Programme 349, Wild Teaching with Paul O’Donnell (16-1-19)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme tune by David Vesey

On this week's programme I speak to Paul O'Donnell who is principal of St. Patrick's National School in Slane, Co. Meath. He is the author of Wild Teaching: Cross-curricular Lessons Outdoors for Agoraphobic Teachers which is published by Meath County Council. Among the topics we discussed are:

• How his upbringing fostered a love of the outdoors
• The influence of Paddy Madden on his work as a teacher
• How tempting it is to teach indoors all the time
• Having students gather resources for lessons
• Specific lessons in Wild Teaching
• Making the transition from teaching to being principal
• Challenges of principalship
• Eliciting voices of children in running the school
• Learning about life and death through keeping hens in school
• The school garden
• Minimising rubbish in the school
• Earning six green flags for the school