
Ditch That Textbook Podcast :: Education, teaching, edtech :: #DitchPod
By Ditch That Textbook

Ditch That Textbook Podcast :: Education, teaching, edtech :: #DitchPodMay 02, 2018

192: Celebrate CS Education Week and the Hour of Code
In this episode of the Ditch That Textbook podcast hosts Matt Miller and Karly Moura share news about Magic School's new SEL lesson generator and a contest for sharing Ditch Summit. They discuss CS Ed Week resources including 20 ways to celebrate the Hour of Code and explore creativity with AI and NASA's Space Jam. They also provide tech tips on creating fill-in-the-blank image generator prompts and using virtual versions of robots. Matt and Karly share quick teaching strategies like writing a message in binary for students to decode and asking an AI assistant for common misconceptions about content. They also share a template of the week and ideas for using it.
News and updates:
Magic School has a new SEL lesson generator! Other new-ish tools from MagicSchool.ai include their Real World Connections Tool and the Standards Unpacker Tool.
Win prizes for sharing Ditch Summit?!?!?
Here’s how you can participate …
- Go to DitchSummit.com and sign up.
- In your Ditch Summit welcome email, you’ll get your unique referral link. (If you got an earlier welcome email, it might not have a link. Just sign up again.)
- Go share your link far and wide! Every time someone clicks your link and signs up for the summit, you’ll get a referral.
Learn more in this issue of the DTT email newsletter.
The Big idea:
Computer Science Education Week Resources
Unplugged CS resources include Hello Ruby, Kodable Unplugged and the “Program the Teacher” activity from CSinSF.
Explore Boards Creativity with AI & NASA’s Space Jam
Tech tips:
Create fill-in-the-blank image generator prompts with Microsoft designer. Check out this Tweet from Becky Keene for a link to an example prompt.
Use a virtual version of robots or physical computing devices to enhance your instruction. Visit Bee-Bots online, Ozobot simulator, and MakeCode for Micro:bits.
Robots you might want to try in your classroom:
Quick teaching strategies:
Write your students a message in binary and have your class decode the message as a warm up. Use Binary Translator and give your students the Binary Code Translator Key.
Ask an AI assistant for common misconceptions about your content (#5 in this post Lesson planning with AI: Save time and get ideas)
Template of the week
Share with us on social media!
Use #Ditchbook or tag @jmattmiller or @Karlymoura on Twitter/X
Don't forget to join the Ditch That Textbook email newsletter at DitchThatTextbook.com/join and be sure to subscribe to the show.

191: Plan lessons faster with AI
In this episode of the Ditch That Textbook podcast, hosts Matt Miller and Karly Moura delve into the exciting world of lesson planning with AI. They explore free tools that can help educators save time, offering quick teaching strategies and tech tips that can be implemented immediately. Additionally, they provide updates on education news and share innovative ideas for utilizing the template of the week.
News and Updates
We have a new community! Join AI for Admins, an email newsletter and community providing AI tips, discussion, and policy ideas for school/district leaders.
The Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit is almost here! Get all of the details and snag your FREE ticket at DitchSummit.com
The Big Idea
Artificial intelligence can help you write lesson plans faster -- and give you new ideas you might not consider. Here are some tips and strategies you can use. Check out our post Lesson planning with AI: Save time and get ideas.
Ask an AI assistant for a lesson plan. Suggested tools: ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Bard, Perplexity, Anthropic Claude.
Use AI tools to create lessons or parts of lessons for you. Suggested tools: MagicSchool.ai, EduAide, Diffit Curipod.
Tech Tips
This idea comes from Nadine Gilkison, she suggests using responses from your students’ interest surveys to help craft AI prompts. Using resources like MagicSchool.ai’s “Make it Relevant” tool you can generate ideas that make what you’re teaching relevant to your class based on their interests and background. Check out: Student interest surveys to connect learning to their world - Ditch That Textbook
Use Google Forms to record data about your students. Check out: 25 practical ways to use Google Forms in class, school
Quick Teaching Strategies:
Try the add-and-pass strategy but add an AI twist by having an AI assistant generate the prompt for you! Ask AI to begin a story using your content. Have students either finish the story or use the add-and-pass strategy to complete it. Check out: Add and pass: A fun activity to get them moving AND creating - Ditch That Textbook
Create a checklist for common feedback for students. Read: How do I give feedback to 100+ students?
Template of the Week
Be the Bot template from Ditch That Textbook
Don't forget to join the Ditch That Textbook email newsletter at DitchThatTextbook.com/join and be sure to subscribe to the show.

190: The Ditch That Textbook Podcast is back!
Welcome to the revival of the Ditch That Textbook Podcast, hosted by Matt Miller and now joined by Karly Moura! In this exciting new season, we will be recapping the content shared in the Ditch That Textbook newsletter, along with other news and updates from the education world. Join us as we dive into a big idea, delve into quick teaching strategies, and discuss a template of the week, designed to empower educators with practical tools for their classrooms. Get ready to be inspired, informed, and equipped to revolutionize your teaching approach.
News and Updates
- The Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit is almost here! Get all of the details and snag your FREE ticket at DitchSummit.com
- Google Slides is getting GIFs and Stickers!
The Big Idea
- Magic School AI has lots of tools to help save you time. Special Education teachers can check out their IEP generator.
- Use Canva's Magic Media to create quick recap videos of your class's week or school events.
Tech Tips
- You can use ChatGPT-4 for FREE with Microsoft's Bing Chat. Learn more about it in our post 4 ways Microsoft uses artificial intelligence to support teaching and learning
- AI for Education has an entire AI prompt library for educators.
Template of the Week
- Yelp Review Template from Ditch That Textbook
- April Watkins created a Virtual Field Trips choice board and then had her students write a Yelp Review after their visit. (Note: April created her own Yelp Review template to use with her students. You can create your own or use ours.)
- Lindy Hockenbary gave her students a prompt "Imagine you are an animal. What environment do you live in? Evaluate the environment that you live in by writing a Yelp review of that environment."
- Chad Miller had his students write Yelp Reviews of inventions that helped societies thrive.
- Mr. Topliff asked his students to write a Yelp Review to assess various viewpoints of key revolutions.
Next Week
- AI lesson planning
- AI for Administrators
Don't forget to join the Ditch That Textbook email newsletter at DitchThatTextbook.com/join and be sure to subscribe to the show.

189: Two words to guide your remote teaching and learning

188: Press record to give students instructions

187: A fun tip for recording remote learning videos

186: Awesome Teacher Summer #3: Google/Microsoft training
Are you a Google-using educator or a Microsoft-using educator? Both companies offer training for educators that goes WAY beyond simple support pages. Google has the Google for Education Training Center, which helps you get Google certified and provides courses for learning their products. The Microsoft Educator Center offers lots of courses on a wide variety of topics -- on Microsoft products and others. In this episode, I'll tell you all about them both.

185: Awesome Teacher Summer #2: Global EdTech Academy
Imagine a conference you could attend that had lots of really, really good presenters. Imagine they were presenting on lots of topics that really interested you. Now imagine that conference happening for free, every day, and virtually. That's the idea behind the Global EdTech Academy, a project by CUE and Microsoft. They include lots of presentations, master classes, and office hours you can attend for free. In this episode, I'll tell you all about it and where to get signed up!

184: Awesome Teacher Summer #1: EdTech tools
Summer is a great time for us to renew and recharge. But once we have, sometimes we want to level up our teaching skills. In this episode, I'll share a handful of courses you can take on edtech tools that will widen your teaching repertoire.

183: Student-created unboxing videos

182: 10 options for online whiteboards

181: A FREE remote learning online course!

180; Tech Like a PIRATE is out!

179: No-internet remote learning (part 3)

178: No-internet remote learning (part 2)

177: No-internet remote learning (part 1)

176: An app for your daily gratitude

175: What do students need from us now?

174: What to do on video calls (Part 2)

173: What to do on video calls (Part 1)

172: Step by step instructions without video

171: Recording video for slow internet speeds

170: eLearning activities: #3 video activities

169: eLearning activities: #2 creative slides ideas

168: eLearning activities: #1 graphic organizers

167: Empowering students to own learning

166: Finding game hooks to use in class

165: Creating in VR with Darcy Grimes

164: Digital bell ringer activities to kickstart class

163: 10 WEEKS of freebies for my new book!

162: 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon/connection makin'

161: Making infographics with Adobe Spark

160: Social media hooks for classroom use

159: 5 Chrome extensions to check out

158: Podcasting in the classroom with Heather Kelly

157: Promoting a solid democracy in schools

156: A good fake news self assessment

155: 5 FREE virtual field trips to check out

154: Student podcasts in Google Slides

153 Your Google Classroom secret power

152: Google Slides templates and fixing them

153: Ask this question for better results

152: Upgrade that textbook with augmented reality

151: Classroom tech: Should I use it?

150: More Google Classroom organization ideas

149: A new social media for educators

148: Bringing tech into the library

147: Flipgrid, information literacy and coaching

146: You CAN do that with Microsoft! with Scott Titmas
