From the Pitch to the Classroom: Kit Brown's Playbook for High-Performance Teaching

0:04Hi there, welcome along to another episode of the High Performance Podcast Podcast.

0:30Why does he use it? What does it do for him? And why does he think teaching is such an amazing career? I'm delighted to welcome Kit to the High Performance Podcast. How are you, Kit? Good. Thank you, Jake. Thank you for having me on here. No worries. Right. First things first, how often do the kids want to talk about football rather than get on with their schoolwork? Every single day, every single lesson. And they know what they're doing as well. What tricks and tips would you give for parents who went, because I have the same, I'm in the middle of doing homework and Seb, my boy, will just go, Dad, who's on high performance next week?

1:02Or what's the next game you're doing on the football? Because, you know, I'm a football host as well. And I'm like, Seb, I know what you're doing, mate. You don't want to do your spellings. You're using distraction techniques. What's the trick for avoiding getting distracted in your class? Delay, delay, delay. I say, oh, that sounds incredible. I'd love to talk about that. Can we do it at break time, please? Not in the middle of my maths lesson. It's kind of nice, though, in some ways, isn't it? that football is that common thing that allows you to relate to the kids. And, you know, for people listening to this thinking, maybe teaching is something for me.

1:34Like, do you feel that you have to, you know, get on with kids to be a teacher? Or is it something that you can sort of learn and pick up in the classroom? And, you know, human beings are human beings regardless of age. Yeah, I generally think it's what you've just said. I think human beings, human beings, we all thrive off of relationships and, you know, interacting with each other. I think it's something you pick up in the classroom. I'm a firm believer that your relationship with the children in your class is at the core of everything we do as teachers. And I feel like if you've got respect for them, they know you've got respect for them.

2:06They'll give you their respect as well, which is where they'll thrive and blossom and you'll get the best out of them. So what do you love about being a teacher? For me, being a teacher, my favourite thing is the impact and the small wins and progress that you can see right in front of your eyes every single day. you know there's there's bigger wins in and the progress in the bigger picture across a whole year for for however long you have those those children in your class but for me it's those small wins every single day I think back to to some of my favorite moments being a teacher I remember quite a powerful one in my class in my very first year I had a child he said to me Mr Brown I just can't learn my times tables I'm not smart I can't do this I'm rubbish and I said okay come back to me tomorrow break time we'll spend five minutes learning them and then on friday when we do your timetable tests we'll see how you get on and even if you've got one more question right then that's a that's a win for me and he came in for those five minutes we we talked through them we learned some tips and tricks to for him to remember them and lo and behold we got to friday uh he got every single question right and his face when i read his name out to give him his certificate he was beaming and it was what he said he said mr brown see you were right i am smart and i can do it and it's moments like that it's those small wins that make teaching all worthwhile for me.

3:22Mate that story gives me goosebumps like partly because I'm a parent now of you know children and I see you know that I say things that I think's the right thing and suddenly I go oh no that was not the right thing to say I think it's such an art speaking to children sort of encouraging and pushing but at the same time making them feel like they're doing well and you know Professor Damien Hughes who I host the High Performance Podcast with you know he says that lots of studies have shown that if you walk into a room of three-year-olds and say, hey, everyone, who can sing? Every single hand goes up in the air, right?

3:53If you walk into a class of 12, 13, 14-year-olds and say, hi, everyone, who can sing? Maybe one or two hands go up in the air because at that age, they start to add on in their minds the word well, who can sing well? And we stop doing things purely for the love of it. And we avoid things that we struggle at. And I think the art of teaching, of course, is to bring the things out of young people that they're passionate about and they love and they're good at but it's also the thing that you've said there it's about reminding them that you can become good at loads of things and like you know you're an amazing person who can go on to achieve incredible things and I think that's the magic of being a teacher isn't it right that in 20 30 40 years time there's people walking around going oh Mr Brown he changed my life you know I say that about my teachers I say about mine absolutely that's that is the magic of teaching when do you think this happened for you then like obviously I'm imagining at 10 years old you would love to have been a pro footballer maybe even at 20 years old but when did you think right teaching is something that I'm going to pursue quite late if I'm honest um my mum works in a school so I've always been in and around education I've always loved education I've always you know really valued my education I always loved school but like say growing up I always wanted to be a professional footballer you know that was my dream that was my goal I played at quite a high level I played at Luton um academy right up to to 17 and it wasn't until I got released from there and you know injuries were going against me and everything was kind of just going the wrong way for me.

5:17I thought, okay, maybe I need to think about a different path. And I've always, always loved being in school, always loved education. And I always wanted to do something in my life where, you know, I wanted to help someone and have an impact on someone's life. And I had a conversation with my mum. She said, well, go back to school, get some grades behind you and then take it from there. And she kind of gently nudged me into the direction of whoever thought about being a teacher, I always volunteered when I went back to sixth form to listen to readers in our partner primary school and listen to some of the readers come in.

5:48And I always loved it and I always kind of felt like it was quite a natural thing to me to kind of work with younger children. So I thought about it and in all honesty, it was the best decision I ever made. You know, it was quite a hard thing to come to terms with that I wasn't going to be a professional footballer at that moment in time where I got so close. but you know I think it's cliche but when one door closes no one opens and it was the best door to open for my life. That's amazing and what did you learn in the football world that you apply into the world of teaching I mean I guess you know the ability to withstand knockbacks and setbacks is quite a big one for a young footballer and I think that we have to be so careful don't we about creating young people who have got an ability to deal with the negative news and the negative things that can happen in life.

6:34Got to be resilient. Yeah, I think, I think it's what you said with that word there, it's resilience. You know, it's one of the biggest things that I take from, from getting released, that resilience to, and I'm quite proud that I managed to turn that negative into a positive, if you like. And that's something that I built up all throughout playing football is that resilience, having setbacks. It's things that, you know, I see in my teaching career now, there's setbacks, things will go against you. But actually the positives of being a teacher and, and the things we do on a day-to-day They basically outweigh all of those negatives.

7:05So I think that resilience and being able to deal with those setbacks and those negatives is something that stayed with me. And why do you think so many teachers listen to the High Performance podcast? Well, I think it's that reason in that it's an honest podcast. It's an honest review of what being a teacher is like and the insight to why people do teach and the impact that it can have on people. And I think it's shedding a positive light on what many see as negative profession at the moment. and things that have kind of been magnetized towards our professions being negative. And you know what?

7:34I think that one of the things that people throw at teaching, which in a sort of negative light, they go, well, you know, I'm really creative. You know, I don't want to teach children based on a curriculum. I don't, you know, I want to do it my own way. And then I look at the things that you've done. I mean, setting up TikTok and getting like an incredible number of followers is amazing. And I think that's a really great way for you to sort of meet young people halfway. way. I think also the fact that you use all of your football knowledge and conversation and skills. I know that you've been rapping to students, you're dancing, you cut up your tie in front of them to teach them about fractions.

8:06I think there's a great bit of learning here about teaching is what you make it, right? Teaching isn't what you're told to make it. Absolutely. And I think even when you are following those curriculums and those schemes and things like that, where it doesn't seem like there's much flexibility, teaching is what you make it at the end of the day you know I always pride myself on being a creative teacher that kind of fun teacher if you like who brings learning to life and kind of makes memorable experiences for the children like cutting up my tie you know I think I kind of spun what would be a boring lesson to some of them into a memorable lesson to hopefully give them that experience that they can take forward so I think like you say I think teaching is what you make it you can put your spin on things even when it doesn't seem like there's much flexibility there really is so if you want to be creative then it's the perfect job really and where do you get your ideas from like let's do the tie cutting up right are you there getting dressed in the morning and you think you know what cutting this tie up and sharing that way of sort of doing maths is going to really work for my kids or is it like a spontaneous thing a lot of your ideas come in the classroom uh some of them come in the classroom weirdly enough that one did come when I was getting dressed in the morning I looked at my planning the night before and I knew I was doing fractions I put on a tie in the morning uh it was quite a nice tie actually and I remember speaking to my mum as I was walking out and I said how cool would it be if I cut my tie into quarters to to teach my class about fractions and she I remember she said well maybe don't wear that one because it's quite a nice one so I got one of my old ties one of my rubbish ones and I used that and but yeah I think a lot of it does come on the spot you know in the moment teaching um I take a lot of inspiration from all different places and walks of life you know teachers that I work with colleagues um that I used to work with people I went to university with films I've seen different loads of different things I remember watching a film um the other day and the teacher got on the got on the table and he was delivering the lesson up on the table to the children and then I was teaching a science lesson about you know how high the ball would bounce I just I incorporate loads of different things from every aspect of my life really to to make the teaching fun and memorable for the children I love it Kit the impact you're having is certainly going to go a long way um look we normally end each podcast with me saying, what's your one golden rule for living a high performance life?

10:20I would like to ask you really, what's your one golden message for people listening to this? And maybe they're looking for a change in their life, or maybe they're young, they're listening with their mum and dad, wondering what the future holds for them. Or maybe even, you know, they're in their sort of later years and they want a career change and they're thinking, oh, you know, those days are gone. I can't, I can't possibly become a teacher at this point. What would you say to people across the spectrum who are thinking that maybe just maybe teaching might hold something special for them it's not the easiest job in the world I'm not going to sugarcoat it but genuinely the impact that you will have on children's lives the difference you will make to children both on an academic level on a personal level on a social level outweigh everything and they're the things that will stay with you forever you know I think I've I've got a wall in my classroom of what was meant to be notices it's meant to be unnoticeable and it's filled up with notes from the children from a first class up till now and there's not one space on there and they're the things i'm going to read in in 20 30 years time and think you know what that's why i did it it's the most incredible career it allows me to be creative it allows me to to really make a difference and see that difference being made in front of my eyes and i know it's cliche but i couldn't imagine myself doing anything else stepping into this profession was the best thing that ever happened to me.

11:39So definitely consider it. I love that kit. Thank you so much. And, um, you know, I think that, you know, you can judge the impact you're having by the responses you get from the young people or the exam results they get or the improvement that you see in their work. It's impossible for you to judge the impact you're having because you won't feel it or know about it for a long time to come. But what an amazing thing to sit here having this conversation. And you know, as well as I do that in years to come, you know, many years to come, there'll be people who credit you with turning their life around.

12:07And I can't think of a more honorable way to, uh, to live your life and your living and impact people than that. So thank you so much, mate. Thank you so much, Jake. Good man. And if you really love what Kit had to say, and perhaps you're inspired to get into teaching, uh, then you can do exactly that because get into teaching or partnering with us on this special episode of high performance, because we also believe that it's an incredible career. And we hear every single day from teachers who are changing lives. And if you would like to do the same, then all you have to do is just search, get into teaching to find out more.