Spring Survival Tip #8: Ditch Those Textbooks

Here in Georgia, we have eight weeks to go until summer break. Eight. Weeks. In other words–an eternity. A text came from our principal this morning after first block, “Watch out for dress code violations!”

Tempers and attention spans shorten right along with hem lines, and if you’re anything like me, this is the most difficult time of the year. So in the spirit of spring, I’m doing a series every Monday (except for spring break :)) on tips for keeping the kids engaged and yourself sane. If you missed last week, you can check it out here.

Ready for spring survival tip #8 for teachers? This time, I'm suggesting that you ditch the textbook - if you can. If your school has access to iPads, Chromebooks, or computers, then utilize those! It's easy to make a blended classroom environment, and your students will appreciate the change. Click through to get more ideas, including how to make QR codes!

My department is fortunate enough to have an IPad Cart!

That leads us to this week:

Spring Survival Tip #8: Ditch Those Textbooks

If you can, that is. If you have access to tablets and/or smartphones, then with a bit of discernment, the internet can offer so much more than the dated textbook of one publisher, and (also with discernment) has a much better chance of engaging the students than opening the textbook to page 198.

Have students take virtual tours, analyze pictures, read primary sources, search for examples, watch tutorials, take online quizzes and surveys, study vocabulary on Quizlet….The possibilities are endless.

The ease of creating and using qr codes makes using the internet just as easy as flipping to a page. Gone are the days of laboriously typing out URLs. If you’re late to the qr code bandwagon, it’s easy and free to generate static qr codes. I tend to use qrstuff.com, but there are a ton of sites out there.

Ready for spring survival tip #8 for teachers? This time, I'm suggesting that you ditch the textbook - if you can. If your school has access to iPads, Chromebooks, or computers, then utilize those! It's easy to make a blended classroom environment, and your students will appreciate the change. Click through to get more ideas, including how to make QR codes!

Ready for spring survival tip #8 for teachers? This time, I'm suggesting that you ditch the textbook - if you can. If your school has access to iPads, Chromebooks, or computers, then utilize those! It's easy to make a blended classroom environment, and your students will appreciate the change. Click through to get more ideas, including how to make QR codes!

Click here to see the lesson my students are working on!

And so they learn (hopefully). Here, my sociology students are reading current articles. Their textbook was published in 2003, so that’s a definite benefit.

I’m constantly pinning articles, pictures, and videos to Pinterest that I want my students to analyze so that I have a lot of up-to-date information to choose from. It’s empowering not to be limited to a single source!

How do you “ditch those textbooks” in your classroom? Leave a comment below to let me know. And be sure to check back next Monday for Spring Survival Tip #7.

8 more weeks! Hang in there!

Read more about: Classroom Technology, Simple Strategies

You might also like...

Teaching during the pandemic taught us a lot. I've been reflecting on that and this series, Reclaiming Education: What to Lose and What to Keep after the Pandemic is the result of those reflections. In this post, I discuss a way to lose Cookie-Cutter Learning in favor of a workable style of Personalized Learning and the importance of keeping deadlines. Don't forget to download the templates from my free resource library to help you implement this approach!

Lose Cookie-Cutter Learning, Keep Deadlines: How to Use Personalized Learning While Maintaining Deadline Integrity

Teaching during the pandemic taught us a lot. I’ve been reflecting on that and this series, Reclaiming Education: What to Lose and What to Keep after the Pandemic is the result of those reflections. In this post, I discuss a way to lose Cookie-Cutter Learning in favor of a workable style of Personalized Learning and the importance of keeping deadlines. Don’t forget to download the templates from my free resource library to help you implement this approach!

You'll find a step-by-step process to make learning meaningful with inquiry-based lessons. The pandemic taught us many things we don't need to forget--an important lesson is to lose the breadth but keep the depth in our curriculum. Scroll through to find out how to grab the free inquiry-based templates that you can use in your classroom right away!

Lose the Breadth, Keep the Depth: How to Make Learning Meaningful with Inquiry-Based Lessons

Inquiry-based lessons have been around for a while. But hear me out–I think they’re the key to making learning meaningful for our post-pandemic students. When we were going through all of the quarantining and hybrid learning that Covid brought, I remember the anxiety the most. Change was happening so quickly. We had to twist, turn,

Are your copies limited at work? Do your students suffer from digital burnout? This post will give teachers 5 simple ways to save copies without going 100% digital.

5 Simple Ways for Teachers to Save Copies without Going 100% Digital

Struggling to get the powers that be onboard with NON-digital learning? Those copies are expensive, but sometimes you need them! Read on for 5 Simple Ways for Teachers to Save Copies without Going 100% Digital. I was sitting in a faculty meeting the other day and the principal brought up a major issue at our

GET MY NOTES!

An occasional email from me to you about what’s new in secondary education…

Teachers are
loving these
resources!

"Two words - Life Saver!!! As a teacher who has never taught economics before, and who is a little rusty on the economics concepts myself, this resource has literally saved me! It is creative, logical, and the students are really grasping the information while gaining such understanding that I often hear them transferring the new information to their everyday life."

"This is the best resource I have ever purchased! My students love it and I used it for my ACP class observation and my supervisor was just so impressed!"

"Leah provides more material than you can imagine. As well, she utilizes her experience and that of customers to make revisions which make a solid product even better -- which show up in your "My Purchases" list. Highly recommended."

"My 9th grader’s writing after one week of doing this was so much better. He has really responded to each week’s assignment. He can do it on his own which is great."

Previous

Next