy

Don’t forget to tell us how you go as you apply this new lens. Share your evidence post in the comments below or via one of our social media accounts. We can’t wait to see how many focus areas you hit, from how many standards and (more importantly) what you learn about your practice. Let us celebrate with you!

Using data to analyse and evaluate student understanding...

In this, the second episode in which we are focusing on Standard 5 of the Australian Professional Standards for teachers, we’re talking data-driven teaching.

If 5.4 asks us to collect and interpret student data, what might that look like?

How does the idea of “Data-Driven Teaching” make you feel?
If we're going to spend time collecting data let's make sure it's the right kind...

In this week’s podcast episode, we’re going to dive in what “data” is. We’ll look beyond test scores and the graphs and progress charts we often think of when we think of the word “data”, as we explore how we can evidence standard five so much more!

Tune in for practical pointers on how you are assessing and responding to student need every day. Let’s see if we can make that assessment more visible and really get to grips with the impact you are making in your classroom every day.

"I hate talking about Assessment in my Portfolio"

Assessment. What is that for?

If it’s so we can check in on the progress of our students then it makes sense that the results of assessment would provide us with copious artefacts for our portfolios. In fact, we should need assessment to inform copious amounts of focus areas whether they’re in standard 5 or not. So, why is it then that standard five “assessment, reporting – “Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning” is one of the least represented standards in our portfolios?
Let's take a moment to consider what assessment is for and how we're using it.
This episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast is the first in a short series on the subject of assessment. In it, I share some thought about what assessment is actually for. I pose the question… is it helpful to see assessments as formative or summative and challenge you to think deeply about the connections between the assessments you’re conducting and the way in which you’re using what those assessments show you,

We explore how one assessment could form the basis of decisions made in at least seven other focus areas across the standards. Assessment is super important to so many aspects of learning and teaching. It’s time to explore whether we’ve just forgotten to connect the dots.

Artefacts... I need to collect heaps of them because that's my evidence right?
Artefacts punctuate your teacher portfolio like little quotes to prove that you did what you said you did. They’re the crowing moments where you show the magic you’ve been creating in your classrooms and with your colleagues. Artefacts are much more than things that you collect in a box for later.

An Artefact isn’t evidence until it has a narrative attached to it; an annotation. These annotations help assessors to see what you see. To share in the celebration of your impact and to acknowledge the growth you’ve been making as a teacher.

Sounds good right?

So why does it feel soooooo overwhelming?

What if I shared five quick tips to keep your annotations focused and fabulous?
In this episode, I’m going to share 5 really simple things you can do to make sure that your annotations use every single word to create the maximum opportunity for you. These tips break things down into bitesize chunks, taking away the overwhelm of writing stories of practice and annotating your artefacts for accreditation. They also keep your focus razor-sharp.

So, if you’ve been feeling like you’re not sure where to start.

You’re short on time and want to make sure you hit the ground running or you’re just keen to see where the artefact fit in after you’ve written your context statement… tune in!

Selfish, Selfless, Self-full?

As teachers, we are often called to lift up the spirits of young people and our colleagues. We re very well versed in the ways of selflessness and, often feel selfish if we choose to take time out for ourselves.

What happens though when life is busy making other plans?

When something de-rails you and pulls the brakes really hard?
When you stop, the world keeps spinning and nothing bad happens. Honest.

In this podcast, I’m being really honest with you. I learnt a new word… “self-fill” and, over the last few months, I’ve had to learn what that really means for me. This new word has given me a much deeper perspective on teacher wellbeing and, in this episode, want to share what I’ve learnt and reflect on what that means for me and even for my view on our profession.

Context Statements for stories of practice seem long and tricky...

Context statements are a staple requirement when creating your teacher portfolio for highly accomplished or lead teach status. HAT can be tricky can’t it! Well, the thing is, there’s a structure you can follow to make things even easier for you. If you’re currently feeling overwhelmed by the idea of 700 words of context then worry no more. Edufolios members from all over the country have been using our platform to sail through stage one of the teacher accreditation process.

In this episode, we’re going to share with you what we’ve learned from working with them AND how you can apply these lessons at any teaching career stage.

Here are seven tips to help you create amazing context statements

In this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast, Selena shares seven simple (and yet very effective) tips that will remove the headache of getting started with the stories of practice for your HALT application.

As there’s plenty to go through she’s even created a freebie with examples of HALT application best practice to guide you through it all. You can download the example by adding your email address to the box at Edufolios.org/073 (It’s a great companion to this episode!)

This episode has all the structure, guidance and sneaky, time-saving tips you could ever need to turn your informal stories into practice into the beginnings of a polished, very formal, evidence set for your accreditation assessment.

Let us know how you go by tweeting us, sending us a DM or dropping us an email! We’d love to celebrate with you!

I have to create a teacher portfolio about these seven standards...

You’re creating your portfolio for university, full registration (or proficiency), to achieve the accolade of Highly Accomplished or Lead teacher, to reflect and grow. In front of you, is a huge document called that Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and you’re feeling a little overwhelmed.

You know that you have to talk about these seven standards and you’re not sure where to start.

Doubts fill your mind. Can you even meet these standards? What do you have to do with them? What if, when you start looking at them, you realize you’ve not met them?

Those standards are broken into 148 small bites of info, but they feel alien and oh so judgmental.

Let's shift your focus from standards to practice...

The truth is, the reason it feels so overwhelming is that you, my friend, are focusing on the wrong things.

There’s no way you’re being asked to write about the seven standards. If you did, you wouldn’t do very well with your portfolio…

Curious about what I mean?

Tune in to this week’s podcast to hear:

Three reasons why starting with the standards will damage your portfolio (and your practice)
Some tips on how to refocus your thinking so you can move from overwhelmed to confidently growing in your practice.
A challenge (and a way) to get started with your portfolio right now. With no judgement or overwhelm… (sounds good right?)

Show notes and freebie at edufolios.org/072

Artificial Intelligence is everywhere. Even in your classroom

Seriously, it’s there… even if you hadn’t realised and in this episode, I want to show you where you’ll find it (And more importantly) we’re going to discuss what you can do with it.

When I first saw AI assessing students and it was suggested to me that it could “reduce my workload” by it doing some of my job, I got defensive. How could a machine possibly mark as I do? If I don’t mark it myself, how will I be able to interpret what I’m reading and then make changes to my planning (5.4)?

Machine Learning can give us time to increase our impact where it matters.

AI can’t be used for all things. But, when it comes to Yes/No, Black and white, closed questions it can be really useful. Let me explain why I changed my mind. In today’s episode, I’m going to share the work of Dr. David Kellermann, lecturer in the school of engineering at the University of New South Wales. He has taken AI to a whole new level and really got me thinking about what that might look like in our classrooms

We’ll talk about Microsoft Forms and it’s self-marking tools. These simple tools can be a nice introduction to assessment with AI and I’ll even introduce you to Presenter Coach in PowerPoint.

If you want to have a go with Presenter Coach, enter your email address over at edufolios.org/071 and it will wing it’s way over to you 🙂

Every time I work with an online learning environment, I see teachers do the same thing...

It becomes a space for sharing files. A virtual filing cabinet full of worksheets, readings, links to youtube and more. The focus always seems to go to content. Whether we’re using Moodle, Google Classroom or Teams.. the first thought goes to the resources we’ll be sharing. The thing is…

If I was to ask those same teachers whether teaching was all about delivering content and getting it to stick in a students mind, they’d likely be a little taken-a-a back. Of course, teaching and learning is about so much more than that.

Teaching and learning requires culture, routine, boundaries to test, relationship building and so much more..

and that’s why, in this week’s podcast, I’m asking you to look not just at standard two.. but also at standard four of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. What, about your online learning environment, helped you with:

Student participation (4.1)
Managing Classroom activities (not stuff) (4.2)
Managing Challenging Behaviour (4.3)

In this episode, we dive beyond the digital filing cabinet to explore how online learning connects to all of these touchpoints and more.

Show notes and freebie to support episode available at Edufolios.org/070

"2.6 - Information Computer Technology" - So I talk about computers right?

Focus Area 2.6 of the Australian Professional Standards for teachers, appears to be talking about all things computing. At least when you take a first glance at the focus areas title.

Many educators quickly respond to this focus area by providing evidence that their students are using computers in their classroom. I often see phrases like “I frequently use the interactive screen with my students” or “We are lucky enough to have access to a class set of iPads which we use frequently in our classroom”. On the surface, phrases like these (perhaps accompanied by a lesson plan talking about using the devices, or a photo of them in use) seem to tick the “Information Communication Technology” box.

In reality, however, these statements fall woefully short of the actual requirements for this focus area.

It's all about the students NOT you or the tool

Listeners of this podcast know by now, that the secret to the focus area is NEVER the title. It’s in the descriptor itself. In this episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast, we explore this focus area in detail. Reflecting on the ingredients that make up its Verb, What and Why (see episode 003 for more on that little gem!).

The word technology means something that solves a problem. So, if 2.6 isn’t about computers, iPad and interactive screens, it’s about how that tool is solving a problem for your learner. What barrier to understanding or progress did you identify and how are the features of the app, software or technological tool, you’ve asked them to use helping them to overcome it?

We explore this question in relation to the recent use of remote learning tools such as Teams, Google Classroom and more. We delve into why you are most likely to have an oversupply of evidence for this focus area in your portfolio right now AND how you can make sure that when you DO write about it, you hit every single aspect of the 2.6 like a pro.

How many professional development hours do you think you clocked up, over the last few Months?

I don’t know about you, but in the last few months I have been super busy both running and learning from professional development sessions. It feels like whole days of my life have gone into learning things really quickly and then getting them out there, working, as fast as I can

Even as an expert in things like Teams, the rate of change in features and capability of that software has had me scrambling to new knowledge for weeks! It’s been a real challenge, hasn’t it?

Are you going to leave it until the end of the year to tally it all up?

In this episode, we’re talking about a mindset shift around professional learning hours and the recording requirements we all deal with. Whatever state or territory you are from, we all have to show that we’ve been attending learning sessions.

What are the alternative ways of recording and creating professional learning hours? Shouldn’t it be more about what we learnt rather than what we attended?

Let’s dive deep, as I share my story around how my mindset has shifted around PD Hours. With the help of Edufolios’ automated Professional Development log and Standards Guide, Professional Development is part of my evidence base. Killing two proverbial birds with one stone is easier than you think.

Full show notes and links here

"Where do we go from here? The world's our oyster!"

s we prepare to go back to our brick and mortar classrooms, I wanted to start capturing the stories of Aussie educators over the past 6-8 weeks. I’m very privileged to be a part of the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert community and when I put out the call I was flooded with offers to share. The five who took part shared stories that made me seriously shiver with excitement.

We really have grown so much over this short time.

Has what we’ve experienced created a ripple effect that will impact what we do in our classrooms in the coming weeks and months?

As the "quiet ones" begin to engage more and learning barriers are removed, increasing learning opportunity immeasurably... what can we learn?

Tune in to hear Andrew Battese, Anne Mirtschin, James Jenkins, Michelle Dennis and Peta Jorgensen as they share their experiences. From how they rolled out Teams in as little as three days, how they overcame technical issues and onboarded their teams to how much of an impact their new learning environment had on their learners, their parents and their community as a whole, this episode is full of reflection and growth. It’s’ a true moment of celebration and a reminder of how much we’ve all learnt in these difficult weeks.

Listen as we talk about:

How pedagogies and structures (like timetabling) were impacted, effected and grew
How the community responded and how the changes made are already impacting the way school events are held
What this has meant for students and their ability to work independently and think critically
How access to quality internet makes all the difference
What their favourite apps are.
What they’ll be continuing to do differently when things go back to “normal”

As We Emerge From this Season of Remote Learning, What Should we Take Forward?

Most states and territories have declared dates for teachers and students to return to their brick and mortar classrooms. We are about to emerge from a time that saw unprecedented growth and learning for our entire profession. As we do, we must take time to explore the pros and cons of the environment we’re emerging from. We simply can not waste the lessons that have emerged for all of us.

Some educators have enjoyed the freedom to eat a proper lunch, have HOT coffee on their desk and visit the loo when ever they like. They’ve revelled in the freedom to be creative and explore new options.

Others have struggled with the lack of routine, finding themselves working more hours than they ever did in their face to face environments.

However, we have responded it’s time to stop learning for a moment and breathe.

What have we learnt About Ourselves?

There is no new content from me this week. Instead, this week’s podcast is all about questions.

I encourage you to take the time to pause before diving back into your “normal” classroom routines. To be honest, I’m not sure that “normal” will ever be the same now. It’s time to take stock. It’s time to stop, listen and grow even more.

We’ve gone through a massive period of growth and change. Let’s reflect on what’s happened and how it has affected our relationship with our school community, our students and our profession

Got questions and concerns about safeguarding kids online?

Standard four of the Australian Professional Standards talks about “Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments”. We’re all used to doing that in our traditional, face to face, learning communities.

As we experiment and work (at lightning speed) to get to grips with online learning, keeping students safe is something that deserves our attention. It’s super important that we safeguard the safety of the students (and the teachers) as we work together in this new way.

We’ve spent a lot of time focusing on what we’re going to teach and how we’re going to deliver it. In this week’s episode, I want to talk about the spaces students need to exercise their connections with each other.

Safeguarding doesn't necessarily mean "Turn it off"

Let’s remember that our students are also required to learn some skills around community engagement. They too, must be able to demonstrate that they can use ICT safely, ethically and Responsibly. It’s all there in the ICT general capability.

In this episode, we touch on copyright and sharing IP as well as the work that needs to be done to give our students the space to have a community in which they can continue to grow their relationships with one another and stay truly connected.

We discuss the boundaries and expectations that need to be in place and check-in with what’s actually happening when we turn off these features.

It's the start of a very strange Term. Things are crazy. Should you be making time for reflecting and collecting evidence of practice?

I get it, right now the idea of stopping and taking time to reflect and (maybe) collect some evidence of practice may well feel like the straw that broke the donkey’s back.

There is a LOT going on in Term 2 of 2020 and, as we’ve already talked about, there’s a lot to reflect on too.

For some of us (me included if I’m honest), this is a time to finally be able to experiment with all of the technologies and tools you’ve dreamed of using and for others, it’s a complete nightmare.

Whatever emotional response you’re having to the workload, the safety, the new environments, the uncertainty and the school community, there has never been a better time to stop and reflect

Reflection helps us to connect with the why behind all of this work.

I’ve said that before and I’ll say it a million times more.

The more overwhelmed you get, the more tired, the more excited, the more emotional you get, the more you NEED to stop and reflect.

We know that reflection helps us to connect with what we’re doing, to get rid of the things that stand in our way and to make a real difference in our classrooms

It’s especially important when we’re trying something new and taking risks.

That’s why, in this episode, we walk you through 5 things to consider right now. We’ve even created a handy dandy workbook to support you through the process.

Whether you’re reflecting for connection, peace of mind or to gather evidence, this week’s episode and that awesome workbook will help you to use the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers to make sense of what’s happening and (most importantly) what it means for you and your students.

Full shows notes (And that awesome freebie) at edufolios.org/064

What strategies do you currently use to build relationships with students?

How can you use (or adapt) these to work online too?

We all know that successful classrooms are built on relationships. How do you feel about working with those relationships when you’re working in a predominantly online environment?

I’ve heard many times that online learning could never replace face to face learning. I know that it’s NOT the same. We shouldn’t even pretend it is.

Surely though, there are some ways in which we can build and foster great classroom relationships using the tools and features of the platforms we’ve chosen to work with?
Let me share my top three online features for maintaining your class relationships

In this podcast, I explore a number of handy (and easy to implement) strategies for building and maintaining those precious classroom relationships.

The whole conversation is wrapped neatly into an article from John Hattie (linked to below) and involves having some fun with social features, chat and polls.

Tune in to hear some of my top tips and to discover what really matters when it comes to relationships and online learning.

Kids online! They just don't behave as they would in my normal classroom!

Kids interrupting your carefully planned online learning. Adding emojis and strange noises as you chat, pressing buttons and disrupting your video broadcasts. Not turning up when you’ve asked them to and attending classes that they shouldn’t even be in.

It’s already hard enough working in this new online environment. When the kids seem to have found a million loopholes around the system and doing things that they just shouldn’t be doing. What can you do? It’s just no like it was in your classroom face to face, is it? Behaviour was so much better when you could see each other and hold space together in a real room.

I get it, I really do. You’ve trained and spent years working with one thing in common. A physical classroom environment with walls, extra teaching staff and the support of your colleagues and this feels so alien!

What makes you think you can't have boundaries and support in an online classroom too?

Be honest with me for a moment. In all the flurry of preparation for online learning exactly how much time have you spent considering how your behaviour management strategies and school policies are going to translate into your online environment?

If it’s little to none.. then you aren’t alone.

This is something I’ve spent time talking about with many schools in the last few weeks. In this episode of the Reflective Teacher podcast, we’re talking behaviour management strategies in an online environment. What do we need to consider? What do we need to prepare and how on earth can we use support staff and our colleagues to help us with behaviour management issues?

Tune in to find out how. Full show notes at Edufolios.org/062

Things are changing so fast in Education and it's hard to keep up!

Right now, the usual education rug has been pulled right from under us. There’s a high chance that, when we meet again in Term 2, there will be no circle time on that rug and that the majority of our students will be in their own homes and not with us in our classrooms.

What, a few weeks ago, would have felt like an unrealistic, highly impossible task is not a top priority as teachers everywhere scramble to take learning out of their classrooms and into their students' homes. The word “impossible” just doesn’t seem to be allowed and, now, more than ever, educators across the country (well… no actually, around the world) are feeling an immense amount of pressure to upskill and move forward into something that unclear and undefined. New territory for all us; students and teachers alike. Change is hard. Especially this rate of change!

Do you know what else Change is?
Change is also an opportunity for growth.

This episode is all about acknowledging that growth.

Right now, millions of educators all around the world are removing their perfectionist armour, entering the unknown and battling it out… TOGETHER.

Something amazing and powerful is happening not only for our profession but for you as an educator.

Can you feel it? Have you acknowledged it?

Tune in to connect with all of the good… no great stuff that’s happening to the teaching profession right now.

Show notes are found at Edufolios.org/061

If I'm not with them, in my Classroom, how can I ensure my students are really learning?

I get this question, I really do. We’ve been used to work ing in one particular way for a very long time and, as our government is keen on saying. We’re being asked to make changes in 10 days that would normally take 10 years.

If we’re not in our classroom, working face to face with our students then we can’t use our usually professional ‘spidey senses’ to guide us as we go.

Now, our students are sitting in their own homes with countless distractions, heightened stress-levels and technology doesn’t feel the same as your usual, safe, comfortable classroom.
Online teaching has been used successfully for a very long time

The online teaching and course creation community have been working using the internet for a long while and with proven success.

More important than the technology we choose to use, is the need to be clear about how we measure the impact of our new teaching and learning style.

We need to be able to make judgements as we enter this new way of working, which help us to ensure that the kids are getting the quality education they deserve.

In this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast, we explore some ways in which you can select pedagogies and activities that will help you to validate the impact your new learning and teaching is having on your students. It’s really important right now, that you know that all of this work is worth it!

Parents, and their new role in your new class mode.

We used to see parents at the beginning and end of the day. We took pains to make sure that we involved them when we needed to but, they mostly left us to it.

That’s all changed now. With the coronavirus forcing schools around the world to close a new reality has arisen. Parents are now partners in teaching and learning.

The context in which we are working has changed and, as a result, so has the context in which we work with our parents and community.

How do we manage these "relevant opportunities for parents/ carers to be involved in their children’s learning?" (3.7)
In this episode, I delve into focus areas 3.7 and 7.3 as we explore how and what we need to do to work effectively with this new reality.

We touch on:

Boundaries and how you enforce them. The usual cues of bells, timetables, walls and classroom doors have vanished. What measures can you put in place to establish new ones in this online, digital environment?
How might the time you spend with your students be different? Will we still have a timetable?
How might the technology at home impact on who you can work with when?
What support do parents need to support their students?
What tools are out there to help you see student work, mark it and send it back… whilst still using pen and paper?

Tune in as we consider all of this and more.

Scroll down to access further reading and support.

When I say “The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers” what emotion does that conjure up? Now let’s add the word “Accreditation” or even “Portfolio” What kind of response did you experience? Was it excitement? Intrigue? Empowerment?

Probably Not...

and that's a problem for me...

In this episode, I explore a NEW way of viewing that little (ok so it's quite large..) rubric we call The Standard.

I know the title says they're' FOR teachers but they don't have to judge us.

They don't have to be hoops we jump through

and they don't have to be stressful.

Tune in to find out why.

Head to Edufolios.org/058 for show notes and links

Online learning. A solution for temporary School Closure

Are you ready for that?
This is a very special episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast and it’s the focus is a little different to usual.

I have been an Education Technology specialist for many years. I may even have worked with some you in your schools integrating technology into your curriculums.

Edufolios was born out of that edtech knowledge because I knew that technology could solve the problems I was experiencing with accreditation and registration.

And it seems, right now, that Edtech is being called about to solve a problem of distance learning during temporary school closures.

On FB, Instagram and Twitter millions of educators around the world are grappling with suddenly having to think about online learning.

They’re using it to mimic what they would do in their usual teacher life. To deliver lessons via webcam so they can reach isolated students, to share files via online repositories (instead of handing them out) and even recording hours of video to share information with their students.

The thing is…

What we do in our Face to face classroom doesn't necessarily work online

We can already see those who have been teaching online for 6 weeks in China asking questions about how to keep their students connected with each other, how to validate that they’re doing the work set, how to ensure that the or students are engaged in the work and not the tech.

It’s not that we’re doing it wrong!

Not at all

It’s that we’re being asked to do something that (for a lot of us) is completely alien and pretty intimidating

Hands up who loves to be on camera?

I thought so 😉

If you’re facing planning to work online with your students or you’re in the thick of it all right now then I want you to tune in.

I’ve brought Professor Eddie Blass (creator of The Inventorium) back to share what she has learnt about

The features and tools that help you reach your students more effectively
Resources you can use to save you time
How to support students as they get to know this new space too
How long online lessons should be
The surprising ways in which learning becomes evident in these spaces

Tune in to gain her insights and add to your tool kit. She has some amazing ideas for you!

Scroll down to find resources, professional development opportunities and other things mentioned during our time in the interview

Are you lucky enough to have an awesome mentor?

How about someone who keeps checking in to see how you’re going and hold you to your promises and plans?

In this week’s episode, we explore the powerful and important role of the mentor and keeping yourself accountable to your #teachergoals.

You know, by now, that I think making mistakes is a very important part of the learning process. However, I am 100% behind the idea that if you can skip some of the bumps in the road, you totally should!

When it comes to sharing my mistakes whilst building my online portfolio, I am an open book. There’s plenty of things I wish that someone had told me earlier.

Of course, all of these mistakes taught me something. Something valuable about my practice, my mindset and (dare I say it) my ego too.

Want to know 6 things I wish someone had told me sooner?

Well, this week I’m digging deep and sharing some simple (but soo powerful) reflections. Reflections that I really hope will get you on your way sooner.

I let my ego get in the way of actually understanding what the standards mean. Years of service DOES NOT = highly accomplished

Evidence joy is the easiest things to gather and the hardest thing to ask for

Reflection makes you vulnerable and that takes practice. Here my tips for getting used to being in the reflection arena

I wish I’d found a buddy sooner. Someone who could check in with my evidence and help me find the wood for the trees

I’ve said it before (and I’ll say it a few million times more), the standards always come second to your practice. Sounds so obvious right? Well, let me explain what I mean.

In this week’s episode, we are joined by very recent graduate Kerry Gray.

She recently completed her portfolio for the Graduate standards and did very well. 49/50 in fact!!

I asked her to share her secrets to success with us.

If you’re a pre-service teacher who knows you need to get your portfolio done, a uni. lecturer asking them to complete it or a mentor working with someone on their prac. then this special case-study episode will have some invaluable insights for you.

How many times have you stopped to reflect this term?

Have you found just 15 minutes to sit down and connect with what you’ve been u to this year?

All that getting to know the students, planning and preparation and teaching?

Did you tune into how you were feeling as you went and learn what you needed to so that you could be even more effective as a teacher?

Why not?

What’s blocking you from connecting with what you’re doing for your students?

It's time to consider the associations you might have with evidence of practice.. and change them.
This week we dive into one of the most common blocks to progress I see when it comes to accreditation, evidence gathering or even just finding time to connect with what you’ve been doing.

In this episode, we’re talking mindset. We’re talking culture. We’re talking about how we ALL have the power to see feel, think and do things differently when it comes to accreditation

Join me for five practical tips that will see your mindset shift, your confidence return and your evidence flourish.

Subscribe and Review
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Those reviews help other people find my podcast and plus we love reading them! Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favourite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Are you subscribed to the podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today so that you don’t miss out on any of the episodes we have coming up. You can subscribe to the podcast on google, Itunes or Spotify

Further Reading and Support
Edufolis.org/053

Balance. Do you have it in your Teaching Day?

How many lunches have you skipped already this term?

Did you get 8 hours of sleep last night?

It’s so hard, isn’t it?

This episode is important!

SO important.

Teaching has a strange culture around it where lunch is a luxury, and we train ourselves to hold a wee for two hours (instead of just going to the bathroom), where we teach a 5 period day and then (because our to-do list didn’t include our ACTUAL job) we say “I’ve got nothing done today.”

and that’s not ok and it’s not healthy!

Teaching creates a never-ending to-do list. It requires an awful lot of energy and, if we’re truly going to have the impact we want on those children we’re working with, it all starts with how we look after ourselves.

"Person First, Teacher Second"
Ellen Ronalds Keene

In Episode 052, we are joined by Ellen Ronalds Keene of The Teacher Wellbeing podcast as she shares her top five tips for getting more balance in our teaching day.

Whether that be making sure that you know YOU and how to fill your bucket, tracking your hours so you SEE how much you’re actually doing or simply NOT accepting that lunch is a luxury, tune in to hear her talk about:

Knowing yourself
Maslow before Blooms
Tracking your work hours – make work visible!
The power of rituals
Asking better questions

Boundaries. We set them for the kids but what about for ourselves?

Have you ever limped towards the end of term wishing that you’d said “no” to that extra project, feeling guilty about how you’re missing valuable family time and feeling like your patience is running very thin… with everything?

Me too!

Teaching is such an all-consuming job, isn’t it?

The thing is… it’s not ok for it to actually consume ALL of our time.

We need to set (and keep to) some boundaries about how we work.

It’s time to draw some lines in the sand… for ourselves!
We are not machines and we need to take time out!
This week we’re acknowledging the impact of neglecting ourselves.

Of NOT “leading ourselves well” and what that can mean for our students and their progress (never mind our own sanity)

It’s BAD my friend.

BAD

It's time to move from overwhelmed and stress to calm, confident and ease!

In this week’s episode, we focus on how to create boundaries in your workplace so that you always have time for yourself, your family and the things that matter just as much (if not more) than your classroom.

We touch on

Managing time (because it feels like there is NEVER enough of it
What saying “yes” actually means for you (and your sanity)
How to work out where you’re going to use your time
The bonuses of being calm, confident and at ease.
How, if you’re leading a bunch of young people, the least you can do is model being able to look after yourself!

Tune in right now to hear Selena share stories of her early bad practice around managing her enthusiasm and passion in teaching. Learn from her mistakes and take on board the ideas and suggestions she has for you to avoid teacher burn out.

"I'm struggling with keeping students on task. Some strategies for how to deal with that would be great!"

New school year.

New Term

New Kids

New Content

My goodness! SO much change already!

We’re all in the middle of learning how to manage our new classrooms. Whether that be establishing your rules or boundaries or working out how everyone ticks, Behaviour management will be on the lips of teachers up and down the country right now.

Let me share some Top Tips for Better Behaviour Management
This week I’m going to pull from my own experiences as a High School English teacher to share with you how I model and manage great behaviour for learning.

The standard (at Prof) tells us that we need to be about to show we can manage “challenging behaviour by establishing and negotiating clear expectations” (4.3)

What does that mean and where does it start?

Well… we’re going to talk about:

How it all starts with YOU and your attitude and style in your classroom
How you need to acknowledge that you can not control the behaviour of your students (or anyone else for that matter)
How looking after yourself properly will positively impact your students’ learning and behaviour
The importance of being like Elsa and “let(ing) it go”
High expectations, how to share them, define them and stick to them.

I’ll also share some real examples of how you can play with the words you choose to use to influence your students’ behaviours.

Remember your first day as a brand new educator?

Oh my goodness!

The excitement! The joy that you’re finally going to get to do what you’ve always wanted to do.

and…

then the realisation and that you’re finally going to be a REAL teacher…

and..

the overwhelm the fear, the panic.

It's a good job we've got 12 tips for new teachers right here!

I’m handing the mic over to our listeners and (oh my goodness you lot!) they have shared some gold!

Tune in to hear 12 tips from educators who have been there, done that and bought the t-shirt.

With advice on everything from behaviour management, parent relationships, well-being and more you don’t want to miss this episode.

In fact, make sure that you share it with ALL of the new teachers at your site!

Massive thanks to all those who contributed! To Lisa, Melanie, Courtney, Paul, Tim, Peter, Karen, Alex, Henning, Luke, Amy and those who wished to remain anonymous, a MASSIVE thank you!

Join Chantelle Love as she explains how she decided to leave the chairs in the centre of the room, stick nothing to the wall and let the students walk into a blank canvas.

We talk about the pressure and culture around classroom prep in the lead up to Term 1 and how bucking the trend and thinking outside the box made a huge difference to classroom culture for Chatelle’s students.

She’s even shared the teaching resources she used to help her kids design THEIR learning environment.

Tune in for some awesome tips and a new perspective on your workload before the term starts.

Those photos you just shared of your classroom are awesome. Is Instagram or Pinterest the only place they belong?
Have you been struggling to find some quality artefacts for your portfolio?

Have you been taking photographs of your classroom as you set it up?

Usually, at this time of year, Instagram will begin to flood with images of classrooms

Eager teachers from across Australia will be proudly printing, laminating, organising, moving furniture, checking out KMART classroom hacks and creating beautiful learning environments for their students to step into in week one.

The thing is,

that photo tells a story

and that story

Hits a heap of focus areas…
Those insta worthy classroom shots are amazing artefacts for your teacher portfolio
This week I want to open your eyes to how much professional skill it takes to set up a classroom. We talk about:

How you make choices based on pedagogical strategies you’re going to try
How you’ll keep changing things as you learn more about your students
How the photos you take can be complemented with CARE or STAR statements about WHY you’ve chosen that layout or look
What research backups your choices and how you can use it to support your ideas
and more…

Tune in to go from Instagram influencer to evidence creating genius in just a few quick steps.

OOH and grab the freebie below to grab the workbook that accompanies this episode! Head to edufolios.org/047

2020 is here!
What does the data sat in Edufolios, reveal to us about Education in Australia?

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, teaching and learning continues to undergo transformation and change. As we learn and grow with our students, working to increase the impact we can have every day, Edufolios has been busy helping you to make sense of it all. What does the data that data reveal about education in Australia and teachers’ priorities for 2020?
What do the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers help reveal about us as a profession?

In this podcast episode you will learn what the data tells us about:

Our focus over the last few years
What is changing and developing and coming out as the most important thing to teachers right now?
How our priorities change and grow as we move through the career stages.

and

perhaps most importantly,

What can we learn from this journey in data to guide us into a powerful new decade for education in Australia?

Before we switch off completely, we need to make sure that we own 2020 by setting ourselves an achievable goal for Term 1. If you're ready to make a plan, be proud of it and then PUT IT DOWN and rest for a while then tune in to find out how.

It's the last week of term... Nearly Time to relax
But can you switch off?

We’re nearing the time where teachers everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. Christmas concerts are over and the children are back with their parents for the holidays. Now it’s your time to relax.

But you don’t seem to be able to switch off

You need a cup of tea at 10:20, 12:30 and 3:15 (because that’s what you’ve been doing all year) and you’re still thinking like a teacher… even if you’re planning for Christmas.

Something’s missing…

You forgot to take stoke of 2019, learn lessons and move on

Using the wisdom I have learnt from James Wedmore I am going to share, with you, some ways in which you can send a clear signal to your brain that it’s time to let go and relax.

Download the workbook at that accompanies this episode at Edufolios.org/044 and join with me as we:

explore the lessons we learnt from 2019
Let go of any negative feelings
Find the things we need to celebrate and
Make a plan to celebrate them really well!

All in the name of being fully prepared to relax this summer!

There used to be a time when having a portfolio was all you needed to stand out from a crowd. That's not the case any more is it. It feels like everyone has one these days. That makes things more complicated. How can you stand out from the crowd? In this episode, I'm sharing 5 top tips to help you stand out from the crowd. There's even a freebie to take you through it step by step. Head to edufolios.org/043 to grab it

I've been teaching for YEARS...

...The evidence in my portfolio is all proficient and higher

Should it be?

When the standards first came out, and I began to work with them, I remember the assumptions I made. None of my evidence was ever below proficient… at least not in my head.

At that time though, I didn’t understand what I do now about the content in the descriptors and how time served does not equal mastery. Now I see things very differently.

I expect there to be Graduate evidence in ALL portfolios...

...even if you've been doing this for twenty years.

Leaders and Principals, educators and pre-service teachers I want you to use this episode to really consider what the “Graduate” teaching standard represents.

Is it as simple as “evidence from someone at uni”?

… well no. It’s not.

In this episode we’re going to explore how we might need to change the associations we have with the titles above those career stages.

We’re going to think about what it says about you if you DON’T have any graduate evidence.

We’re going to make sure you are reminded of the learning journey you’re on and explain how almost every one of those journeys starts at Graduate…

… no matter how long you’ve been teaching

It's nearing the end of the school year and I bet reflective practice is one of the last things on your mind right now. You're busy assessing students, writing reports and winding down right? I know but, trust me, those assignments you've been marking contain the key to an amazing piece of evidence for your teacher portfolio. Here's how you're going to turn them into a Focus Area busting piece of GOLD!

There's this one kid I just can't get through to.

Has there every been a child in your classroom that you just can’t reach? Or an energy, that the whole class brings with in a specific lesson, that you can’t explain?

Teaching is super complex isn’t it.

Sometimes kids meet up to six different adults teaching six different subjects all in one day.

Have you considered what you could learn by follow them?

By tapping into what they experience every day?

In this episode we move you from confused to inspired as you learn from your colleageus and your students

We're going to observe our students

In this episode I’m going to share with you the reasons for organising to use your NIT time to follow a student (or a whole class) whilst they work with another educator.

We’ll talk about the four things you could consider as you do so:

What assumptions are you making about learners and are you right?
What does the whole curriculum look like in a day? – This is especially great if you’re a subject specialist.
How do different teachers (with their different teaching styles and personalities) teach? What’s their style and how do students respond differently to each?
How many different teaching strategies are you observing? How are they affecting the learning and behaviour in each lesson – This is the same class remember.

and explore how you can write this up in your portfolio.

I know that these questions are broad and that some of you would like some guidance around how to get the most out of this experience. For that reason, I’m sharing a freebie with you today that you can use to help you.

Head to Edufolios.org/040 for more

If I'm working hard to make a difference, I wish I could ask them how I'm doing.

Student Voice. We hear about it a lot don’t we?

It’s really important that we hear it but how can we listen to it more?

We joined the teaching profession to make a difference. To positively impact upon the lives of hundreds of young people in our local area. That’s the focus of this entire teacher accreditation process.

or it should be

If we’re serious about demonstrating impact (whether that’s on our students, our colleagues or at our site) then we could do with some tools and tips about how to check in with them and see if we’re on the right track.

It's easier than you think to include student voice in your portfolio.

Let me share three, easy to use, tips that can help you both collect and collate that voice and then…

most importantly..

Let’s talk about how you can use what that voice tells you.

How you can really listen so that you can move forward and improve what your’e doing now and into the future.

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome... That's insane!

Do you know what, sometimes we get so focused on the big things, the obvious things we can challenge and change that we forget to question the actions, routines and structures that have just always been there.

Why do/don't you have a seating plan?
When do you take the roll in the lesson? Why?
What does PD mean to you? Have you always done that kind of PD? Does it work for you?
How/When do you communicate with parents? Why? Why not?

These little details are important and we often ignore them because.. we've always done it that way. What if you didn't need to? What if "that way" is based on an old problem with outdated restrictions?

Good job we have reflective practice to help us with these things. In this week's podcast I challenge you to find three things that happen in your practice at your site or in your study that you just accept as the norm. I want you to find somethings that you haven't questioned for a while and take the time to examine them. I wonder what you'll discover.

Show notes at edufolios.org/038

Have you realised that you've been teaching for 10 whole months now? That's 10 months in which you've had the time to get to know the nuances of your kidlets and have experimented (Through good times and bad) to find what really works for them.

You'll soon be busy writing an end of year report, planning what's what for next year and getting ready to wrap things up. In the coming weeks, how much time have you set aside to reflect on your growth this year? How much time have you put aside to identify goals for yourself. Are you making time to create a report card for your own learning this year?

In this week's podcast, Selena takes the time to discuss the importance (and the awesome timing) of making time to use data to accelerate your professional growth and give you room to celebrate all that you've achieved this year.

With 365,000 children in the top 10% of our learners, how much do you really know about gifted education?

This week’s podcast comes straight from my heart. Gifted education has become a big thing for me and my family. Why? Because I have a son who’s start to school was more than a little bumpy. A child who, at home was attending STEM club for kids 4 years his senior, was writing sentences at 3, who started reading at two but his teachers wouldn’t believe me. Because he wouldn’t show them. School, for him was about socialising. Home was where we learnt. It was damaging to him.

and do you know what…

it wasn’t his teachers’ fault. They were never taught about gifted education. It’s just not part of the course. There’s no funding for it and there are a heap of myths about what it actually means to be gifted.

My son is one of the lucky ones. South Australia, WE are the lucky ones. Did you know that we have the only school specifically for gifted children in Australia? It was started 2 years ago by Lynda McInnes (and a bunch of very brave supporters.) My son is one of the lucky children who get to attend it.

Lynda has broken the mould.

She and her team at Dara School are an inspiration and she has so much to teach us.

It's time to listen up! It's time to reflect on Gifted Ed

In this podcast I interview Lynda about her school. About why Dara needed to exist (verses a gifted program in a mainstream site) and she shares some amazing insights and practical tips that will shift your thinking… trust me.

Tune in, listen in.. this isn’t one for multitasking to..

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or over on the Facebook community. Get ready for a real treat!

Who here entered the teaching profession because they wanted to show that they could meet the requirements outlined in 148 sentences in a rubric? Anyone? Of course not! In this episode we explore the purpose of the standards and how you can re-frame your thinking so that you are in charge of them... not the other way around!

So you've got some stories of practice and you've been able to tag focus area after focus area (maybe even at different career stages as you go). How do you get some validation that you've selected the right focus areas? Is there a way to gain confidence in your ability to choose wisely. To ensure that your artefacts are all present and correct? Of course there is! Selena reveals the simple steps you can take right now to check you evidence is as strong as it can be.

What IS evidence? Is it things in a box? Or is it writing about what I do everyday at uni or in my classroom? In this week's episode I share the secret ingredients to great evidence. Three things to consider and, as always, a whole lot of support to help you get there.

In this episode Selena answers questions from pre-service teachers about portfolios of practice. Tune in if you'd like to hear her answers to questions like:

Who am I building this for?
How details do I need to make it?
Will this get me a job and more.

Is your Portfolio Due This Term?

Right now, up and down the country, thousands of pre-service teachers are getting ready to finish up their four year degrees or one year master of teaching courses. They've dedicated nearly 1460 days of their life to learning everything possible about how to be a teacher and the time to grab that qualification is coming closer and closer. This is usually the time when they also have to submit their portfolio of evidence or complete a graduate teacher assessment.

As a lecturer at a local uni, I see the stress this causes. So many pre-service teachers feel like they're left feeling around in the dark. They're not sure what evidence they need, why or how to put it all together. Of course, here at Edufolios we serve thousands of pre-service teachers each year as they grow and develop their portfolio and in this week's podcast I want to talk directly to any pre-service teacher who's going through this right now!

Here are 5 things you need to know right now... In this podcast I'm going to share with you five key pieces of information that are designed to take a bit of the pressure off and maybe even shift the way you see this assignment in the first place. I'm also giving you the opportunity to leave me a message, ask me a question. I'm keen to make sure I answer as many of them as I can so click here to leave me a question to answer.

Tune in now to learn:

What your focus should be when you put your portfolio together - Who or what are you supposed to be showing you're impacting on?
How you can and should include lectures, uni assignments and more
How you don't need 37 pieces of separate evidence

and more...

If you've been wondering when you should start gathering evidence then this episode is for you. Selena shares two of the most common excuses (and yes I did say excuses) people make to put off 'till tomorrow what could be done... right now!