In this episode, I’m talking to Tom Sherrington. Tom is a former headteacher, current education consultant and author. He writes the popular blog teacherhead.com and his books include The Learning Rainforest and best-seller Rosenshine’s Principles in Action. He also co-authors the Teaching WalkThrus series with Oliver Caviglioli and edits the In Action series of education books.

I was really excited to talk to Tom after Eoin MacCarthaigh reminded me of his Mode A and Mode B teaching advice in the book The Learning Rainforest. I subsequently reread this and was immediately struck by how such a distinction and reframing of supposedly conflicting pedagogies could help with ongoing debates in IB education and beyond.

We discuss:

1. The distinction between Mode A and Mode B

2. Whether The Learning Rainforest and the Mode A / Mode B distinction was informed by Tom’s experience of teaching abroad

3. His recommendations for the amount of time spent on Mode B teaching as well as when this occurs in a scheme of learning

4. Tom’s view on Mode B style assessments in the curriculum

5. And finally, any recommendations Tom has for other writers who have explored the Mode B approach

Thanks again to Tom for giving up his time to chat as well as for the fact that his insights and the semantic solution of Mode A and Mode B could be incredibly valuable to departments seeking to have productive conversations about designing student learning.

If you want to be kept up to date on when educational chat like this happens, then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhk

Links:

The Learning Rainforest by Tom Sherrington

Tom’s other books

Tom’s blogs

Trivium 21c by Martin Robinson

Hywel Roberts’ books