Cover the curriculum and save time

History teachers and Heads of History everywhere! We have found a way you can save precious time to use however you like. Roy Huggins, History specialist and former Head of eBacc, has worked with us to create some curriculum-based resources that can be used time and time again.

Roy is an extremely popular TES creator, with at the time of posting, 13,414 downloads to his name. There are various types of tasks he develops but one that really stood out to us was his card sorts. As we’ve explored before though, despite the numerous, excellent benefits of this type of activity, they can be quite time consuming to print off, cut out and sort for a class of 30! Despite this, they are a VERY popular classroom resource, which shows how much they are valued and the benefits of them. To name a few; deeper understanding of content, collaboration and ease-of-use.

Why was it difficult maintaining law and order in the American West?

We’ve worked with Roy to transform some of his card sort tasks into iPad versions. They look fantastic on the iPad! Rather than students sorting out cards into nondescript piles on desks, many activities have bright, colourful and descriptive backgrounds which means when looking back on their work, students immediately know how they sorted the cards.

Roy explained, “I was really surprised by how easy the Thinking Kit software was to use. It was very intuitive and it didn't take me long to start making some stunning resources.”

Push and pull factors of Westward Expansion

All resources come with a detailed and thorough list of ‘aims and objectives’ and a ‘WILF (What am I Looking For?)’ section. Plus the process of downloading each task is so simple and guided that you can be using them in minutes!

To name a few of the benefits of this transition:

• TIME SAVING
  Instead of having to print off and cut out 30 pages of cards/pieces of paper, just give your students a code for them to download the tasks onto their iPads.
• RECORDING OF PROGRESS
  Students can download/print a PDF report of their card sort session (e.g. what was on the cards, their final layout and anything in between) OR simply take a screenshot of their on-screen work ready to print off to put in books or keep in a progress file.
• REFLECTION ENCOURAGED
  If desired, you can get students thinking about the process of how they got to their answer rather than just the end result (there’s a dedicated Reflection Stage/interactive playback of the session). This is excellent for critical thinking and problem solving.

We are delighted to say that the activities of Roy’s that have been transformed first are his ever-popular ‘American West’ selection. You can even get a massive 33% discount if you buy them in a bundle. Please see Roy’s TES profile for more details. If you’d like to have a go at creating your own iPad card sorts, please visit www.thinking-kit.com/freeTrial