CLASSROOM TRANSFORMATION

The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) have launched the Resource Our Schools campaign, an initiative working to ensure that every school across the UK has access to the resources they require for first-rate teaching and learning. The campaign has already attracted support from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and numerous subject associations. Innovate My School are also supporting the initiative, fitting in with our mission to aid teachers by sharing much-needed school resources.

Mrs. Clarke’s third grade students step to the drumbeat as they enter my classroom, joyfully singing the school song. They quickly notice various music notes separated by ‘+’ signs on the board; they know this game well. Hands shoot up. I tap a student, who jumps into action and writes the number ‘7’. “Let’s show our work,” I say. “A quarter note equals–“, “ONE!” the students exclaim. “A half note–“, “TWO!” We continue this call and response for the quarter rest and dotted half note (see image below). “And what do we get?!” “SEVEN!” Smiles abound.

“No pain, no gain…”
“Practice makes perfect…”
“You have to practice 10,000 hours before you’ll be an expert…”
“How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice…”

As part of its ‘Learning Rooms’ approach, which addresses many aspects of the learning and teaching environment, STAGE’ modular systems manufacturers Gratnells is offering schools a variety of mini staging formats which can be easily used and stored in the classroom.

As shown in articles by the likes of Kriscia Cabral, classroom design and layout play a big part in a pupil’s learning. Melanie Laing of Innova Design Solutions gives her top ten tips on how best to innovate the classroom.

The decision to improve and modernise classrooms offers teachers the opportunity to create a space which truly meets their needs and those of their students. But where do you start? And how can you ensure the changes you make have a real impact on staff and students?

My name is Ira Cross, Jr. and I am an elementary school teacher in Columbus, Ohio in the U.S. I am ecstatic to have recently finished my first year of teaching! I am very humbled and excited to have the opportunity to write this article, and have been told I have this fiery energy about me that fits teaching so perfectly, and it is rewarding when my excitement is noticed. I am always looking for, and thinking of, ways to show my passion and enthusiasm. One way that I love to share this energy with my students is by hosting game shows and other activities to review information taught and discussed.

Given that huge innovations are being made in edtech each week, it’s exciting to speculate on what devices the average British school will be using in a few years. Dominic Norrish, Group Director for Technology at United Learning, looks at what developments are likely to take place, making three main predictions.

If you are looking for a quick way to destroy your credibility and give people an additional opportunity to sneer at the depth of your ignorance, speculating on how technology may change education is probably the most effective method available to the average blogger.

Still, here goes…

It is extremely powerful to change classrooms in order to reflect the kind of learning that is taking place at the time. So, for example, they become art studios during creative units, science labs during scientific units, museums during historical ones and so on. Students should be encouraged to think about how their physical space can enhance learning and how it can be adapted to help them do their best.

Here’s a picture of the original ICT suite, complete with rows of desktop computers and an obligatory interactive whiteboard at the front. The senior management team felt that the suite didn’t properly represent the school’s creative ethos, didn’t reflect our vision of learning, and wasn’t capable of delivering the future curriculum needs of our pupils.

So we started gathering ideas from pupils about what ‘future learning’ might look like and what they needed to make it happen. We asked staff about what they thought was needed to teach a future curriculum and did a lot of research! Most of the ideas pointed to a place that combined research, books, science, technology and computing. A place where several activities could happen at once - a science experiment, building a robot, finding out about asteroids or just reading a book. A ‘movable’ place where everything could be easily moved - technology, furniture and resources. A place large enough to teach a whole class, comfortable enough to learn with a small group and snug enough to learn in private.

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