Classroom of The Future?

I was taking part in this weeks #BettChat and a question cropped up that got me thinking about something I was supposed to write months and months ago. So here we go - what would 'my' classroom of the future look like?

A space to let your curiosity run wild
Space in any classroom is always at a premium and it usually is in a building that was built on a traditional method of teaching - the Victorian model. Most of our schools are still organised with the children ordered, as Sir Ken Robinson puts is, by their manufacturing dates. Why do we do this?

Why do we group children by their ages? With the younger children in one area of the school and the older in another. They progress through primary school and never really interact with anyone outside their year group.  

Why can't children work with younger or older children on subjects or skills which they are equally skilled at.  We sometimes see this in sport with younger children playing in older groups, but rarely do we see it any other subjects 'within' school.

The walls and structure of our schools are preventing us from achieving this. I have seen over recent years schools beginning to tackle this with EYFS and Key Stage One, but I haven't come across a school completely integrating ALL age groups. Please tell me there is one so I can go and visit.

What does it look like right now?
At the minute we still see (particularly at high school) teacher at the front, sometimes behind a desk (I've never had a desk - just made me think then) talking to a class for twenty or more minutes and then having children set to work completing a task based on the knowledge or skills they've just been 'told' about.

Why do we still do this? I have blogged extensively about flipped learning and the impact this has had on my primary classroom and I know we can take this model further throughout the school.

Let's imagine for a moment that I was wasn't here to 'tell' children things, but to question their understanding more, probe for mastery of a skill and then push them further to do something with the skill. 

At the moment we haven't got the time in our schools to do this using the outdated model of teaching in the classrooms we have in our traditional schools.

So what would it look like?
The use of technology to drive this flipped model, in my opinion, is essential.  Too many times in schools we see technology introduced into schools and the teacher using the technology to benefit them, rather than the students.  Great for the teacher, but it may not suit that child.

Technology is becoming very personal, almost an extension of oneself.  Just watching how the children in my Year 4 class use their own iPads is fascinating.  They have their own ways of finding apps, their own positions of working with it; they have truly personalised their device.

Let's strip away the walls, open it up. Let's have learning areas for children to sit, lie, sprawl and collaborate in different learning areas.

And, essentially there are no classrooms as such. Children are free to work with older or younger children on problem solving activities and be as creative as possible.  Their own personal device being used to answer questions they may have. 

So what do teachers do?
A very valid question.  What do we do when that tiny device in their hands holds the knowledge of the entire human race. We no longer need to be fact knowing machines and feel like we should know everything.

Many times in my class, I'll say: "I don't know, let's find out." In fact, "just google it," is a phrase that is common place in schools and homes around the world now. Great, so that's knowledge ticked off.

Sugata Mitra, the professor of educational technology at Newcastle university talks about the ability of children to absorb information from computers with no guidance at all from adults.  Children can access knowledge easily with the most basic of technology, but they understand and articulate what they are absorbing. That's where we come in.

Relationships
Teachers will always be needed to help guide students on what to do with the information they are receiving. To inspire and be creative with the knowledge, to apply and refine the projects they are working on. But most importantly, we need to have a good learning relationship with the children in our care.  

In my experience this part of the classroom is the most important - the children need to trust you to allow them to take risks to learn.  We will always be needed to be there for the children in our schools and I'm sure that won't change for the next 100 years.

The look and feel of classrooms and schools need to change to allow a more flexible, creative approach to learning because our schools are still too rigid to allow this.  Knock down the walls! 

Embracing the Technology
Could we not create a school based around the Khan Academy approach? A whole curriculum of skills online, accessible whenever or wherever you might be.  Using a flipped model of learning, the children can access the information in a 24 hour online school.  The only reason a child needs to come to school is to learn what to do with those skills in the real world through blended or real life learning.

Imagine the children waking up and logging into their own 'personal learning tapestry' and then finding their next steps, "Ah, this is what I need to do today." They could then watch a short video before coming to school, or on the way to school. Then arrive at school, complete the work and then submit it online.   When a certain bank of skills have been mastered, a project is set to complete. This could help to prove that they fully understand the skill and how to apply it.  

Built into the tapestry is a list of online videos to help support the acquisition of the skills or a link to a live lecture somewhere in the world to learn from. Links to experts in the field they are studying - actual email address of universities that are researching that subject. Allowing children to ask questions like "How do we know what we are going to think next?" 

Teaching children how to collaborate in the real world as well as online will become a critical part of school life with children and teachers from all over the world contributing to one child's learning journey.  The use of apps like Edmodo and Showbie will become the hub for online collaboration throughout the school and social media enabling children to make connections with experts in a variety of fields across the world.

I currently have 1:1 iPads in my classroom and I've been trying hard to knock the novelty factor off them and reduce them down to what they really are - just another tool for learning. Recently I have seen this starting to happen. People have stopped talking about them being in my room, the children just get them out without asking, and they use them because they need to, not because they sparkle.

I want them to become invisible in my classroom, not for people to ask, "so what have you done on the iPads today?" Expecting that because they cost a lot of money I must be creating books, films and new apps on a daily basis.

Unplug the Children!

There will be time for physical education, recreation, and most importantly the social aspects of school life throughout the day. These children need to unplug from the world for time during the day.  The teaching of forest skills, gardening, cooking will all play a vital role in creating healthy children for the future.  

The use of technology has a role to play here as well.  Wearable technology will help children understand how their bodies work and how best to look after yourself. Reading the book 'Spark,' by Dr John J Ratey has really changed my thinking about fitness in schools and how it has an impact on the brain. 

Possibilites?
These are just ideas that have been flowing round in my head for a while now and some I hope to put into practise at some point in the future.  There are huge obstacles and problems with all the models offered above, but what remains central to all of this is the pedagogy must be sound for the children to learn.

Technology will be a part of our classrooms whether we like it or not and the quicker we find ways to fully understand how this will become seamless and almost unnoticeable in our classrooms will be when the learners begin to benefit from the technology, not the teacher.

Plenty to ponder, plenty still left to think about. Let's start with the learning environments and  break some walls down.

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'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.

Creating Book Trailers with iMovie

Since implementing our iPads in the classroom we have been busy experimenting with how they can help us create exciting and individualised content. The iPads have actually given us more time to work on things when we have a spare minute without running around looking for a spare MacBook or iPad.

So, one thing I've been wanting to do for quite a while is to create Book Trailers for a book we've been reading in class. We have been reading Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce and the children have loved every part of it. A truly wonderfully book that comes highly recommended and can be used to access so many parts of the curriculum.

I gave the children the task of creating a book trailer based around the story of Damian and the money he finds in his hermitage.  The book has been turned into a movie - you can watch the trailer - here We actually used the movie trailer to help us structure our book trailers.

The children were incredibly enthused about this project and it was a great way to end a superb terms work based around this great story.  

The iPads were dished out and the planning stage began. The children watched some of the book trailers from The World Book Day website to find out what makes a good one. - Watch some here 

This is something we tend to do with every piece of work we complete; look what is already out there and make a list of key features to help guide us when create our own unique work.

The children used the storyboard on iMovie to help them plan their trailer and when they had a clear plan of what they needed to film, off they went.

Now, here is where the 1:1 iPads come into their own. I could actually have an entire class doing this all at once! Something I've never been able to do before. 

I've created short films and trailers before with children, but the process becomes a long one with some children often left out at certain points in the creation process as we'd not got enough hardware.

It was great to see so many children activity involved in creating something on their own, but within a small group. They were using the whole school to film their trailers - outside and inside the classroom. Because the storyboard gave them the structure, they were able to know what shots they required instantly, without going back into the classroom for a hand written plan.  

What I loved was watching them edit on the go, watching back clips of films and then reshooting or clipping parts.  Another pleasing thing I observed was how they were sharing video clips via email to different members of the group to save time and to share good clips.

The children were also sharing their videos using Edmodo to get next steps from their whole class. I could see them building on other peoples work as well. "Oh I like that, let's do that!"  

The children have spent two days creating their book trailers and some are almost ready, but I really want them to make sure that the final trailer has a clear story running through it. Again, we've been using technology to create something that looks good, quickly and efficiently, but ultimately it must still engage the watcher.

This is something we must always remember when using technology, it all looks impressive, but if the final outcome doesn't work, then there was not much point in using it.

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'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.

1:1 iPads: So far, so good.

So it's been four weeks since thirty iPads arrived in my Year 4 classroom and our 1:1 iPad adventure began. It's be a great experience so far and one I'm looking forward to continuing over the coming weeks.

So what have we been up to since the last time I blogged? What things have gone wrong? What have we learned?

Social Media in the Classroom

First up, the ease of using social media in the classroom. Instant sharing of information with the class and the world.

We use Edmodo for this and it has gone from strength to strength since implementing the iPads. The children are sharing their learning, pictures and thoughts without asking and getting feedback from the whole class instantly.

I love the instantaneous workflow we're developing in the classroom and how it's impacting on their learning. The children don't need to wait for feedback from one person during peer assessment opportunities, they can get it from potentially thirty other people in their class - and they are!

We used our iPads to publicise out bake sale using our School Facebook account and Twitter account. The children were over the boon when the author of the book we're reading (Millions) Frank Cotterell Boyce retweeted our efforts. We've raised over £160 so far for Water Aid, with one week to go.

Blogging using Edmodo

I've tried blogging before with children for years and now it finally makes sense when they have their own device. The freedom to write when they want to has enabled the children to write their blogs on the go, whenever they have a spare minute.

I chose to use Edmodo as a start to blogging with my current class. It gives them an instant audience, something we all crave as bloggers - someone to actually read what you've written!

The children have started to write comments and feedback for each other and improve their blogs. I've asked them to write at least one a week to keep the interest up.

One interesting thing is watching the children typing on the iPads.  Most use their thumbs or single finger in portrait mode. Very few actually type like you traditionally would on a keyboard using the iPads landscape view.  Something to watch and think about? Touch typing lessons on the iPads? It's not as if they're slow at typing, far from it, but is it something to develop?

Cricket:  Finding my own next steps

During our cricket sessions we use our iPads to review our performances. I allow the children to film a modelled example of a shot I perform and then use it to compare to their own performances.

If they need to check a certain part of the shot, the children can then watch it back to see were they need to improve.  They also filmed each other and reviewed their shots during the lesson, each time referring back to the example I'd given them.

Here you can see one of the children have used Pic Collage to make a note of their next steps at the end of the week.  A great starting point for the next lesson - pick up from where they left off completely independently.  I really have seen the benefits of having 1:1 iPads for this as they have a record of their own performance. 

I plan to use it for assessment purposes to track progress throughout PE sessions. The children have also uploaded them to Edmodo to share with parents. 

iMovie: Creating Book Trailers

We've only started his project this week, so not really done a huge amount with it. The children will be creating their own book trailers based on Millions.

I'm hoping we will see the real power of the iPads here with children needing to combine film, audio, graphics and text to create one finished project.

I'll probably write a whole blog on this when the project is complete. I love the idea of book trailers being used with our online library system, Junior Librarian. 

Junior Linrarian has been a great addition, not only to school, but to our iPads as their app is superb. The children have direct access on their own devices to ebooks, our library and 1000s of suggested websites for research.

The children reflections:

Each week I am asking the children to blog about their experiences during the week. This is proving to be a masterstroke as it really is giving me an insight into their thinking.  The things I insist they write about are: What went well, what didn't and what next.  I do encourage them to post screenshots of things they have accomplished this week as it helps them remember projects they are working on.

These are a couple of examples of what they have written.

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'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.

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? 

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