I just finished this amazing book by Matt Miller. Initially I was apprehensive about the title of the book and whether there would be application in an elementary/middle school setting. Happily I was proven wrong. There are a ton of great concepts that can apply at any level.
If you look, DITCH is an acronym which stands for Different, Innovative, Tech-laden, Creative and Hands-on. Any or all of these can apply in any classroom at any grade level.
He lays out the book in four sections. In the first section he answers the question why go digital? The last three chapters of this section hit me the most. Chapter 6 deals with reinventing education. There is no doubt in my mind that education needs a makeover, probably even a total redo. The crux of the discussion here is the move from the 19th century factory model of education to the 21st century model where we educate the students for jobs that haven't yet been created. We need to prepare them for the world they will be living in, not the world we know now. Chapter 7 talks about the fact that educators today are no longer the gatekeepers of the knowledge, the sage on the stage, rather the guide on the side. That's a real mind shift for many teachers (and parents alike). The last chapter is all about giving the kids real world skills, again not the ones of our world but the ones they will need at some point.
The next section had a ton of stuff in it and I walked away with some of the following. He references from Dave Burgess's book Teach Like a Pirate that I think is awesome and that is "Don't just teach a lesson, create an experience." That's what students want and we want, engagement! While students don't have much of a choice of whether to come to school or not, as educators we can certainly make it more engaging and tap into their passion by connecting what we teach to what they know from their world.
For so long we talked about tech being the thing that everyone had to have in the classroom for the sake of having but he makes great points by saying that "pedagogy must drive technology" and "if I'm going to use any form of technology, it must improve my students' learning experience." That makes so much more sense now, especially in light of the fact that tech is constantly changing and that there are multiple uses for much of the tech out there now. We (educators) need to be more discerning than we have been in the past. I know that it has driven my tech choices in the schools that I have served in recent years, a change from we have to buy whatever is out there and new regardless of what it is or if we know how to use it. We need to be good stewards of the money we use for technology in our schools.
In the third section, he gets into the meat of ditching your textbooks. He gives lots of great advice and examples of how it should and should not be done. Examples from his classroom bring the points home.
Finally, in the last section he spends a little time about ditching your curriculum. He acknowledges that it may not work for everyone, especially if what you teach is tied to what others teach and needs to connect in some way. He also acknowledges that district mandates may not make that possible in all areas due to what must be taught in classrooms. He does emphasize taking your time and not doing everything all at once (a theme throughout the entire book). Many times we find ourselves so excited about all the new things we read about or see at a conference or workshop, we want to do it all. He cautions against doing too much to soon. Have patience and give your students time to digest the new stuff.
This book is what I consider part of a trifecta of books that I think all need to be read together. They all complement one another very well and embody similar overlapping ideas and concepts. The other two books are Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess and Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz.
There is another book that I think complements it as well, one I have not read yet, called Pure Genius by Don Wettrick. It talks about a concept that Paul Solarz calls "Passion Time" and Don Wettrick and Matt Miller call "Genius Hour". I look forward to reading Don Wettrick's book and finding ways to apply the concepts in all four books in the school I serve. My challenge will be to take it slow and just a piece or two at a time like Matt Miller recommends.
Serving Him!
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