Product reviews for Freaked Out

Freaked Out aka -˜The Teacher's Bible!'. The book is informative, interesting and interactive. It is a book that teachers can dip in and out of, which is appealing to busy teachers. There is something for every teacher to take away from this book no matter what their previous digital experience. It is evident that it is written by somebody who understands the changing face of education and understands teachers who find using digital technology in the classroom daunting. Yet it also enthuses and inspires teachers who are already working successfully with digital technology. The interactive nature of the book provides a balance to suit a variety of learning styles. The video clips have proven in our school to be useful for reinforcing and extending the content in the book.

We purchased five Freaked Out books for our staff after attending a Freaked Out training event run by Simon. The ideas and guidance within the book have had a positive impact on teaching and learning at Cornist. The book and the training have helped us to embed digital technology throughout the school and the wider community. The teaching ideas in the book are not limited to just one curriculum subject, they can be applied to any subject for any key stage, which is rarely achieved in any education book. Here are just a selection of ways that Freaked Out has transformed and impacted on the teaching and learning at Cornist:

-¢We are able to personalise children's learning even further by giving children more freedom to develop their own ideas, discover information for themselves and record work in a variety of ways to suit individuals 

-¢Increased collaboration and communication between pupils and staff via iPads and the introduction of Google Drive 

-¢We now use QR codes and Aurasma to make displays interactive. We also use these in Learning Logs for pupils and parents to access extra support online e.g the QR code may direct pupils and parents to a useful You Tube clip, a website or to a video made my the teacher using an app such as Explain Everything. All of these ideas came from Freaked Out

-¢Apple TV is used within classroom- teachers are no longer constantly seen standing at the front of class, children can have a more active role now and showcase their work to the whole class by a swipe of a button

-¢We have a set of key apps that teachers are becoming more confident with using across a range of curriculum subjects.

-¢We now have increased digital communication and therefore better relationships with parents and the wider community. 

-¢Overall increased staff confidence to enable staff to embrace new digital technology

We now have a successful pupil Digital Leader team at Cornist. This appeared to be an extremely daunting task when initially setting up. However, Freaked Out provided us with QR codes which linked to useful resources that helped to get successfully implement a Digital Leader team. Freaked Out has also encouraged us to create a holistic approach to everything the Digtal Leader team  participates in e.g. in enhances pupil voice and suggests ideas which have enabled us to impact on pupils, staff, staff from other schools and the community.

Freaked Out gave us ideas to engage the wider community which have proven to be successful. Recently, a Freaked Out book was left out in the staffroom and a parent picked it up and was extremely interested it. This inspired us to contact Simon and organise a -˜Freaked Out Parents Evening'. Simon hosted the first half of the evening and our Digital Leader team took over afterwards to train the parents about some of the apps they use in class. Pleasingly, many parents purchased Freaked Out and appeared to have a renewed positively about the use of digital technology at Cornist. The overall feedback from parents regarding the evening was also very positive. We are extremely grateful to Simon for helping us to promote the use of digital technology at Cornist and increase understanding amongst parents. 



Freaked Out has helped us to transform the teaching and learning in the classroom, the school environment and has impacted on the wider community. This seems like a bold statement to imply that a book and one day of training has transformed and impacted on so many different aspects of school life but that is exactly what it has done. We have schools from around the county coming to observe good practice with digital technology and many of the ideas and tools have come from Freaked Out or Simon himself. Overall the book and the training combined have contributed considerately to our successful digital journey at Cornist Park and we are extremely grateful for Simon's support.