🧠 My Ditch That Textbook Guest Post (Ten Ways Pictures Boost Learning)
How did I end up on Ditch That Textbook?
My Guest Post
If you haven’t heard, I was recently published on the Matt Miller’s blog, DitchThatTextbook. How did this happen?
I ran into Matt this summer at the IGNITE Lafayette conference and he later offered a guest post. So maybe there's not much of a story.
So what did my post argue?
This post featured ten applications of Dual Coding Theory (DCT), which has caught my interest lately. Again quoting from Caviglioli, I describe ten classroom applications of DCT. You'll need to read my full post, but I'll mention them below.
I’ll name them in rapid fire fashion:
1. Add Pictures to Text
2. Avoid Distracting Pictures
3. Depict Steps in Processes
4. Narrate Images
5. Use Icons
6. Draw Your Ideas
7. Convert Notes to Organizers
8. Trace Your Organizers
9. Create Mental Images
10. Simplify Presentations
11. Avoid busy classroom decorations
If you've missed my earlier posts, check them out below:
New to the Blog?
So what is this blog about? Beyond wanting to write for the sake of writing, beyond writing to post conference materials, this blog begins with a simple observation: the most important opinions in education never come from teachers.
As I've previously reported, some major news outlets would do anything possible to avoid interviewing teachers, even about their mass exodus from the classroom. Check out my post “CBS won’t interview teachers about teacher shortage.”
What else do I write? As I described in my post, “Fall Syllabus,” I'll be presenting at two conferences this fall. My talk, "Help! I don't know how to teach writing!" will counter myths and misconceptions about teaching writing.
But as well as that talk goes, it always feels incomplete. After telling folks teaching writing is easier than they think, they want hands-on how-to’s. So at some point this fall, I'll talk about my working follow up project, which I hope to serialize over Substack. It will eventually connect in a full table of contents with voiceovers.
In the meantime, I have a number of writing and DCT related posts waiting to be finished:
Improving Writing thorough Drawing
Improving Comprehension through Imagination
Why I Ditched Slides for Infographics
"Help! I can't teach writing!" (as a podcast?)
But for more, check out my recent post, Fall Syllabus.
📚 What other things do I post? Here are a few favorites:
📱 When something doesn't fit the blog, I have a side blog called Happy Casserole. While the secondary blog is still new, here are some highlights so far:
In the meantime, hit the subscribe button so you won't miss any of the great things I have planned for this fall and beyond!
