On the 11th January 2020 the first BrewEd Cleethorpes kicked off. Months in the making, and finally it was time to enjoy a brew [in the form of pints] and sit back and enjoy the speakers talking about pedagogy and other parts of education.
Opening the BrewEd was Grimsby’s very own Adam Bilton (@heroteach). The presentation was on ‘Adapting Resources’ and it provided a great insight into how Adam develops a range of resources for his Science classroom, whilst taking inspiration from a range of different subjects. For example, he provided us with an example of how he used the ideas shared from @MrsHumanities to create an IDEAL template to support a framework for required Practical’s in his Science classrooms. Alongside this, Adam also highlighted some of the pitfalls that he has found when using resources from shared sites such as TES and how we should take care when just taking and using without amending.
Up next was Clive Hill (@Clive_Hill) who is of course no stranger to a BrewEd! Clive set up BrewEd Mansfield (@BrewEdMansfield) and has been of great support for team BrewEd Clee in preparation for the day’s event, including providing the projector last minute #lifesaver. Presenting on ‘Old Dogs, New Tricks: Mentoring Career-Changers’ Clive shared his journey of working in secondary education so far. Being an army veteran and then a manager in the private sector, it was interesting to hear his journey from enrolling onto the Teach First programme to today. It was also a great insight into how his experience of the secondary education sector differs from that which he has experienced before and how perhaps we can better support and mentor career changers with their transition into the classroom.
Clive’s blog can also be found here: https://pintsizedpedagogy.wordpress.com/2019/08/29/old-dogs-and-new-tricks/
Ceridwn Eccles (@Teacherglitter) then captivated us with her presentation on ‘Becoming A Reading Teacher’. Initially sharing the important research from The Open University and Teresa Cremin (@TeresaCremin), she linked this with her own experience of the primary classroom. Ceri read to us, shared her extensive knowledge of children’s’ literature and how she uses this in the classroom, and then showed us how she has created a rather Hugge [see below on Tom’s presentation] reading environment. To finish off, Ceri gave some inspiring advice on how to create reading communities using book tasting sessions to make the link between children reading at home and school through parental engagement.
‘Building a mentally healthy school’ was the title for Gavin Hosford’s (@GavHos) presentation and it certainly provided some inspiring advice on how to develop happy staff and students. Gavin shared his journey so far with leading schools that serve students that have some of the most complex needs in Leeds. It was difficult not to get wrapped up in the issues and challenges brought up in Gavin’s presentation. He discussed a range of issues ranging from specific behaviour management in non-mainstream environments to how recruitment headaches, well, caused just that! Gavin then shared how he used Mind Mate Champions, which is an evidence-based self-evaluation and action planning programme, to support mental well-being across the student (and staff) body.
Coming across from South Yorkshire, Gary Hammonds (@hammonds_gary90) was up next presenting on ‘Overcoming the forgetting curve’. With there being a cognitive science enlightenment in education over the past few years it was very appropriate to have a teacher sharing his own experience of how he is attempting to embed this into his own practice. I have to be picky here for the example I share as Gary was extremely generous with all the resources he shared with us. The example that stood out was how he uses Bjork’s research on the spacing and interleaving effect. Here he showed us how he has a separate lesson, homework, and starter focus on different aspects of the curriculum, which ensures students regularly come back to content previously covered. More resources are available on his blog here: https://thedeepbaregarden.wordpress.com/
‘Ash’s wood’ has become a bit of a folk story surrounding BrewEd Cleethorpes. This fable stems from Ash Lucas’s presentation on ‘Taking Risks’. Fascination in the lead up to the event surrounded the rather bizarre request by a speaker. Now it was not an A-list celeb demand, and we certainly would not paint Ash as a diva (in fact far from it!), however requesting a block of wood is perhaps slightly different to wanting a presentation clicker. The request was granted much to the delight perhaps to fellow presenter Ceri, who during the presentation (after some coaching) was able to smash through said block of wood. Bravo!
Underneath all of this bravado was, however, a more serious message that I know Ash wouldn’t want us to miss. During his presentation he drew on Zuckerman’s sensation seeking scale to share his ideas and experience on how he uses risk taking in schools to support students that struggle with mainstream education. It is clear that he cares deeply about those students that struggle with mainstream education and his passion for improving their life chances holds true to why we wanted to start BrewEd Cleethorpes.
Next was Tim Roache (@MrTRoach) who drew on his expertise in primary education to share his presentation on ‘How to teach grammar, and get pupils to write better and think about stuff – one sentence at a time’ (now take a breath!). Although it focused on primary, it became clear early on that secondary colleagues could also learn a lot from what Tim had to say. Throughout the presentation Tim shared how he raises the bar with his students, deliberately getting them to perfect their paragraphs and answers. He showed us how kernel sentences are used to support students in developing their responses, whilst then going on to show us examples of student’s work in Year 3 on Charlotte’s Web and The Iron Man. Fair to say the responses, to my secondary school eye, could have very easily been Year 7.
Our final presentation was from Tom Wallace (@Balance_Tom) on ‘The Happiness in Pursuit’. After a full day of pedagogy and pints, Tom’s presentation took the room to a different space. One of reflection and thought surrounding the purpose of it all. After sharing his own story of tragedy and enlightenment, it was difficult not to relate to the content of Tom’s presentation. He spoke of the dread of data, relentless accountability, and the guilt of maintaining a work life balance whilst trying to be a teacher and normal adult outside of the classroom. Tom went on to talk about Hugge, a term I had never come across before. A quick google search gets to the definition of feeling warm, comfortable, and safe. Thoughts then began to ponder how perhaps this can be cultivated into schools and what purpose this could have.
Closing time for BrewEd Cleethorpes’ first event came a bit too quick. We are so grateful for all the speakers for giving up their own time on a weekend and for also being willing to stand up and share their expertise with the room. Also a big thank you for all of those that attended the event, we hope to see you very soon at our next event.
