📺 Ditch Summit: My Tech Like a Pirate session

Plus: Sessions on FigJam, Book Creator, and more!

Author

Matt Miller
December 29, 2023

Ditch Summit: My Tech Like a Pirate session

We’re getting close to the end of Ditch Summit, our FREE online conference for educators!

🗓 8 days remaining in the Ditch Summit

Remember: The Ditch Summit closes at the end of the day next Friday. After that, everything becomes unavailable until next year’s summit. That means videos, certificates of completion, notes, resources, etc.

Until then, watch everything you want.

Generate those certificates of completion.

Download or copy notes.

Make the most of these last summit days!

Inside the Ditch Summit today:

  • 📺 WATCH: Learn how to use FigJam, a digital whiteboard

  • 📺 WATCH: Learn about the Science of Reading with Book Creator

  • ☝🏼 REMINDER: Check out the video reflections (and share one!)

  • 📺 WATCH: My session on my book, Tech Like a Pirate

📺 WATCH: Learn how to use FigJam, a digital whiteboard

Lots of us got to know Jamboard, Google’s digital whiteboard, over the last few years.

The sad news: Google is closing down Jamboard soon.

The good news: FigJam, a digital whiteboard tool by Figma, is a suggested replacement. You can even port your old Jamboard files over to Figma.

The best news: FigJam has WAAAAAAAAY more features than Jamboard ever did. (It’s really what we always wished Jamboard could have been.)

In this session, Figma’s David Curran gets you up to speed on the basics of FigJam. It’s a fast-paced, fun tutorial that will give you a ton of ideas!

PS: Your school/district can deploy FigJam to all students and teachers for free! Get details and get started here.

📺 WATCH: Learn about the Science of Reading with Book Creator

There’s been LOTS of buzz lately about the Science of Reading in educator circles.

Put simply: it’s the researched best practices in explicitly teaching students how to read and write.

In this session, Book Creator Randi Ahrndt walks you through the basics of the Science of Reading.

That includes explanations of the National Reading Panel’s 5 pillars: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Even better: She shows you practical ways to use these inside Book Creator!

PS: Book Creator has a great free version you can start using right away.

PS #2: You can upgrade to a premium account with unlimited libraries, 100+ templates, and lots of extra features for just $1 per month for three months! Sign up here! 

☝🏼 REMINDER: Check out the video reflections (and share one!)

Dozens of videos have been posted to our Ditch Summit reflections page!

Just click the “View/Record Flip Videos” button on any Ditch Summit session page. (Or click this link.)

This is where you can record a video sharing what you liked best about any of our Ditch Summit sessions.

Then go watch what other educators had to share!

We’re using Microsoft Flip to record and share the videos. It’s really easy to use. If you like it, you can use it with students — totally for free!

🎁 BONUS: We’re giving away FOUR Microsoft Flip prize packs, which include stickers, socks, a stainless steel water bottle, and more. Each time you share a video, it’s an entry into our prize giveaway!

📺 WATCH: My session on my book, Tech Like a Pirate

My book, Tech Like a Pirate, was published in spring 2020 … right as the education world was trying to figure out remote learning.

Everyone was asking: “How can we keep students engaged — and loving learning — with tech?”

That’s EXACTLY what my book — and this Ditch Summit session — seek to answer.

Tech Like a Pirate is my techy follow-up book to Dave Burgess’s book Teach Like a Pirate. His book states: “Don’t just teach a lesson. Create an experience!” Tech Like a Pirate shows what that looks like using classroom technology.

In this session, I share my eight favorite ways to engage students in learning with tech.

You’ll see me doodling on the whiteboard, dressing up in costume, and showing you my favorite ways to use tech in the classroom.