Wait, did I just explain classroom management to the King?!
Yep. That happened. In this episode, I’m giving you a front seat to one of the most bizarre, surreal, and pinch-me experiences of my life — being invited to Buckingham Palace and getting to literally talk to King Charles about what we do as educators.
But more importantly, I want to unpack why it was so powerful. Not because it was fancy or royal or Insta-worthy (though…yes, yes it was). But because what I shared with him? It wasn’t shiny. It wasn’t new. It wasn’t revolutionary.
It was real.
The simple, human-first, practical work we do in our classrooms every day — the stuff that doesn’t come with buzzwords or fancy acronyms — THAT is what got me standing in front of the actual King. And I want to tell you why that matters. Because this episode is for you.
If you’ve ever doubted whether your small routines make a difference…
If you’ve ever wondered whether this values-led way of teaching is actually working…
If you’ve ever felt like what you’re doing is “just good teaching” and not enough to be noticed…
Let me tell you: It’s radical. It’s rare. And it’s working.
So, shall we roll the tape?
What You’ll Learn:
- The wild story of how I got invited to Buckingham Palace 🏰
- What I said to King Charles (and the curveball question he asked)
- Why actionable classroom practice IS innovative (even if it doesn’t feel like it)
- How teaching with clarity, consistency, and compassion is changing lives — literally
- The empowering reminder that things like your entry routine are literally changing lives
- Why “just good teaching” is more than enough
Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!
RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:
- Shop all resources
- Join The Behaviour Club
- My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management
- The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
- Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'
Connect with me:
- Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
- Check out my website
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Oh, hi there, teachers.
Welcome to the Unteachablespodcast.
I'm your host, claire English,and I am just a fellow teacher,
a toddler mama and a big oldbehavior nerd on a mission to
demystify and simplify thatlittle thing called classroom
management.
The way we've all been taughtto manage behavior and classroom
manage has left us playingcrowd control, which is not
(00:22):
something I subscribe to,because we're not bouncers,
we're teachers.
So listen in as I walk youthrough the game, changing
strategies and I mean the thingsthat we can actually do and
action in our classrooms thatwill allow you to lean into your
beautiful values as acompassionate educator and feel
empowered to run your room witha little more calm and, dare I
(00:43):
say it, a lot less chaos.
I will see you in the episode.
Hello, friends, and welcome backto the Unteachables podcast.
I hope you're all good on yourend.
I hope that school is treatingyou well.
I hope that your leaders aretreating you well.
I hope that your staff treatingyou well.
I hope that all is good.
(01:04):
I know that in some parts ofthe world you're winding down
the school year, so that bringswith it a whole bunch of
challenges with behavior, withyour energy, with just
everything, and I know that herein the Southern Hemisphere we
are just in the thick of theschool year, so you kind of get
to that middle of the year part.
You've got so long left to go,but you've already been in the
(01:26):
classroom for so long and you'rejust desperate for that break.
So, wherever you are, whateveryou're doing, whatever your
current situation is, I amsending all of the good vibes,
all the coffee, all the things.
So shall we just?
Shall we just shoot the breezefor the next 20 minutes, or
should I get into an episode?
I actually this is the firstepisode that I have recorded.
(01:46):
I record my episodes in kind oflike bulk.
So I will do four at the startof the month, so all of the
podcasts for the month are done.
And that's just because I findit really hard to be consistent
with things and I find it reallyhard to do kind of like a lot
of task swapping.
So when it comes to theunteachables going, I'm going to
smash out four episodes andwhen I'm in that same kind of
(02:09):
energy, just get them done a lotquicker.
The first episode I record Ishouldn't know if anyone cares
about this, probably not but thefirst episode I record for the
month, like this episode, forexample.
I will rerecord that first partprobably about 10 times.
I will do 10 seconds of talkingand go, oh bloody hell, like
have to delete it and go backbecause I say something stupid
(02:29):
or I just I'm not in the kind offlow of it.
So I find that so much easierbecause then the rest of the
episodes I don't do that becauseI'm in that kind of podcast
flow state.
Anyway, all of that to say,this is the first podcast
episode that I have recordedsince I got back from London, so
I don't know if all of you areaware, if you're listening to
this.
You might not be aware ifyou're not following me on
(02:51):
Instagram or anything like that.
But last month, so on the 15thof last month, I was invited to
go to Buckingham Palace for thegarden party which was
celebrating the education andskills sector.
So it was like teachers andthere were a few nurses there
and just people who were doingthings in the education space,
(03:12):
and when I got the message, so Idid put a post up on Instagram
about I got a bunch of questionsso I thought I'd go through
them, but one person said likehow did you get invited,
literally on Instagram.
The Royal Family Instagramreached out to me and it wasn't
the king or anything, but it wasthe.
I think it was like the socialmedia manager for Buckingham
(03:33):
Palace or like the person whooversees kind of those
relationships.
She reached out to me and shesaid hey, I've got an
opportunity.
Would you like to you know,would you like to hear more
about it?
Can you please give me youremail?
And of course, in this day andage, I would be like it's a scam
, someone's going to get methere and someone's going to
(03:54):
steal my kidneys, because that'sjust what we think.
We're so dubious about thingsnow.
So of course I I said, yep, no,worries, send me an email.
And I vetted the hell out ofthese people.
I was looking at them onLinkedIn, I was looking at their
faces.
I was like just kind of sussingout everything about this whole
process.
I'm like surely the Royalfamily's Instagram and emails
(04:15):
are not going to be hacked justto pull some kind of prank on me
, like I'm just a nobody.
But uh, so it was all fine.
It was all kind of it allchecked out, and I guess the
reason why it was important itall checked out was because the
flight to London from Sydney isbetween 24.
I mean, sometimes you get aflight that's 22 hours, but the
actual like commute is 25 hours,at least by the time you like
(04:39):
go to the airport and get back.
I think I was in transit forlike 28 hours on that first leg.
So it's not like I'm poppingfrom Birmingham to London, you
know, it's not like I'm jumpingon a train.
I am crossing the seas to theother side of the world without
my toddler for the first time.
I've never been away from herbefore.
So it was a really big deal forme to go, and I'm so glad that I
(05:00):
did, because not only was Iinvited to the event, I was
handpicked to be introduced tothe King and for me to be able
to explain to the King the workthat I was doing and all the
things right, and I just didn'tunderstand why.
I was like what's going on?
It didn't make sense to me.
So I went and in my head I'mlike okay, I got the email said
(05:23):
I was shortlisted for apresentation with the King,
which means I was presented tohim in some way.
But um, I was expecting this tobe something that was like
hundreds of people, being, youknow, potentially just in a room
where we might be able to likeshake hands with one of the
Royal family members.
But no, it was.
(05:46):
I got there and I was told tomeet this lady on the stairs.
As we were coming in, we wentthrough the front gates of
Buckingham Palace.
It was wild.
All of that part where touristsare usually kind of mingling
and taking photos, that was allblocked off to the public and we
had to go through all of thesesecurity gates to get in.
And we got in there and we hadto go through all of these
security gates to get in.
And we got in there and we wentthrough the front gates of
(06:07):
Buckingham Palace and we wentaround the side to the gardens,
which are just vast.
They are huge and they're vastand just beautiful.
And there were all these tentsset up and best public toilets
I've ever been to, like theywould just pop up public toilets
.
They were amazing.
I stole a tampon.
I didn't steal it, they wereall there to use.
Obviously that's the WesternSydney girl coming out of me,
(06:28):
but I took a tampon as a mementoof my trip to Buckingham Palace
.
Anyway, oh my gosh, no one fromthe royal family is going to be
listening to this podcast, so Ithink I'm safe.
So I got there and I wasintroduced to this lady and she
said okay, I need you to meet meback here at this time and be
ready, you know.
So I met her back there and itwas just and I was on this weird
(06:54):
run sheet.
It said presentations with theKing.
Claire English was on there andthey lined us up at the front
door.
So everybody else was on thegrass like pushed back by the
guards, so the guards werestanding around and creating a
barrier and I was like up nextto the doors of Buckingham
Palace.
I was like what the hell am Idoing here?
(07:14):
And then the music started andthen the other guards came down.
The King's guards came down andthat was just crazy seeing that
all happening and we had tofollow them down the stairs in
front of 8,000 people, just me,my guest, ali, my best friend.
Unfortunately I had to leave myhusband at home with my toddler
, but I was able to bring mybest mum friend, ali, who I met
(07:37):
her at antenatal and she wasjust my best best friend in
London.
So like just being able tocatch up with her was amazing as
well.
So we went down the stairs andwe had to line up in a row and
the king came down and was likehe there was some guy in a top
hat there and he was just.
We had to send like a biothrough, so the King was prepped
on who we were, but then he wasbeing like he was introducing
(08:00):
us to the King, anyway.
So my face was completely numbso he moved on loads, like five
of us with our guests, about 10people in this line, with like
thousands of people lining uparound.
You know, there was like thisvast empty space we were
standing in the middle of, likeon display.
It was wild.
So he was coming down the linewith Queen Camilla and with, I
(08:24):
think, the Education SecretaryBridget was there as well, which
we weren't expecting.
So we're like, who are you?
What's happening?
But anyway, so the king wascoming down the line, king
Charles, and my face was justnumb, my mouth was numb and I'm
like what am I going to say?
Like I just I'd been rehearsingthis elevator pitch on the
plane and on the way there and Iwas, you know, trying to
rehearse it with my friend Ali,because I'm really bad at
(08:47):
talking about what I do.
I'm just like, oh, I'm ateacher, like you know, I still
just, I still just identify asjust a teacher.
I'm not saying just a teacher,but you know, that is my
identity.
My identity is a teacher.
So I couldn't just say to KingCharles like, oh yeah, I'm a
teacher and that's why I'm herein front of you being introduced
.
So I practiced this, like youknow, elevator pitch, and that's
all I had in my brain.
Everything else was pushed out.
(09:09):
So I wasn't expecting anythingelse but that.
I was expecting, like, a politenod, a handshake.
But cue the internal panic whenhe said to me oh very good, do
you think that what you're doingis innovative?
Is it working?
And honestly, I just went hot,like my face was hot.
I'm like, what am I going tosay?
Because what I do isn'tinnovative, it's not shiny, it's
(09:33):
not new, it's just actionableand real and the stuff that we
should already be taught.
So this is what I said to himand I've just been, as you can
tell, I've just been talkingabout this off the top of my
head, but I have written downwhat I said to him and I typed
it in my phone after, cause Ireally wanted to remember it.
I said well, I help teachersfocus on what they can actually
(09:56):
do in the room so they can teachall of their students, even the
ones who are more vulnerableand need the most support with
their behaviors.
That was what I said to him.
I didn't say it was innovative.
I didn't try to like say that Ihad this like new fandangled
behavior approach, because Idon't.
I don't have buzzwords, I don'thave bells and whistles, just I
(10:19):
teach the actionable stuff andthat is it.
And then I was reflecting onthat sense and I'm like that is
innovation, like I feel likethat is the innovative, the real
, like the, the stuff that isgoing to work.
It's not some whiz bang tech,it's not being able to.
Of course, you can leveragetools.
I'm not saying that.
I'm not saying I'm going to bestuck in the dark ages, but it
(10:43):
isn't some new tech that yourleadership has bought in.
It's not some brand neweducational theory that you need
to get your head around yetagain.
It's not a new structure of thecurriculum.
It's just us in the room ashuman beings working with other
(11:03):
humans, controlling what we cancontrol, and doing so with
connection and compassion andlike immense confidence and
credibility, and I really neverthought in my wildest dreams
that it would be radical as aconcept to just do the things
that are actionable and workingin the classroom.
And I guess that justreinforces my message and why
(11:24):
what I do is so powerful.
Because when I run trainingsessions and when I do work with
teachers, I'm not doinganything necessarily that they
have never heard of, like Ithink that every teacher here
listening understands thatdifferentiation is important
with classroom management.
I think you understand thatroutines are important with
classroom management.
(11:45):
I think you would, you know,grasp the idea that the way
we're showing up non-verballyyou've heard of regulation,
you've heard of all the thingsthat people talk about in the
classroom that work, but whatdoes that actually look like?
How do we execute that?
How do we execute it so wellthat it is reducing and
mitigating so many low-levelbehaviors that we're
experiencing in our classrooms?
(12:06):
How are we doing these thingsand how are we showing up in the
classroom and what are we doingthat we can control and that
right there, like and just beingable to support you with that
stuff, that is to me innovativebecause it's just not being done
and that should be the donething.
You know, simple tweaks to oureveryday practice.
(12:27):
So I never thought it'd beradical to get you know or get
real attention for making thatlink between behavior change and
classroom management and well,just simple tweaks to our
everyday teaching practice.
But here we are, hello 2025.
So that moment, I wanted to talkyou through that moment because
and, by the way, he just said,ah, very good, and then moved on
(12:48):
I think that he must have readmy bio and he must have also had
something prepared as aquestion in his mind to respond
to.
By the way, I didn't know whatto expect.
I'm not necessarily a huge,huge, huge royalist.
However, I wasn't sure what toexpect.
Meeting King Charles, he wasincredibly warm and he was
(13:13):
really interested in what wewere doing like really
interested, and he just seemedgenuinely engaged in the work
that I was doing.
So that was.
It was really really nice.
So I just wanted to say that,not that I'm a massive royalist,
but it was.
It was really nice to hear that.
Anyway, so that moment, rightthere, I wanted to talk you
through it because that is foryou and every other teacher or
(13:37):
every other leader who has eversat in a professional
development session based onsome new fang dangled approach,
thinking, what do I actually do,though?
Like, what do I do when I'msitting in a classroom and I
have 30 kids chatting away andI'm trying to teach, or leaders,
like, but tell me how do Isupport my staff?
Like, how do I create cultureshifts?
How do I you know, how do I doall of these things?
(14:04):
Like, what is the action?
Tell me what to do.
And I don't necessarily believethat I'm going to be able to
give you exacts like thisbehavior happens and this
happens.
No, like that's not how itworks.
I mean just equipping you withtangible, practical things that
you are already embedding inyour classroom approach, in your
teaching, in your learning.
That is already doing the workfor you.
(14:26):
So it's filtering out some ofthose little behaviors and then,
when it gets to responding tobehavior, you have the skills to
do that as well.
And then, when it comes tofollowing up on behavior, you
know how to do that as well.
It's never going to be perfect.
It's never going to be likehere's the magic button for
every single behavior, but whatcan you actually control?
What can you actually do?
That is the work that I do withyou and that is the work that
(14:47):
is getting attention, notbecause they understand that
it's not necessarily innovative,because it's working and
because it's getting attention.
So this is for you, doing thework every day that matters.
You know you're beingintentional, you're making
values, led shifts or you'retrying your best to do so, and
if you can't, you're seekingsupport and you're making
(15:09):
changes.
That is radical as fuck.
I'm telling you.
That is radical, that isinnovative.
That is you showing up in a waythat a lot of teachers don't
know how to because they haven'tbeen supported to that right.
There is a stuff that changeslives and I had a laugh because
I did a post on this and I saidlike that does change lives, and
I said like your entry routineis literally changing lives.
(15:32):
Your transitions are changinglives.
Your agenda slide is changinglives because the consistency
and the clarity there issupporting a young person to
engage in your lesson that mighthave not otherwise engaged
because of their anxiety aroundyou know English because it's
always been something they'vestruggled with you really are
changing lives by showing up inthe classroom and doing certain
(15:54):
things.
You don't have to be a martyr,you don't have to go and take it
on and I know you do, and Iknow it's easy to do that and to
take things home with you butthe things that are changing the
lives of students are youhaving excellent teaching
practice and controlling whatyou can control.
It's not you being a savior,it's not you being a martyr, but
you are changing lives and I'mhere to tell you that, and it's
(16:16):
just the things that you'redoing in the everyday.
So I really hope that you gotto this point and didn't tune
out seven minutes in when I wasstill bang on about waiting for
the game.
I hope that you did get.
I mean, you're listening now,aren't you?
So you did make it to the end,so good work.
(16:43):
Feel free to pop into Instagramor something and have a chat
with me about if you have anyquestions, I am always open to.
Yeah, to having a chit chat,and podcasting does sometimes
feel like a one-sided convo, soplease come and have a chat.
If you've ever been to one ofthe garden parties, it's really
random how many people have likekind of popped on and go.
Oh yeah, like 10 years ago, youknow because I was working for
this place yeah, or if you justwant to make any comments about
that, or drag me through the mudfor going to Buckingham Palace,
that's fine.
You do what you need to do.
Okay, lovely teacher, I'm goingto leave it there and get on to
(17:07):
recording the podcast episode,which I'm very excited about,
and I will see you there.
Bye for now.
Oh, hi there, teachers.
Welcome to the Unteachablespodcast.
I'm your host, claire English,and I am just a fellow teacher,
a toddler mama and a big oldbehavior nerd on a mission to
demystify and simplify thatlittle thing called classroom
management.
The way we've all been taughtto manage behavior and classroom
manage has left us playingcrowd control, which is not
(00:22):
something I subscribe to,because we're not bouncers,
we're teachers.
So listen in as I walk youthrough the game, changing
strategies and I mean the thingsthat we can actually do and
action in our classrooms thatwill allow you to lean into your
beautiful values as acompassionate educator and feel
empowered to run your room witha little more calm and, dare I
(00:43):
say it, a lot less chaos.
I will see you in the episode.
Hello, friends, and welcome backto the Unteachables podcast.
I hope you're all good on yourend.
I hope that school is treatingyou well.
I hope that your leaders aretreating you well.
I hope that your staff treatingyou well.
I hope that all is good.
(01:04):
I know that in some parts ofthe world you're winding down
the school year, so that bringswith it a whole bunch of
challenges with behavior, withyour energy, with just
everything, and I know that herein the Southern Hemisphere we
are just in the thick of theschool year, so you kind of get
to that middle of the year part.
You've got so long left to go,but you've already been in the
(01:26):
classroom for so long and you'rejust desperate for that break.
So, wherever you are, whateveryou're doing, whatever your
current situation is, I amsending all of the good vibes,
all the coffee, all the things.
So shall we just?
Shall we just shoot the breezefor the next 20 minutes, or
should I get into an episode?
I actually this is the firstepisode that I have recorded.
(01:46):
I record my episodes in kind oflike bulk.
So I will do four at the startof the month, so all of the
podcasts for the month are done.
And that's just because I findit really hard to be consistent
with things and I find it reallyhard to do kind of like a lot
of task swapping.
So when it comes to theunteachables going, I'm going to
smash out four episodes andwhen I'm in that same kind of
(02:09):
energy, just get them done a lotquicker.
The first episode I record Ishouldn't know if anyone cares
about this, probably not but thefirst episode I record for the
month, like this episode, forexample.
I will rerecord that first partprobably about 10 times.
I will do 10 seconds of talkingand go, oh bloody hell, like
have to delete it and go backbecause I say something stupid
(02:29):
or I just I'm not in the kind offlow of it.
So I find that so much easierbecause then the rest of the
episodes I don't do that becauseI'm in that kind of podcast
flow state.
Anyway, all of that to say,this is the first podcast
episode that I have recordedsince I got back from London, so
I don't know if all of you areaware, if you're listening to
this.
You might not be aware ifyou're not following me on
(02:51):
Instagram or anything like that.
But last month, so on the 15thof last month, I was invited to
go to Buckingham Palace for thegarden party which was
celebrating the education andskills sector.
So it was like teachers andthere were a few nurses there
and just people who were doingthings in the education space,
(03:12):
and when I got the message, so Idid put a post up on Instagram
about I got a bunch of questionsso I thought I'd go through
them, but one person said likehow did you get invited,
literally on Instagram.
The Royal Family Instagramreached out to me and it wasn't
the king or anything, but it wasthe.
I think it was like the socialmedia manager for Buckingham
(03:33):
Palace or like the person whooversees kind of those
relationships.
She reached out to me and shesaid hey, I've got an
opportunity.
Would you like to you know,would you like to hear more
about it?
Can you please give me youremail?
And of course, in this day andage, I would be like it's a scam
, someone's going to get methere and someone's going to
(03:54):
steal my kidneys, because that'sjust what we think.
We're so dubious about thingsnow.
So of course I I said, yep, no,worries, send me an email.
And I vetted the hell out ofthese people.
I was looking at them onLinkedIn, I was looking at their
faces.
I was like just kind of sussingout everything about this whole
process.
I'm like surely the Royalfamily's Instagram and emails
(04:15):
are not going to be hacked justto pull some kind of prank on me
, like I'm just a nobody.
But uh, so it was all fine.
It was all kind of it allchecked out, and I guess the
reason why it was important itall checked out was because the
flight to London from Sydney isbetween 24.
I mean, sometimes you get aflight that's 22 hours, but the
actual like commute is 25 hours,at least by the time you like
(04:39):
go to the airport and get back.
I think I was in transit forlike 28 hours on that first leg.
So it's not like I'm poppingfrom Birmingham to London, you
know, it's not like I'm jumpingon a train.
I am crossing the seas to theother side of the world without
my toddler for the first time.
I've never been away from herbefore.
So it was a really big deal forme to go, and I'm so glad that I
(05:00):
did, because not only was Iinvited to the event, I was
handpicked to be introduced tothe King and for me to be able
to explain to the King the workthat I was doing and all the
things right, and I just didn'tunderstand why.
I was like what's going on?
It didn't make sense to me.
So I went and in my head I'mlike okay, I got the email said
(05:23):
I was shortlisted for apresentation with the King,
which means I was presented tohim in some way.
But um, I was expecting this tobe something that was like
hundreds of people, being, youknow, potentially just in a room
where we might be able to likeshake hands with one of the
Royal family members.
But no, it was.
(05:46):
I got there and I was told tomeet this lady on the stairs.
As we were coming in, we wentthrough the front gates of
Buckingham Palace.
It was wild.
All of that part where touristsare usually kind of mingling
and taking photos, that was allblocked off to the public and we
had to go through all of thesesecurity gates to get in.
And we got in there and we hadto go through all of these
security gates to get in.
And we got in there and we wentthrough the front gates of
(06:07):
Buckingham Palace and we wentaround the side to the gardens,
which are just vast.
They are huge and they're vastand just beautiful.
And there were all these tentsset up and best public toilets
I've ever been to, like theywould just pop up public toilets
.
They were amazing.
I stole a tampon.
I didn't steal it, they wereall there to use.
Obviously that's the WesternSydney girl coming out of me,
(06:28):
but I took a tampon as a mementoof my trip to Buckingham Palace
.
Anyway, oh my gosh, no one fromthe royal family is going to be
listening to this podcast, so Ithink I'm safe.
So I got there and I wasintroduced to this lady and she
said okay, I need you to meet meback here at this time and be
ready, you know.
So I met her back there and itwas just and I was on this weird
(06:54):
run sheet.
It said presentations with theKing.
Claire English was on there andthey lined us up at the front
door.
So everybody else was on thegrass like pushed back by the
guards, so the guards werestanding around and creating a
barrier and I was like up nextto the doors of Buckingham
Palace.
I was like what the hell am Idoing here?
(07:14):
And then the music started andthen the other guards came down.
The King's guards came down andthat was just crazy seeing that
all happening and we had tofollow them down the stairs in
front of 8,000 people, just me,my guest, ali, my best friend.
Unfortunately I had to leave myhusband at home with my toddler
, but I was able to bring mybest mum friend, ali, who I met
(07:37):
her at antenatal and she wasjust my best best friend in
London.
So like just being able tocatch up with her was amazing as
well.
So we went down the stairs andwe had to line up in a row and
the king came down and was likehe there was some guy in a top
hat there and he was just.
We had to send like a biothrough, so the King was prepped
on who we were, but then he wasbeing like he was introducing
(08:00):
us to the King, anyway.
So my face was completely numbso he moved on loads, like five
of us with our guests, about 10people in this line, with like
thousands of people lining uparound.
You know, there was like thisvast empty space we were
standing in the middle of, likeon display.
It was wild.
So he was coming down the linewith Queen Camilla and with, I
(08:24):
think, the Education SecretaryBridget was there as well, which
we weren't expecting.
So we're like, who are you?
What's happening?
But anyway, so the king wascoming down the line, king
Charles, and my face was justnumb, my mouth was numb and I'm
like what am I going to say?
Like I just I'd been rehearsingthis elevator pitch on the
plane and on the way there and Iwas, you know, trying to
rehearse it with my friend Ali,because I'm really bad at
(08:47):
talking about what I do.
I'm just like, oh, I'm ateacher, like you know, I still
just, I still just identify asjust a teacher.
I'm not saying just a teacher,but you know, that is my
identity.
My identity is a teacher.
So I couldn't just say to KingCharles like, oh yeah, I'm a
teacher and that's why I'm herein front of you being introduced
.
So I practiced this, like youknow, elevator pitch, and that's
all I had in my brain.
Everything else was pushed out.
(09:09):
So I wasn't expecting anythingelse but that.
I was expecting, like, a politenod, a handshake.
But cue the internal panic whenhe said to me oh very good, do
you think that what you're doingis innovative?
Is it working?
And honestly, I just went hot,like my face was hot.
I'm like, what am I going tosay?
Because what I do isn'tinnovative, it's not shiny, it's
(09:33):
not new, it's just actionableand real and the stuff that we
should already be taught.
So this is what I said to himand I've just been, as you can
tell, I've just been talkingabout this off the top of my
head, but I have written downwhat I said to him and I typed
it in my phone after, cause Ireally wanted to remember it.
I said well, I help teachersfocus on what they can actually
(09:56):
do in the room so they can teachall of their students, even the
ones who are more vulnerableand need the most support with
their behaviors.
That was what I said to him.
I didn't say it was innovative.
I didn't try to like say that Ihad this like new fandangled
behavior approach, because Idon't.
I don't have buzzwords, I don'thave bells and whistles, just I
(10:19):
teach the actionable stuff andthat is it.
And then I was reflecting onthat sense and I'm like that is
innovation, like I feel likethat is the innovative, the real
, like the, the stuff that isgoing to work.
It's not some whiz bang tech,it's not being able to.
Of course, you can leveragetools.
I'm not saying that.
I'm not saying I'm going to bestuck in the dark ages, but it
(10:43):
isn't some new tech that yourleadership has bought in.
It's not some brand neweducational theory that you need
to get your head around yetagain.
It's not a new structure of thecurriculum.
It's just us in the room ashuman beings working with other
(11:03):
humans, controlling what we cancontrol, and doing so with
connection and compassion andlike immense confidence and
credibility, and I really neverthought in my wildest dreams
that it would be radical as aconcept to just do the things
that are actionable and workingin the classroom.
And I guess that justreinforces my message and why
(11:24):
what I do is so powerful.
Because when I run trainingsessions and when I do work with
teachers, I'm not doinganything necessarily that they
have never heard of, like Ithink that every teacher here
listening understands thatdifferentiation is important
with classroom management.
I think you understand thatroutines are important with
classroom management.
(11:45):
I think you would, you know,grasp the idea that the way
we're showing up non-verballyyou've heard of regulation,
you've heard of all the thingsthat people talk about in the
classroom that work, but whatdoes that actually look like?
How do we execute that?
How do we execute it so wellthat it is reducing and
mitigating so many low-levelbehaviors that we're
experiencing in our classrooms?
(12:06):
How are we doing these thingsand how are we showing up in the
classroom and what are we doingthat we can control and that
right there, like and just beingable to support you with that
stuff, that is to me innovativebecause it's just not being done
and that should be the donething.
You know, simple tweaks to oureveryday practice.
(12:27):
So I never thought it'd beradical to get you know or get
real attention for making thatlink between behavior change and
classroom management and well,just simple tweaks to our
everyday teaching practice.
But here we are, hello 2025.
So that moment, I wanted to talkyou through that moment because
and, by the way, he just said,ah, very good, and then moved on
(12:48):
I think that he must have readmy bio and he must have also had
something prepared as aquestion in his mind to respond
to.
By the way, I didn't know whatto expect.
I'm not necessarily a huge,huge, huge royalist.
However, I wasn't sure what toexpect.
Meeting King Charles, he wasincredibly warm and he was
(13:13):
really interested in what wewere doing like really
interested, and he just seemedgenuinely engaged in the work
that I was doing.
So that was.
It was really really nice.
So I just wanted to say that,not that I'm a massive royalist,
but it was.
It was really nice to hear that.
Anyway, so that moment, rightthere, I wanted to talk you
through it because that is foryou and every other teacher or
(13:37):
every other leader who has eversat in a professional
development session based onsome new fang dangled approach,
thinking, what do I actually do,though?
Like, what do I do when I'msitting in a classroom and I
have 30 kids chatting away andI'm trying to teach, or leaders,
like, but tell me how do Isupport my staff?
Like, how do I create cultureshifts?
How do I you know, how do I doall of these things?
(14:04):
Like, what is the action?
Tell me what to do.
And I don't necessarily believethat I'm going to be able to
give you exacts like thisbehavior happens and this
happens.
No, like that's not how itworks.
I mean just equipping you withtangible, practical things that
you are already embedding inyour classroom approach, in your
teaching, in your learning.
That is already doing the workfor you.
(14:26):
So it's filtering out some ofthose little behaviors and then,
when it gets to responding tobehavior, you have the skills to
do that as well.
And then, when it comes tofollowing up on behavior, you
know how to do that as well.
It's never going to be perfect.
It's never going to be likehere's the magic button for
every single behavior, but whatcan you actually control?
What can you actually do?
That is the work that I do withyou and that is the work that
(14:47):
is getting attention, notbecause they understand that
it's not necessarily innovative,because it's working and
because it's getting attention.
So this is for you, doing thework every day that matters.
You know you're beingintentional, you're making
values, led shifts or you'retrying your best to do so, and
if you can't, you're seekingsupport and you're making
(15:09):
changes.
That is radical as fuck.
I'm telling you.
That is radical, that isinnovative.
That is you showing up in a waythat a lot of teachers don't
know how to because they haven'tbeen supported to that right.
There is a stuff that changeslives and I had a laugh because
I did a post on this and I saidlike that does change lives, and
I said like your entry routineis literally changing lives.
(15:32):
Your transitions are changinglives.
Your agenda slide is changinglives because the consistency
and the clarity there issupporting a young person to
engage in your lesson that mighthave not otherwise engaged
because of their anxiety aroundyou know English because it's
always been something they'vestruggled with you really are
changing lives by showing up inthe classroom and doing certain
(15:54):
things.
You don't have to be a martyr,you don't have to go and take it
on and I know you do, and Iknow it's easy to do that and to
take things home with you butthe things that are changing the
lives of students are youhaving excellent teaching
practice and controlling whatyou can control.
It's not you being a savior,it's not you being a martyr, but
you are changing lives and I'mhere to tell you that, and it's
(16:16):
just the things that you'redoing in the everyday.
So I really hope that you gotto this point and didn't tune
out seven minutes in when I wasstill bang on about waiting for
the game.
I hope that you did get.
I mean, you're listening now,aren't you?
So you did make it to the end,so good work.
(16:43):
Feel free to pop into Instagramor something and have a chat
with me about if you have anyquestions, I am always open to.
Yeah, to having a chit chat,and podcasting does sometimes
feel like a one-sided convo, soplease come and have a chat.
If you've ever been to one ofthe garden parties, it's really
random how many people have likekind of popped on and go.
Oh yeah, like 10 years ago, youknow because I was working for
this place yeah, or if you justwant to make any comments about
that, or drag me through the mudfor going to Buckingham Palace,
that's fine.
You do what you need to do.
Okay, lovely teacher, I'm goingto leave it there and get on to
(17:07):
recording the podcast episode,which I'm very excited about,
and I will see you there.
Bye for now.
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