👋🏼 Hey there! Karly here—social media manager and blog editor at Ditch That Textbook. I’m stepping in today while Matt takes a well-earned break and spends some time with his family!
When I’m not working behind the scenes here, I run VirtualEscapeRooms.org, where I share my love for gamified learning and help teachers bring escape room magic into the classroom—including my brand-new, screen-free printable kits. I also design many of the free ebooks we share when you subscribe, so there’s a good chance one of them is how you landed here!
In today’s Big Idea, we’re debuting a brand-new ebook: The Ultimate Back-to-School Guide, packed with activities and resources to make your first few weeks much easier to plan. We’re also diving into the ongoing debate around classroom screen time, and taking a closer look at Padlet’s Sandbox.
If you have any thoughts or reactions to this week’s newsletter, I’d love to hear them! Drop me a line anytime at [email protected].
Ready? Let’s dive in!
Inside:
🎓 Master NotebookLM with Matt!
👀 DTT Digest: 4 resources worth checking out
👥 Community: Rethinking Screens in Schools
💻 Tech Tip: Visual and interactive collaboration with Padlet Sandbox
💡 The Big Idea: The Ultimate Back-to-School Guide
😄 Smile of the day: Sorry to be that email!
👋 How we can help
🚀 Turn your textbooks into podcasts, slides, and videos in seconds!
Imagine turning a dense textbook chapter into an engaging video overview, a quick audio summary, or a complete slide deck—in just a few clicks.
Meet NotebookLM, Google’s free AI tool built for educators.
Why teachers are loving it:
100% Grounded in Your Curriculum: Upload your PDFs, docs, or scanned pages. It only uses the material you provide—no random internet hallucinations.
Endless Resource Creation: Instantly generate slides, infographics, audio overviews, and interactive study guides tailored directly to your class.
🎓 Ready to master it?
We just recently launch our new course: Getting Started with NotebookLM for Teachers.
Everything you need to go from beginner to pro is waiting inside.
And then …
PS: Group discounts are available! Just hit reply and I can provide you with a quote.
👀 DTT Digest
4 teaching resources worth checking out today
📢 CALL FOR PRESENTERS: The Complete 180 Conference — We are looking for presenters who can offer practical, immediately applicable strategies that educators can use now. Submit your presentation proposal here. Submission deadline is TOMORROW July 24, 2026.
🖥️ Join my free ScreenPal Webinar — If you had 15 minutes of student screen time and one AI tool, how would you use both to maximize learning, creativity, or engagement in your classroom? I’ll discuss that and more in my ScreenPal summit session “Make Screen Time Count: Purposeful AI and Technology for Meaningful K-12 Learning” on July 30th.
🤿 It’s almost World Snorkl Day — Join in for any or all of the 11 live sessions from 12:00–6:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM–3:00 PM PT.
🤖🏰 Teaching AI and Disneyland? — Tech coach Stevie Frank (@steviefrank23) learned a trick from Disneyland that every school should emulate. Curious? Watch her explain in this clip from a K-12 AI panel hosted by Brisk at ISTE.
👥 FROM THE COMMUNITY 👥
📱 Rethinking Screens in Schools
Last week Matt wrote about 5 things we need to fix about screens in schools and asked our DTT community to share their reactions. The conversation was thoughtful and engaging and is still happening now! Check out some of these responses and jump in to share your thoughts.
Ditching the "Tech Default"
"Defaulting to 'tech off' has really resonated with me... Nowadays [the default routine] might be a Chromebook. However, I see the current times as requiring students to slow down, start from a blank slate, and intentionally choose their materials."
— Tim Belmont
Letting Go of the Pressure
"I was trying to make technology fit my teaching and it just wasn't working 😔. I realized there was no reason for that. Just put them away 🤷🏼♀️. We don't HAVE to use them."
— Lisa Teston
Pencils vs. iPads
"On the first day of school, I hold up an iPad and a pencil and ask my 5th graders how they are different. I remind them they are both just tools. Some days we use one more than the other—balance is not a 50/50 split."
— Lynn Cashell
Grounding the Debate in Today’s Reality
"Balance means making sure students get both analog and tech experiences... It isn’t about equal time. Any conversation about tech use has to be grounded in what today’s classrooms actually look like, not older studies that don’t match current practice."
— Randi Neglia
Why the Word "Balance" Can Mislead
"Using the term 'balance' leads parents to think we are giving screens equal weighting (50/50) with everything else. Language matters so much—educators may appreciate the nuance, but our broader communities might not."
— Doug Napolitano-Cremin
You can join the free DTT Community to read ideas like this, connect with other educators, discuss, and share ideas of your own.
💻 TECH TIP 💻
Visual and interactive collaboration with Padlet Sandbox
Screenshot from Padlet.com/site/sandbox
Looking for a quick, interactive way to engage your students during lessons or group work? Check out Padlet Sandbox!
While traditional Padlet boards are great for bulletin-style posts, Sandbox functions as a dynamic, interactive whiteboard canvas. It’s designed to help you launch real-time collaborative activities in seconds.
At the ISTE conference Matt got a chance to catch up with Zareen from Padlet who shared some exciting things you can do with Sandbox. You can watch that video here.
Built-In Activity Templates: Choose from ready-to-use templates along the bottom toolbar, including Venn diagrams, T-charts, number lines, and comic strips.
Quick Socio-Emotional Check-Ins: Easily run warm-ups and mood checks using interactive emoji stickers on a simple grid.
Cross-Curricular Uses: Great for everything from math games and literacy activities to structured story maps.
Multi-Card/Page Organization: Create multiple cards (pages) within a single Sandbox, making it easy to send different groups to work on designated pages.
The best part? Padlet Sandbox is free! You can create up to 3 Padlets (including Sandboxes) at no cost—with no credit card required.
Try it out: Head over to padlet.com, hit "+ Make", and select "Sandbox" to start creating your next interactive lesson!
💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡
📚 Our new ebook is here: The Ultimate Back-to-School Guide!
This new ebook The Ultimate Back-to-School guide is going to be part of the collection of free ebooks we offer you when you join the email newsletter.
They include:
🤖 Our AI Teacher Toolkit
🗄️ 100 Free Templates for Teachers
🗑️ 101 ways to Practical Ways to Ditch That Textbook
📺 Teaching with Teachflix (editions 1 and 2!)
And of course, as a subscriber, you get it first!
(👨🏼🏫 Know another educator who needs this ebook in their life? Send them this link and they can grab it too!)
In this guide you’ll find a TON of practical, ready-to-use ideas for those first few weeks of school including …
Section 1: Build Community 🤝
Create a "Classroom Time Capsule" for end-of-year reflection
Set goals with the "Hopes and Dreams HyperDoc"
Design your own digital locker
Section 2: Screen-Free Ideas 🚫📱
Play "Two Truths and a Dream Wish"
Challenge teams with the "Tarp Flip" or "Paper Tower Challenge"
Decode encrypted "Caesar Cipher" secret messages
Section 3: Games & Icebreakers 🎲
Mingle and connect with "Classmate Bingo"
Host a large-group "Rock, Paper, Scissors Extreme" tournament
Turn your class roster into a "Classmate Crossword Puzzle"
Section 4: Purposeful Technology 💻
Run a "Google Classroom Scavenger Hunt"
Introduce students using Padlet or Google Slides
Create cartoon-style vector art with "Shapegrams"
Section 5: Teacher Toolbox 🧰
Grab ready-to-use "Meet the Teacher" and newsletter templates
6 AI prompts designed specifically for the first weeks of school
Map out your schedule with the "Weekly Planning Template"
… and that’s just a snapshot!
Other resources inside include:
Digital escape rooms like "Mission: School Blackout"
Speed Friending & Roll and Tell icebreakers
Classroom procedures checklists & seating chart planners
Tech refreshers and certifications for teachers
😄 Smile of the day
Sorry to be THAT gal 🤪
👋 How we can help
There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:
Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.
Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.
Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!
