Interview with Tim Taylor on podcast

Enjoy this podcast from The Teachers’ Education Review Forum (an Australian podcast channel) in which Dan Haesler interviews Tim Taylor about Mantle of the Expert.

https://soundcloud.com/ter-podcast/ter-079-mantle-of-the-expert#t=26:25

Tim talks about:

• His first introduction to Mantle of the Expert through Luke Abbott and Dorothy Heathcote [26.51]
• What Mantle is and how it works [31.23]
• The ‘paradox’ of Mantle – real vs fictional expertise [33.00]
• Engaging all students in the fiction [35.00]
• Negotiating with students – asking permission & preparing for work in role [37.00]
• Importance of collaboration and dialogue [40.45]
• Possibilities for teacher in role – 1) as collaborator  2) as an ‘other’ from the fiction with a different point of view or status position 3) as helper [42.30]
• Impacts of Teacher in role on learning – power shifting, safe risk-taking, exploration, dialogue and collaboration [46.25]
• Using Mantle with different ages [51.30]
• An example of Mantle with older students – Titanic [54.33]
• Practical activities for Titanic context – creating artefacts, using drama conventions [58.55]
• How drama conventions work – setting limits & prompting philosophical discussion [1.03.29]
• How long should a Mantle be, and how is learning assessed? [1.05.50]
• How Mantle enhances learning dispositions – authentic purpose, student agency, enduring understandings and passion for learning [1.10.10]

After the interview, Dan continues with his own reflections on learning through Mantle of the Expert and suggests it’s the sense of emotional attachment that deepens memories and retention of content. He muses on the importance of narrative in sense-making and concludes with a personal anecdote of how using role and positioning strategies helped him engage an unwilling class in a novel study. Well worth a listen.