Making Dreams Come True Through The Internet

I am always trying to promote the positive use of the internet. For me, it has changed my life in a way I never thought possible. Having my ideas shared and used all around the world is amazing and now to be able to visit and work with so many teachers around the country and beyond is brilliant. It is a tool I use a lot in class to add an authentic purpose to children's learning. Connecting our classroom to professionals and experts through social media has had an incredible impact on the quality of work we get from our students.

I have blogged plenty of examples of where the internet has created these amazing opportunities and experiences for our pupils, such as Blackfish, learning about our local area or a message for the England football team.

A couple of weeks ago, we had primary futures week where our pupils were learning about different jobs, had parents visit and talk about their career and discussion our aspirations.

I worked with Year 2 and challenged them to make some eBooks about their dream job. Using the app Book Creator to share their ideas. It was great to see the children being so creative and working on a variety of skills as they created their eBooks.

We shared some on our social media pages, such as Harley's example:

@NASA @astro_timpeake we’ve been making eBooks about our dream jobs, this student wants to be an astronaut. He would love to know what you think of this and whether he’d make a good astronaut if he keeps working hard! pic.twitter.com/wasldesgiT

— Davyhulme Primary (@DavyhulmePS) February 8, 2018

Harley was made up to know his idol, Tim Peake had read his eBook and replied.

We had a range of jobs but one stood out to me. Alfie's dream job was to drive the Flying Scotsman, his eBook reflected his passion and knowledge of the train and his enthusiasm towards it.

I shared his eBook and asked people to help get his eBook to the team at the Flying Scotsman in hope we could make his dream come true:

And thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, we received this email:

Here is a little interview I did with Alfie about this. He will be hopping on the Flying Scotsman next week so I will be sharing some pictures from his day out.

Update 17th May

I just wanted to share some pictures from Alfie's amazing day. In school today, he was telling me all about it. The enthusiasm, excitement and joy in his tone as he talked me through the day was amazing! Thanks again to the East Lancs Railway for making this possible!