🗑️ My fave 10 Slides/PPT templates

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💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

🗄 10+ “copy and assign” templates for class tomorrow

You know how great it is to find a pre-made activity template for class, right?

It’s a Google Slides or PowerPoint file (or maybe Canva or Adobe Express).

Someone else has worked really hard on it and graciously shared it.

And you find it! All you have to do is make a copy … adjust as necessary … and assign it to your students.

Ahhhh … lesson complete! ✅

We’ve been making templates like that for years and years …

… and, thankfully, we’ve collected them in one spot — and offer them for free.

That’s our Ditch That Textbook templates library, where you’ll find dozens and dozens of pre-made activity templates.

Here are some of my favorites — with suggestions on how to use them …

1. Amazon product page template

This template works wonders for an item you’re studying — a historical innovation, an element on the periodic table, even an abstract concept like altruism.

Students can describe the item in the description and give it a general star rating — even a price.

Then, they can use customer reviews to show a review that agrees with the consensus — or one that dissents.

2. Airbnb listing template

The Airbnb template is similar to the Amazon product page template — but it’s focused on a location.

This could be great for geography, for history … even for literature when studying the setting of a novel.

Students describe the location, set details like price and number of beds/baths … then they write a review for someone who has stayed there.

3. Amazon product search template

When you have multiple things to examine, the Amazon product search template can be very helpful. It looks like a page on Amazon with multiple results for a specific search.

Students can put similar — or different — items on the page and compare/contrast. Then, as this student did, they can even write a review.

It’s the best of the Amazon product page template (above) but used for multiple items at once.

4. Snapchat This or That template

This template makes for a great quick bell-ringer activity — or a change-of-pace activity in the middle of class.

Students choose between two options and explain their answer in a comment below.

It feels like the This or That filter games they can play on Snapchat with their friends.

5. Instagram Stories template

Instagram Stories — or their equivalent on other social platforms — let you tell about your day in images and short videos.

This format is great for anything with a beginning and an end — a process, a story, any sort of progression from start to finish.

Students can add images and videos, write text in the message field … even explain their responses in a text box.

6. Social media reply (Facebook) template

Posts on Facebook are intended to provide some information from one source — and let others share their replies.

This template can be a great way to show one person’s perspective or one side of things — and how others might respond to it.

It could be a controversial take on an issue you’ve been studying. It could be one version of history. It could even be someone’s decision (or indecision) in a key moment. Then, from other people’s perspectives, they chime in.

7. Amazon home page template

Amazon recommends items to us based on things we’ve purchased before. Therefore, it’s a picture of our purchasing preferences — which shows a little something about who we are.

Students can create an Amazon homepage for someone in history, a character they’re studying, a friend — even their teacher! It’s a great way to tell what they know about that person.

8. Spotify playlist template

What songs best represent a theme in something you’re studying? Or what songs would a certain person put on a playlist based on what you’ve learned?

This Spotify playlist template can be a fun way for students to show what they’ve learned in a different way.

9. Spotify Wrapped template

Spotify Wrapped is a much-anticipated report from Spotify that shows the songs and artists you listened to most — and how you rank as compared to other Spotify users.

Wrapped is a summary … and it’s a format that students can use to summarize anything. It includes pages to rank several items, statistic pages to share a significant number … even adjective pages to characterize whatever they’re studying.

10. Yelp template

How would Napoleon Bonaparte review the Palace of Versailles?

Use this template to share someone’s perspective on any place — or even someone else’s services. This could be used in business and CTE classes to share how students would like customers to review them — then they can craft a plan so they can achieve it.

More templates …

We have dozens and dozens of templates just like these in our Ditch That Textbook templates library!

💻 TECH TIP 💻

🤖 Can students cite AI? Should they?

AI is making student writing tricky. It’s even trickier when we talk about citing sources.

Teachers have cautioned students for ages to cite their sources.

But what really constitutes a good source?

(Have you ever had a student try to cite Google as a source?)

I’d argue that if Google isn’t a source, neither should ChatGPT or other AI assistants — at least not a traditional source you’d cite in a research paper.

MLA, APA and other citation sources have ways to cite these as sources. But they don’t give as much clarity on when you should cite them.

In this post, I share some things you should consider as students learn their relationship with AI assistants like ChatGPT.

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!