Lesson Planning with Hyperdocs

* updated on 7/14/19

I love the extra time during Winter Break to catch up on reading and take advantage of digital learning opportunities.  So when I saw that Ditch that Textbook author, Matt Miller, was offering a free Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit I made sure to mark my calendar for this amazing event.  The Summit was all that I hoped it to be with an incredible line up of speakers sharing their genius.  I came away inspired and full of new ideas to try.  Sign up for the next Ditch Summit HERE!

One of the digital sessions I attended was facilitated by The Hyperdoc Handbook authors, Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis.  I've always been intrigued by Hyperdocs and this was a great opportunity to see first hand what they were all about.  The session was all that I expected it to be and more.  I gained a whole new understanding of Hyperdocs and I immediately saw the potential for integrating them in my culinary classes.

What are HyperDocs
I learned that Hyperdocs are much more than Google docs with links. They are a google document that replaces the worksheet method of delivering instruction allowing innovative and inquiry based learning methods.  Think of them as carefully crafted digital lesson plans that allow for the creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and connecting that is so important for 21st century learning. I realized that Hyperdocs are a way to make lesson plans come to life by making them visually appealing and engaging for students. I was able to see the possibilities for creating an organized workflow for my students that would meld beautifully with Google Classroom. Even better, I saw the potential for more streamlined collaboration and increased critical thinking when creating and engaging with technology in my project-based, gamified culinary classroom.

Resources Galore 
Through this session I discovered the Hyperdocs.co site to be an amazing resource with templates, tutorials, how-to's, samples, tools, and more.  In addition, there is a vast collection of hyperdocs created by Teachers Gives Teachers that will get you started with endless inspiration and ideas.  I wasted no time in ordering the The Hyperdoc Handbook, but couldn't wait for it's arrival to start creating.

Hyperdoc Creation
There are great hyperdoc templates on Hyperdocs.co that give a starting point for teachers who want to ease into the process of creating.  I found one that I thought would work well in my Culinary 2 classes, made a copy, and then began adapting it to my lesson plan design.  Once I began creating, I immediately saw how transformational this could be for my classes.  I could personalize the Hyperdoc to meet the needs of my students, subject area, and lesson design.  I found that it packaged all of the elements that I had previously stored in separate locations in Google Classroom neatly in one document allowing for easy student access.  In doing so, it simplified my workflow in such a way that I immediately felt more organized.   Video clips, recipes, links, websites, challenges, all were packaged in a visually appealing way that would allow for optimal engagement and collaboration. I found that creating lessons in Hyperdocs was so fun and easy that I designed my own template to package my unit plan as well. 

Over the course of my Winter break, I was able to transform all of my lessons in my upcoming Cake Boss unit with Hyperdocs. As I return next week to my classroom, I am excited about my new discovery and the potential for improved workflow and organization in my classroom.  I highly encourage you to visit Hyperdocs.co and read The Hyperdoc Handbook! I will share this journey with you as I continue to explore the possibilities that Hyperdocs bring.  Stay tuned!

UPDATE!
Since I wrote this blog post a few years back I began creating all my unit and lesson plans using Hyperdoc templates! It has definitely been a game changer for me! Check out my templates for unit and lesson plans as well as additional planning pages by clicking the button below! Enjoy!

Also make sure to follow Matt Miller on Twitter and check out his amazing books: Ditch that Textbook, Ditch that Homework, and just recently released, Don't Ditch that Tech! 

Magical Planning Pages

My Cake Boss Unit Plan

Cake Boss lesson plan revised from a template on hyperdocs.co