Product reviews for Rocket Up Your Class!

Dave Keeling describes himself as a -˜stand-up educationalist' responsible for empowering and enabling young people to take control of their learning so that they may leave education already exploring and developing the skills required to cope with the 21st century and to be happy and successful within it.

Keeling's motivation for producing this book was his own experience of school, which he compares to the Socratic ideal where life and learning is a -˜festival of the mind'. The result is this compact catalogue of practical activities that will engage even the most reluctant pupil or teacher.

There are no chapters, only an index of 101 activities for different stages of a lesson, and themes like communication, concentration and creative thinking. For each activity there is an explanation of why and how it can be used. Keeling's humorous style makes everything easy to understand and he frequently offers the reader an insight into his own teaching experiences over the years.

Not every activity in the book is new. Indeed, some are based on party games or TV game shows. What makes the book endearing to all teachers, however, is its small size, concise length and punchy content, which can be used at a minute's notice. Rocket Up Your Class is a teaching and learning resource which has-made it into my toolkit Everyone should have a copy.