Seymour Summer Professional Development

Find this page at: DitchThatTextbook.com/seymour

Getting started

1. Free ebook: Get a huge list of practical teaching ideas with explanations, images and links! Find “101 Practical Ways to Ditch That Textbook” along the right. Enter your email and name. A link to the ebook will be sent to you after you confirm your email address in the email that’s sent to you!

2. How well do you know your Google tools? Let’s find out in this Kahoot! Grab a device and head to kahoot.it.

3. One teacher’s path to ditching his textbooks (Click here to see Matt’s slides)

4. The smartest person in the room is … THE ROOM! Let’s harness that power by collecting some of our best teaching ideas.

Northeastern MS Staff Retreat innovation ideas: Click here

Weskan (KS) Ditch That Textbook workshop innovation ideas: Click here

ISTE 2015 Ditch That Textbook workshop innovation ideas: Click here

June Seymour Ditch That Textbook workshop innovation ideas: Click here

May CIESC Ditch That Textbook workshop innovation ideas: Click here

The Voice of the Active Learner: Education from a Digital Native’s Perspective (YouTube link)

PART 1: IDENTIFY THE CHANGE

Reflection questions (Google Slides): Click here, then save to your Google Drive. We will answer each question individually.

Moonshot thinking (YouTube link):

PART 2: TOOLS FOR YOUR TOOLBELT

Let’s gather our best tools and share them! Go to: padlet.com and create a new board. Add notes with your favorite tech tools, quick descriptions of what they do and links/images of them.

When we’re done, we’ll add our links here: TodaysMeet.com/seymourjuly

PART 3: TAKE YOUR CLASS GLOBAL

Take your classroom beyond the four walls of the classroom!

• Use Google Hangouts or Skype or Facetime
• Mystery Location Calls:
  • Official Mystery Skype site: https://education.skype.com/mysteryskype
  • Skype Etiquette and Mystery Skype: http://mrsmorgansstars.edublogs.org/skype-etiquette/
  • So You Want to Do Mystery Skype? http://pernillesripp.com/2011/10/25/so-you-want-to-do-mystery-skype/
• Finding video chat partners:
  • Skype Education (create a lesson saying what you’d like to do OR find a lesson you’d like to participate in): http://education.skype.com.
  • Twitter: Send a tweet to or @SkypeEducation asking if anyone would like to connect classrooms via Skype.
  • Google Plus community: Mystery Location Calls
  • Google Plus community: Google Hangouts in Education
  • Google Plus community: Mystery Hangout
  • Google Plus community: Educators on Google Plus
  • Colleagues, family and friends: Spread the word about what you’d like to do.
  • Matt: He’s glad to tap into his network of contacts to find someone!
• Google Connected Classrooms: Virtual field trips and more! https://connectedclassrooms.withgoogle.com/
• 10 Ways to Start Using Skype in the Classroom: http://www.edudemic.com/10-ways-to-start-using-skype-in-the-classroom/
• Mystery Location Call Roles (jobs that students can do while the call is going on): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UkFXBUyseKZN6yfVpW9Mye6hbSc8JNHl_yu3ExLanMA/edit?hl=en&forcehl=1
• Matt’s global classroom resources page: http://DitchThatTextbook.com/flatclass

PART 4: GOOGLE GENIUS! PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES FOR CLASS

Lots of practical activities you can implement in your classroom right away! Go to: DitchThatTextbook.com/GoogleGenius for all the details!

PART 5: GAME-CHANGING MINDSETS

Mindsets from Matt’s book, Ditch That Textbook (Amazon link):

• Choose to cheat
• Minimum effective dose
• Connected educator
• You are your own best PD

Let’s blog about mindsets! Go to: KidBlog.org/class/Ditch-That-Textbook and log in.

• Click the “Log in” button in the top right.
• Username: Choose “Ditch Student” from the drop-down menu.
• Password: ditch123

PART 6: PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

Let’s reflect on our learning from today. Get together in pairs or small groups and let’s talk about ideas, plans and changes!

OPTIONAL

The Digital PIRATE: Tech Like a PIRATE

Social Media for Teachers (Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, etc.)

A Day in My Paperless Classroom

The Lightning Round: 60 Digital Tools in 60 Minutes (or less!)

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

Click here to learn more about Matt. Click here to see Matt’s book, Ditch That Textbook, on Amazon.

Matt Miller is available to present at your school or event! He presents to thousands of teachers all around the United States on a wide variety of technology and innovative instruction topics. See his conferences page for more details.

Click here to see Matt’s slides from this workshop.