Beyond Good

Matt Findlay and Femi Adeniran

A podcast about teaching. We discuss teaching and learning, pedagogy, lessons and classroom practise, management and leadership, teaching of mathematics, training and trainees, mentors and mentoring, behaviour management, being a head of department and running a faculty, SLT and much much more!

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20 episodes
Avg 39 min
English

Episodes 20

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S3 · E72
August 1 · 41 min
Are my lessons challenging enough?
Femi reflects on the last year with one particular class in mind and asks: "Are my lessons challenging enough?"
S3 · E71
July 11 · 49 min
A maths teacher's reflections on teaching science
Femi has been teaching a Science class and shares his approach and reflections with Matt. They discuss 'learning to learn', booklets, AI, rounds of teaching and CFU, shed loads of practise, feedback and self-checking answers, precision and rigour and much more!
S3 · E70
June 13 · 34 min
A dearth of good models!
Amongst other things, Femi and Matt talk about how hard it can be as a middle leader to lead on change without strong models to refer to.
S3 · E69
June 6 · 26 min
Gently testing the boundaries...
Matt and Femi discuss the subtle ways students can often make life difficult for teachers, and why this happens in some classrooms but not in others.
S3 · E68
May 30 · 35 min
Seating plans, seating reset and Intangibles
Matt and Femi have a chat about teachers using seating plan resets as a strategy, debate breaking down intangible aspects like 'feel' into granular concrete components when coaching, and the role and possible negative effects of prior information when it comes to planning seating plans and thinking about a new class.
S3 · E67
May 16 · 31 min
More practice needed!
Matt and Femi talk about coaching, and how teachers working on their craft will often need to stick with a particular focus and practice it with reflection and feedback to master it.
S3 · E66
May 9 · 43 min
Class Reset
Matt discusses with Femi a recent conversation he had with a teacher that he supports regarding resetting a challenging class in which norms had severely slipped from previous high standards. The conversation will be of particular interest to heads of department supporting colleagues in their team.
S3 · E65
April 25 · 34 min
Economy of language
Matt and Femi discuss economy of language during explanations and the advantages of keeping teacher talk lean. Contact us at: beyondgoodpod@gmail.com
S3 · E64
April 18 · 42 min
When the new knowledge enters the room
Matt and Femi discuss a couple of really common issues that undermine teachers' ability to deliver powerful, clear and memorable explanations.
S3 · E63
April 11 · 37 min
This class doesn't retain things!
Matt and Femi discuss what to do with a comment often heard by the coffee machine... "This class doesn't retain things!" beyondgoodpod@gmail.com
S3 · E62
April 4 · 43 min
Humanities Teaching with James Gisby
Matt and Femi talk to James Gisby about the challenges and intricacies of teaching History, and what good History lessons could look like.
S3 · E61
March 28 · 38 min
Effective often looks boring!
Matt and Femi discuss why effective learning can often look somewhat boring from the outside, and why that can sometimes be problematic in schools. beyondgoodpod@gmail.com
S3 · E60
March 21 · 45 min
Ruck speed!
Matt and Femi discuss the importance of very prompt transition moments in lessons. Reach out by emailing beyondgoodpod@gmail.com
S3 · E59
March 14 · 40 min
Group PD vs Coaching
Matt and Femi discuss the pros and cons of group / whole staff PD vs the somewhat more time-consuming approach of coaching, considering how to leverage each one for it's strengths and the symbiosis between the two different approaches. Get in touch! beyondgoodpod@gmail.com
S3 · E58
February 21 · 30 min
Copying / Sticking in, and 'There isn't enough curriculum time'
Matt and Femi discuss two topics in this episode - the first is whether there is any merit in having students copy things down into exercise books, or even cutting them out and sticking them in. The second is the complaint one occasionally hears that there is too much to get through / not enough curriculum time and therefore we don't have the 'luxury' of doing any retrieval practice. Share your thoughts with us: beyondgoodpod@gmail.com
S3 · E57
February 14 · 29 min
Go back and check your answers!
Matt and Femi discuss the common situation of encouraging students to go back and check their work once they've done all they can on an exam or test paper.
S3 · E56
February 7 · 35 min
Femi is a convert to MWBs!
Join Femi and Matt to hear about how and why Femi has finally decided to start to use mini-whiteboards in his lessons.
January 24 · 44 min
Video for Coaching
In this episode Femi and Matt talk about how incredibly useful it is to base coaching around video footage from the lesson, and go through the practicalities of doing it (what equipment, how to set up, etc.) Questions or comments? Emails us: BeyondGoodPod@gmail.com
S3 · E54
Dec 15, 2025 · 46 min
My daughter's drum lessons
Femi relays some very concrete pedagogical observations from his daughter's drum lessons which apply equally well to teaching students in every day subject lessons in school. Matt and Femi will be taking a little break over the Christmas period and wish all listeners a restful break over the holidays. The next episode will be released mid-January.
S3 · E53
Nov 22, 2025 · 56 min
My Visit To The Totteridge Academy
Femi tells Matt about his visit to The Totteridge Academy, which he was thoroughly impressed by.

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