1:1 iPads - Week 1, the story so far

So last week I wrote my first blog post around my expectations for introducing 1:1 iPads into my classroom. I was very excited and if the first week was anything to go by, I was right to be excited. 

We spent the first morning, getting the children used to the work flow of the iPads; screenshots, email accounts, edmodo, google docs and much more. 

My first surprise cam when some children who had only used Samsung Galaxy Tabs at home become a little stuck using the iOs software.  One thing to note for the future, check what experience of hardware the children have at home.

Our wi-fi seems to be holding up to the task, although we are only on 14mb download from Cheshire, so we may need to invest in BT fibre Optic in the very near future - not a huge issue though, all the apps we needed were already downloaded.

Teaching the children to use Evernote was a good experience as they had never experienced that sort of organisation before. They have been using it to take photographs and store notes on maths problems and to write they first blog post about the iPads - more about that later.

Our first Multi-App project

On the first day I wanted to show the children how they can combine lots of apps to produce a final piece of work. The image is from Visual Poet, the photographs are from SnapSeed and the language generated was mind mapped using Poppet.  A really interesting afternoon.

The children loved taking the images and using various filters and the using the photographs to inspire the writing about 'A Windy Day.'  A simple, but very effective project using multi-apps and demonstrating the power of the iPad


Book Creator: Jackson Pollock

We visited The Tate Gallery in Liverpool before half term and studied various painting and sculptures, but the one that they remembered the most about was Summertime 9A by Jackson Pollock. 

I asked the children to use their notes, sketches and feelings that they had collected in their sketchbooks on their visit to produce an iBook using Book Creator.

This has to be one of my favourite apps on the iPad and also inspired by this post from ADE Ian Wilson - The Importance of The Blank Canvas

We started by researching the paintings, his life and even create our own impressions using a free art app called Draw. The children combined all their findings into one book and then published them onto Edmodo for others to download and share. 

What was interesting, was that some children chose to use Pic Collage instead of Book Creator. I was very pleased some children chose to do this as this was one of the reasons I started this research project - I want children to have a choice.

This choice leads to unique pieces of work and more excitement in the classroom. Children are expressing themselves in a way that they want to. Some even used Visual Poet to write a poem about their thoughts and feelings towards the painting.

A big step forward for the children. 

Screencasting

At the end of last term I wrote about the children using Vittle to create short mathematic calculation videos for assessment purposes. I was amazed when I say a few children creating these videos during a maths session this week to help others in the classroom - how powerful is that!  

The children were actually modelling their work and then able to pause and rewind the method to help themselves. Even better, they now have that video forever! When we come back to investigating fractions they will have that video from that lesson.

During that session some children found an interactive fraction wall to help them when finding out which fraction was bigger (e.g. which is bigger 4/7 or 8/10?)  This is the website they used - Fraction Wall

The Children's Reflection

At the end of the week I asked the children to reflect on their first week by posting on a short paragraph and screen shots of their work. I want the children to do this each to help document the impact of the project over the next few months. I'm thinking this will be a huge piece of evidence.

Next week, I want to see how the children use the iPads when they are not instructed to do so.  Some children have been using the 'define' button when reading to help them understand a piece of text and some have been using the online dictionaries and thesaurus to improve their writing.

I'll write some more reflections next week.

Both my books are on sale on Amazon Kindle, Google Books and Kobo for digital download. 

Amazon - Pause, Rewind My Teacher: A Flipped Approach to Learning

Amazon - Technology is a tool to be used not an outcome

The books detail all my work to date around flipped classrooms primary schools.  

1:1 iPad - So the story begins...

So, they've arrived. I'm excited, the kids can hardly contain themselves and we're kicking off our 1:1 iPad adventure this week at school.  I've been planning and waiting for this for so long and now the time is ready - we're ready to go.  The children will be getting an iPad Mini, each with a host of creative apps and exciting opportunities.  

The children will be working with me on Tuesday to start putting in ground rules about using the device, but ultimately we're going to be learning as we go.

There are plenty of example schools using 1:1 iPads, ChromeBooks etc, but I want this to be suited to our school - it really needs to be personalised.  What we want out of them will differ greatly from what other schools want out of them.  There won't be a right or wrong way to do this and the outcome will greatly influence how we proceed with the rest of school.

My classroom with be the research for this project for the next term and a half. We will then work out how the iPad use will be transferred into the next class. I'm confident that the children will be making the most use out of the iPads in my Year 4 class and we'll need to ensure they keep that level of use in Year 5 and beyond. How will they cope at high school, if they don't have a 1:1 iPad scheme?

I have every confidence that the children will continue to use the technology themselves, but it'll be interesting to see how the adults in the classroom adapt their style of teaching and if the reluctant children, who would not choose to use an iPad, adapt.  

Should they need adapt?  I always find it interesting to talk about pedagogy when thinking about embedding technology into classrooms. It's only a tool for learning after all.

The iPadagogy Wheel is something I've tweeted about many times and something that will drive my approach to using this new technology in my classroom.

I'll be using Edmodo as a hub for sharing and storing information, pages, keynote, iMovie, GarageBand and a host of other creative apps to produce some quality outcomes.

I really want the children's app input into the whole project. Apps they already use at home, apps they would like to try and really progress from there.

I'll be blogging about the whole process and learning from mistake after mistake and sharing successes with shorter blog posts.

So, stay tuned and wish us all luck!

What have I been up to and what's next for me?

Both my books are on sale on Amazon Kindle, Google Books and Kobo for digital download. 

Amazon - Pause, Rewind My Teacher: A Flipped Approach to Learning

Amazon - Technology is a tool to be used not an outcome

The books detail all my work to date around flipped classrooms primary schools.  

My article has been published in this months issue of Teach Primary I've written about flipping Art and English lessons in Primary Schools.  I'm also writing another article for Teach Primary about using Edmodo in your classroom.

I've also just finished writing an article for Tech and Learning UK - a new education magazine for schools. I've written about the introduction of Computer Science in the new curriculum and how it has begun to impact on Primary schools.

I presented at The BETT show 2015.  I presented Pause, Rewind My Teacher: Primary Flipped Learning. 
Download it - here

I've also been invited to present at The Digital Education Show in London on Tuesday 30th June alongside some great names like Sir Ken Robinson, Sugata Mitra and many others - Find out more.

I'm also presenting at OSPedagogy in Manchester on Friday 13th March. You can find out more about this - http://ospedagogy.co.uk/cloud-pedagogy/

Keep following on Twitter @chriswaterworth

Children Creating Maths Calculation Video Guides

It's the last week of term and we're in the middle of Christmas fun and frolics, but I've been using the time in-between rehearsals to allow the children to start to build their very own calculation library.

We've been using video as part of our flipped classroom but I've always produced the videos for the children. I'll certainly keep doing this as I've found it incredibly useful as it allows children to find their next steps and to know which challenge they are attempting each day.

The children have been using Edmodo recently to save and collect work and information and then store it in their online 'backpack,' Edmodo's version of the cloud.

They have found this incredibly useful as they are not losing documents and can post work simply from their backpack without searching for it.  It also allows you to link your Google Drive account, which I have found incredibly useful. Easily share work from my library/backpack with the children.

So why ask the children to start creating their own videos and how did we do it? 

I asked the children if they could prove to me that they could use the four written methods of calculation for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  Their response was - it's in our books. True, but I wonder if they can verbalise their calculations and show a real understanding, using the correct mathematical language?  

Through discussion we also decided that it could be useful to create a video when we got stuck. Basically, "this is the bit where I got stuck, help me!"  I liked that idea and set the children to work.

I use Vittle FREE A LOT when creating my short maths video guides. I find limiting my explanations to a minute enables me to get to the point. Its simplicity also stops me from spending ages 'beautifying' the presentation.

I simply speak alongside my screen drawings and then upload them to Edmodo to share with the children.  There is plenty of information on my past posts about how we use videos to help us learn.

How do you create the video in one go? You make it look so easy! This was a common comment during the sessions - they're right, I have mastered the skill.  

This got me thinking during the session - this could be a great assessment tool as well! Can the children subtract competently using a written method? Their explanation would tell me - I've only watched a handful so far, but from what I've seen has been priceless.  I am watching 30 children calculating in real time, I'm not waiting to mark an end product and then trying to work out where they've gone wrong.  I can actually see and hear them!

In the future I can see children beginning to use this to build up a portfolio of evidence to support assessment without levels. Pictures of writing with annotations analysing what was good using explain everything; mathematical videos modelling understanding of a skill and a collection of videos and pictures created by me and other children in the class or school.

Further through the day and a rehearsal or two later and the children were still going. Video after video was being uploaded and shared. Some chose to post their videos on their timelines and ask for feedback - instant peer assessment.  Some shared via AirServer and we looked at them together.

So what next?

Today's session was more about getting to grips with the technology and seeing how we could use it in the New Year.  I want to start allowing the children to create their own EduCanon videos and share them online for others to try.

What have I been up to and what's next for me?

Both my books are on sale on Amazon Kindle, Google Books and Kobo for digital download. 

Amazon - Pause, Rewind My Teacher: A Flipped Approach to Learning

Amazon - Technology is a tool to be used not an outcome

The books detail all my work to date around flipped classrooms primary schools.  

My article has been published in this months issue of Teach Primary I've written about flipping Art and English lessons in Primary Schools.  I'm also writing another article for Teach Primary about using Edmodo in your classroom.

I've also just finished writing an article for Tech and Learning UK - a new education magazine for schools. I've written about the introduction of Computer Science in the new curriculum and how it has begun to impact on Primary schools.

I've been invited to present at The BETT show 2015.  I'll be presenting Pause, Rewind My Teacher: Primary Flipped Learning at 10.00-10:45 on Saturday 24th January - see you all there!

I've also been invited to present at The Digital Education Show in London on Tuesday 30th June alongside some great names like Sir Ken Robinson, Sugata Mitra and many others - Find out more.

I'm also presenting at OSPedagogy in Manchester on Friday 13th March. You can find out more about this - http://ospedagogy.co.uk/cloud-pedagogy/

Keep following on Twitter @chriswaterworth

EduCanon: The Flipped Classroom

Last Sunday I discovered EduCanon and and was instantly hooked on the possibilities it could hold for my flipped classroom.  I immediately created my first video and instantly saw how this could further improve my flipped classroom at school - https://www.educanon.com/ 

Excited yet? You will be in a minute!

Educanon allows you to seamlessly add interactive questions into any video from a vast range of sources, from YouTube, to Vimeo, to well anywhere!

Not only does it allow you to do this, but it allows you find out how the children have got on with the questions you've asked them. I gives you a graphical overview for every question and every child.

The ability to do this helped me achieve something I hadn't completely got my head around -  Finding out who had and who hadn't watched the video.  One of the problems with the flipped classroom is knowing who has and hasn't watched the videos before coming to school.  I've tried hidden words in videos, mini quizzes when the children arrived in school and them just being honest - to be honest all of them were honest if they didn't. 

I now know with a few clicks of a button who has and hasn't accessed the videos they needed to watch. 

Last week I blogged about how the children had been using Edmodo Quizzes to help them find their next steps in learning.  Read here

I've some great success with this, but the quizzes were not linked directly to the videos I was posting for the children.  They had to go looking for them.

This isn't a huge problem, but what I love about EduCanon is that the questions and embedded into the videos and are interactive. They have to give an answer to move on to the next part of the video. 

There are a range of questions you can use with the children, including multiplie choice and my personal favourite a 'thinking moment.'  

The image shows one of the videos from this week and how I've embedded the different types of questions into it. Watch it - here

Setting up the videos or bulbs doesn't take very long at all. Find the link, paste it in and start adding questions by hitting the pause button - you can even record your voice to help the children who struggle with reading the questions.

You then assign the bulbs (videos) to your class and set a date for them to watched by. The children are then presented with this screen when they log in.

The children get a green star when they've completed a bulb and they can even watch the videos again.

The children used this option during lessons to help themselves when they were struggling with a concept.  

Integrating with Edmodo

Now, the biggest selling point for me was when I discovered that the children didn't need to sign up, didn't need to remember new passwords or new websites - it links to Edmodo. I yelped in excitement when I saw all my class appear seamlessly on EduCanon via the Apps feature on Edmodo.  The children were instantly members!

We'd never used the Apps feature before, so I created a short screencasting video for the class instructing them on how to access their videos - watch it - here

So the children log into Edmodo, navigate to the EduCanon App and they are then presented with their interactive videos for the week.  

It gives the children a score at the end, but that remains private and only for the teacher and the child's knowledge.  This approach is important as we don't want a competitive nature to build in our classrooms.  

There are two reasons for using this method:

1. The Flipped Classroom: Children viewing content prior to the lesson so they can begin to apply skills back in the classroom.

2. The children can find their own next steps and know which challenge they need to try before they come to school

Reflective Time

Here is an example of a thinking time or reflective pause. We use these in the classroom, so why not when we are using a video.

I've often written about Pause, Rewind my Teacher, (in fact I wrote a book about it) and this really does enable the children to pause and think with an input from the class teacher.

I have only been using this for a couple of weeks, but the children seem very engaged with it and I've had some really positive responses from the parents in my class.  I'll be reporting back over the next few weeks about how my class have been using it and some of the mistakes and success I've had.

I'm excited, are you? 

Keep following on Twitter @chriswaterworth 

The Flipped Classroom: Finding their OWN next steps

It's been a while since I have blogged about my flipped classroom so I thought it was time for an update.  Following my class into Year 4 has been a real blessing as I've been able to continue their flipped learning journey and been able to build on all the work we'd done last year.

Assessing and Learning without Levels

Since September every school in the country has been getting to grips with 'life after levels,' it really has been an interesting journey and one that a of schools will still be trying to get right for a while yet.  

One thing that removing levels has meant is that teachers and children need to be able to talk about what a child really needs to do rather than hiding behind a letter and a number. I really like this change; talking about children's achievements and where they need to go next with their learning.  Giving children the power to find their own next steps is really a powerful one and one thing I've been trying to encourage in my flipped classroom.

The Flipped Classroom: Finding their OWN next steps

Flipping Blooms Taxonomy

I've been using Edmodo in my classroom since Easter time to share the videos, links, photographs for my flipped classroom.   

The children log on at home, view the content, have a go and then bring their misconceptions and learning to school ready to apply the skills.

This has proved very successful and the children enjoy using the content within the lesson independently as well. You can read more about this here -  Edmodo 

The children have become very good at identifying their next steps, especially when having the video in front of them.  The children use the video to pause it at the point that they are stuck and either ask for help or re-watch that part again.  Using this method the children are independently finding solutions to the problems they are having; teacher to pupil ratio in my class has increased.

I've started to experiment with Edmodo Quizzes over the last few weeks with some success. 

Whilst some children were good at finding their next steps simply by watching the videos some struggled to articulate their thoughts and ideas.  I decided to use Edmodo Quizzes so the children have a clear idea of what they do and don't yet know how to do.  I can view the questions they got wrong and also their answers.

The image shows 5 questions I set about our weeks learning around measuring angles. Whilst the videos were based around actually measuring angles, I took the opportunity to see how many essential facts the children had retained since the last time we had covered angles in Year 3.

Here are the questions I used for the week and you can see the results in the image above.

I asked the children to go home, watch the videos over the weekend and then take the short quiz. It's a point and click multi-choice quiz, so it didn't take very long for them to complete.  You can choose to put a blank in a sentence, but I opted not to do that as the application will mark something wrong for incorrect spelling or writing 220 cm instead of 220cm (the space makes it incorrect).

I asked the children NOT to share their results as it was for them, nobody else.  I always use this growth mindset approach in my classroom around any test as the children need to understand that it will help them know what they need to learn next, not get fixated on the number. Ignore it, don't worry about it, focus on your next steps.

I shared the whole class results with the children because I wanted them to realise that there were things they needed to learn.  It helped me with planning as well, knowing what they struggled with even after watching the videos.  I know these questions were very closed and fact based, but the facts are part of having a good understanding of a topic.  Knowing the properties of an acute angle can help children spot when they've used the wrong measure on the protractor - how can 128 degrees be an acute angle? 

At the end of the week I will post the same quiz again for the children to complete on Friday before the new videos come online on Saturday morning.  The children can then see the progress they've made during the week and I can see if the results are improving.  

Challenge Videos on Edmodo

One other advantage of using these quizzes is that it enables me to see who has and who hasn't watched the videos ready for the weeks learning.  This week I did have a handful of children not watch the videos, which did worry me as it is such an important part of my classroom now that I needed to find time for them to watch - they did it at the start of the lesson.

They needed to do this as they needed to select the challenge based on these videos.  I'm hoping that by introducing these quizzes it will help me identify children who haven't watched, but also to help the children who struggle to identify their next steps.  

It's early days using this approach, but I certainly will be reporting back at the end of the term to share my findings.  I've had some good reports from the children and they've enjoyed the quizzes.  They've also been sharing their findings in the classroom to help each other with any concepts they've got wrong.

What have I been up to and what's next for me?


Both my books are on sale on Amazon Kindle, Google Books and Kobo for digital download. 

Amazon - Pause, Rewind My Teacher: A Flipped Approach to Learning

Amazon - Technology is a tool to be used not an outcome

The books detail all my work to date around flipped classrooms primary schools.  

I'm really proud that article I wrote on my Flipped Classroom has been published and is now available from The Teaching Times Website - here

I've submitted my article for Teach Primary and it'll be available in shops in November so look out for it on your staff room tables.  I've written about flipping Art and English lessons in Primary Schools.

I'm also hosting training sessions in December and March for Subject Support. You can find out more here

I've been invited to present at The BETT show 2015.  I'll be presenting Pause, Rewind My Teacher: Primary Flipped Learning at 10.00-10:45 on Saturday 24th January - see you all there!

I've also been invited to present at The Digital Education Show in London on Tuesday 30th June alongside some great names like Sir Ken Robinson, Sugata Mitra and many others - Find out more.

Keep following on Twitter @chriswaterworth

Giving Technology a Reason

Since the beginning of the school year I've been continuing my adventure with an amazing class of technological enthused children - they've taught me so much.  It has been a blessing having the same children again this year as it has meant I can build an everything I did last year.

I've been striving to make sure that the children have real connected purposes for learning in our classroom again this year.  Linking as many skills from as many subjects in one project is so very important.  I feel this is essential for learning in every classroom, whether in Primary or Secondary schools.  

Children need to see the point of learning these skills - "what are people using these skills for right now in the world and what can I use them for?"

Thinking more about the outcome and then working backwards to find the skills needed is something we need to do more in our schools.  Don't runin the surprise for the children, allow it to be a a surprise.

Don't start with a learning objective, start with a question and see where is leads.  

So what have we done so far?

I started the year with the children getting enthusiastic on Edmodo and starting to suggest ways in which we could use Minecraft in school - read about it here. Well the child who suggested the Science investigation has completed his findings and has been sharing his learning on Edmodo for the class to see.

It was great watching him carry out his investigation in class as he'd planned it and was so very excited to do it.  It was pleasing to see how he'd thought it through and planned to use his findings to help him in the game.

We predicted that the diamond sword was going to be the quickest, but I asked him for evidence and he provided it by following a scientific investigation.  

He used the techniques we'd learned in school to plan and carry out his investigation. A true test of application of skills.  To add to this he even published his results using a bar graph - a good use of his maths skills.  If you're interested or you have any 7 year olds who are, here are his results:

I've no idea why he chose 28 cobblestone blocks, but crucially he kept it fair.  

Added to this, he was using a stopwatch on his iPad to time the experiment to two decimal places, "just in case it's really close."

He is planning other experiments as we speak!

Using Minecraft allowed him to carry out a real life investigation using the skills he'd learned to solve a problem that he was interested in. He wanted to find out once and for all which was the best pickaxe.  We now have the scientific proof that a diamond pickaxe is better at mining cobblestone in Minecraft.

Area and Perimeter: Using Minecraft

We started to investigate Area and Perimeter in mathematics this week, built on the idea that architects need to use this information to build our houses and schools. 

The children wanted to know how buildings were constructed and how their homes had been designed.  What did those designs look like?

Building on from this question, we started to think about why are kitchens are one size, but bedrooms and gardens are another size.  Using Minecraft and the idea that a bed takes two blocks, we could start planning room sizes in creative mode.

We used the blocks to calculate the area of the rooms we built by counting the blocks, a simple but effective way to calculate the area of a shape.  We then quickly made the leap into making our calculating more efficient by thinking about how arrays worked and how we could multiply the length by the width to find the area.  

We moved onto splitting irregular shapes into two or three shapes and used different coloured block to calculate.

The children then took this 'playing' into their maths books and demonstrated a clear understanding of how to find the area of regular and irregular shapes following a formula they'd discovered.

Makey Makey, Circuit World and Building Traction Cities.

Looking at the buildings we live in we wondered how the electricity moved around our homes and schools. Investigations into circuits and switches was needed. We started by researching circuits. Using our flipped learning model I posted a link on Edmodo and the children used the website to learn. They brought their thoughts and ideas to school and we started to discuss what we could use this learning for.

We had already planned to design and build Traction Cities from the book Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve.  Why couldn't they move?  Well, actually why couldn't we make them move?

The children could not be more excited! They had a reason to learn.  We began using an online circuit design application to try and test our circuits. This proved to be a master stroke, as any primary teacher knows that the electricity box form the cupboard only contains dead batteries, stripped wires and rattling bulbs.

Have a look at it here - Circuit World  It really could be used by children in the early years, thanks to the friendly symbols.  

The children started to design their own circuits for their traction city motor and tested them using the website.  We then took those working circuits and built them using wires, wheels and motors.

We have almost finished building our models and we will then work out how to attach the models to them.  This process has been a great learning opportunity as the children have failed at so many points and had to adapt their ideas and designs.

By flipping my classroom I was able to spend more time applying the knowledge the children acquired  outside the classroom. Without this model we would have needed to spend more time researching the knowledge behind these circuits and spent less time designing, building, failing and adapting.

On top of this I had one child who worked at home and produced their own video based on the idea of conductors and insulators.  They even made a digital clock work using a lemon and some zinc.  How inspiring is that!

Makey Makey: Circuits to control computers.

We've not done massive amounts with Makey Makey yet, but we've had a play whilst we were investigating circuits.  The children have built a Pear Piano and used pencil and paper to control the games they've been designing using Scratch.

We plan on developing this more after half term by using it to control the games they've been designing - read about those games Making Coding Relevant 

They are wondering if they can design a control system using their feet, basically jumping on pieces of tinfoil as it conducts electricity - good links with the circuit work we've done. 

I really like Makey Makey, it's again another piece of kit that encourages children to design, fail, and improve their thoughts and ideas.  It'll be something I will be investing lots of time in over the next school year.


What's next for the digital natives?

After half term the children will be researching a city of their choice (flipped model at home) and then writing travel guides to them in class.  We'll then use those guides to publish a travel guide app on the app store and google play, so the whole world can use them.  I wonder how many downloads we could get? I wonder if we can advertise it anywhere to boost downloads?  

The children have a purpose to do this, it's a real life task. People are doing this right now across the world. Why can't these children learn this process now?  So look out for the Travel Guide in the app store before Christmas.

What have I been up to and what's next for me?

I'm really proud that article I wrote on my Flipped Classroom has been published and is now available from The Teaching Times Website - here

I've submitted my article for Teach Primary and it'll be available in shops in November so look out for it on your staff room tables.  I've written about flipping Art and English lessons in Primary Schools.

I'm also hosting training sessions in December and March for Subject Support. You can find out more here

I've been invited to present at The BETT show 2015.  I'll be presenting Pause, Rewind My Teacher: Primary Flipped Learning at 10.00-10:45 on Saturday 24th January - see you all there!

I've also been invited to present at The Digital Education Show in London on Tuesday 30th June alongside some great names like Sir Ken Robinson, Sugata Mitra and many others - Find out more.


Keep following on Twitter @chriswaterworth