Ditch Summit 2019 - A Review in Sketchnotes

Aside from the excitement that December usually holds with the holidays and time off, I always look forward to Matt Miller's annual #DitchSummit.  Touted as PD on your couch, Matt assembles a great line up of guests and releases one video a day over the holidays, keeping them up until school resumes in January.  (There might be still time to sign up to receive the links to the videos - they are open until Jan. 8 2020!  Bonus - you get all past videos too!)

I not only love the learning, but I also love the time I set aside to work on my sketchnoting...a passion and skill I have built in large thanks to the Ditch Summit as I make it a priority to sketch each guest each December (see my past sketches from  2016, 2017, and 2018).  Each year I am reminded how much peace sketching brings me, and I am excited to see what new trick I will learn on my sketching app (I use the pro version of Tayasui Sketches).

Here are my sketches and my biggest takeaway from this year's summit:

(Note: you can find all my sketches from this year in this Google Drive folder)

Day 1: PBL with Real Life Community Projects with Omar López

I loved the stories Omar shared about how he asks students "What problems can we solve with what we learned" and his story about his students considering the non-human implications that "The Wall" would bring to a local national park.

Day 2: Infusing Creativity into Teaching, Learning, and Life with Austin Kleon
I have been wanting to read Kleon's books for some time.  The two lines that struck me most were that perfectionism hinders future work and that copying from one is plagiarism but copying from many is research.  Aside from the learning, I fell in love with the font on the covers of his books and as a result, I found a new personal font - as you will see moving forward I am using it all the time!!  (I also won a copy of the books in a Twitter contest so that is exciting - thanks to my son Tanner for watching the video with me - that's what clinched my win!)

Day 3: Using Your Personal Passion to Electrify Teaching with Toney JacksonToney talked about his students, many of whom have YouTube channels.  He said that when he asks them what they are creating he is often met with blank stares.  As a result, he has carved out time every week in his class to allow students to create content - digital or not.  How cool?!

Day 4: Create a Memorable Class with Techy, Pirate Teaching with Matt Miller

I am so excited to read Matt's new book - I love his stuff...each chapter reads like a mini keynote presentation and is so inspiring.  His line "If class is so forgettable, how do we expect students to remember?!" was very powerful.  I also loved the idea to invest in impact.

Day 5: Using Powerful Teaching to Remember and Thrive with Pooja Agarwal & Patrice BainThis is the second time Dr. Pooja Agarwal has been on the Ditch Summit and she encouraged viewers not to take notes but to do some retrieval practice (listen for a bit then dump out all you remember).  Full disclosure, I did not do as she asked...but I am going to try another time! Patrice also offered some great ways to use the tools in class.  

Day 6: Help Students Slay the Mic with Their Powerful Voices with Jam Gamble

She had me at "hailing from Toronto, Canada" (LOL). Jam showed such passion for authentic student voice and her reminder to check your timezone (a great metaphor for meeting students where they are) was particularly impactful.

Day 7: Don't Ditch That Tech: Differentiate Digitally with Nate and Angie Ridgway

Holy app ideas, Batman!  Angie, Nate, and Matt talked about so many tools we can use in all facets of our practice.  Iorad was one I have seen but had forgotten about - it automagically creates step by step instructions based on mouse clicks - how cool is that?

(I also love the little Elsa character I drew...she is just so cute!  In case you are wondering about my images, they do not all come from my head.  I often visit the nounproject.com for inspiration!  I almost always sketch with two screens and will copy ideas from there.  That's where I found Elsa.)

Day 8: Create and Consume Immersively with AR/VR with Jaime Donally

I know we shouldn't pick favourites, but there was something about Jaime's video that really spoke to my heart.  Firstly, she is so incredibly knowledgeable about AR/VR - she shared so many ideas and apps - but more than that she spoke with such passion and fluency you could really tell she walks the talk.

Day 9: Hands-On STEM Projects Your Students Will Love with Karon Weber & Ankur Anand

Finally, Karon and Ankur from Microsoft shared the FREE Hacking STEM projects that have been developed to support deep and meaningful STEM learning.  Much of it looked like it was out a movie but most can be done with household items.  I loved the idea of "an experience in a box" and look forward to their PD package to help teachers (like me) who were taught in a very traditional way and aren't always sure how to provide this sort of experience to students.  

So another year is done.  Thank you, Matt for the time you take to offer this great learning FREE to educators every year.