"I'm talking too much and I'm not letting anyone else speak, and that will be impacting students all the time in my classroom. It's not just the students' oracy; it's mine too. And the staff in the room. That was my epiphany."

Louise Pickering is the Head of Social Sciences at Weavers Academy, part of the Creative Education Trust.

Louise admits to having been someone who taught how she'd been taught to teach... until a chance meeting at a conference led her down an oracy rabbit hole from which she's never surfaced. (Much to the benefit of her students.)

In this episode Louise shares:

* How a student gained a distinction through being taught in an oracy-led environment.

* How oracy would have helped her in her social situations during her academically successful school life.

* How oracy benefits her as a neurodivergent adult.

What really stood out for me was how Louise looks at the need to bring oracy into the learnings of teachers and educators to help them help students.

(As someone who coaches presenting techniques, this really made me think.)

It's a fascinating conversation with a guest who really opens up the landscape in terms of how oracy fits into education and life beyond the classroom.

You can find Louise Pickering on LinkedIn: Louise Marie

Louise was also a brilliant first-time host on Teachers Talk Radio recently.

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If you'd like to appear on Oracy And Beyond, you can email me: Al@OracyAndBeyond.com

Or you can find me on LinkedIn too: Al Booth

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Oracy And Beyond came about after talking to people about my idea for a podcast workshop for schools.

Having learned more about oracy I, like Louise, fell down an oracy rabbit hole and the oracy-led podcast workshop Your Podclass was born.

I was a shy schoolboy, who grew into an unconfident teenager and young adult. All I wanted to do was be on the radio but I lacked the self-confidence to do that until I was in my mid-20s.

As a former commercial and BBC radio and TV presenter, Your Podclass has been set-up with a focus on creating equity for all young people and help them understand that their voice is equal to anybody else's.

To discuss bringing my workshop to your setting, visit YourPodclass.com

#Oracy #Education #Empowerment #StudentVoice #Presenting #TeacherTraining #Coaching

"I would deliberately do bits wrong, and they could tell me. And they did it in pairs, they did it in fours, they did it where they were starting off with a question, or they were halfway through a question. For me, that was like the prime example of how we could prove that oracy was just a brilliant way of doing things."

Caroline Hudson is The Kitchen Table Teacher. With more than 30-years' experience in Early Years teaching and leadership, she specialises in Oracy, Maths and English.

And it is how she brought oracy into her maths teaching, and how it transformed the understanding of her pupils when it came to long division that highlights just how powerful oracy is in creating equity amongst young people.

"Oracy is about giving children the right level of step to have an equal chance at the top."

Caroline also shares her own experience of how a child in Year 6 went from being largely uncommunicative to presenting in front of his class. She also shares how oracy could have made a difference in her own schooling too.

You can find out more about Caroline Hudson in these places:

KitchenTableTeacher.co.uk

Insta: @KitchenTableTeacher

Facebook: Kitchen Table Teacher

Oracy And Beyond is brought to you by Your Podclass - the Oracy-led podcast workshop that I bring into schools to help give confidence to young people through professional podcasting techniques.

To find out more go to YourPodclass.com

If you'd like to discuss bringing Your Podclass into your setting, email me AlBooth@YourPodclass.com

Follow Oracy And Beyond on Instagram @OracyAndBeyond

And if you'd like to be a guest on the show, email me Al@OracyAndBeyond.com

Or find me on LinkedIn - Al Booth

"I was painfully shy. I am dyslexic as well. If I could get through a day without speaking and having anyone look at me, then that was a success. But then because of that, because the way that education was back then, I never developed those skills needed and that vocabulary needed."

Michelle Windridge is the National Education Lead for school-based EYFS at Twinkl. She has also been published in TES and EYE magazine.

In this episode Michelle shares her own reflections on the new details being released around the Government's Best Starting Life Strategy.

She tells the story of how she took an unconfident, removed child who would walk into school with fingers wrapped around their tablet... and helped him find his voice. (With the help of 3 curly-tailed heroes.)

Michelle also reflects on her own schooling, in which she opens up about her struggles with shyness and not having the confidence to communicate. Being in school in the 80s with dyslexia and no oracy teaching wasn't easy on her.

She also shares her views on where we need to take oracy: "We need to support the whole network around a child, not just teachers, but working with the entire community to ensure all children get the best possible chance."

You can find Michelle Windridge in all of these places:

LinkedIn

@MrsPrimary_EYFS on Twitter/X

Instagram - @MrsPrimary_EYFS

and on LinkTree

ORACY AND BEYOND is brought to you by Your Podclass: the oracy-led podcast workshop for schools, created by Al Booth - the host of this very podcast.

To bring Your Podclass to your school, email me on AlBooth@YourPodclass.com

Resources Mentioned:

- CAMTREE (Twinkl's Oracy-led Inquiry Program with Cambridge University's Oracy resources.)

Find out more here.

You can find more information about dyslexia at the British Dyslexia Association

If you would like to be a guest on a future epsiode of Oracy and beyond please email me at AlBooth@YourPodclass.com

Oracy and beyond exists to celebrate the fact that Oracy IS equity. On this show I chat to anyone who is passionate about oracy, and more so about helping young people discover their voice (and their confidence) through communication.

I'll talk to people from education who have been and are in classrooms, to experts in the field, to people for who oracy - whether they knew it or not at the time - has impacted them directly.

Oracy IS equity. Which is why this podcast is all about Oracy and beyond.

If you'd like to be a guest on the show, please drop me a line at albooth@yourpodclass.com

"Oracy and beyond" is brought to you by Your Podclass: The oracy-led podcast workshop for all schools and all children, everywhere.