As teachers we all know the reality of marking on a Saturday night. Whilst we might like to party we often sacrifice our own time to complete school work. This week's episode will focus on marking, feedback and what we can do to be more effective and efficient in this area of our work. 

In this week's episode we examine the often spoken about yet very difficult to achieve aspect of teaching, differentiation. Whilst all teachers know the importance of differentiation it is one of the most challenging aspects of our work to achieve. We explore some options we can take that won't take a lot of time but will make a difference to our confidence in meeting the needs of all students in our classes.

This week's episode allows us to explore the impact of technology on our teaching. It has been an absolute game changer in education; yet it is a challenge to ensure that it does more for us than what we already had. We will explore how to use technology to alter student learning and to engage students more deeply.

This week's episode builds on the energy we have created in our classrooms to assess which pedagogical strategies are the best to meet the needs of our students. There are trends in education that we invest heavily in and in this episode we examine how to evaluate which trends or which strategies are the most effective. To assist with this we must consider how the strategy increases both student engagement and student learning. In addition we must always consider the context of the students in our class.

This week's episode is a confronting one as it made me and hopefully you too to reflect on your attitude to learning. We exist in a profession that prides itself on the importance of learning as a concept that can be life-changing yet what is our actual attitude to learning. By shifting our mindset to being students in everything we do we may provide ourselves with an opportunity to re-engage with learning.

In Episode 4 we talk about the tricky balance between creating both a respectful classroom environment where students understand that you are the teacher whilst also connecting with students to ensure that they know how important they are to us in our teaching. When we establish this environment it creates a rich learning atmosphere where students trust their teacher and growth can occur.

In this episode we delve into and remember the reasons, 'Why?' we were attracted to the profession of teaching. We then explore some specific strategies we can employ to help us regain energy when we feel the need to connect back to our 'Why'. The episode predominantly focuses on our relationship with students and the energy they can provide us with and the importance of remembering the stories of the students we have taught or are currently teaching.If anything resonates or conflicts with your thoughts don't hesitate to make contact through twitter @MarkOConnor76 or through email; [email protected]

In this episode we will explore some of the aspects that negate our energy. We will identify the impact of these and then look at strategies to avoid these aspects and examine ways of generating energy. 

The first episode starts with a small introduction about me, your host before exploring the importance of your energy in the classroom. This is the essence of everything that we will explore in our endeavour to create learning environments fuelled with passion and excitement.