Teaching News

Great Book for ICT teaching – Rising Stars Essentials: ICT

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT

I don’t normally recommend books here on Teaching News, but I thought that I’d make an exception for this wonderful book by Ian Addison. ICT Essentials is a fantastic source of ideas and inspiration for new and experienced teachers who teach ICT in the primary school.

Technology changes rapidly (unlike the curriculum), so it’s great to have a book that features the most up-to-date resources that schools can use. The majority of the tools mentioned in the book are free and Ian provides lots of related teaching ideas, suggesting how they can be used in different curriculum areas so that ICT skills can be learnt within different contexts too.

The book is split into different sections (some of which include ‘Digital Publishing’, ‘ICT and Maths’, ‘Animation and Video’ and ‘Game Design, Control and Programming’) and each section suggests equipment that might be useful (with tips for managing them in the classroom and across the school), activity ideas, related links and suggestions for challenges for more able pupils. The book also has lots of screenshots and step by step instructions so you can try things out when you are planning lessons. Important eSafety advice is also given in each section where appropriate.

Ian was kind enough to let me have a sneak peek at a draft copy of the book before it was published and I was impressed with the amount of information that he had included. Now that I have a copy of the finished book, it’s becoming an essential tool for me when I’m planning my own ICT lessons.

Get yourself a copy of ICT essentials on Amazon here (this is an affiliate link which earns me a small commission for each purchase – click here if you’d rather not use the affiliate link).

If you’re not familiar with Ian’s other work, look at his blog, the ICT Planning site and the great Under Ten Minutes video tutorials.