Nobody Panic - How to Get Into Teaching

Episode Date: March 3, 2022

In this special bonus episode of Nobody Panic, Stevie and Tessa have teamed up with Get Into Teaching. They chat to the brilliant Miss Judi to learn about how a passion for something unique might lead to a whole new career you'd never considered. If this episode has planted a seed you can search Get Into Teaching to find out more.Subscribe to the Nobody Panic Patreon at patreon.com/nobodypanicWant to support Nobody Panic? You can make a one-off donation at https://supporter.acast.com/nobodypanicPhotos by Marco Vittur, jingle by David Dobson.Follow Nobody Panic on Twitter @NobodyPanicPodSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/nobodypanic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Carriad. I'm Sarah. And we are the Weirdo's Book Club podcast. We are doing a very special live show as part of the London Podcast Festival. The date is Thursday, 11th of September. The time is 7pm and our special guest is the brilliant Alan Davies. Tickets from kingsplace.com. Single ladies, it's coming to London.

True on Saturday, the 13th of September. At the London Podcast Festival. The rumours are true. Saturday the 13th of September. At King's Place. Oh, that sounds like a date to me, Harriet. it. Welcome to Nobody Panic. This is a special bonus episode of Nobody Panic. Ooh. Ooh. And we have partnered with Get Into Teaching. I'm so excited about this because obviously we are not

teachers ourselves. So we couldn't give you any advice. We've got the perfect person here with us to tell us how to get into teaching. We have Miss Judy, who has been teaching for six years. She teaches English, but also is trained in drama secondary. She's also taught lowest school history before teaching. She used to work in theatre and comedy. Thank you so much for being on this bonus episode, Miss Judy. Thank you so much for having me. An absolute delighting of you. So thrilled. Let's get straight down into it. What made you get into teaching? Well, as you said, I worked in theatre and comedy before and I actually worked at Soho Theatre. So I was there. Oh, wow. Yes, I was their PR manager. I started starting, start.

started in the low ranks and then worked my way up to PR manager. And so we did a lot of work with the S.Y.C, the Soho Young Company. And so we used to do lots of work with like younger people who wanted to get into comedy or theatre. And we did like programs with primary schools as well. There was like a young writer sitting with primary schools. And that I started to decide more and more was the thing that I was enjoying as part of the job, which was incredibly fun. And so I thought, well, actually,

this is kind of what I want to probably do full time. So I wanted to go into drama teaching. So I became an English teacher, having wanted to be a drama teacher, because very often they kind of cross that boundary there. And as you said, like I've taught history as well. So you kind of do a number of subjects, really. And then I just realized that I loved English teaching.

And it's a core subject. so you get to teach everyone in the school, really. So what's your favourite part about of teaching, let's say English? Like, what's, like, your favourite bit of teaching that subject? The start of a play. The start of a play is the best thing to teach, I think. Or the start of a play or a poem that has, like, something in it that they're just on the cusp of, like, experiencing or knowing about,

but they're not quite sure whether that's okay to be talking about the English teacher. And you're like, Like God, like what? Let's get into this. So what are we doing? What's an example of this? So with the play thing, we are doing the tempest with year eight. So when you start, you do, do you remember doing something called a wush at school?

You're on a story wish? No. No, what's a wush? So the story wish is like when you get everyone, you push all the tables aside and you get everyone in a circle. It's quite a drama game type thing. And the teacher kind of has a really short version of a script. and they kind of direct it and they're pointing at different kids

but for characters and then Miranda was so scared and the kids are like oh and they just kind of have to do it on the spot and then you say whoosh and everyone has to sit down and then you start again with the characters so everyone gets rather than doing like a run-through of the play where just one person gets to be Caliban or Miranda

or whoever it is everyone gets to do it it's super fun everyone gets to say whoosh a few times. So I've switched at year eight is like... That's all you want. It's like, yeah. I just want to say worse. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's life-changing.

And then you can all kind of get to know the story. So when you're reading the Tempice, which can be quite long, quite a long. Can be, yeah, no, can be long. But yeah, so that's always a fun time. And then with the poetry, so we were doing, with year nine, we were doing Still I Rise, the Angelo poem. And there's a stanza in it that, and obviously an incredibly important poem, an incredibly important poet.

And there's an amazing version on YouTube where Serena Williams, for Wimbledon, they did like a Serena Williams version. And she's like talking it and she's done it, has all these shots for playing tennis. I was like,

oh my gosh, Serena Williams is so good at writing poems. No, that's not, okay, we're going to, but anyway, we were doing still our eyes. And there's a stanza in it that starts with, like, does my sexiness offend you?

And they're hearing it. And they're like, oh my God. this word in a classroom. It's so, so weird. And they look at you like, did you know this was in here? Yeah, I did. Oh, I did.

Electric. Absolutely electric. And they know that coming up is like the bit where they have to say the poem themselves in their pair, stanza by stanza. So they're like furiously counting. Like, who has to say that word? And then some of them are like, yes, I can't say the word sexy in class. But they're my favorite bits.

kind of in my last school I was what's called an oracy lead so it's about speaking and listening skills not just in English but all across the school so like if you're if you're asking for something in the canteen or if you're going to talk to a prefect or a teacher or whatever it is just kind of improving your your communication skills really because they haven't lots of kids haven't really spoken to lots of people especially in the last two years how do you go about doing that like what sort of all I'm thinking about is me in the school canteen being like, sorry I'm vegetarian. And that's the voice I would use.

And it would be like a small mouse. Would have loved that. Yeah, how do you go about being able to do that across, like, across subject? Any subject really is, should be doing lots of discussion-based work. Because that's in the research, that's shown to be one of the greatest ways for them to learn is to kind of discuss with each other and do collaborative work. there's a whole kind of pedagogy called Kagan, which is all about collaboration. So every person in the group has like a discussion role, essentially. So you would be a questioner or you would be a digger or you would be like something,

isn't like whatever. And you just teach those skills to staff or you deliver them to staff. And so when maths are doing a wordy problem, because lots of their problems, particularly at GCSE are words based, and that can be quite difficult. they'll often discuss through that word-based question. And so just picking up on like some sentence starters that kids can use or trying to tease that out more over a longer period of time about how can we hear our own voices for that to be really important.

So even like with my register, I will always get them to reply good morning or good afternoon rather than just hit, hit, hit, because it might be that you go two hours without hearing your own voice and I think that that's a shame. Wow. I can really see that that is just such a huge benefit. A huge benefit of that. Can I just ask, did you use the word pedagology?

Pedagogy. And what's pedagogy? Schools of teaching. So if you do like pedagogical research, that would just be research into teaching and learning. Oh, how lovely. Teaching and learning happening in real time. That is it. And it feels like we're in a really exciting place with how we teach and how we like understand how young people take in information.

of this. I think, you know, it feels like things, that sounds like such a cool thing that I don't think was even around when we were at school. Two years ago. But barely two years ago. We're barely through our A levels and weren't they tough? I scored 17. But like, and so it feels very exciting that like things like that are happening and it's not this sort of Victorian, like, you know, when your hand got bound if you wrote with your left hand and you stood in the corner if you couldn't do something and you just had to like recite the the dates of the kings i was alive during the victoria i was going to say yeah you seem to have really you really feeling this um really vivid flashback there yeah both at school two years ago and in the victorian period it's all coming up for me when you were at

school did you have particular teachers that kind of inspired you and you feel that because obviously you've brought i mean it sounds like you've brought a lot from your previous kind of work in theatres and stuff already just like the way you described whoosh and all that stuff like you're clearly breaking that out of here. Even just hearing you talk I'm like yeah I want to be in your classroom please as soon as you were like we move the chairs aside I'm like when you went into a classroom and the chairs were pushed aside you're like oh absolutely electric

things are going to kick off in this yes please yeah yeah yeah yeah so did did you have like inspired you you know now you've moved into teaching yourself yeah yeah yeah definitely and I was actually lucky enough to work with some of them again So they were my, so my drama teacher at school, for example, was brilliant, well, is brilliant. And I know she's brilliant because I worked with her at another school. So once I've been trained and I've been teaching for a couple of years, I moved into another job at a different school where she was teaching. That's amazing.

She was definitely someone who inspired me to be someone who was very, very kind of strong in their presence as a teacher. we talk about this kind of teacher presence. And some people say, it frustrates when people say, like, oh, you've either got it or you don't. And how unfair is that? As a trainee teacher, how scary is that thinking, okay, well, I've just entered into this like enormous life changing decision. And I've either got it or I don't. So might as well see. Fingers crossed.

Yeah, exactly. And, you know, it's the same with stagework. Like, you learn how to have a presence sometimes. Sometimes you've got to. Essentially teaching is a performance. and you're not yourself when you're in the classroom. You're a version of yourself when you're in the classroom. So she was very much a version of that that I saw.

Like she was, I knew what kind of person she was, but she had a very, very strong presence as like, this is who I am in this school. And you'll know that in whatever classroom I go to. And that was really nice. And then when I came back to work with her again, she had a similar kind of thing, but like, this is who I am to you in this school as a colleague.

I feel really privileged to have been in that. position to see someone in both in both forms so yeah so nice and obviously you bring so many outside elements into the classroom like you did that wonderful poem serena williams it sounds like you also you could have like think outside of the box and it's not as rigid a structure as some people might be thinking that teaching is yeah is that true and are there any other examples that you have throughout either history or drama where you've been able to bring in other stuff that kind of lights up the subject for the students? Yeah, so I think you're right that it's not as rigid,

it's not as rigid as some people might seem, or some people might have experienced at school. There is obviously a curriculum we have to follow, and there's been loads of work in, loads of pedagogical work about the importance of curriculum and about how, like, a good structured curriculum is really, really advantageous. Because, like, say you're getting to year 10 and you stop doing Macbeth, well, there's loads of, like, biblical references or allegorical references or something in that,

that you are just, not only they speak in, I'm at Pentameter, but you're also like, what is this, like, story that they keep referencing or, like, who is the cat in the adage? Like, no one knows what, no one knows what that is. So if at year 7, 8 and 9, you can kind of be building these things, or, like, you know, at year 9, you do Othello, so you. you know understand what a tragic hero is. So in terms of kind of the rigidness, I guess a structure is really, really important. And especially for kids as well at the moment, having to learn structure again is really tough.

But we're the ones that have kind of got to do it because they're going to go into a world that is expecting them to understand structure. It's important to help them to regulate in that kind of way. But there's been lots and lots of things that you can do that you've just got to, you've just got to try it. Like at one of my schools, we worked at an all-girls school, and it was the anniversary of the female suffrage. So we got the, it was an all-through school. So we organised like a march. We organised like a Votes for Women March. The juniors all made like banners.

They all had like sashes on. They did their little march around the school for votes for women. and like and we intertwine that into lower school history and you know about also importantly who was left out of that movement like who was left out of that of that vote and why you know working class women were so poorly treated in that in that way as well and so you do get lots of opportunities to to try other stuff like this Friday actually because we were doing we were doing the tempest there's an amazing version there's an amazing RSC version and because of mine kind of previous role.

I have just been exposed to lots of online platforms for theatre and where to try and find it. So we got them all into the Lech Theatre and played the RSC Tempest to them. And they were like, what is happening? We're just going in and we're just like watching a film. And they got to this bit where Caliban and Trinculo were like under this rug together. And they were like, oh, this is so rude. And they were laughing thinking like, we've got one up on the teachers. Like they don't know what this looks like.

And then we obviously knew that we were exposing them to like a really amazing theatre production that they might not be able to go and see. And then, you know, we've got plans to be able to take them to the globe and stand in, like stand in the front and have a little chat or the play is happening, just like would have happened in the, you know, Jacobean era. So there's lots and lots of opportunities to make things. to make things different and to make things a bit more, a bit more fluid, a bit more fun for you as well as them,

and to create that kind of, that kind of bonding experience, really. That's so cool. And I think like the moment that you experience, like, if you've only ever learnt theatre, like, on the page, and it's only ever been, like, a sort of dense word experience, and if that's not really your thing. And then to see it come to life and also to, like, to laugh

and be like, oh, my God, this was funny and sexy and rude. Yeah. And you're like, oh, my God. It's a lot of, you know, and we're doing it at school. Oh my gosh, wait until you get to the port-a-scene and at Beth, they are like, what? Yes. I'm like, we can either, we can either go through this or you could, let's just have a big old laugh about it and then, and we can get back to all the death that happens. Like, and they're just thinking, I don't know if I'm going to engage in this or not.

But it's important, right, that you just say, well, Shakespeare, everyone else wanted to hear about this stuff as well, as much as we, you know, want to be. entertained. They did as well. They were as bawdy as everyone else. Yeah. And I think it just opens up history as well in such an interesting way of being like, oh, I feel exactly the same things that somebody in the 1600s felt. And we have the same issues and wants and desires and things that, yeah, amazing. You sound so wonderful and so passionate. I truly want to be in your class.

It sounds very cool. If anyone was listening, I mean, I'm genuinely thinking. thinking maybe I should go into teaching. I think you'd great teach, Tesla. I really do think you would. Thanks, guys. I think I'd really like it. If there's anybody who's listening to this,

is that something that you would encourage people to take that passion and think about sharing it and going back and giving it to the young? Yes, definitely, definitely, definitely. Like, I think it's just amazing to watch. I mean, in any profession, really, I love to watch someone who is just really into what they're doing. I think that's an amazing thing to see. And kids know it.

Kids know when you're bluffing. They know when you're not that into something. And they know when you are. And there's this most incredible mass teacher at the school that I'm working at at the moment who is just, she just lives and breathes maths. And I'm like, that is amazing. Like that's so amazing. And the kids know, they know that she loves it.

And they know that I love English. And one of them, like, they'll say, things to you like you have had your winter books this morning. Like I had that from a year seven the other day and I was like how do you know that phrase? Really old phrase. But because they know you love your subject

and so to have subject specific knowledge and to be really really clued up on your subject is just so important. It's so important. I know that I've taught a few different subjects but having taught English now for

longer it's certainly clear that that's where my that's where my passion is and I can use things from like historical context for any spectacles or I can use like drama to bring a play to life or whatever but if you have a passion for that thing like if you are if you find yourself watching YouTube videos about physics or whatever why would you not go and hang out with the best people around who are young people they've got so much joy and humour among themselves, why would you not go and talk to them about it? If there's just one person in that room that's like, all right, I might go and watch that

YouTube video. I think that's an amazing, I think it's an amazing thing. It's amazing. The idea that you can, that kids can tell as well when you're passionate about something or not, it was a special spark that happens when there's somebody explaining something to you in a way that makes their eyes light up. So then your eyes light up as well. Also, just across the board, it's fascinating talking to anybody who is fascinated by a topic, you know? Like, if it was like plug sockets. Someone loves plug sockets. You're like, I love plug sockets. I love plug sockets. I'm like, oh, I'm going to go buy, but he's buy so many of them. And like, actually, we were talking about teaching being a performance. Well, in those moments, it doesn't have to be, because if someone is going,

oh, yeah, that's why he's used that word or like, that's why this poem has, is written in free verse, is because maybe they want to show that their life isn't a structured and da-da-da, and you're like, oh, that's so nice. That's such a good thing to say. And, like, they always, they're always, they always taking them out of how you describe things because they're like yes why do you always call things beautiful like why do you always say that like this writing is gorgeous I'm like it's sexy it's sexy writing yeah yeah yeah and they're all like having a kid come to a conclusion about something all on their own or having them like relate it to a real life thing in their life or be able to like draw a conclusion or be like wait is this related to this must just be like magic

just to like see them like make those connections and be like that's a neural pathway that like didn't exist this morning and now it just like it just connected in their mind. You speak with such authority and passion. I honestly want to like want to do well for you so badly. I'm literally like do you want to see my work, Miss Judy? I'll write that. Check mine. I'd get it under the visualiser. You show everyone. Let's all celebrate. Let's all celebrate test's success here. On the way here I walk past this um this guy teaching football in the park and he was playing a game and it seemed to have a lot of rules and the kids was so into it and he was so nice and good with them and i was honestly watching and i was like being like can i please can i play

let me on and that's the thing like when you just see somebody who's like just alive and like present and like has invented like he didn't need to have him i think he'd invented it and like it didn't need to have been like that fun like you know i'm sure you can teach anything in any way you want but to have like taken the time and the effort to to make something that they were obviously and they were all just like they were laughing their heads off, but they were also like clearly getting really good at the kicking. Yeah, absolutely good. And it's so important, like, because it's their time, right?

It's their time. This is their school. You don't get your time at school again. And you serve them. It's their school. Even at like break and lunch when they're just talking about their own little world or getting, why do they use? Gast about like something and they're all like, woo.

you know, I get paid to do that and I get paid to serve their school and have and share their time at school and make it as successful but also as enjoyable as possible. And that is just, that is a real privilege. Well, there's something very, very special about the fact that you never forget your teachers. Like I remember my teachers now and if I saw, I actually tweeted, had a Twitter conversation with one of my teachers because we like found each other. and it was just like they have shaped he is shaped my entire life like he's the reason I do loads of things

I won't even know half the things as well and all of those kids that go through they will remember Miss Judy and for the rest of their lives like that whether or not they then decide to like you know whether or not they love English as much as you or they never even think about Othello ever again

there still will be threads of interest in threads of things that you have like sparked in them that they will remember and it's just so funny you've got a little army of people going out into the world you like but also you're like okay well I better teach in the right stuff because then this is sticking forever yeah that's that's reciprocal right so I would remember all the kids that I've that I've got really like I'd I'd certainly recognise them and I'd know them and and the stuff that they teach you is amazing I was on lunch meat the other day and I put some like salad on top of my pasta pot so I was working my way through the leaves. Past a pot. You're really bringing it to life for us.

Passed a pot, there we go, 30 people cheese. And so I was out on duty and one of my form came up to me and it looked like I was just eating these leaves and he was like, right, miss, that is why you're so short. I was like, okay. And he was like, you just got to eat maybe, I don't know, like something a bit more substantial and then you will just. just grow. I was like, thank you. Thank you. So, you know, they teach you these kind of, you know, these trivial things as well. But it's you remember them as much as, as much as they might remember you and have these impacts on you and how you teach. Like we've got much, much more of an understanding now about different children and the way in which they learn, whether that's

kind of counted as a, you know, a special educational need or just because their brain works slightly differently to to other people. You've got to, like I was saying before, you serve them. So you've just got to work a bit harder and decide how you're going to get, you're going to get to that one kid. And if they don't read a book again in their lives, that is fine. As long as they're able to decode the news that's given to them, that's my job done, really. Yeah.

As much as you are an ambassador for your subject, you're more an advocate for the kids. That's what your job is across their, across their subjects. even though I was awful at maths, I would always tell them, I was awful at math, but I work really hard and it's really important that I got it and I want you to get it as well. So go and do your off mass intervention now. I teach you a teacher you used to say, I can't do this and they would say, yet, you can't do this yet. Yeah. And you'd be like, okay. Okay. Yeah. It's nice thing. Right. We're like, and it's like, okay, then it's not a failing, you know, that right now I can't do it.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a continue. We're always learning if you don't stop learning when you leave school. So it's good, you know, like it's a constant to continue, isn't it? Yeah. You're like setting them up to just a life of learning. Well, look, this has been such, like, interesting chat. You know, the things that you've done to, like, bring your experience, your past experience into the classroom to how, you know, all different kids learn.

And what you can do when, like, if you're sitting here thinking, like, yeah, you're watching, you keep watching YouTube videos about rivers. what about teaching geography? Come on. Come on. Yeah, if you're like, I, everyone asked me to leave the party because I keep telling people about Oxbow Lakes. Listen, there's a whole generation of people

who want to hear about it, you know? Do you know how many people remember Oxbow Lakes? Whenever people talk about geography, they're always like, oh yeah, Oxbow lakes. There's something about them that is, that stick. Straight in, straight in. We'll make a geography teacher out of someone yet. Yeah, and that's the thing if like, you're like,

yeah, I do, I do always tell people about the Oxpos. And you're like, yeah. Oh, well, look, thank you so much for chatting to us. It's been just really, really enlightening and helpful. I think Tessa, at some point, is going to be a teacher in her life. I can just see you the spark. Oh, that's so exciting. It genuinely has a twist the thing in my head that was like, oh, yeah, I think I am.

Yeah, do it. It's never too late. It's never too late. Let me know if you do and we'll, like, do some joint observations. That'll be so fun. If a seed has been planted in you as well and you're thinking, yeah, wait, maybe I, maybe I do. Or you've listened to this episode and now you're inspired or you're thinking of a career where every lesson shapes a life. Then you can search Get Into Teaching now to find out more.

Mr. Judy, thank you so much for being here. And thank you so much to Get Into Teaching for partnering with us on this special episode of Novo Du Panic. And if this is something for you, then please do look into Get Into Teaching. And thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. Thank you, Miss Judy.