Raymi and Lindy wanted educators to think about two connected questions: What makes us uniquely human, and what can AI do well? Through a couple of hands-on activities, they showed how understanding the strengths of humans and AI can help us make better decisions about when to use each.

What Should We Automate?

The session began with an activity called Most Uniquely Human. Small groups received cards with words describing different abilities and characteristics. Their job was to arrange the cards along a spectrum, from what they considered most uniquely human to least uniquely human.

The conversations were interesting. Where should creativity go? What about memory, attention, communication, and emotions? Could a computer or another animal demonstrate some of these abilities, even if not in the same way a human does?

There were no right answers. The point was to examine our assumptions and consider what separates human abilities from tasks a machine can perform.

Raymi and Lindy connected the activity to a practical principle: When deciding what to automate, look first at tasks that don't depend on the things that make human relationships and experiences valuable.

Computers can be excellent at processing information, recognizing patterns, and organizing data. Automating those tasks can free people to spend more time on work that benefits from human connection, care, judgment, and collaboration.

Raymi shared an example of children who say they'd like to build a robot that could be their friend. She challenged that idea. Friendship involves more than communicating or remembering someone's favorite color. It involves human connection and the feeling of being known and understood.

The goal isn't to automate everything we possibly can. It's to consider what we gain, what we might lose, and where human involvement matters most.

That idea set the stage for the next activity.

A Bag of LEGO Bricks and a Multidimensional Problem

Each table received a bag of LEGO bricks. First, we had to organize them by color, placing similar bricks near one another. Then we added a second criterion, such as size or the number of studs. Finally, we introduced a third.

What started as a simple sorting task quickly became challenging. How do you arrange bricks so that multiple characteristics are represented at once? A brick might be similar to another in color but different in size. Which relationship should take priority? This made my brain hurt.

The activity demonstrated how difficult it can be for humans to organize information across multiple dimensions. We tend to focus on the most obvious features, and accounting for several characteristics at once takes effort.

Computers are well suited to this kind of work. They can process many numerical features and identify relationships that would be difficult for us to see.

This is where the LEGO activity connected directly to AI.

How AI Organizes Information

In AI, an embedding is a numerical representation of data that captures aspects of its content or meaning. An embedding can be represented as a vector, essentially a list of numbers. AI systems can compare these vectors to identify relationships among pieces of data.

Think of the LEGO bricks on our tables. Similar bricks were placed near one another, creating neighborhoods of similarity. Embeddings work on a related principle: data represented by similar vectors tends to be closer together in an embedding space.

Real embeddings are much more complex than our LEGO arrangements. They can contain hundreds or thousands of dimensions, and the relationships they represent aren't necessarily characteristics we could name or see. Still, the activity gave us a tangible way to picture how AI can organize information and identify patterns across many dimensions.

Raymi and Lindy then asked us to imagine we were the AI. Using descriptions of the LEGO pieces and the relationships we'd identified, we had to construct a response to a LEGO creation Lindy had made. 

Different groups made different connections. One group focused on contrasts between light and dark, while another connected its arrangement to a bridge.

We were using the data available to us to make connections and produce something that might serve as a response. That helped illustrate an important distinction: AI doesn't process language and understand the world through human experience. Generative AI models use tokens, context, and patterns learned from data to predict and produce responses.

Embeddings are one part of this larger process, not a complete explanation of how a chatbot or image generator works. But they help explain how relationships among pieces of data can contribute to a response.

AI can produce a response that sounds like understanding without understanding in the same way a human does.

What This Means for Students

These activities offered a useful way to introduce students to how AI works without requiring them to learn the mathematics behind it.

Students can experience the difficulty of sorting information across multiple dimensions, then consider how computers can do this kind of work at a scale that's difficult for humans. They can also explore how different interpretations of the same information can lead to different conclusions.

Most importantly, the activities connect a technical concept to a bigger question: What should we ask AI to do, and what should we keep for ourselves?

If AI can sort, classify, and find patterns in data, those may be reasonable tasks to automate when doing so serves a worthwhile purpose. But efficiency shouldn't be the only consideration. We also need to think about the human skills we want students to develop and the experiences we don't want technology to replace.

Raymi and Lindy tied this back to inquiry-based learning. At the Science Center of Iowa, they encourage students to ask questions such as, “What have you tried?” and “What are you trying to accomplish?” Rather than jumping in with answers, educators help students figure out what they know, what they need to know, and how they might find out.

That approach is valuable when students work with AI, too. They need to ask thoughtful questions, provide relevant context, evaluate the responses they receive, and be willing to test their assumptions. They also need opportunities to struggle, experiment, and learn from mistakes rather than having technology do all the thinking for them.

Choosing What to Keep Human

I appreciated how Raymi and Lindy connected a technical concept like embeddings to a question that matters in every classroom: What do we want people to do, and what can we reasonably ask technology to do for us?

The LEGO activity made multidimensional data organization visible. The card-sorting activity helped us consider whether that kind of work is uniquely human in the first place. Together, they illustrated why AI literacy involves more than learning how to use a chatbot.

Students need to understand what AI is good at, what its limitations are, and how to make thoughtful choices about using it. They also need to recognize the value of the human abilities we should continue to nurture.

AI can help us process information and find patterns. That doesn't mean it should replace the human experiences, relationships, and judgment that give our work meaning.

The challenge isn't to automate as much as possible. It's to use AI where it helps while protecting the things we most want to remain human.

This post was drafted by ChatGPT based on my notes and presentation transcript.

At the ITEC Fall Conference, Larissa Bailey and Aimee Peters of Pleasant Valley Community School District shared how they approached those challenges by developing AI literacy lessons for elementary, middle, and high school students. They also shared the lesson materials so other educators can adapt them for their own schools. (Find those at the end of this post.)

Their starting point was a simple question with complex answers: How can AI be used responsibly, respectfully, and safely?

Using the K–12 AI Learning Priorities as a guide, the team developed six-lesson sequences for grades 3–6, 7–8, and 9–12. The lessons introduce how AI works, explore bias and limitations, and address safety and responsible use. The older grade bands also explore topics such as academic integrity, citations, privacy, and AI's environmental impact.

Let Students See How AI Works

One of the elementary lessons uses Google's Teachable Machine to help students understand how AI learns from data.

Students draw apples and grapes, then use their drawings to train a model to recognize the fruits. After training, they test it with new drawings. Sometimes the model gets it wrong.

That creates an opportunity to investigate. What patterns did the model learn? Did it have enough examples? Would adding different drawings improve its ability to recognize the fruit?

As the presenters explained, “AI's gonna give us an answer no matter what. But if it doesn't have the right training data, we can't trust that answer.”

Rather than simply telling students that AI can make mistakes, the activity lets them experience why. It also introduces concepts such as training data, pattern recognition, and confidence in a way that makes sense to younger learners.

Explore Bias Through Real Examples

Several lessons invite students to examine AI-generated images and consider the assumptions behind them.

In one activity, students analyze generated images for bias, revise the prompts, and compare the results. A classroom image, for example, reinforced stereotypes about gender, ethnicity, and what a teacher looks like. Students discussed where those assumptions might come from and what they could do to make the images more representative.

In another discussion, students noticed that boys were repeatedly portrayed as the ones misbehaving in an image of children on a bus. Their observation led to a conversation about stereotypes and how our own experiences influence the way we see the world.

The lessons go beyond asking students to identify bias. They encourage students to question why it appears, consider how training data and prompts affect results, and recognize that changing a prompt doesn't always fix the problem.

AI Sounds Human, but It's Not Your Friend

Another important part of the curriculum is helping students distinguish AI from people.

In the elementary lessons, students explore why chatbots can sound caring or understanding even though they don't have feelings or personal experiences. They also discuss the risks of sharing private information with a chatbot or treating it as a trusted confidant.

One teacher shared a reminder she gives students: “AI sounds human, but it's not your friend. It's a tool, it's a machine.”

High school students explore how AI works through a demonstration with Sesame Voice AI. The presenters ask the chatbot about its training, how self-driving vehicles learn, and what it feels like to have a great workout. The last question is especially revealing. The chatbot can generate a plausible response, but it has never exercised.

It's a useful way to help students recognize the difference between producing a convincing answer and having actual knowledge or experience.

Make Room for Responsible Use

The later lessons shift toward how students should interact with AI. For younger students, the core guidelines are Permission, Privacy, and Respect. Older students tackle questions about verifying information, citing AI contributions, academic integrity, and the role of human judgment.

One grades 7–8 lesson, for example, uses a live Google Gemini question-and-answer activity to examine whether chatbot responses can be trusted. Students analyze the answers, consider their assumptions, and compare AI-generated information with human expertise.

The curriculum also addresses environmental costs. After students and teachers reviewed the draft lessons, they asked for more attention to AI's impact on the environment. The team revised the materials to give the topic greater emphasis.

That feedback reflects one of the team's key decisions: students should help shape the curriculum they will experience.

Test, Revise, and Adapt

The lessons went through several rounds of review. Teachers, teacher librarians, and administrators examined the initial outlines. Student focus groups and pilot classes then helped the team identify what worked and what needed revision.

At the middle school level, Aimee Peters, a seventh-grade English language arts teacher, co-taught lessons with a curriculum partner. After teaching the first class together, Peters adapted the lessons for her remaining classes throughout the day.

That process revealed something valuable. When students used an image generator to illustrate a setting from a novel, they were frustrated when the output didn't match what they imagined. Their teacher encouraged them to be more specific.

As she put it, “You're the boss.”

The exercise became a lesson in communicating clearly, refining prompts, and recognizing that AI won't automatically produce what's in your head.

Implementation also varied by grade level. Elementary and middle school teachers connected lessons to existing subjects. At the high school, the team used wellness classes to reach nearly all students, adapting lessons to fit shorter class periods and large groups.

Even though Pleasant Valley had not yet opened generative AI tools to students, the presenters believed AI literacy was important. Students were already encountering AI features in everyday technology, including Google's AI Overviews. The district wanted students to have a foundation before broader access became available.

Explore the Lessons

The curriculum is a starting point, not a finished product. The team plans to develop clearer grade-level progressions and increasingly integrate AI learning into existing subjects rather than repeating the same introductory lessons every year.

Bailey and Peters shared their materials for other educators to explore and adapt. The public folders contain lesson plans, slide decks, formative-assessment exit tickets, guided notes or one-page overviews, and teacher scripts.

• Elementary AI Literacy Lessons, Grades 3–6

• Junior High AI Literacy Lessons, Grades 7–8

• High School AI Literacy Lessons, Grades 9–12

Check out a smattering of screenshots from the lessons’ slides shows below.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Here’s a spreadsheet I made with help of AI that shows you an overview of the lessons.

The work at Pleasant Valley offers a practical example of getting AI literacy started without waiting for every policy or technology decision to be settled. Give students opportunities to explore how AI works, question what it produces, and think about the consequences of using it. Those skills will matter regardless of which AI tools students encounter next.

This post was drafted by ChatGPT based on my notes, presentation transcript, and the lesson materials.

The trick is simple: tweak the shareable link of a Google Doc, Sheet, Slide, or Drawing, and you can share it in a completely different way. You can create a clutter-free preview, make visitors create their own copy, turn a document into a PDF download, and more.

Editing Google URLs by hand works, but the exact patterns are easy to forget or mistype. So I built a tool that does it for you. Paste in a shareable Google Drive link, click the format you want, and the new link lands on your clipboard automatically.

I’m calling it Linking in Hand. 😉

I coded Linking in Hand with Claude and hosted it on Teacher Hive, my platform for creating and sharing teacher-made web apps. It’s a good example of something I’ve been enjoying lately: using AI to build a small tool that solves a very specific problem, then putting it somewhere that makes it easy to share and use.

Paste a Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Drawings link, and Linking in Hand can make these kinds of links for you:

• Preview — a clean, read-only view with no editing toolbar

• Make a Copy — sends visitors to a screen where they can make their own copy

• Copy with Comments — same as above, but keeps your existing comments in the new copy

• Template — a preview with a Use Template button, so every visitor gets a fresh copy

• PDF Viewer — opens your file’s PDF version in Google’s built-in viewer, handy for embedding

• Download PDF — a direct link that downloads the file as a PDF

• Auto-play Looping Slideshow — a self-playing, full-screen slideshow

Give Linking in Hand a try!

I’ve bookmarked Linking in Hand so I have it handy the next time I want to make a Template Link or PDF Viewer Link. (Those are the ones I always forget.)

Feel free to bookmark it for yourself, too.

Do you provide online tutoring services or are you thinking about becoming a tutor? If so, take a look at Boardous, an all-in-one platform built specifically for online tutors and tutoring organizations.

Boardous combines scheduling, video calls, collaborative whiteboards, lesson templates, messaging, billing, and lesson reports in a single tutoring platform. Instead of juggling Zoom links, shared documents, spreadsheets, and invoices, Boardous keeps everything connected in one place.

If you decide to upgrade beyond the free plan, you can save 10% on a paid Boardous plan by using my promotional code when purchasing on the website: TONY

Boardous Features for Online Tutors

Boardous includes tools designed to simplify online tutoring:

• Collaborative whiteboard

• Display and annotate PDFs with students

• Screen sharing

• Built-in calendar scheduling

• Student accounts

• Simplified, customizable toolbars

• Automated billing and lesson tracking

• Lesson templates and reusable materials

• Messaging and lesson reports

Tutors can schedule sessions, collaborate with students in real time, reuse lesson materials, and manage administrative tasks without switching between multiple apps.

Is Boardous Worth It?

If you're looking for online tutoring software that combines teaching, scheduling, communication, and billing into one platform, Boardous is worth exploring. The free plan makes it easy to get started, and the TONY promo code can save you 10% if you decide to move to a paid plan.

Whether you're an independent tutor or part of a tutoring organization, Boardous offers a streamlined way to manage and deliver online tutoring sessions.

This year, Camp Plug and Play 20.0 was held online. I presented six sessions focused on helping teachers upgrade their lessons and units through creative uses of technology.

One of those creative uses is having AI help me write recap articles about each presentation. Click a title below to read a session recap. Whether you attended or not, they're a great way to explore the ideas we covered.

Writing those articles myself would have taken hours. I would have needed to review presentation materials, read through hundreds of exit ticket responses, identify key takeaways, and then write each recap. Instead, I gave ChatGPT the webinar transcript and attendee feedback and asked it to create an article for K-12 teachers.

Here's the prompt I used:

Take the transcript from my webinar "Prints Charming: Preparing Printables with Canva" for Arizona K-12 Center's Camp Plug and Play 20.0 on June 3, 2026 and the exit ticket information to write a feature article about the session. Make it informative for those that didn't attend, and a great review for those that did attend. Include big ideas and tips and tricks. Write in a friendly way for K-12 teachers, including quotes from the exit tickets.

At the end of each session, I collected responses to two exit ticket questions:

• What should other teachers know about what you learned in this session?

• Complete this sentence: "I used to think ____, but now I know _____."

To generate the transcripts, I skipped Zoom's recording tools and instead recorded each session in the Notes app on my iPhone. Afterward, Apple Intelligence automatically transcribed the recording. From there, it was as simple as copying the transcript and exit ticket responses into ChatGPT.

The result was six detailed session recaps created in minutes instead of hours. More importantly, they exist. Without AI, I probably wouldn't have written them at all. I love that attendees now have these articles, along with the session handouts, as resources they can revisit long after Camp Plug and Play ends.

In my Digital Snacks: Breaks for Students’ Brains presentation, I explain that there are plenty of good reasons to give students brain breaks. Quick pauses in learning can ease stress, reduce cognitive overload, break up monotony, and build social connections. These short mental recesses give students a chance to reset so they can refocus and re-engage.

I’ve been curating my Digital Snacks collection for a few years now. To earn a spot as a digital snack, an activity must be:

• Free

• Browser-based

• No login for students

• Low prep

Digital Snacks are sorted into categories: Relaxing, Cognitive, Physical, Creative, Sensory, Social, and Humor. Each category includes online activities and YouTube videos.

Everything is organized on a Padlet with voting reactions turned on. Please give a 👍 to your favorites—and if a snack’s a flop, go ahead and give it a 👎. The lists are sorted by rating, so the best ones rise to the top.

This list has been a lifesaver when I’ve stepped in as a substitute teacher. It’s made it so easy to give students meaningful breaks that keep the day running smoothly.

Destiny Wagner, Chief Education Nerd at EdTech Nerds, attended my Digital Snacks presentation at GaETC 2025. Afterwards, she was kind enough to share the slides from her presentation, Calm the Chaos: Brain Breaks that Work. It’s full of great ideas!

Thanks to Destiny, I added several new digital snacks to my Padlet.

• Blob Beats
  A rhythm game from Google Arts and Culture where you hit notes in time to remixed classical music.

• Patatap
  Tap keys or click the screen to trigger sounds and matching animations.

• Body Synth
  Use your webcam to make music through body movements.

• Radio Garden
  Spin the globe and tune in to live radio stations from any location.

• Hopper the Penguin
  Drop a dancing penguin anywhere on Google Maps.

• Cat Bounce
  Click and drag to bounce cats around the screen.

• Drench
  Use the color buttons to flood the board. Turn the entire screen one color in fewer than 30 moves.

• Scrobbly
  Draw a character and watch it mirror your movements using your computer’s webcam.

• Jackson Pollock
  Drag your mouse to create splatter art. Click to change colors.

• Online Spiralgraph
  Choose gears, adjust settings, and generate colorful spirograph designs.

• Fridge Poem
  Drag and arrange virtual word magnets to build poems or fun phrases.

• Explore Live Webcams
  Watch live animal and nature cameras from around the world.

Try it out. Click this link and you’ll see the prompt already typed into Gemini’s prompt bar and Guided Learning mode is activated. Students can edit, add to, or refine the prompt before submitting.

Once the prompt is submitted, Guided Learning steps in and walks the learner through the topic with explanations, examples, and follow up questions.

Imagine using this trick to jumpstart the process of studying, reviewing, reflecting, or building background knowledge.

How do you build a URL that does this?

First, start with:

https://gemini.google.com/guided-learning?query=

Then add your prompt directly after the equals sign. I know it’s weird to include spaces in a URL, but each space will be converted to %20 in the browser’s address bar. So a completed link looks like:

https://gemini.google.com/guided-learning?query=Explain how compound interest works using easy examples.

It will change to this in the browser:

https://gemini.google.com/guided-learning?query=Explain%20how%20compound%20interest%20works%20using%20easy%20examples.

My example doesn’t include a grade level, but when you use this with students, adding the grade level to the prompt helps Gemini tailor the response.

Most of the time, I’d probably make a Gem for students rather than rely on long URLs, but this is a handy option when you want a quick way to get prompting started without setting up a full Gem.

If you’re not into “hacking” URLs, you can use this vibe-coded tool: Gemini Chat Starter. Just enter the prompt you’d like pre-filled and then click the Copy button. Easy!

What about ChatGPT?

While ChatGPT has a Study and Learn mode that is similar to Gemini’s Guided Learning, it does not support preloading a prompt through the URL.

You can still have a regular ChatGPT chat open with your prompt already typed in by adding it directly after the equals sign:

https://chat.openai.com/?q=

When someone follows your link, the message box is already filled with your prompt, and they can edit or add to it before submitting. Give this ChatGPT link a try.

Teachers are always looking for ways to make review time more interactive and engaging. One tool that consistently lights up classrooms is Factile, a Jeopardy game maker that turns lessons into a lively game show experience.

Factile helps teachers review content in a way that gets every student involved. And now, Factile has rolled out new features that make the whole game-show experience more engaging and easier to use.

Here are a few classroom favorites:

🔔 Buzz-In Shuffle

In buzzer mode, the same team can sometimes dominate. Factile’s new Buzz-In Sequence Randomizer changes that! With one click, you can shuffle the order of who buzzed in, keeping the game fair, exciting, and giving every student a chance to shine.

📄 Jeopardy Games from PDFs

Got a reading passage, unit guide, or worksheet in PDF form? Upload it, and Factile’s AI (called AutoGen) will generate questions and answers straight from your material. You can even select specific pages, perfect for comprehension checks or targeted practice.

✏️ Redesigned Game Builder

Creating custom Jeopardy games is now easier than ever. The new edit page has been completely redesigned with a fresh, intuitive layout, making it simple to fill in questions and answers, organize categories, and build engaging review games.

🤖 Smarter AI with GPT-4.1

AutoGen now runs on OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 model. That means clearer, more accurate, and grade-appropriate questions, saving teachers valuable prep time.

You can try Factile for free today. Every new account includes 500 free AutoGen tokens to test the AI feature, and there’s a 7-day no-hassle refund policy on paid plans.

Privacy note: Factile protects all district, school, teacher, and student data. Data is never for sale, never used to train AI, and always kept secure. Factile complies with FERPA, COPPA, GDPR, and state privacy laws.

Over the summer I’ve led quite a few AI workshops and trainings. The tool teachers consistently respond to and often call their favorite is Brisk Teaching.

Brisk offers a browser extension for Chrome and Edge that streamlines many AI tasks by working with whatever is open in your tab. One of my favorite features is the ability to generate a Google Forms quiz directly from a YouTube video.

Brisk Teaching has 6 core tools:

• Create instructional materials such as podcasts, quizzes, slide presentations, and more.

• Give Feedback on student work, tailored to your rubric or focus.

• Inspect Writing with a step-by-step playback of a student’s revision history.

• Change Level of any online text or PDF and translate to 58+ languages.

• Brisk Boost transforms any online resource into an AI-powered chat experience.

• Brisk Next serves as a central hub for insights, resources, activity management, and next instructional moves.

Brisk Next is the newest addition, and it’s your one-stop AI hub on the web for teaching. You can find your recent work, view student learning insights, generate multiple resources, and manage activities —all in one place. It even provides personalized recommendations based on your classroom needs and standards. Think of it like a teacher’s For You page! You can access Brisk Next anytime by heading to app.briskteaching.com or clicking the Home button in the Brisk menu.

If you’re new to Brisk, Brisk Bites are short video tutorials that help you learn the platform quickly. A recent Brisk Bite shows off Brisk Next: watch on YouTube.

Brisk’s Forever Free plan gives you access to 30+ AI tools. Premium access, available through Schools & Districts, adds features like unlimited use, images in Google Slides, advanced student insights, and turbo AI.

Most teachers begin with 14 days of Premium access, but you can extend that to 3 months free with my link:
brisk-teaching.com/tony-vincent.

Privacy note: Brisk protects all district, school, teacher, and student data. Data is never for sale, never used to train AI, and always kept secure. Brisk Teaching complies with FERPA, COPPA, GDPR, and state privacy laws.

• Canva: The Canva AI presentation maker is especially popular with teachers because it is built right into the Canva dashboard. Just choose Design for me and type in your topic. Canva AI will generate a slideshow with layouts, text, and images you can edit right away. Since many schools already use Canva, this option makes it easy to create a polished deck without starting from scratch.

• Brisk Teaching: A Chrome extension that instantly builds a Google Slides presentation from the page you are viewing.

• Prezi: Instead of linear slides, Prezi AI generates a zoomable presentation on an open canvas.

• PowerPoint: Microsoft Copilot designs presentations from your prompt and can pull content from your files.

• NotebookLM: Add sources and NotebookLM produces a narrated video overview, which is more of a video slideshow than a slide deck.

Out of all of these, Gamma often produces the most polished presentations.

Why Teachers Like Gamma

Gamma makes creating a presentation quick and easy. You can:

• Upload a PDF and let Gamma turn it into slides.

• Describe your presentation topic, and Gamma will generate an outline you can edit before it creates the full slideshow.

It is fun to watch the AI presentation generator in action as it types out the slides. Once the deck is ready, the Gamma editor lets you tweak text, adjust layouts, and replace visuals. Since AI does not always pick the perfect images, I like how simple it is to swap icons, illustrations, and photos.

Gamma also gives you flexible ways to share and use your work:

• Invite collaborators

• Share with a web link or embed code

• Export as PDF, PowerPoint, Google Slides, or PNG images

For a test, I asked Gamma to build a presentation called Deep Dive into Prompting an AI Chatbot. I gave it a water theme and asked it to start simple with the RAFT approach before diving deeper. The first draft was solid and ready for me to refine.

More Than Slides

Gamma is not only an AI slideshow maker. It can also create webpages, documents, and social media posts.

Pricing and Credits

• Signing up for Gamma gives you 400 free credits. A typical AI presentation uses about 40 credits.

• With Gamma Plus ($8/month or $96/year) you get unlimited AI presentations and up to 20 slides per deck.

• If you sign up through my affiliate link, I receive a small referral fee. 😉

Final Thoughts

I actually do not rely on AI to design my own presentations and keynotes. My style is big text, simple visuals, and slides that act as visual aids rather than complete handouts. Creating my own slides helps me think through a topic and refine my ideas. My presentations would not be as good if I relied on AI to generate them.

That said, Gamma is one of the best AI slideshow generators for teachers who need a quick slideshow, a starting point, or a spark of inspiration. For quick decks and fresh ideas, Gamma is worth a try. And if you like it, upgrading to Gamma Plus is reasonably priced.

I imported this blog post into Gamma and embedded the initial slide deck below. All I had to do was paste in the blog post’s URL, and Gamma handled the rest!

Think-Pair-Share pushes participation even further. A 2021 study found that adding a pairing step before sharing increased hand-raising and overall engagement compared to whole-class questioning (ScienceDirect).

Recently I was in a session with Dr. Carol Lippert, who described Think-Pair-Share as covert and overt. I instantly liked the word covert. “Think covertly” feels more engaging than “think silently” or “think by yourself.”

Students can picture themselves on a secret mission, holding onto their ideas until it is time to reveal them. First comes the covert thinking. Then comes the overt sharing.

Here’s a short description of the session:

Want to make your lessons more engaging without a ton of prep? Tony Vincent shares practical, research-backed ways to spark curiosity and boost motivation for any lesson. You’ll explore how surprise, anticipation, and prediction can help students stay focused and excited to learn. Along the way, you’ll get hands-on with FigJam templates that turn these ideas into easy, interactive activities. From silly warmups to mystery reveals, you’ll leave with ready-to-use resources that bring brain-friendly strategies to life.

I set up my tripod and recorded the presentation. Although I wore a wireless microphone, the Expo Hall’s hustle and bustle made it hard to hear my voice clearly. I uploaded the video to Adobe’s Enhance Speech v2 tool, which uses AI to isolate and boost spoken audio.

Check out the 23-minute video, the FigJam file I used during my presentation, and Figma for Education’s amazing collection of templates.

Manuel S. Herrera captured my presentation in this cute and colorful sketchnote summary.

You can try to prompt the AI to sound more casual or creative, but the next time it writes, it tends to slip back into its default style.

I put together a graphic that highlights some of the common signs of AI-generated text.

Just because a piece of writing has a few of these traits doesn’t mean it was written by AI. And on the flip side, AI can write in ways that feel surprisingly human. It depends on how it’s prompted, how much it’s edited, and a bit of luck.

Quizizz sent me a piñata with their new name hidden inside. Watch as I smash it open in slow motion.

I definitely had too much fun filming this!

Quizizz is more than just quizzes. That is one of the reasons for the name change. I started using Quizizz about 10 years ago, not long after it launched. I remember Skyping with one of the founders and being impressed by how responsive the company was to teacher feedback.

I used Quizizz regularly during the 2018–2019 school year when I was in the classroom, but I have not followed every update since then. Now the platform includes a wide range of features. I recently completed their certification activity, and it was a great way to get caught up. It introduces the basics, quiz design, lesson and live modes, AI tools, real-time and post-quiz analytics, and more.

The certification takes less than an hour. If you have time, I highly recommend completing it.

AI chatbots are continually being updated and tweaked. Last month OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, faced criticism after an update caused the chatbot to become excessively agreeable and flattering. This “sycophantic” behavior was intended to improve GPT-4o, but it led to over-the-top praise. ChatGPT would agree with the user, even when the human entered incorrect or irrational information into the chat.

OpenAI rolled back the GPT-4o update, making ChatGPT less sycophantic. However, bias toward human input remains an issue. Chatbots don’t tend to push back on the user, opting to dutifully agree with the human.

Depending on the task, it might be a good idea to ask an AI chatbot to push your thinking. To avoid the trap of an overly agreeable chatbot, ask it to challenge, reframe, and critique your ideas.

Push Your Thinking with AI

Refine

Strengthen your thinking by adding clarity, depth, and impact.

• What’s missing that would make it stronger?
  Identifies gaps and areas that need more support.

• How could this be made more inclusive?
  Ensures more people feel represented and considered.

• What assumptions are being made here?
  Helps surface bias and hidden premises.

Reframe

Explore new angles and make your ideas clearer and more relevant.

• What’s another way to frame this?
  Helps you look at your idea from a different perspective.

• How can this be made more relevant?
  Connects the idea more closely to your audience or purpose.

• How could this better capture attention or spark interest?
  Improves engagement by making the idea more appealing.

Reexamine

Test your thinking by finding weak spots, risks, or blind spots.

• Find flaws in this.
  Helps improve the idea by identifying what doesn’t work.

• What would an expert disagree with and why?
  Encourages deeper reasoning and anticipates pushback.

• What might be misunderstood or misinterpreted?
  Helps you clarify confusing parts or misleading wording.

• How could this idea backfire?
  Reveals potential risks or unintended consequences.

I made a poster with 10 ways you can invite a chatbot to stretch your thinking and strengthen your ideas. You’re welcome to download it as a PDF.

ChatGPT can remember details about your writing style, work, and projects from past conversations. If memory is turned on (under Settings → Personalization), it keeps track of what you’ve shared so you don’t have to repeat yourself. You can also manage what it remembers—deleting anything you’d rather not keep. Under Personalization, you can add custom instructions, or you can simply tell ChatGPT what you want it to remember.

Since ChatGPT can pull from past interactions, I decided to ask it something interesting:

"Everyone in the world is best at something. Given all that you know about me, what am I best at?"

I saw this prompt suggested on TikTok, and I was curious to see what ChatGPT would say. Its response made me smile:

“You’re best at making technology feel approachable and exciting for educators. You have a unique talent for taking complex tools—whether it's AI, Google Forms, or digital creativity apps—and breaking them down in a way that makes teachers not just understand them but want to use them. Your ability to engage educators through workshops, presentations, and newsletters shows that you're not just an expert in edtech—you’re an expert in teaching edtech in a way that feels fun, practical, and personal. Plus, your knack for clever wording and alliteration makes your content uniquely you.”

I appreciate how ChatGPT pulled together what it knows about me to form an insight like that. But I didn’t stop there—I tried a few more prompts to see what else it could reflect back at me:

• “Based on what you know about me, tell me something that I may not know about myself.”
  This response was similar to the “What am I best at?” answer, reinforcing my strengths in making tech approachable.

• “Based on the writing I’ve submitted to you, explain my writing style.”
  ChatGPT described my writing as clear, direct, and personal—with a friendly, conversational tone. It also pointed out my love for alliteration and clever phrasing.

• “Given all that you know about me, roast me. Don’t hold back.”
  Now this one? Ouch—but in a fun way. ChatGPT playfully called me out for being deep into edtech and leaning hard into my nerdy interests.

• “If I had a personal motto, what do you think it would be?”
  ChatGPT instantly generated: “Create, innovate, and educate—with a smile.”

• “What’s something I seem to avoid or not talk about much?”
  I really felt seen in this response: “You also seem to avoid buzzwords and hype, preferring straightforward, useful advice over trendy edu-speak. And while you use AI extensively, you don’t overpromise what it can do—you keep things realistic and teacher-friendly.”

If you’ve got a great prompt that taps into ChatGPT’s memory, drop it in the comments. Based on everything you know about me, you know I love discovering new ideas!

Kids have stories to tell—big ones, small ones, funny ones, and deeply personal ones. Be An Author Month is all about giving students the tools, time, and confidence to turn those stories into something real—something they can share.

That’s why I’m partnering with Book Creator to help spread the word and provide resources that make student publishing easy and exciting. March is already packed with literacy celebrations, from National Reading Month to Listening Awareness Month, making it the perfect time to help students find their voices. And what better way to do that than by becoming authors?

Why Authorship Matters

Turning ideas into something tangible gives students a sense of accomplishment. When students know their words will be read by others—whether it’s classmates, families, or the world—they rise to the challenge. Writing suddenly feels more real, more important, and more exciting.

And here’s the thing: stories don’t have to be told with just words. Some students might prefer to draw, record audio, make videos, or even code their ideas into an interactive experience. The goal is to give them space to express themselves in ways that feel meaningful.

Tell Your Story Competition

Book Creator is hosting a writing competition with three categories: Elementary, Middle, and High School. A winner will be selected from each, with entries judged on originality, design, communication, and literacy skills. And yes, there are prizes—including a class pizza party!

• 📅 Competition Dates: March 5 – April 5, 2025

• 📖 Entry Requirements: 5–30 pages, created in Book Creator

But you don’t have to wait for the competition to open to get started! Book Creator is providing a Teacher Guidebook, student workbooks, and story templates. The screenshot below is from the Tell Your Story Workbook for Grades K-5, which takes students through the writing process—including collecting peer feedback.

More Ways to Inspire Young Authors

Beyond the contest, Book Creator is offering:

• 🎤 Webinars for teachers on using digital tools for storytelling

• 📚 The "Authors Studio" webinar, where students hear from real authors

• 📝 A daily writing journal with prompts for every day in March

Get Started with Be An Author Month

Ready to help students tell their stories? Head over to Book Creator’s Be An Author resource hub and start exploring!

Book Creator gives teachers one library with up to 40 books, accessible by an unlimited number of students. Premium subscribers can create unlimited libraries, store up to 1,000 books, use real-time collaboration tools, and access premium apps.

Did you know you can use Canva presentations without an internet connection? It’s a lifesaver when Wi-Fi isn’t cooperating. Here’s how to enable offline access:

1. While you have an internet connection, go to your Canva homepage and find your presentation.

2. Click the More (•••) icon on the presentation’s thumbnail.

3. Select "Enable offline presenting" and confirm by clicking Continue.

Once enabled, your presentation will appear on your homepage, saved to your device and ready to open, even without internet. Note that embedded media, like YouTube videos, will not work without an internet connection.

Enhance Presentations with Live Drawing

Canva recently added a Draw on Page tool in presentation mode. Clicking the tool brings up five options: a thin marker, thick marker, highlighter, eraser, and color picker. Simply select a tool, choose a color, and start drawing.

It’s easiest to draw with your finger or a stylus, but if you’re using a non-touchscreen device, you can still draw with a mouse or trackpad.

Your drawings stay on each slide as long as you remain in presentation mode. You can move between slides, and your annotations will remain. However, once you exit, they are gone forever. If you want to keep your drawings, you'll need to take a screenshot before leaving presentation mode.

Ways Teachers Can Use the Draw on Page Tool

• 📝 Annotating diagrams, charts, and pictures – Label parts of a plant, highlight trends in data, or mark up an image for discussion.

• 📍 Highlighting key points – Emphasize important terms, main ideas, or student contributions.

• 🔢 Solving math problems – Work through equations, show step-by-step solutions, or demonstrate number patterns.

• ✅ Marking off completed tasks – Check off steps in a lesson, cross out completed objectives, or track progress.

• 🗺️ Labeling maps – Identify countries, states, landforms, or historical locations.

• ✏️ Filling in blanks as you present – Add missing words, numbers, or responses during live instruction.

By enabling offline access and using the Draw on Page tool, you can make your Canva presentations more flexible and interactive—whether you're online or off.

You can search for SVGs on websites like Pixabay and FreeSVG.org, both of which offer free vector image downloads. The Noun Project is another great source for SVGs, and their images can be used for free with proper attribution.

SVG images can be inserted into PowerPoint, Keynote, and Canva. However, Google Slides does not support direct SVG uploads and will return an error if you try.

I enjoy using SVGs in my documents because I can easily change their colors to match my design.

Editing SVGs in PowerPoint: After inserting an SVG into a PowerPoint slide, click the "Convert to Shape" button under the Graphic Format tab. Once converted, you can click individual shapes within the image to change their fill color. Since SVGs are often grouped, you may need to ungroup or double-click to select specific shapes.

Editing SVGs in Keynote (Mac): After adding an SVG to a slide, right-click the image and select "Break Apart." Then, right-click again and choose "Ungroup." This allows you to select individual shapes within the image.

Editing SVGs in Keynote (iPad): After inserting an SVG, tap the Format menu and, under the Arrange tab, tap "Break Apart." Then, tap "Ungroup." You can now select individual shapes within the image and adjust their colors in the Style tab of the Format panel. Be aware that some SVGs with many components may not break apart completely in Keynote.

Editing SVGs in Canva: When you add an SVG to a Canva design, the image’s colors appear as swatches in the top toolbar. Clicking a swatch opens the Color side panel, where you can change the color. However, some complex SVGs with multiple colors may not be editable in Canva and no color swatches will appear.

Workaround for SVGs in Google Slides: Although Google Slides doesn’t support direct SVG uploads, you can use a workaround. Follow the steps for editing SVGs in PowerPoint or Keynote, ensuring you convert them to shapes or break them apart. Save the presentation as a PPTX file and upload it to Google Drive. When opened in Google Slides, the SVG will remain editable.

SVG images not only display crisp and clear, but they also allow for easy color adjustments to fit your design. I use this feature frequently with QR codes. I generate QR codes at goqr.me and download them as SVGs. When I insert them into my presentation, I can adjust the foreground and background colors directly in the app I’m using instead of generating a new image.

I saw a physical puzzle with pieces that look like the letters Y , E, and S. The puzzle is available as a 3D printer file. The pieces can be arranged to form a shape that is symmetrical.

It’s somewhat easy to form a shape that is symmetrical using the Y and E since those shapes already have lines of symmetry.

I recreated the puzzle in Google Slides and PowerPoint. The first two slides introduce the puzzle, and the puzzle with movable pieces is on Slide 3.

Here are the instructions:

• Arrange the Y, E, and S pieces in a way that has a line of symmetry running through it horizontally or vertically.

• Each of the 3 pieces must be touching another piece with no overlaps.

• Rotate pieces by 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees.

• Do not resize and do not duplicate any pieces.

• After you think you’ve solved the puzzle, draw a blue line over your shape to show the line of symmetry.

The solution is on Slide 4 and can be revealed by deleting the rectangle that covers the answer. Teachers may want to delete Slide 4 before sending a copy to their students to control when the solution is revealed to the class.