Teaching Without Textbooks

Kyle PurpuraSocial StudiesLausanne Collegiate School& Qingdao International School of Shandong

Why? / Goals

• Reduce costs for parents and school systems• Increase students’ level of engagement• Better utilize and integrate technology into the

curriculum and classroom• Reduce the burden of heavy bookbags

How? / Getting Started

Know your content!• State and district standards• McRel – Mid-continent

Research for Education and Learning (http://www.mcrel.org/standards)

• Advanced Placement (http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/about.html) & International Baccalaureate(http://www.ibo.org/)

For Social Studies…• World History For Us All (

http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu)• Choices Program (

http://www.choices.edu/resources/index.php)

• Flow of History (http://www.flowofhistory.com/units)

• Hyper History (http://www.hyperhistory.com)

• World History Teachers Blog (http://worldhistoryeducatorsblog.blogspot.com)

How? / FirstClass & Weebly

FirstClass Weebly.com

Conferences in FirstClassContent conferences created for each of your classes

Content of each conferences divided

into the units you teach

Conferences in FirstClass Illustrated

Content Uploaded to FirstClass Conferences

• Weekly assignment notifications• Weekly reading/writing assignments (via pdf,

Word, or hyperlink)• Students ‘ class notes• Student work samples• Answer keys to major assessments• Maps, graphs, audio files , & video files• PPT study guides

Pitfalls of FirstClass Conferences

• Students w/o laptops (broken or forgotten)

• Still need access to any digital material you may be using that particular day

• They must either share or you must have hard copies of the material available

• Academic integrity• If you encourage

students to upload their work (I do!), there is a greater temptation for students to “borrow” each others’ work

Weebly For Educators

Embed video files and text files

Full list of specific tasks students

must complete

Separate pages for each unit

and it’s free!

Setting Up & Managing a Weebly Site

Content Uploaded to a Weebly Site

Positives• One unit/module per page• Unit goals listed on each

page• Unit assignments listed on

each page• Blog for questions &

ongoing class discussions• Video, Word, PowerPoint,

Excel files all embedded

Pitfall• No place for students to

share their work or their class notes

Other Great Tools for the Text-less Classroom

Quia.com Google Docs

Conclusions

• Goals of reducing costs, back strain, tech integration, and increased student engagement largely achieved

• Pitfalls noted above can be solved through using a combination of Weebly, FirstClass, Quia, and Google Docs

• Noticed throughout the year that a handful of struggling students needed the security and organization of a textbook – be flexible!