Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
The format of this podcast differs a bit from the usual one in that I am joined by my colleague in Marino Institute of Education, Dr. Gene Mehigan to discuss a book that influenced him on his journey as a teacher and teacher educator. The Book is The Master by Bryan MacMahon, published by Poolbeg Press in 1992. Among the topics we discuss are the following:
- How a book about teaching in Rural Ireland from the 1930s to the 1970s could speak to a teacher in a DEIS band 1 school in Darndale in the 1980s and 1990s.
- The consequences of poverty on children in schools.
- The “stain” of large classes (and their impact on children with language difficulties in particular).
- The importance of reading
- How Bryan MacMahon encouraged children to collect words (red notebook) and Gene Mehigan’s variation of it (jar on teacher’s desk).
- Stages in a reading lesson as outlined by Bryan MacMahon (who noted that they are not rigid and may need modern modification):
- Arousal of interest (day before)
- Introduction (before lesson begins to heighten interest in the text)
- Examination of matter expressed in the text (Comprehension)
- Examination of matter implied in the text (Comprehension)
- Write difficult words on blackboard (Tier 1, 2 and 3 words today)
- Teacher models reading
- Children read aloud or silently
- Isolate phrases for composition usage
- Informed organic chat (in style of everyday conversation)
- Dramatisation of the text (Reader’s theatre today)
- Committal to rote “not to be scorned on special occasions”
- Why a teacher needs to back down in a confrontational situation with a pupil
- Characteristics of a good teacher;
- Dedication
- Sense of humour
- Clear penetration in the timbre of the teacher’s speaking voice
- A love of learning
- Versatility of approach to a lesson
- A congenial monotony (that can be departed from)
- Occasional informal language
- Good blackboard use and being able to sketch
- Act in harmony with the traditions and culture of the school area
- Bringing the extraordinary into your teaching.
- The teacher’s job is to help each child find their special gift.
- Bryan MacMahon: “I realised that each child had a gift, and that the ‘leading out’ of that gift was the proper goal of teaching. To me a great teacher was simply a great person teaching.”
- Thoughts on a school library, access to books and encouraging children to read.
- Trying to entice children to read by tidying books. Buddy reading – to help beginning or reluctant readers but also helping older children consolidate their interest it reading. Helping a teacher narrow down who in a class might have dyslexia
- How Brian MacMahon practised an early version of “home-school liaison”
- Contemporary resonances – children from Germany fostered by local families during World War II.
- How Bryan MacMahon recruited children to look after other children who were vulnerable in some way
- Resonances with Johathan Haidt’s book The Coddling of the American Mind (preparing the child for the road and not the road for the child).
- How learning tables enthusiastically helped a pupil later excel as an emigrant
- “A school is nothing if it is not a place of laughter and song.”
- Sources of creativity in education
- The importance of a teacher being a philomath.
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