InnerDrive Reviews
In this section, we review resources to help schools, students and families with their growth mindset, metacognition, revision, mobile phone usage, sleep… and more. We do not get paid to write these reviews – you can be sure that what you read is what we genuinely think. We also use a more balanced star ranking system.
Here’s a clarification: 3 stars means good, 4 stars means very good, and 5 stars means excellent.
We hope you find the reviews useful.
Organise Ideas: Thinking by Hand, Extending the Mind
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An extensive guide to creating and using graphic organisers in your teaching, based on research and other educators’ experience.
The ‘BrainCanDo’ Handbook of Teaching and Learning
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Combining an extensive search of the literature and his own experience through years of teaching, Michael Chiles provides his manifesto for enhancing feedback in education.
The Social Dilemma
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This eye-opening documentary delves into the dangers of modern technology and communication – but also how we can make it humane again.
Dual Coding with Teachers, by Oliver Caviglioli
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Drawing from scientific evidence and the real-life experience of educators, Oliver Caviglioli’s book makes using dual coding easier.
The Feedback Pendulum, by Michael Chiles
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Combining an extensive search of the literature and his own experience through years of teaching, Michael Chiles provides his manifesto for enhancing feedback in education.
Carousel Learning
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Carousel Learning is an online platform allowing teachers to create quizzes or online question banks and students to use it for revision, through retrieval practice and spaced learning.
How learning happens, by Paul A Kirschner and Carl Hendrick
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Kirschner and Hendrick’s “How Learning Happens” is the perfect tool for educators to engage with and utilise some of the most important research finds out there. From clear concise summaries of the research to clear research driven advice, this book has it all.
Unleashing Great Teaching, by David Weston & Bridget Clay
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With “Unleashing Great Teaching”, David Weston and Bridget Clay team up to create the ultimate handbook of effective teacher development, based on research and years of experience.
Retrieval practice: research and resources for every classroom, by Kate Jones
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Kate Jones’s “Retrieval practice: research and resources for every classroom” is possibly the most comprehensive overview of the research in this area that we have come across – the definitive one-stop shop for all things retrieval practice.
Blob Tree
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The Blob Tree helps students articulate their feelings and emotions by having them select which of various blobs characters best represents them at that moment.
C-Pen
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The C-Pen is a pocket-sized, lightweight device that reads printed words aloud to users as they scan over them, offering those with dyslexia or other reading difficulties the independence to read text alone.
Rosenshine’s Principles in Action
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Tom Sherrington’s book Rosenshine’s Principles in Action, a quick and helpful read based on Rosenshine’s 10 Principles of Instruction for every teacher looking for applicable classroom strategies.
ClassDojo
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ClassDojo is an online tool that looks to improve behaviour by offering students points in return for good classroom conduct.
Book – The Teenage Brain
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A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults, that gives simple but scientific information designed to help parents better understand their adolescent child,
Book – Your Fantastic Elastic Brain
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A well written and beautifully illustrated book, which offers young children a first insight into the brain and its functions.
Time Locking Container
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A simple time locking container that is an effective way of removing the distraction of a mobile phone and encouraging students to fully engage in the revision process.
Flashcards
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Flashcards provide a cheap but effective way for students to revise by allowing them to identify the knowledge they have already obtained as well as which areas need further work.
Seneca
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A free online platform that has been created to help both students and teachers. Seneca helps students revise more effectively by teaching them new information before testing them on it.
