Classroom of the Future...?

I'm currently thinking of the class I will have next year.

17 children aged from 9-10. Enthusiastic and motivated in the main. They'll be moving into my classroom which is big enough for 17 but only just.

So what can I do in the classroom to give me the spaces that I want for teaching? What kind of space do I want for teaching? Firstly I've started brainstorming features of my 'ideal' classroom space.

Here's my start:






Many of these things are obvious and would be included by any teacher in a wish list for a classroom space.

I searched this morning for the classroom furniture of the future online. Mostly i found desks that were square and individual but perhaps had some 'system' to incorporate a desktop or laptop computer. See below





Is this really the classroom of the future? To me it looks like the classroom of the past.

Now, the technology is not king, finally, the learning is king, and how we achieve that learning.

So many of these solutions claim to be 'the future' because they are obviously built around the computer on the desk. I can't see that it would be easy to form a working co-operative learning team around such desks or clear them away for challenge based learning activities, for example.

So what is it we really want? Flexibility, the ability to adapt and change the space depending on the task and the chance to use technology to achieve the learning we want.

I know that whatever my classroom looks like next year it will not be a perfect solution.

But it will be a start.

Come on... through the Wardrobe!

So my blog has been slightly neglected of late, I've been out of the country, out of the world in fact! We're currently immersed in what seemed like a great idea a couple of years ago - a stage production of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Clive Staples Lewis' classic childrens book has thrilled and fascinated generations of children since 1950 when it was first published. It tells the story of the discovery of the fantastic world of Narnia by four evacuee children in 1940.

For us it is a huge project. We are a small school of 100 children, about 60 of which are in the cast, and we've taken the town hall where we live for two nights, printing 700 tickets for each. The production kicks off next Thursday and Friday with dress rehearsals on Monday and Wednesday night.

So my head at the moment is full of fawns, dryads, dwarfs and talking lions, not so much different there then!

In the midst of all that we have two delegations of visitors to the school today and tomorrow, one from Greece and Turkey and one from the north of England. They're coming to see our 1:1 iPad deployment.

It strikes me that, like the many from all over the globe who have dropped in on us this crazy year, they're really coming through the wardrobe.

It looks like any other ordinary wardrobe door but the world we've found beyond is unlike anything we imagined. In this world, information is available in seconds to every child. Individual children can create amazing content on their own device, share and connect with staff and their world, and learn in glorious technicolour through thousands of apps for everything from learning letter formation to advanced science concepts.

It's a world from the slightly dreary, tired place the other side. A place so different from the one we imagined and still changing every day, as new software updates and fresh apps make iOS more and more of a serious platform for creative teaching and learning.

The only difference I suppose is that this is the real world.

'How to...'

I hope that the current move towards 1:1 technology in the classroom quickly becomes a reality for teachers across the UK and the world. I'm sure it's only a matter of time and when that day truly begins to dawn, some teachers will find themselves in a strange new world where children often know more about the technology than they do and they are faced with that 'jump' moment where they teeter on the brink of something they feel will overwhelm them and struggle to resist the temptation to say;

"iPad down children, pens and pencils out, you can play with the iPad when you are finished your work."

To try and stifle these dreaded words we are putting together a recipe book for such teachers, to help with these frightening first moments of discovery, to give them some tools they can adapt and use for some great learning and content creation. It's called 'Cooking with Apps', will be an ePub format and I've mentioned it before. As oart of the book I've put together some initial 'how to' videos for certain apps.

Here's a couple of examples:

Creating Mind-maps in iThoughtsHD

Adding images to mind-maps

Becoming an Author... The ePub Revolution

So here's a book you'll all want to buy.

'Cooking with Apps - an iPad Educators Guide' it's a fantastic, practical guide to the best apps for use in the classroom, written by the teachers who know. How do I know? Because I'm helping write it!

This book is a result of our project team at the recent ADE 2011 conference in London. We were all interested in the iPad in a 1:1 classroom environment, some of us already in that position and some moving swiftly in that direction in their schools. We wanted to help teachers who found themselves in a class where the kids all had the iPad and wondered,

"Ok, where do I start with this?"

On a side issue, it is clear to see the need for this kind of help. Just to roll out the devices is a first step only and we have seen to many examples of technology placed in the hands (and quickly cupboards) of teachers and schools who had no real idea of what to do with it and therefore found it fell way short of transformational.

Anyway, Our project group decided to share some apps, and ideas of how to use them in the classroom that would give teachers a good start, we sort of wanted to hold the door open for them until they reached the "Hold on, I've just had a great idea.." moment.

The best way to do this in a meaningful way: ePub!

In the desktop version of Pages, the Apple word processing package, we now have the option of exporting as an 'ePub'. This means our document is able to be exported as a beautifully formatted 'book' including navigation aids such as contents pages and chapter headings and, more impressively, video and audio selections.

Whilst I already knew about ePub and had already considered some of the effects it could have in school assessments and projects, I needed a project of my own to give me the impetus to get to know this new format.

It makes a huge difference to the children in our classes. One of the most important aspects of teaching language is the concept of audience. It is increasingly so as children enter a world where they will be asked to give talks and presentations in many situations and to different groups of people. ePub gives the chance for children to present their writing and video to an audience in a really fantastic way.

Now to get writing...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hammers and Chisels

Animation. The clue has to be in the name, something vibrant, moving, exciting and alive.

Surely these words describe what all modern day educators believe is best for a classroom. Gone are days of rows and rote learning facts.

I asked my daughter of 11 yesterday; 'So when was Queen Victoria made Queen?' she replied; 'Im not sure..' I said; 'Hey, you should know that!'
She looked over at me as though looking at a Victorian. 'Dad, I don't need to know that stuff, ever heard of Google?.. duh"

So we animate our lessons, teaching with graphics, colour, group tasks, essential questions, problem solving and enquiry learning strategies. The kids love it!

However, we as teachers are always looking for new tools for our trade and, for us in a 1:1 iPad environment, more and more we know what the materials are at the start of a lesson, the learning goals, essential questions and targets but we don't know what kind of a house the children are going to build!

And that is how it should be.

So many outcomes are valid, meaningful as ways of demonstrating learning that the whole world of education can become an animated and stimulating experience where children are given the chance to determine the outcome task for a piece of learning;

'I'll do a MoodBoard,'
'I'm doing a cartoon'
'I think I'm going to produce a document' and so on and so on...

This brave, new, exciting world needs new rules, new boundaries and new tools. One of these tools is in animation packages. They enable children to demonstrate learning in languages, social subjects, maths, sciences and almost every other area by creating animations that show what they've learned. Since the advent of iPad we've been searching for tools that do this job properly, and easily. Along came 'Toontastic', a fantastic little app that includes vital learning of the story arc and opens a world of possibilities to younger animators.
This week I chanced upon another little gem. How I have not noticed it before during fruitless searches of the App store I have no idea. 'PhotoPuppetHD'.



A beautiful, comprehensive animation toolbox for older children, allowing creation of characters, backgrounds, talking heads and lovely track-by-track editing. I introduced it today to a class for the first time and was struck by the same feeling I had when first demonstrating GarageBand (what higher compliment could any app get!) that the sky now really was the limit!

So, another tool for the 21st century teacher's toolbox. I think this one's a sledgehammer!

TED and the Art of Presentations

This morning we spent a great deal of time talking about presentation.

Having returned from the ADE institute in London a day or two ago I've seen some pretty good ones recently. My class, honestly, are possible one of the best in our school at presenting and many of them are clear and natural communicators. They are not, however, good enough.

Presenting is a key skill for today, and tomorrow. As university entrance requirements soar and interviews precede even the most menial jobs, our children must become confident in presenting themselves and their ideas.

Having 1:1 iPad is a crucial benefit in this task. Firstly today we watched Jamie Oliver give his award winning TED talk. While they watched, the children made notes on iThoughtsHD of every tactic and strategy he employed to drive home his message.

Then they selected an issue which they felt passionate about, from goal-line technology in football to World peace and, using Safari and Pages, researched their issue.

In the coming weeks they will refine, organise and structure their research and begin to build their slides on Keynote. Then comes the hard part.

I'm going to have them present to different audiences, ages, group sizes to test and refine their technique and build confidence. At some point I'll video these presentations and ask the parents to critique them through the blog.

Once that's done, in September, some will get a chance to present from a stand at the Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow. A daunting and challenging task for twelve year old children.

All in aid of building a vital and rare skill, the ability to communicate, to present and hopefully to move an audience.

A 21st century necessity?

Definitely


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Challenge!

This is surely an overused word. The number f times I have heard people start sentences with : "Let me challenge you," or 'Today I want to challenge you," and then proceed with something decidedly not challenging or radical.

Today, however, the true meaning and scope of challenge in education is becoming clearer.

We all know that there are many 'challenges' facing the educational community; budgets, class sizes, management issues, curriculum overcrowding and technology to name but a few.

The real challenge however is, I believe, more fundamental and relates to how we, and the children we teach, learn.

Apple have developed the Challenge Based Learning programme to open to us as educators, the benefits of challenge. It is something we have been trying to implement in school over the past number of weeks and months and seeing some real progress. Allowing the children to be let loose on learning, to solve problems and answer questions and investigate solutions is the way forward.
It was so inspiring to hear the concept laid out and substantiated at Apple Distinguished Educator 2011.

Now to take the learning to school.

That's the challenge!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Surfing in Scotland

Its beautiful weather this week. Makes me look forward to my annual surf trip with a couple of friends. I can't surf, but getting into a wetsuit,hauling my board over the beach and getting pounded by the waves for a day or two always does me good!

Along with hopeful longings for surf this week has come a disappointment;

Every year for ever I have attended with interest, the Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow along with thousands of other educators from this fair land. This year, we submitted an application to take a seminar there to showcase the amazing changes that we've seen since the advent of iPad. Yesterday we received a polite rejection of our submission. This rejection caused me to think about where we stand as a country in our attitude to technology.

It was at the Learning Festival a few years back, we began to hear of the existence of technology that would revolutionise the classroom, bringing interactivity and collaboration to lessons and opening up a world of possibilities for the teacher. The words 'interactive whiteboard', began first to be whispered and quickly shouted by keen enthusiasts who thought that these would transform our classrooms and learning.
Schools bought in, big time.

Whiteboards and, shhh, blackboards disappeared and schools across the country fitted projectors and interactive boards by Smart and Promethian into every classroom. Today, it's hard to find a classroom without one.

We went on courses to see them in action, downloaded the latest software and spent hours and hours (and hours) creating content for lessons that children could drag across the screen, reveal by removing screen shades, match, copy, group and link.
These were exciting times and, for many teachers, represented a first plunge into a world where technology invaded the classroom. Some older staff resisted the tide of change and head teachers across the country battled to change attitudes in order to keep up with this latest craze.

Let's not be too snooty about these efforts and this enthusiasm. Just because we look back and see so many flaws in these devices, have moved on incredibly and now enjoy interactivity in the classroom that goes way beyond allowing a child or small group access to pre-prepared material on the board.

These were the days when schools finally adopted technology wholesale.

It's such a shame now, when we all know that these boards have not transformed our classrooms, that their interactivity is minimal, that the software is flaky and that content creation for them is more time-consuming than paper lessons ever were, and when we are blessed with more and more affordable 1:1 solutions such as iPad that are truly interactive and open up worlds of potential for learning and communicating that our country seems to shun such advances. I don't know why our SLF seminar was rejected, possibly they don't favour private, Christian schools or dont want to showcase technology that they think is unaffordable.

Maybe they think it would upset the sellers of interactive whiteboard who have paid good money for stands in the conference hall.

One thing is for sure; you can't stop the tide. Once one wave has broken, it's no good looking wistfully after it and refusing to turn around. There's another wave coming, bigger and more powerful than the last.

Come on Scotland, surf's up!

Results: P6/7 Observational Drawing with iPad

Here are some of the 'fruits' of today's lesson!
















Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Art : Brushes

This morning I taught a lesson on the visual elements that I have taught many rimes over the past 15 years.
We looked at observational drawing of fruit and vegetables - subjects which artists of all varieties have loved over centuries.
We had a look at examples by Monet and Gaughin and discussed where we could see the visual element of line, shape, colour and texture were present. We then discussed tone, what it is and how we see it in pictures. At this point we began painting. It's a lesson I like and so do the kids. Today, for a change I used the iPad.
We used the app 'Brushes'. It has huge potential in art and I've used it for various things before - layers, silhouettes, contrast and colour lessons etc. I've never used it for such a classic painting lesson with such a young class.



Wow!

I was impressed with the levels of engagement. I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the children who 'can't draw'. I was impressed with the way they smiled when they made and mistake and lovingly pressed 'undo'.
I was also impressed with the results and, perhaps more importantly, so were they.
I'm sure I will do the lesson again with 'real' paint but I'm also sure that when I do, the children will have increased confidence and freedom to experiment, and that I'll already have some excellent examples of real learning to display on my classroom wall that they've emailed me from a truly excellent art app.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iPad Band Project Continues...

After our coming Easter holiday I'm taking an elective block of lessons with a S1-3 group. We're going to try an push the iPad band thing a bit further.

Obviously GBand has had a huge impact on what's possible with music on the iPad but I want to do something that opens the feeling of playing in a group with other musicians to the children.

I'm thinking of seeing if we can come up with a number of songs to arrange for iPad band that have a message of change, or revolution. Songs that parallel the sort of changes we're seeing in education and perform them with the iPad band. Any suggestions would be welcome.

The setup I currently have is;

A fairly old 10 channel mixer going through an amp and into some speakers which are also not ideal but are the best I could lay my hands on. Cables to connect iPads to mixer channels. Belkin headphone splitters to allow instrument to be grouped - strings, percussion etc.

One of the problems that has previously been apparent is the difference in quality between apps when played through the mixer. Some, like Six Strings, have high quality samples which transfer with virtually no hiss. Others, generally cheaper apps for instruments such as accordian and bagpipes (!) have much poorer quality sampled sounds which come through at much lower volume and with annoying hiss.

Hopefully there will be parity across the quality of samples in the GarageBand instruments, these are generally all of a higher quality than the other apps I have with the same instruments.

It's an exciting project which opens to children who may not be at all musical, or at least not think they are, the experience of playing in a band. An experience which many of us have loved musically and socially. I hope also it may inspire some to go home, dig out the old acoustic guitar they got for Christmas in P7, and start to make music.

Here's hoping.

100 Word Story from Yesterday

I thought I'd post the 100 word story I blogged yesterday. It's not completed by any stretch of the imagination but will give you an idea of what I was on about!

Listen here.

GarageBand Gives a Voice!

Today was a great day. A girl in my class who is very dyslexic wrote a fantastic piece of personal writing for me. In 100 words she told me what it was like to have dyslexia. I wrote and helped with two vocabulary suggestions.

Then we went to GarageBand and, with her writing printed in front of her, she recorded herself reading what she had composed. Finally she put an appropriate soundtrack using the smart instruments within the app.

I was stunned.

Observers from a nearby university who were in my class today researching the effect of iPad on learning and motivation were moved. Her mum, who heard the result after school, wept.

I suppose it's in small moment like that, the ones that don't happen often, you get to see a side to technology that is not only exciting, creative, dynamic and current, but makes an appreciable and fundamental difference to someone's life, self esteem and happiness. I don't think she was any less dyslexic after today but just maybe she felt that for once, she had produced a result that she was genuinely proud of and one that allowed her to express the person that truly lives inside.

The piece of writing is below:

100 Word Story

I looked at the pictures.
Characters I loved; Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy the dog.
I looked at the pictures, not the words.
The pictures were exciting but the words, I couldn't read. They were like a puzzle I couldn't crack.
Others raced to characters; Famous Five, Spongebob, Dahl.
Covers so exciting, but when I opened them I felt lost in a forest of twisting words.
They were like the trees of thorns surrounding Sleeping Beauty's castle.
I knew that there was something great in there but I couldn't find my way in.
That's life with dyslexia


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Whiteboard HD

At school right now we are looking at various options for whiteboard apps on iP2.

To begin with we used apps that were really art apps, like the fantastic 'Brushes'. It's a great app but it was never really created to be stuck as a classroom whiteboard tool. Kind of like making Michaelangelo paint the bathroom!

Then we used the equally fantastic Penultimate. A definite step in the right direction. Easy to use and does exactly what it says on the tin. Some limitations as a whiteboard also; although its great for handwritten text, it doesn't allow you to add printed text or graphics and consequently looks quite 'infant' on the big screen, my handwriting doesn't need any help to look infant!

So, today I gave a test run to whiteboard HD, a dedicated whiteboard app with a four star rating on the app store. You can choose your type, write by hand or add text in a very simple way. The app also allows you to add images and shapes, again, very simply and I was really impressed with the look of the whiteboard on screen.

My one gripe was pointed out by Fraser Speirs, my buddy and school IT guru; the app only allows one whiteboard per project wheras Penutlimate allows multiple pages per project which can then be mailed to students, printed etc.

So, no perfect solution, but I think I'm sticking with whiteboard HD until something better turns up!

First Steps in iMovie: iP2

Today I got round to having an initial play with iMovie on iP2. I was in the iT suite in school, which looks strangely empty compared to the days of the iMacs being sited there. I took a brief 360 of the room and dropped it in iMovie for title and audio. Gave me a chance to mess with adding soundtracks, using themes and fades and adding titles. All in all, I think it could be great in the classroom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA7w-rOLm08


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

GarageBand Band?

Me and Fraser Speirs testing GBand after school.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmPCTPalHso

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

EPubs: New Learning for Me!

What I am learning:
Today I began to look at exporting assessment material for a current Primary 6/7 project as an ePub document. EPub exporting is built into the export options on the desktop version of Pages on the mac. Basically it enables you to publish an electronic book which can then be read on iPhone, iPod iPad etc.
This is great for collating the output of project material in one beautiful looking document which can include text, images and video and loos very professional. All you have to worry about then is whether the text, pictures or videos are any good!
I ran a quick tutorial with one of the boys in my class on how to create an ePub document and he was very competently beginning the collation of a great looking book very quickly.
This will provide a great record of project work and assessment material that can be accessed by interested staff, friends and parents. I think it will take a while to put together as I have so much material but should look great.
The one thing I wish was that there was an easy way to include audio files without having to drop them into iMovie first.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

iThoughtsHD

Prior to the advent of GBand, my favourite app in the classroom was iThoughtsHD. Essentially a tool for mind mapping, this app has so many fantastic applications in the classroom. I've used it with the children in pairs and group exercises, for planning writing pieces and recording responses, for reporting and also as a planning tool with staff in our department. It is a fantastically flexible and varied tool that has good export options and great potential. I'd like to see the option of adding pictures other than the graphics supplied, and the facility to manipulate size and font of text but these would be the icing on what is essentially a very fine cake already.



This is an example of a topic in the process of being planned. The Key challenge or question is at the centre, surrounded by curricular areas, key questions and activities and curriculum experiences and outcomes. I may also add an assessment ring.

When you email a file from the app you get a PDF of your 'map' and a list version which can also be helpful.

A great little app.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

ADE!

Last week whilst on a residential school trip to York I received notification that I had been accepted into the Apple Distinguished Educator Class of 2011. This was along with Fraser Speirs (no surprise there!) and Jenny Oakley, our superb art teacher.
This is a great honour personally and for us to have three acceptances from the school is really great for us.
What it really means practically I can't wait to discover.
I include my application video below, it also gives some footage of the iPad band that i mentioned earlier. I just can't believe I spent all that money on instrument apps that have been, in the main, bettered by the arrival of GarageBand.

You can watch the video on the school YouTube channel here.

iPad 2 - Another Revolution for the Classroom?

Having received my iPad 2 unexpectedly on launch day UK, are we gearing up for another massive change for the classroom? Well, in the time honoured conclusion for all school discursive essays, yes... and no.

With iPad 1our classroom practice and the opportunities for learning were transformed by some fundamentally significant factors; we now had 1:1 Internet access for every pupil all the time. Each and every pupil had amazing new options for output with Pages, Keynote, iThoughts, Brushes etc sitting expectantly on the desk in front of them all the time. These were factors which opened the possibility of a truly transformational change in the classroom.

Now, with the advent of 2, these are already established and, whilst they will run significantly faster, the revolution in this sense has already happened.

So what may change?

Faster is a big deal, especially when using apps like GarageBand which is already a massive hit in my classroom. The cameras will be interesting when the children finally get iPads with them on, I can picture a trip to an art gallery with a class creating their own MoodBoard, Collage or blog as they go round snapping pictures with the iPad. Interesting and significant possibilities begin to open. Finally with iMovie: I think this may be a killer classroom feature for me. Peer assessment, self assessment, output for creativity in language, music and across the curriculum. I can see myself making great use of iMovie when the children have in their hands such a powerful tool.

So, changes? Yes. Revolution? No. Apple have given us a beautiful and powerful successor to the device that has already made historical records and changed so many aspects of educational life.

I sold my old one to a local restaurant. I hope they look after her.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad