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Product reviews for Freaked Out
David Brayley, sports writer and education consultant
About five years ago, I walked into a Year Nine classroom and began to explain to the pupils how I managed to write a book. The book was called, “There's Only Two Tony Cottey's”, and -” I'm relieved to report -” the children loved the session and showed an incredible appetite to want to improve their reading and writing, as a result of me explaining to them how embracing those skills through my own particular passion -” sport -” had provided the foundations for me becoming a published author.
A week or so later, I discussed the success of the session with the Head-teacher of the primary school I am a governor of, and asked if he thought that a similar session may have a similar impact on his Year Six class. “Definitely” was his response, and the session was arranged. As in the first session, it went really well, and my story of becoming an author really did seem to resonate with young people, but I realised, once the story had been told, what next? I couldn't go on to re-tell the story continuously, but really wanted to build on the engagement and inspiration that had been uncovered in my session. So, the Head-teacher and I had a meeting and tried to work out how we could move things to the next stage. The next stage was to run a literacy session over a period of months where high profile Welsh sports people were invited into school, interviewed by the children, then written about -” in the children's own words. In advance of the sessions, I would work with the children on research of the sports person concerned, and before you knew it, so many areas of the children's literacy was improved. The Head-teacher thought that the end product was so powerful, that he asked me to turn editor and create a published book, which at a stroke, turned all those Year Six children into published authors.
About a year later, after another successful sports project at the school, the Head-teacher called me into his room to show me something new. It was an iPad, “the future of education” he told me, and not only had I never seen one before, but I knew absolutely nothing about it. For the next twenty minutes he showed me what it was capable of. It was based on “apps” -” whatever they were, it could be used to make movies, make images constructed entirely from words, make still photographs come alive like in a Monty Python cartoon sketch, produce music, and about 101 other things. My head was in a whirl, as frankly, I didn't know what on earth he was talking about, and probably more importantly, had absolutely no clue how to use the thing. Then he delivered the sentence that left me cold, “and I want you to use it for your next sports literacy project at the school!” I was terrified. I had never seen technology like this before, I had an old mobile phone that was just that -” an old phone that was mobile -” it didn't contain apps or cartoons or movies and in terms of my “techie” skills, well, frankly, I didn't have any. I went home worried, disillusioned and dispirited, realising that I was never going to have the skills to use this machine, and -” as a result -” my wonderful, but very short, journey in education was over. There was only one way to describe my state of mind -” Freaked Out!
The next few months were torture. I delivered another sports project at the school -” this time using the iPad -” but if I'm being honest, it was delivered in a fog of fear and trepidation, as despite lots of advice from many people, what I really needed was a guidance book of some description, explaining both the functions of an iPad, but also, more importantly, its relevance in education in general and literacy in particular. My stress levels were as high as they'd ever been in my career, and the main reason for that was this lack of practical guidance to assist me and allay my fears. My experience was not unique, and over the past four years, I have spoken to many educators, who like me, just learned on the job, often in fear of failure, but just trying to do their best. That need not happen to any future educators embarking on their own iPad journeys, mainly thanks to -˜Freaked Out -” The bewildered teacher's guide to digital learning', by Simon Pridham.
This book has everything an educational practitioner, who is starting out on their own iPad journey, needs to help them on their way, told in an easy and informative manner. But also -” and this is the book's stand out feature -” it delivers it's advice using the very technology it is instructing you to use, as uniquely, it is a completely interactive book.
The book starts with an excellent and helpful introduction which outlines the scene for the novice iPad educator, and mentions many of the problems you will no doubt already be facing, which in itself helps you realise that the author has clearly faced a similar journey to you. Then, helpfully, it gives an in depth, pictorial guide to all the buttons and functions of an iPad, which will be of enormous help to a new user. But then the fun in the book really begins. For the rest of the book, using QR codes (explained in the book) and augmented reality (also explained) we are taken on a practical digital journey by the author, using links to films, instructional videos, audio clips and many other visual techniques that really bring the book alive. This is a book that really does talk to you! Cleverly, the author has used footage of practical examples of students using the technology in the classroom, allied to master classes delivered by himself. This in itself gives confidence that the technology works, but another strength of the author is to provide a byline on how the specific piece of technology he is referring to can actually be used. For example, most people now know what QR codes do, even if we don't know how they do it. But not only does the book explain how they work and what they do, it also gives practical uses for them, from Head-teacher's creating weekly blog posts, to children using them to explain displays they may have created in class. What I would have given for such detailed guidance as that when I was trying work out how to switch an iPad on all those years ago!
Nothing relating to modern, digital technology used in education is really left out in the book. In addition to all mentioned above, there are tips on how to use the iPad to inspire, engage and enthuse students, reviews and instructions of the best apps to choose out of the increasingly saturated market of apps, practical advice on displaying and storing the work of an iPad, especially when controlling its use in, say, a class of 30 children, or even more if your school has embarked on a complete 1:1 programme. It even shares the author's best strategy for integrating iPads within the classroom by giving ownership of their use to the pupils, and by creating a structure using the pupils themselves as digital leaders. Importantly, there is also a chapter on security and control of the iPads, an issue sometimes overlooked in other publications. Frankly, there is not much that this book doesn't cover. Clearly -” and I speak from experience here -” the apps available for iPads in education can change and be updated on a regular basis, so it's almost impossible to create the “foolproof” guide, but “Freaked Out” certainly gets as close as you can to that, and covers most bases, there is even a Q&A chapter at the end in which many frequently asked questions by educators are answered with clarity.
As I mentioned, this book would have been such a welcome purchase to me when that Head-teacher first showed me around that iPad that terrified me so, in his office four years ago. But he clearly understood the pitfalls myself and many other educators have faced over the time we slowly began to get used to our learning device, and he then decided to take that on board and make things easier for educators in the future. In fact, he wanted to make it so much easier, he chose to put it all in a book. His name? Simon Pridham.
I was extremely Freaked Out back then, but not any more! Even though I like to think I made a success of my iPad journey in education, I still learned a great amount from this book, and it is one I heartily recommend for anyone thinking of using an iPad in an educational setting.
A week or so later, I discussed the success of the session with the Head-teacher of the primary school I am a governor of, and asked if he thought that a similar session may have a similar impact on his Year Six class. “Definitely” was his response, and the session was arranged. As in the first session, it went really well, and my story of becoming an author really did seem to resonate with young people, but I realised, once the story had been told, what next? I couldn't go on to re-tell the story continuously, but really wanted to build on the engagement and inspiration that had been uncovered in my session. So, the Head-teacher and I had a meeting and tried to work out how we could move things to the next stage. The next stage was to run a literacy session over a period of months where high profile Welsh sports people were invited into school, interviewed by the children, then written about -” in the children's own words. In advance of the sessions, I would work with the children on research of the sports person concerned, and before you knew it, so many areas of the children's literacy was improved. The Head-teacher thought that the end product was so powerful, that he asked me to turn editor and create a published book, which at a stroke, turned all those Year Six children into published authors.
About a year later, after another successful sports project at the school, the Head-teacher called me into his room to show me something new. It was an iPad, “the future of education” he told me, and not only had I never seen one before, but I knew absolutely nothing about it. For the next twenty minutes he showed me what it was capable of. It was based on “apps” -” whatever they were, it could be used to make movies, make images constructed entirely from words, make still photographs come alive like in a Monty Python cartoon sketch, produce music, and about 101 other things. My head was in a whirl, as frankly, I didn't know what on earth he was talking about, and probably more importantly, had absolutely no clue how to use the thing. Then he delivered the sentence that left me cold, “and I want you to use it for your next sports literacy project at the school!” I was terrified. I had never seen technology like this before, I had an old mobile phone that was just that -” an old phone that was mobile -” it didn't contain apps or cartoons or movies and in terms of my “techie” skills, well, frankly, I didn't have any. I went home worried, disillusioned and dispirited, realising that I was never going to have the skills to use this machine, and -” as a result -” my wonderful, but very short, journey in education was over. There was only one way to describe my state of mind -” Freaked Out!
The next few months were torture. I delivered another sports project at the school -” this time using the iPad -” but if I'm being honest, it was delivered in a fog of fear and trepidation, as despite lots of advice from many people, what I really needed was a guidance book of some description, explaining both the functions of an iPad, but also, more importantly, its relevance in education in general and literacy in particular. My stress levels were as high as they'd ever been in my career, and the main reason for that was this lack of practical guidance to assist me and allay my fears. My experience was not unique, and over the past four years, I have spoken to many educators, who like me, just learned on the job, often in fear of failure, but just trying to do their best. That need not happen to any future educators embarking on their own iPad journeys, mainly thanks to -˜Freaked Out -” The bewildered teacher's guide to digital learning', by Simon Pridham.
This book has everything an educational practitioner, who is starting out on their own iPad journey, needs to help them on their way, told in an easy and informative manner. But also -” and this is the book's stand out feature -” it delivers it's advice using the very technology it is instructing you to use, as uniquely, it is a completely interactive book.
The book starts with an excellent and helpful introduction which outlines the scene for the novice iPad educator, and mentions many of the problems you will no doubt already be facing, which in itself helps you realise that the author has clearly faced a similar journey to you. Then, helpfully, it gives an in depth, pictorial guide to all the buttons and functions of an iPad, which will be of enormous help to a new user. But then the fun in the book really begins. For the rest of the book, using QR codes (explained in the book) and augmented reality (also explained) we are taken on a practical digital journey by the author, using links to films, instructional videos, audio clips and many other visual techniques that really bring the book alive. This is a book that really does talk to you! Cleverly, the author has used footage of practical examples of students using the technology in the classroom, allied to master classes delivered by himself. This in itself gives confidence that the technology works, but another strength of the author is to provide a byline on how the specific piece of technology he is referring to can actually be used. For example, most people now know what QR codes do, even if we don't know how they do it. But not only does the book explain how they work and what they do, it also gives practical uses for them, from Head-teacher's creating weekly blog posts, to children using them to explain displays they may have created in class. What I would have given for such detailed guidance as that when I was trying work out how to switch an iPad on all those years ago!
Nothing relating to modern, digital technology used in education is really left out in the book. In addition to all mentioned above, there are tips on how to use the iPad to inspire, engage and enthuse students, reviews and instructions of the best apps to choose out of the increasingly saturated market of apps, practical advice on displaying and storing the work of an iPad, especially when controlling its use in, say, a class of 30 children, or even more if your school has embarked on a complete 1:1 programme. It even shares the author's best strategy for integrating iPads within the classroom by giving ownership of their use to the pupils, and by creating a structure using the pupils themselves as digital leaders. Importantly, there is also a chapter on security and control of the iPads, an issue sometimes overlooked in other publications. Frankly, there is not much that this book doesn't cover. Clearly -” and I speak from experience here -” the apps available for iPads in education can change and be updated on a regular basis, so it's almost impossible to create the “foolproof” guide, but “Freaked Out” certainly gets as close as you can to that, and covers most bases, there is even a Q&A chapter at the end in which many frequently asked questions by educators are answered with clarity.
As I mentioned, this book would have been such a welcome purchase to me when that Head-teacher first showed me around that iPad that terrified me so, in his office four years ago. But he clearly understood the pitfalls myself and many other educators have faced over the time we slowly began to get used to our learning device, and he then decided to take that on board and make things easier for educators in the future. In fact, he wanted to make it so much easier, he chose to put it all in a book. His name? Simon Pridham.
I was extremely Freaked Out back then, but not any more! Even though I like to think I made a success of my iPad journey in education, I still learned a great amount from this book, and it is one I heartily recommend for anyone thinking of using an iPad in an educational setting.
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17/10/2014 01:00
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