From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Welcome to today's episode, where I will bridge the gap between AI in my classroom and your ears! If you've been following my blog, you know I want to bring practical, innovative teaching strategies to life. But today, I'm doing things a bit differently on the show for an extended episode with me, your host, Vicki Davis.

I'll guide you through how I use AI in my classes. I teach eighth grade through an AP Class with seniors, and we're finding amazing ways to use AI, from advising us on a trip project to providing feedback on logos and user interfaces for our app-building project to testing AI tutors. It's all real and all right now. There is no theory here, just lots of learning and some bumps along the way. (Recently, a custom GPT I created started calling me Melissa, sigh. Someone explain that to me!)

And for a bit of fun, meet CAT GPT, my very own Content AI Taskhelper – a personal assistant I've created with a blend of my own educational beliefs and research-backed best practices. I have it interview me on the way to school (and sometimes back), and it helps me create content for you. I always link to it, so I'll share how I do that too.

And, since I've given two weeks off to my son, John, so he can ace his finals, I understand the frustration with AI-generated transcripts (thanks, southern accent!), so while there's o polished transcript available just yet, you can check out the auto-captions on the Cool Cat Teacher YouTube channel for a pretty good transcript. And if you need a more accurate version, don't hesitate to reach out via email — I'm committed to making my content accessible to all.

This episode is more than just a podcast; it's a glimpse into the future of education with AI. So whether you're a seasoned educator or just AI-curious, tune in, laugh along, and prepare to form your own opinions about AI. Let's continue this AI adventure together as we work to improve our classrooms and educate a successful generation for tomorrow.

This extended episode sponsored by Modern Classrooms will help me share about the pedagogical changes that can happen in schools that want to advance learning in an AGE of AI.

• Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher
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This week's sponsor: Modern Classrooms

Modern Classrooms will help you teach better today!

Modern Classrooms Project will help you bring engaging, exciting teaching to your classroom with their free online course and community. Go to coolcatteacher.com/modern right now to sign up for the Modern Classrooms essential course for free where you will learn about the strategies, research, and resources that can drive student-centered, self-directed learning in your classroom.

They can show you have to use technology to unlock deeper student relationships with your students.

So many people ask me how to respond to Artificial Intelligence and my response is always, that we need to shift our pedagogical practices into the classroom to the time-tested research-based best practices. That is what you get with Modern Classrooms so go to coolcatteacher.com/modern today and sign up. You’ll be glad you did.

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This week's guest

Me! Today I'm talking about how I'm using AI in my classroom.

Notes

Coloring Book Hero GPT

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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The post Lessons from My Classroom: What Works, What Doesn’t and What I’m Doing Now appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

I do get pretty angry as I go on forums about Artificial Intelligence in Education. It seems often that the attitude is one of “gotcha” in terms of “catching” students using AI to “give them the answers.”

The problem with this is that we're missing the whole point of AI. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a tool that can help us, not replace us. I'm finding that the most powerful uses of AI in the classroom is in the form of a feedback and brainstorming tool.

Furthermore, as I add another feedback mechanism into my classroom, I find that my students are advancing and learning much faster than ever before. My ninth-grade app builders are more rapidly iterating and creating their app pages, not because AI is writing anything for them but quite the opposite. AI is helping determine what gaps they have in their organizational structure and suggests ideas that might be missing in their app from a basic structure.

Each page in their app not only requires citations of sources of information and contextual links, but I require AI feedback citations giving any chats with AI tools that gave them feedback or ideas for a page. AI (except Perplexity, perhaps) is pretty terrible at accurate content; however, it is often great at helping connect content that is already known and verified by the students.

As an educator, striking a balance between leveraging AI while still nurturing personal relationships is crucial. In this blog post, I'll continue to share my experiences in this emerging area of learning and pedagogical evolution.

Building Personal Connections Remains Essential

The day at my classroom begins with a simple routine: greeting each student at the door. This practice is more than just a warm welcome; it's a moment to gauge each student's emotional state. I've found that acknowledging students' personal lives helps create an atmosphere conducive to learning.

As I look each student in the eyes and call them by name, I notice changes from day to day. I ask how students are doing and note anything I notice. I ask about how they are doing if they have been absent or have gone on a recent trip. I welcome them back and help them get connected quickly. I've long blogged about this essential practice and in an AI environment, the human connection is even more important than ever.

AI may help with learning, but I, as the teacher, am still essential at helping students with relating. Relating to one another. Relating to me. And relating to the content at hand and connecting it to the real world. I not only help them know that the content matters, but I also help them know that they matter.

Integrating AI for Feedback and Brainstorming.

In my classroom, AI is primarily used for peer feedback and brainstorming rather than content creation. This approach ensures students engage with the material at a deeper level and develop critical thinking skills. For instance, while working on an app-building project about fly fishing, a subject I'm not an expert in, AI tools provided valuable insights that covered knowledge gaps. (I love to fish, but I am not coordinated enough to fly fish!)

That said, I make sure that valid sources of information underlie any content and assertions.

Encouraging Responsible Use of AI

To ensure the responsible use of AI, I've instituted a policy where students must hyperlink their AI interactions for attribution. This practice teaches them about the importance of proper sourcing and encourages transparency. Additionally, I constantly monitor their AI usage to guide them in effectively attributing AI as a source of peer feedback.

Coaching Students on AI Interactions

As I've often shared, AI is part of the conversation, not just a one-time prompt. However, we do not naturally know how to converse with AI tools. (Unless they just paste in a question the teacher has asked, which is, perhaps, why AI is being so misused.)

I can't tell you how many times I hear students say, “Wow, I didn't know AI could do that!” or “Really? AI can do that for me?”

Or when I teach students to get feedback but to revise their work directly (and not let AI do it), students can do like I'm doing on this post. While I prompted AI to ask me questions about the human interactions in my classroom as they relate to AI, the topic I wanted for this post, and I did have it draft blog copy, the blog copy was a starting point and not something I would dream of pasting in directly into this post. If you review my chat conversation creating this post, you can see the interview questions and my conversations with AI, but you can also see what it drafted and compare it to what I've written here. For purposes of transparency, I've been including the links to my AI chats used to create posts at the end of posts where they are used. I've written about this before!

NOTE: you'll see that I'm having some issues with my custom GPT remembering what I've programmed it do. Read about creating custom GPT's and this specific issue.

Initially, it makes sense that many students struggle with understanding how to use AI for peer review. I address this challenge by coaching them, providing sample prompts, and modeling effective AI interactions. This guidance is crucial in helping them comprehend how to treat AI feedback as a peer review tool. I also prefer that when students are working in teams that AI use voice and not just text. (I've blogged about this as well.)

Maintaining Academic Integrity

To maintain academic integrity, I emphasize the importance of original content creation. Students are encouraged to type in any content themselves and incorporate AI feedback only as a supplementary source. Furthermore, I require a certain number of sources for each app page to ensure the validity of the information.

Challenges and Solutions in AI Integration

One of the challenges in integrating AI is teaching students to differentiate between AI feedback/suggestions and authoritative sources. I address this by reserving the right to question the content, especially if there are no hyperlinks or sources. This practice not only reinforces the importance of citing sources but also encourages students to engage critically with the information they receive from AI.

I liken this to when I give students information. For example, today I was talking to some students who are building an app to help teenagers with emotional struggles about some research I had read on Instagram addiction and the impact on teenage girls. After mentioning it, I said, “but I need you to look up the research and see what you find to make sure you can verify that information. Remember, you need to cite sources.”

This is a perfect example of how AI provides feedback. It, like me, can suggest a direction for research and learning but the student should verify and read original source information. In some cases, I may provide a hyperlink, but I prefer to point students in a direction. AI often gives different comments than I do providing other diverse perspectives.

Fallibility of AI

As part of using AI in the classroom, I'm very open and frequently commenting that AI has flaws. AI can have flawed information. Just like search engines can turn up inaccurate information, and some web pages can have fact errors, how much more can AI have flaws. That said, while content can have issues, AI is very good at providing feedback and suggestions.

I found it very useful for providing student feedback about time zones in their 8th-grade travel project. It also had suggestions for many locations where I had not traveled.

Impact on Student Learning

Integrating AI in my classroom is accelerating the pace of student projects. I am seeing an enhanced ability to delve deeper into subjects and foster a more comprehensive understanding. Combining AI feedback and my personal input creates a rich learning environment where students can explore and grow.

Organic Ethical Conversations

I literally learn more everyday about this topic. Along with using AI, the ethical conversations happen daily. Just today we were learning about the new generative features in Photoshop 2024. Literally, I had students with their mouths wide open. Then, they wanted to talk about ethics, deep fake, and the use of generative tools in art. It was an organic outgrowth of using the tool. We also discussed the importance of being able to verbalize about art and art theory as well as knowing how to do it yourself.

Conclusion

In conclusion, incorporating AI in education can enhance learning experiences. As the teacher, I continue to focus on building relationships. We as educators can create a dynamic and effective learning environment by using AI as a tool for feedback and brainstorming and ensuring responsible and critical engagement with technology. However, a big part of classroom management is having positive relationships with my students. We still have to relate to educate. And when we have a strong, positive relationship, AI, under my supervision as the teacher, can be a positive tool for feedback, brainstorming, and to help accelerate learning.

I used a chat with a custom ChatGPT to support the creation of this post. Here's the link to that conversation: https://chat.openai.com/share/952305c4-1726-46a6-9101-0cef50b0a3a6

The post Navigating the AI Landscape in Education: Balancing Technology with Personal Touch appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

In this episode, we welcome Billy Krakower, a nationally recognized educator with 16 years of experience and a passion for bringing technology and creativity into the classroom. As a current STEM teacher in North New Jersey and a Google Certified Trainer, Billy focuses on implementing cutting-edge instructional design and is co-author of “connecting Your Students with the Virtual World.” 

We'll uncover practical, engaging strategies for integrating the four Cs — Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication — into your teaching. From engaging mystery location calls to the innovative use of Google Art and Culture for creative exploration, and the impactful use of AI in education, Billy shares actionable techniques to transform your classroom into a hub of global learning and collaboration. 

• Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher
• Stream by clicking here.

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This week's sponsor

Microsoft 's Free AI Course for Educators

Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools. AI is changing rapidly, and you'll want your team to take advantage of this free course from Microsoft today. Go to aka.ms/AIforEducators. I highly recommend this free AI course from Microsoft. So sign up today.

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This week's guest

Nationally recognized educator and author with 16 years of experience as an educator. Currently teaching STEM at the Middle School level in North New Jersey. Passionate about maximizing productivity, efficiency, and service quality in educational settings. Adept at building effective processes and obtaining reliable, accurate information for business decision-making. Known for leading excellent project management to meet objectives, prioritize initiatives, and multitask effectively. Experienced in designing, implementing, and delivering professional development and growth experiences for faculty in instructional technology and innovative design. Collaborate with faculty to support them in an instructional design capacity, inspiring and helping them implement engaging curricular units around instructional technology and innovation. Develop training and instructional materials for faculty to enhance their fluency with available technologies and software. Training and Founding Partner at Evolving Educators. Google Certified Trainer, ISTE Certified Educator, and 2014 ASCD Emerging Leader.

Notes

Hosts, Guests & Featured People:

Resources:

• Blog: https://www.evolvingeducators.com/
• X.com (formerly Twitter): @wkrakower
• Google Art and Culture
• Virtual field trips: Plymouth Plantation
• Virtual field trip: Pearl Harbor Museum
• Classroom Champions: Connect with Olympians
• see the interview we did with Steve Mesler, the creator of Classroom Champions

Books:

• Connecting Your Students with the Virtual World: Tools and Projects to Make Collaboration Come Alive by Billy Krakower and Jerry Blumengarten
• Getting Started with STEAM Practical Strategies for the K-8 Classroom

Transcript

 

📝🌟 This transcript is generated by Adobe Premiere Pro and fine-tuned by ChatGPT for grammatical accuracy, ensuring a comprehensive overview of this podcast episode. While every effort has been made to ensure precision, I welcome your keen eyes! Should you spot an overlooked error, don't hesitate to drop me an email or leave a comment below. Your input helps us achieve perfection. Thank you for your support and understanding! 😊 ~ Vicki

Introduction

Speaker 1 (John Davis, Producer): This is the Ten Minute Teacher podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

Virtual Classroom Collaboration with Billy Krakower

Speaker 2 (Vicki Davis): Episode 823: A Very Useful Guide to Virtual Classroom Collaboration with Billy Krakower. Today's sponsor is Microsoft Education. Stay tuned at the show's end to learn more about their artificial intelligence course for educators. Welcome, listeners, to our next podcast with my friend Billy Krakower. Another friend, Jerry Blumengarten, and I have written or updated their book, “Connecting Your Students with the Virtual World: Tools and Projects to Make Collaboration Come Alive.”

Critical Thinking in the Virtual Classroom

Speaker 2 (Vicki Davis): Billy, today we've decided to focus on how teachers can bring the forces of 21st-century skills – critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication – into our classroom. So, shall we start with critical thinking?

Speaker 3 (Billy Krakower): Let's start with critical thinking. It's one of my favorite forces, especially in our book “Connecting Your Students with the Virtual World”. In both the first and second editions, we emphasized mystery location calls. I remember discussing with you, Vicki, the importance of these calls years ago.

Speaker 3 (Billy Krakower): It started as mystery Skype and evolved into mystery location calls. The concept involves one classroom calling another. While teachers know the location, students use critical thinking and clues to determine if they're calling New Orleans, Georgia, or California, for instance. They ask questions like, “Are you east of the Mississippi River?” or “Do you border any bodies of water?” It's still a popular project, nearly 8 to 10 years later, and a fun way to engage students in the classroom.

Encouraging Creativity through Technology

Speaker 2 (Vicki Davis): And the excitement it generates is incredible. I remember connecting our fifth graders with students in Nepal, despite the time difference. Now, let's talk about creativity. How do we foster it?

Speaker 3 (Billy Krakower): Creativity, particularly through tools like Google Art and Culture, is underutilized. This platform allows students to visit different museums and art galleries worldwide. It's a free resource that sparks creativity by exposing students to artwork from places like Paris, France. I highly recommend it for all grade levels, especially when physical field trips aren't feasible.

The Importance of Artistic Knowledge in the Age of AI

Speaker 2 (Vicki Davis): With AI-generated art becoming more prevalent, understanding different art styles and periods is essential. Knowledge of these elements is vital for creating high-quality art. This project not only fosters creativity but also involves critical thinking.

Communication and Collaboration in Education

Speaker 3 (Billy Krakower): Absolutely. At a recent conference, the amount of AI art was astounding. It's important to teach students how to use AI effectively in education. One key aspect is communication. Over my 16 years of teaching, I've found that guest speakers, especially from different locations, greatly enhance communication and collaboration. For instance, connecting a veterinarian school board member with classrooms in different states was an incredible experience.

Speaker 3 (Billy Krakower): Communication and collaboration are intertwined. Sharing guest speakers across classrooms is a kind, generous, and effective educational practice.

The Power of Connection and Collaboration

Speaker 2 (Vicki Davis): That's an amazing approach. As educators, we strive to make the world better, one child at a time. Sharing speakers is a powerful way to expand students' horizons.

Speaker 3 (Billy Krakower): It's memorable for both students and speakers. For example, a veterinarian I invited years ago still recalls the experience fondly and is open to participating again.

Practical Ideas for Teacher Collaboration

Speaker 2 (Vicki Davis): As we wrap up, can you share some practical ideas from your book that teachers can easily implement?

Speaker 3 (Billy Krakower): Certainly. Our book breaks down different projects by month. For instance, connecting with the Pearl Harbor museum in Hawaii or organizing a Super Bowl connection project. These are simple, engaging ways to bring collaboration into the classroom. Additionally, with events like the Olympics, virtual interactions with athletes can be incredibly inspiring for students.

Conclusion: The Impact of Student Connection

Speaker 2 (Vicki Davis): So, Billy, as we conclude, what impact do these collaborative activities have on your students?

Speaker 3 (Billy Krakower): The energy and enthusiasm in the classroom soar. Students eagerly anticipate the next activity. Even as a STEM teacher, showing them real-world applications like Amazon's robotics fascinates them. It makes learning relevant and exciting.

Speaker 2 (Vicki Davis): That's fantastic. The book, “Connecting Your Students with the Virtual World”, is a great resource. It's about building bridges for tomorrow's society and helping students appreciate similarities and respect differences. Thank you, Billy.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post A Very Useful Guide to Virtual Classroom Collaboration appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

We educators constantly seek new ways to engage our students and enhance their learning experiences. Recently, I introduced voice interactions with ChatGPT in my classroom using a Custom GPT that I made.

(Note: If you’re new to ChatGPT, start with my blog post on What is ChatGPT? This post assumes you know a little about what ChatGPT is. Also, if you don’t know about ChatGPT Voice and how I set this up, please see Voice ChatGPT: A new Dimension in the Educators’ Toolkit)

It wasn’t intentional. This project I designed for students to show their mastery of spreadsheets. They are planning a seven-day trip with an imaginary $10,000 gift given to them upon graduation. While I’ve traveled, there are many places I have not gone to. I wanted resources I could trust with an age-appropriate suggestion of what to do in those cities (no bars or other inappropriate entertainment suggestions for eighth graders.)

I’ve also required the use of AI in this project in addition to searches, and students must link to their conversations with AI. Yet, I still felt like something was missing. So, I guess you could say I created a new resource for my students by creating a GPT. (See my blog post about how to create your own GPT.)

This tool, tailored for educational purposes, has opened up new avenues for learning and interaction in my classroom.

The Genesis of an Idea

So, to aid this process, I created a unique GPT setup, ensuring it suggested only age-appropriate activities, and made TRAVEL Assistant, which stands for:

• Teaching
• Resourceful
• Adventurous
• Values-based
• Enjoyable
• Logistical

This setup allowed my students to interact with ChatGPT by typing or speaking into my phone. The transparency of this system ensured I could monitor all interactions, aligning with classroom safety standards.

I generated a sample conversation with the TRAVEL Assistant that you can view that I shared with my students as a demo.

Overcoming the Noise Barrier

One of the initial challenges we faced was the interference of background conversations. In a bustling classroom, this can lead to confusion in voice recognition.

To address this, I demonstrated the impact of background noise by conversing with TRAVEL Assistant as one student intentionally made noise. This demo helped students understand the importance of speaking closely to the device or finding quieter spots for better communication.

Integrating ChatGPT into Learning

Incorporating Voice ChatGPT into our classroom has been more than just a technological experiment; it has been a pedagogical revelation for me.

Travel Information. For instance, in our travel project, ChatGPT's resources on global travel information greatly surpassed my knowledge, adding substantial value to the student’s research and planning.

Time Zone CalculationsThis tool excelled in assisting with complex calculations like time zone differences, offloading a significant amount of work from what I was doing as I moved around the classroom and discussed time zone differences. I intentionally programmed TRAVEL to include time zone conversations with students.

Random Questions. Sometimes, random questions are asked, and it captures those.

Accountability. Everything was captured in the chat, and I could look back over my students’ conversations with TRAVEL.

Accuracy. After students had ideas, they had to search the web for specific places and include those links in their final spreadsheets. This controlled for error. Additionally, with the transparent view into the conversation with AI and their hyperlinks, I had everything I needed to supervise student interactions and ensure accuracy from my perspective.

Student Reactions and Future Directions

Initially, students (like me) were unfamiliar with communicating in this way. It was also a tad disconcerting that the voice sounded so realistic. But we got better at it as we went along.

As we progress, I envision a future where each student might have an individual GPT under my supervision to personalize further and secure their learning experiences.

The Learning Curve

Teaching students to communicate effectively with AI has been an ongoing process. We have a long way to go. Right now, I just don’t have enough access, but look forward to the day when I will.

In Conclusion

The journey of integrating voice interactions with ChatGPT into my classroom is still in its early stages.

I’ve used it in my AP Computer Science Principles Course, which is currently evaluating the efficacy of AI-based tutoring. (Just because it says it is an AI tutor, it isn’t. Most of them start teaching you and then ask you to get out your credit card. I hope to have that post ready soon.)

I also had one group of students in my ninth-grade class take a photo of the logo they designed for their app and ask for feedback. I got a very solid answer echoing much of what I had just told students.

As we experiment, student feedback will be instrumental in shaping how I will use this technology in future projects.

As educators, we are responsible for keeping pace with technological advancements and finding innovative ways to incorporate them into our teaching methodologies. This journey with Voice-enabled ChatGPT is just one step in that direction.

I want them to be on the leading edge and to learn so much more. This tool, particularly with voice chat, is another feedback mechanism for me. I supervise it closely, as all tools and interactions should be, but this setup helps me provide a specifically created age-appropriate resource that I can monitor.

I expect that soon there will be many tools like this for us teachers to use that will be built into the lessons we assign — perhaps even as soon as next year, but if not then soon. We will tell it what kind of feedback we want it to give and program in our rubrics and set parameters, and we will fully monitor and supervise it.

How I Composed This Post

This blog post is a transparent account of my experiences and insights. For a more detailed understanding of this journey, I invite you to view the full conversation here(link to the chat).

As I shared in my blog post earlier today, I trained ChatGPT to let me converse with my voice about what was happening in my classroom. As it “interviewed” me, I had it asking me questions relating to research-based best practices (something I had programmed into my custom instructions in ChatGPT already.)

Then, I had it help me draft a blog post, which I have since tweaked and improved with my personal thoughts, additions, and word preferences.

Furthermore, those who want to dive deeper can look at the conversation and get in my own words what I said and what went into the post. This adds a fascinating aspect to providing background information on our creations. Sometimes the process of creation has some fascinating aspects, as well, and I plan to save this chat into Evernote for a resource for future writing, according to Tiago Forte's Building a Second Brain principles.

For example, imagine a child conversing with a tool like this about their classroom experience. Then, imagine a researcher taking over and having it summarize the conversations with the ability to dig deeper into what the child said. There are so many aspects that will change how we work with data, how we think, and how we create.

The simple fact that I’ve generated two blog posts so quickly is further proof that, at least for me, this tool is helping me take best practices out of my classroom and out into the world much faster.

OK, I’ve got to go to school now and have another conversation with ChatGPT about what I’ll share next with you! I’m so intrigued!

The post The Sound Of The Future: My Experience Piloting ChatGPT Voice In The Classroom appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

In my recent experiments with Voice ChatGPT during my daily commutes, I've discovered some fascinating insights and practical applications for educators. Before I dig into the nuts and bolts of this experience, here's an overview into of the journey of using this tool for drafting blog posts and planning lessons:

• First, I used the official app from OpenAI on iOS, but they have an official app for Android phones, as well.
• By explaining my blog post requirements to ChatGPT and engaging in a Q&A format, I found this a helpful way to draft content and think deeply about what I wanted to share with you. (Blog post coming, and we’ll see what you think.)
• While the tool worked well with a stable connection, issues arose when the connection was spotty, which led to lost content and the need to restart drafts.
• Using ChatGPT to “interview” me proved effective, but I learned to keep responses brief and focused.
• To avoid confusion, I plan to limit ChatGPT to one question per prompt in future sessions.
• To ensure I don’t lose generated content, I’ve realized that when I’m ready to generate content, I should type requests for compiling posts.
• When I use ChatGPT in lesson planning, ChatGPT adds valuable insights and suggestions for areas where I can add further complexity and integrate with other technology concepts I've taught. I was impressed.
• While sometimes ChatGPT jumped ahead to planning without having the details I wanted to have, I was impressed with its ability to help me draft structured outlines and suggest advanced features. It also helped me think through what I needed to plan, a big part of the planning process, even if I didn't use what I generated with ChatGPT. It felt like a thinking companion.

Now, let's dig into what I've learned from my two days with Voice ChatGPT.

What is Voice with ChatGPT?

First, I have a plus $20/month subscription to ChatGPT. If I want to use a GPT I’ve created with my voice, I make those on my computer. (See last week's post, How to Make Your Own GPT: A Step by Step Guide) However, when I go into the official ChatGPT app on my phone, I can open up all the chats and GPTs from my browser-based account.

Then, as you see in the screenshot above, these headphones are shown on any chat. This means I’m going to enter voice mode.

When I look at my ChatGPT account chats, you can see those that I created and had using my voice with the microphone icon beside them, although ChatGPT lets me go back and forth between voice and typing (and it is necessary, as you'll see later.)

In another post, I’ll write about the GPT I created for my eighth-grade students to plan their travel (with age-appropriate responses).

However, when students use that GPT, the chat goes to the left side with my other chats, but when I open the chat's, it continues using the GPT I created for this task, in this case the TRAVEL Assistant. (Basically, I pass my phone around the room so they can talk to their TRAVEL Assistant about any places I haven't been personally and can't advise them on.) IF you have a ChatGPT plus account, you can test the TRAVEL Assistant at this link.

How I Started Using Voice ChatGPT

So, the new Voice Chat GPT is incredible. I have a 35-minute drive to school and used it today to capture my experiences using Voice ChatGPT in my classroom. There are some nuances for using ChatGPT in this way to draft a blog post, and here’s what I found:

1. In the prompt to get started, explain to ChatGPT the blog post you want and how you want it to form questions to ask you. Tell it you’re going to want it to create a blog post and put it together.
2. It kept asking me questions, which was fine as long as I had a good connection.
3. I could touch my screen and continue the conversation after my connection improved again. That was great.
   

Where Voice ChatGPT Has Room for Improvement.

One time, it said the servers were too busy. That seemed to result from me giving it too long of a response.

So, as I neared the school, the connection was spotty, but I asked it to draft the post. ChatGPT got halfway through reading a somewhat decent post it compiled with my information, and then I lost connection. So, when it picked back up, I asked it to continue reading.

Oddly, it acted like it had not written anything and started again.

Then, it read me a perfect post — spot on. I liked it. But then, drat, I lost connection again. And although it read me the whole post, when I got to the school and turned off voice, I couldn’t find anything that it crafted AT ALL.

So, I asked it to write another post, but this time, I typed in my request for the post. Oh well, another somewhat mediocre post that I’ll have to work on, but still based on my classroom experiences. Then, I asked it to craft a different angle on the post based on my experiences, which was somewhat good. I’ll be able to tweak and use it.

I’ve learned quite a bit in the three or four drives I’ve been using my voice to communicate with ChatGPT.

My Evaluation of the Results.

1. The method of having ChatGPT “interview” me is GREAT.
2. I need to answer in small snippets.
3. Next time, I’ll ask ChatGPT to pose only one question to me and not two because I got lost in just answering one.
4. When I’m ready to have it compile the blog post or paper, I’m going to have to stop driving and type in my request so that I don’t lose what it writes. This is the most significant area where I have a problem using it in this way.
5. Capturing my thinking, asking me questions related to my angle (research-based best practices and practical classroom application), and the resultant output means that I’m thinking on my way to and from school.

I will post that link in the blog post I’m creating, but I have a link below for the lesson planning conversation.

Lesson Planning

So, after this first conversation, I decided to try to discuss my plans for my classroom. Here’s an outline of the conversation, which I’ve linked below.

AP Computer Science. We discussed a plan for AP Computer Science and the next four weeks in this conversation.

PhotoShop Unit for 8th Graders. Then, I moved to discuss a PhotoShop unit for my eighth graders. In this case, I want to use Photoshop’s new generative AI features, so the April 2023 update to ChatGPT’s knowledge limited it from helping me extract that. (But I fully predict it will go there.)

App Development and UX Design for 9th Graders. Then, shifting gears, I wanted to talk about the app development we’re doing in my 9th-grade class. I needed to go into some UX Experience testing and development, which helped draft a bullet-point presentation plan. Then, I wanted to think through the most common mistakes in app development, so I had it talk about common app development issues and how to plan for those proactively. I realized I needed a better structure for planning and tracking the project and ongoing feedback. So, I had it draft headings for a project tracking spreadsheet and then draft the words that go with the assignment I’ll post after the break. I will also integrate more advanced features in formatting the spreadsheet that I probably wouldn’t have considered without the suggestion from ChatGPT.

What Did I think of this experience?

• What I didn’t like: Sometimes, it jumped in to plan lessons without having details. I had to interrupt sometimes.
• It got confused about how long I had to teach and should have asked me more questions.
• I liked that I could touch the screen to interrupt or reconnect.
• Sometimes, when I interrupted it and said something was wrong, it dropped pieces of the conversation. I suspect it gives me the voice output first and then posts to the chat; I wish that were different.
• For a detailed account of my experiences and the full conversation, check out the link: Voice ChatGPT Conversation.

Where It Didn't Work At All

I tried to get Voice ChatGPT to tutor my son on trigonometry. No matter what we did, we could not get it to pause to let him calculate the answer before it responded with the answer. We'll keep working with that one!

Final Thoughts.

My experiences with Voice ChatGPT have me most excited about where this is heading. I wish I had these features several weeks ago when I was temporarily struggling with vision difficulties. Still, I can see how assistants will be created that will unleash a wave of creativity for those who struggle with visual challenges.

As I continue to explore its capabilities, I’m excited not only about its potential but its ability to help me teach better, teach more, and free up time as now the time I travel is used in active, creative thought where ideas are captured and not just forgotten when I slam the car door in the parking lot.

I’d love to hear your VoiceGPT experiences. Please share in the comments below or email me at vicki at coolcatteacher dot com. I’d love to hear from educators like me who are working on ways to use this as an incredible tool!

The post Voice ChatGPT: A New Dimension in the Educators’ Toolkit appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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Whatever your activities for November and Thanksgiving, I've got some ideas to inspire gratitude in your classroom. Use it to inspire art or just a change of heart as we help children become more grateful, joyful people.

5 Ways to Encourage Gratitude in Students

So, your students are going to create art inspired by gratitude. What if they aren’t grateful? Or, what if, the student has a hard life or has something difficult they are dealing with right now? There are many reasons that students may struggle with gratitude.

Start by defining gratitude. I like the definition of gratitude and its benefits from Psychology Today:

“Gratitude is an emotion expressing appreciation for  what one has—as opposed to, say, a consumer-oriented emphasis  on what one wants or needs—and is currently receiving a great deal of attention  as a facet of positive psychology. Gratitude is what gets poured into the glass to make it half full. Studies show that gratitude not only can be deliberately cultivated but can increase levels of well-being and happiness among those who  do cultivate it.  In addition, grateful thinking—and especially expression of it to others—is associated with increased levels of energy, optimism, and empathy.”

There are real, tangible benefits to being the kind of person who is grateful. Gratitude is worth cultivating, and that attitude permeates the thought of Thanksgiving.

To prepare for your art project, there are a couple of tangible suggestions I have for starting right now cultivating a sense of gratitude:

1. Keep a Joy Journal.

I talked about this in “9 Fine Reasons to Keep a Journal.” Research studies have shown that keeping a 5-minute day gratitude journal will increase your long term well being more than winning a million dollars in the lottery.

Talk about this with students, set a timer, and keep a joy journal every day for the next 2 weeks. Ask older students to plot their mood to see if they notice any change in their own outlook on life. When it is time to create your art, review your journal for patterns of things that bring you joy. Those are great targets for gratitude.

Benefits: This activity can have students writing, journaling, and improving their mood at the same time. You can also encourage parents to join in this activity and educate them on this.

2. Show gratitude to each other

I’ve read that it takes 7 compliments to counterbalance 1 criticism. In a recent human resources blog, I read that the highest performing teams have a ratio of 5.6 or almost 6 compliments for every negative one. (The lowest have .36 or almost 3 negative comments for every positive one.)

My children all have kept an activity from elementary school where every student gave one genuine compliment for every other student. They typed them up and put a picture of each student in front (with classmates behind) with a title like “why we’re thankful for ___ (Suzie or Johnny or insert name there.) The teacher should add one there as well.

Benefits: This activity helps students show gratitude towards each other and to intentionally say thank you and can have an impact on the whole class, particularly in helping them appreciate the strengths of each child.

3. Show gratitude to others who serve

There are so many people who do so much for kids at school. Showing gratitude to each person on staff in meaningful ways can make a difference. You can start off by asking students to give another a genuine verbal compliment and discussing the response they received.

Then, you can level up and have students write thank you notes, cards, or have them use their art as a form of recognition and thank you to those who encourage and serve them.  You can also combine this with #youmatter activities.

Benefits: The entire school begins to be reminded to be grateful for one another.

4. Show gratitude to parents and family

Students often take their caregivers for granted. Encourage students to take time to write parents a note or to list all of the things they are grateful for from their parents. Use these thoughts to inspire artwork designed to enhance the thanksgiving experience.

Benefits: strengthen the home/school connection and encourage parents to show gratitude to their children as well.

5. Plan a thank you party

Plan a thank-you party for Thanksgiving centered around saying thank you to heroes among us. Include your artwork and a time of thanks to those who do so much to help kids.

Here's a graphic you can download and use that has lines where students can write things they are thankful for as they color the page.

Benefits: Make meaning as part of your Thanksgiving party.

Plan your art project with a gratitude theme

If you’re looking for art ideas, then peruse, but remember that often kids only need the materials and time and they’ll do the rest to create the art.

Plan your art project around the theme of gratitude

With a basis of understanding gratitude and the types of things they are grateful for, you'll need to prepare for an art project. There are two places I recommend for your planning.

• See 101 Ways to Paint without a brush from Child Central Station for some cool ideas. (I also like their Art Station ideas.)
• Look for ideas on Pinterest. Pinterest is a great place to turn. I like the Thanksgiving Arts & Crafts board of RedSeaCoral and the search “Thanksgiving Art Ideas for Kids” is also a great search. I also think that Amy on Pinterest has some cool ideas.

Resources for Parents and Grandparents

If you're a parent or grandparent and want your grandchild to celebrate with an art project, I recommend that you link up with 247 moms.

Read:

• How to Create that Art Spark in Your Kid
• Sibling Bonding through Art
• You should consider joining the 180,000+ parents linking up on 247 Mom's Facebook page as they talk about how to foster creativity and more. Very cool network for parents.

Note: This was first created to promote Everyartist.me,; now that domain name is no longer run by the original company. For the safety of my readers, I've updated this post and removed references to the non-profit that is no longer operating.

The post 5 Ways to Teach Gratitude in Your Classroom appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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As I listened to the keynote by Sam Altman of OpenAI, they unveiled some amazing things three days a go, one of which is the ability to make your own GPT. So I did. Did what? I made DIVAA, the Digital Interactive Virtual AP Assistant to help my AP Computer Science Principles with Python and AP Content. Their assignment this week is to test it (“break it” I told them) and to get back with me before going on break next week! In this post, I'll share a little about how it works. And before I share the link with you, my students need the chance to test it first.

Additionally, I have a “refer a friend” feature and will give my students a free trial of it so we can see what we think.

What Is Changing in ChatGPT? Watch the keynote.

In addition to announcing GPT4 Turbo and an easier way to interact with plugins, as well as updating data to April 2023, Sam Altman also announced that any of us can make our own GPT in his keynote from three days a go.

First, add some other GPT's like “Tech Support Advisor.”

Can I point out that the first thing you should do is explore and add the “Tech Support” Advisor for your teachers? Also, note that there is a math tutor. Many of these tools are just so helpful! Just click Explore at the top left of the screen.

Teachers might really like to make something cool into a coloring book page.

How to Make Your Own GPT

First, you have to be a Plus subscriber. But honestly, with all ChatGPT does, the $20 a month is really some of the best subscription money I spend each month.

I don't think that my students who do not subscribe to chat GPT will be able to access the custom GPT I have made, that is why I'm testing it. We will see what happens with it when we test it this week, and I'll update this post. Even if they don't have it, I'll fire up my account on my Chromebook and pass it around so my students can test it. Then, I'll treat it like a teaching assistant. (I also have seen a pretty cool Creative Writing Coach GPT that might be helpful for students in some cases.) I'm going to use the travel GPT today in class and let it coach kids as they plan their trips and load information into spreadsheets. It is like a Teaching Assistant for me.

Step 1. Click “Explore” and “Create a GPT”

Step 2. As you Get Started, It Will Prompt You About the Steps

This is designed to work with natural language. Just talk to the creation tool like you would chat GPT. You'll notice two sides. The left, you're improving the GPT that you're making, designing the logo, explaining how you want it to interact, and on the right, you can test what it's doing. You can even upload content when you're done (I uploaded the AP College Board standards for AP Computer Science Principles.)

Step 3. Answer the Prompts.

At this point, I explained who I was and what I wanted this GPT to do. Then, it prompted me so it could design the avatar for the GPT. Then, it asked me a truly great question, “how do you want it to interact with your students?”

OK, now I want you to remember that I'm at a Christian school, so I want a biblical worldview, which ChatGPT can do pretty well. It also is an advantage because it will keep the GPT on track with how it answers, in my experience and make it acceptable for use in my school.

I love how it clarified about what to do when a student asks for a direct answer! I wanted to prevent this. I programmed it how to handle that. (Note: I've told my students to test it and try to “break it” and see if it will answer their questions. We will see what it does.)

Step 4. Look at the Questions.

On the right side of the screen you can see that it has the basic setup that looks similar to ChatGPT. I also added questions about studying and reviewing for the exam. (We have to test how that will work as well.)

Step 5. Upload Data

So, after you are done, you can click on “configure” and upload specific knowledge you want it to access as it works. For me, it is the standards, some vocabulary I've created, some content I'm using, and such. I want it to have access to these tools as it interacts with the students.

Step 6. Test

So, then, on the right, sit there and test it for a while. See how it works. Make sure you feel good about it.

Step 7. Release for Alpha Testing.

Alpha testing is within an organization. Beta testing is outside. I teach this to students, and I always have them be my Alpha testers for anything before I share it. So, my AP Computer Science Principles class is alpha testing this tool with their content for next week.

I created a link that would only be for people with the link. I have also added it to my sidebar. You can expect that I'll be creating this for my teachers on campus, for sure. This is so exciting!

The post How to Make Your Own GPT: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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In today's episode, we're joined by Justin Reich, an associate professor at MIT and the author of ‘Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools.' We dive deep into teachers' crucial role in driving innovation and improvement in education. Suppose you've wondered how to bring meaningful change to your school or classroom. In that case, this episode offers actionable insights into teacher leadership, classroom experimentation, and the power of doing less to achieve more.

• Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher
• Stream by clicking here.

Subscribe to the Show

This week's sponsor

FREE WEBINAR: Creating Leaders Out of Teachers

Today's sponsor, Modern Classrooms is hosting a free webinar with today's podcast guest, Justin Reich, on November 14, 2023. Don't worry, you can also listen to the recording.

In this webinar, we will dive deep into the strategies that drive meaningful change in instructional approaches and student learning, and learn the hallmarks of top-notch professional development experiences that support educators along the path toward classroom innovation.

Join our experts, DC-based principal coach Maya Stewart and author and associate professor at MIT, Justin Reich to discuss how we support teacher leaders and innovation within our learning communities.

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Sponsor

This week's guest

Justin is an associate professor of digital media in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing department at MIT and the director of the Teaching Systems Lab. He is the author of Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools and Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education, and the host of the TeachLab Podcast. He earned his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was the Richard L. Menschel HarvardX Research Fellow. He is a past Fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society. His writings have been published in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other scholarly journals and public venues. He started his career as a high school history teacher, and coach of wrestling and outdoor adventure activities. Follow Justin on Twitter or Google Scholar.

Notes

Hosts, Guests & Featured People:

Justin Reich

Resources:

• Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools
• ASCD: “The Power of Doing Less in Schools” by Justin Reich

Transcript

Transcript was generated by AI. I've checked it, but if you find any mistakes, please just leave a comment, and I'll double check it! Thanks so much! – Vicki

00;00;00;00 – 00;00;29;02
Vicki Davis
The Cycle of Experimentation. A New Approach to Educational Innovation. Episode 821 Today's guest Justin Reich, author of Iterate The Secret to Innovation in Schools, will be a guest on the Modern Classrooms webinar series. The sponsor of today's episode. Stay tuned at the end of the show to see how you can learn more about innovative instructional strategies that you'll learn in today's show.

00;00;29;04 – 00;00;31;21
Vicki Davis
Now on with the show.

00;00;31;23 – 00;00;36;22
John Davis, Producer
This is the Ten Minute Teacher podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

00;00;36;24 – 00;01;01;16
Vicki Davis
I'm so excited today to talk to my friend, Dr. Justin Reich. He is an associate professor of digital media in the Comparative Media Studies and Writing Department of M.I.T. and Director of Teaching Systems Lab. He is the author of the book Innovate The Secret to Innovation in Schools. Justin, you and I have known each other for quite some time, and it's just exciting to see all the innovations that you've worked with.

00;01;01;16 – 00;01;04;09
Vicki Davis
But we've known each other for, what, maybe ten years now.

00;01;04;11 – 00;01;12;12
Justin Reich
I probably was first visiting your classroom about 15 years ago. I bet 2008 was the first time I came down to Georgia to see all the cool stuff that you're up to.

00;01;12;13 – 00;01;23;19
Vicki Davis
Vicki Let's talk about Iterate. So how do schools iterate? Is this just like a secret for principals that a principal can just come in and change a school or give us the background of leadership?

00;01;23;22 – 00;01;48;12
Justin Reich
Vicki That's never how teaching and learning get better. There are all kinds of good things that principals can do. Still, the only people who can make teaching and learning better are classroom teachers, our paraprofessionals, our librarians, or the people who are actually working with students every day. You know, a colleague at Harvard, Richard Elmore, described the instructional core, which our students and teachers and the resources that they use to learn.

00;01;48;13 – 00;02;17;22
Justin Reich
And if you want to make learning better, you've got to mess around with one of those three things. And there just aren't enough principals in the building to make teaching better. In Mandarin and sixth grade Earth science and third grade and everything else that you have going on. So Iterate is really a book about teacher leadership, about the incredibly important roles that teachers play in experimenting and bringing new ideas to life, improving schools, and the way that coaches and consultants and principals can help and support teachers in doing that incredibly important work.

00;02;17;24 – 00;02;29;11
Vicki Davis
You have three approaches. Just give us an overview of those because you know we're all going to want to get the work to see exactly the details about how to do this. I'm sure you have lots of examples.

00;02;29;15 – 00;02;51;05
 Justin Reich
So the book starts with the cycle of experiment and peer learning, which is a set of ideas I've been working on for 15 years, visiting classrooms like yours. And it just observes that if teaching gets better, it's because of new practices. New practices come from teachers, teachers. The only people who actually iterate, improve teaching now interview teachers and ask them who has the most influence on your practice?

00;02;51;06 – 00;03;11;19
 Justin Reich
And the number one answer you will get is other teachers. When good ideas move throughout a school, they move peer to peer. They move from one teacher to another. So if you're an educator, if you're a classroom teacher, that means you have an incredibly important opportunity to serve as a teacher leader, to be trying new things, to be sharing what you learn with your colleagues.

00;03;11;24 – 00;03;37;27
Justin Reich
And if you're a principal, the number one thing that you can do to accelerate innovation in your school is create the conditions for teachers to conduct research, to do experiments and to share. So the second part of the book is design thinking for leading and learning. We've learned a lot over the past two decades about effective ways to experiment and to iterate based on lots of conversations with my colleagues here in engineering and aero Astro in the business school, in the Media Lab.

00;03;38;04 – 00;04;01;27
Justin Reich
I've tried to pull together some of the best ideas we have about effective approaches to experimentation, hypothesis, develop prototyping, imagining, testing, all those kinds of things. And then the third part of the book is the collaborative innovation cycle. It's good to have teachers experiment. The most powerful circumstances, though, are when teachers are experimenting on the same kinds of things together, when we're pulling our orders in the same direction.

00;04;02;00 – 00;04;19;01
Justin Reich
So that is somebody trying something in the math department. It can influence what the other math teachers are doing. It can influence what's happening in the science department. It can give us a sense that we're working on something together. And as a leader, you can't just impose those ideas on schools because teachers have all kinds of beliefs about what they value and what good practices.

00;04;19;01 – 00;04;37;05
 Justin Reich
So it's really about bringing people together around ideas they care about. It's about fixing our problems, but also really recognizing and building on our strengths. So those three approaches, the cycle of experiment, pure learning, design, thinking for leading and learning and the collaborative innovation cycle, those are the three actionable toolkits that teachers and leaders are going to learn about in the book.

00;04;37;05 – 00;04;54;03
Vicki Davis
So let's talk about an important topic, risk and failure. That's part of the experimentation process, right? Because I know sometimes when I try new things, they fall flat on their face. Now, I usually tell the kids that we're trying something new, which I guess you could argue is the Hawthorne experiment, where they turned out the lights and productivity went up.

00;04;54;03 – 00;05;19;10
Vicki Davis
They turned down the lights and productivity went out because the studying caused things to happen. But you could even argue that the act of experimenting actually could improve things in that way. But some teachers are afraid to fail. I mean, what if my principal comes in to observe me when I'm trying something new? Or what if the experiment just doesn't go quite right and I have to go and I get off my pace because I have to reteach it the way that I used to do it.

00;05;19;10 – 00;05;20;24
Vicki Davis
What do you say about that?

00;05;20;24 – 00;05;41;24
Justin Reich
Well, teachers are experimenting all the time. There are very few teachers who do the exact same thing year after year after year. And so part of what we want to do is just be systematic about how we're doing that. I would say a big thing that I work with schools, with educators, with teachers on, especially as they're starting doing more of this intentionally, is our earliest experiments.

00;05;41;24 – 00;05;59;10
 Justin Reich
We really want to think about how they can be small and lightweight and simple so that when they fail, it doesn't feel catastrophic. You know, sometimes we have folks who like rebuild entire curriculum, rebuild entire units as a place to start. And when those things fail, it's a huge drag because you took a big bet on a big chunk.

00;05;59;13 – 00;06;16;13
Justin Reich
Part of what I want people to think about is like, how can we start with smaller bets? How can we validate ideas with smaller, lightweight experiments? Maybe we're not doing them with the whole class. Maybe we're doing them with a few students. Maybe we're doing them as part of an afterschool activity. Maybe we give students a little bit of extra credit, too, to try something new.

00;06;16;21 – 00;06;47;08
 Justin Reich
And then once we identify some ideas that seem more promising, then we build up to larger and bigger experiments. So schools have this oftentimes have this sort of real linear mindset towards change. There are a lot of schools that have five year plans that have sort of big long term thinking about change. And part of the book is trying to shift from thinking about the sort of lines and climbing mountains to two circles and spirals, what are small, lightweight experiments that we can conduct that will make our schools better, and how can we build on all those things?

00;06;47;09 – 00;07;02;17 Dr. Justin Reich The way I describe it is a someday Monday dilemma, like we want big change in the long run in schools, but we can't send all the kids home for three weeks to try something new. Like everything we try has to be able to work on Monday. We have to get to some day through a series of manageable Monday kinds of experiments.

00;07;02;19 – 00;07;20;26 Vicki Davis Oh, I love that. What a great soundbite there. So I want you to travel back in time. You've been observing classrooms for a long time, and so I'm sure that the thoughts that go into iterate are from classroom observations, travel back in time to younger Justin and describe when the lightbulb started going on about how actual iteration happens in schools.

00;07;20;27 – 00;07;22;04 Vicki Davis Can you describe that moment?

00;07;22;04 – 00;07;42;22 

Justin Reich I write about some in the book. One of the schools that most struck me was a school I visited in Southern California. It was right around the time that collaborative writing tools like Google Docs were just really first starting to be introduced. I have visited many, many schools that have made enormous investments in technology and very little changed in teaching and learning.

00;07;42;22 – 00;07;55;21

Justin Reich You know, you go to some of the earliest schools that bought lots of iPads for their students and you go and you interview the students and you say, well, what do you like most about having this new technology? And they're like, oh, man, I love being able to take all my notes in one device instead of having five notebooks.

00;07;55;21 – 00;08;19;01 

Justin Reich

And you think to yourself, like, that's just not worth 800 bucks. A kid. To consolidate notebooks like that is not change. But I visited a school in Southern California, and it really seemed like they were doing writing differently, not just in the classes I visited, but students could tell me across their classes they were making more drafts. They were collaborating with each other like they had adopted these new set of practices that really seemed to be improving students ability to write across the disciplines.

00;08;19;01 – 00;08;35;15 

Justin Reich

I couldn't understand why this school had changed so much and why others seemed to be stuck, why the technology would fall from the sky but not really change things. So I'm interviewing the teachers and I say, Well, how did the principals help you? How to school leadership help you? And they say, Wow, I don't even think they know what we're doing.

00;08;35;15 – 00;08;53;0

 Justin Reich

And I was like, What? Like how do I visit one of the only schools where I feel like things are really changing and like the principals are just happily like making the busses run on time and making sure the air conditioners are working. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense until you realize that teacher leadership is the centerpiece of instructional improvement.

00;08;53;01 – 00;09;12;01

 Justin Reich

Like what those colleagues were really good at doing was trying new things, sharing what they had learned with one another, visiting each other's classrooms, looking at each other's student work. And so these practices that started in a handful of classrooms didn't just, you know, all the time tech makes things better in one classroom here or there or wherever.

00;09;12;01 – 00;09;27;03

Justin Reich But it's only when we get this sort of continuous improvement, lots of sharing and peer learning that we see whole departments, whole grade levels, whole teams change. So that was a school that really helped me understand just how essential teacher leadership was to making teaching and learning better.

00;09;27;06 – 00;09;49;21

Vicki Davis You know, a lot has been written just in about teacher dissatisfaction. All the teachers who have left teaching the workload of teachers, which just all the duties and such. And I really absolutely believe that what you're talking about is a way to bring the joy back to teaching. But something's got to change because the bandwidth teachers have is so limited to talk to each other even.

00;09;49;24 – 00;10;11;27 Vicki Davis:

I mean, if you're supervising break duty and lunch duty, and if you know, my school is so awesome, teachers always have collaborative time at lunch, and our administrators handle lunch. And that's such a gift to our teachers. It makes such a difference. But what are some of the things that administrators can do to say, okay, I do want our teachers to be leaders, but I'm not going to just pile one more thing on that.

00;10;11;27 – 00;10;29;26

Justin Reich:

That is exactly right, Vicki. One of the things that I wrote last year for Educational Leadership was called “The Power of Doing Less in Schools.” And we had a series on the Teach Lab podcast called “Subtraction in Action,” which is one of the things that leaders can do to create the conditions for school improvement is to figure out what schools can stop doing.

00;10;29;26 – 00;10;47;07

 Justin Reich:

I don't have a recipe for that because every school is different. But one of the things that leaders can do is systematically look across the school and say, “What is it that we're doing that we just don't need to do anymore, that we can take off of our plates?” We know, Vicki, that's possible because we changed schools enormously during the pandemic.

00;10;47;14 – 00;11;02;28

 Justin Reich:

There are all kinds of things that we changed, that we shifted, that we stopped doing, that we realized we don't need anymore. And we got lots of stories for the “Subtraction in Action” series. We had one administrator who said, “What are all the emails that I can stop sending?” She actually goes home at night, she writes a bunch of emails.

00;11;02;28 – 00;11;17;08

Justin Reich:

She doesn't send any of them. She looks at them in the morning and decides which ones she actually needs to send. And for the most part, she actually finds it like she wrote them, she got the ideas off her mind, and then maybe she just needs to make one or two phone calls on the way in, and then there's less stuff for people to read.

00;11;17;08 – 00;11;37;01

Justin Reich:

There's less for people to do, the things that are important. She makes sure she does by voice or by talking with people. Like, it's a small change, but it's saving people time. This was another school leader who talked a lot about how their meetings had just been taken over by administrative fervor, and they just said, “We're going to dedicate this much time to teaching and instruction and pedagogy.”

00;11;37;01 – 00;11;48;18

Justin Reich:

We know that the administrative milieu will fill up as much time as we give it. So instead of giving it an hour a week or 2 hours a week, we're going to give it a half-hour a week, and we're going to spend the rest of the time on teachers sharing what they're learning, teachers collaborating with each other.

00;11;48;22 – 00;12;10;18

 Justin Reich:

It's going to put boundaries on those things. My colleague Matt crafted a terrific study in the Providence Public Schools about school interruptions, and he has shocking, shocking data about how much, I think this happens more in public schools, but how much we allow classrooms to be interrupted by bells, by announcements, by visitors, by pulling people out, by all these kinds of things.

00;12;10;20 – 00;12;30;18

 Justin Reich:

It adds up to days, a year of lost class time from calls and buzzes and things like that. But an incredible thing he found was in the same district, there were vastly different amounts of interruptions across schools. So they all had a lot, but some schools had much less. They are run by the same administrators, they have the same students they're running.

00;12;30;18 – 00;12;47;28

Justin Reich: But those schools have different cultures. And some of those cultures said, “We don't interrupt our teachers. We do everything we can to give them the time to get.” So you've got to say, like, those are schools that have subtracted all kinds of bureaucratic nonsense, all kinds of announcements, all kinds of other things to let teachers focus on the most important things.

00;12;47;28 – 00;13;13;03

Justin Reich: So I think you're absolutely right that if we want to add more stuff, like, you can't make systems better by just continually piling things onto it, we've got to figure out ways of subtracting. And now is a great time of year, right before schools are starting in the Northeast. Just the schools there have been going for a little bit in the southeast, in the west, and there are places to say, “What is it that we can take off our teachers' plates so that they can focus more on the most important things?”

00;13;13;03 – 00;13;42;02

Vicki Davis:

Well, having had long conversations with Justin in lots of different countries and places, I can tell you he knows his stuff. He values teachers. And I'm really excited about your new book, Justin, “Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools.” It has come out September 20th, so get the book and let's start these conversations. Thanks, Justin. If you enjoy today's interview with Justin Reich, then go to coolcatteacher.com/forward/modernwebinar.

00;13;42;04 – 00;14;16;27

Vicki Davis:

That's coolcatteacher.com/modernwebinar to register for Modern Classrooms' webinar with Justin Reich. Don't worry if you're listening to this show after the release of the webinar, you'll still be able to sign up to listen to the recording so you can start iterating at your school right now. And while you're at it, head over to Modern Classrooms to sign up for a free account, and join the 11,000 plus educators who are learning best practices for blended, self-paced, mastery-based instruction.

00;14;16;29 – 00;14;22;06 Vicki Davis: So go to coolcatteacher.com/forward/modernwebinar.

00;14;22;08 – 00;14;35;04

John Davis:

You've been listening to the Ten Minute Teacher podcast. If you want more content from Vicki Davis, you can find her on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube at CoolCatTeacher. Thank you for listening.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post The Cycle of Experimentation: A New Approach to Educational Innovation appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

In today's show, I talk with Mark Sparvell about a tool that has become essential to my lesson planning and work in my AP Computer Science Principles course: Bing Chat Enterprise. If your school has Microsoft Office 365 A3 or A5 licenses, you can activate this feature. It's an amazing tool that saves time and stands out with its robust privacy features, ensuring the security of student data while offering powerful AI functionalities to streamline tasks for teachers and administrators.

This show is sponsored and includes some advertorial content. It's only my second podcast this year featuring such content, which I choose to do only when the product is one I personally use, and when it's both newsworthy and beneficial for educators. The show is unscripted, and all opinions are my own. Enjoy!

✏️Note from Vicki: I'm back! For those of you who noticed a slight absence, I had corrective 👁️ eye surgery and now can see so clearly. However, the journey to get here was one where I had to significantly limit my time on electronics which meant the podcast and newsletter took a short break when I couldn't look at my devices. I can't stress the importance of all of us teachers taking care of themselves if I wouldn't pause and do it myself! Right?

But I'm back and will be posting awesome content weekly from here on out with a short break at Christmas. Thanks to those of you who emailed me to check on me. I'm great now even if playing a bit of catch up! 😀 — Vicki Davis 

• Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher
• Stream by clicking here.

Subscribe to the Show

This week's sponsor

Microsoft 's Free AI Course for Educators

Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools. AI is changing rapidly, and you'll want your team to take advantage of this free course from Microsoft today. Go to aka.ms/AIforEducators. I highly recommend this free AI course from Microsoft. So sign up today.

Click Here to Learn More

This week's guest

Mark is an award winning educator and leader with over 25 years of experience driving whole school improvement. Mark is passionate about leveraging technology to humanize learning and give every the ‘best seat in the house’ . Mark founded and co-leads the http://bit.ly/SELinEdu community which is closing in on 30,000 members and is engaged in a number of organizations around supporting mental health and developing social-emotional skills.

Notes

Hosts, Guests & Featured People:

Mark Sparvell

Show Notes

Show Notes:

00:00:00:22 – Introduction to the Ten Minute Teacher Podcast

• Host Vicki Davis introduces the podcast and teases the upcoming discussion on AI in education with guest Mark Sparvell from Microsoft.

00:00:43:03 – The Big Deal of Bing Chat Enterprise for Faculty

• Vicki Davis and Mark Sparvell discuss the significance of Bing Chat Enterprise for faculty and its unique benefits in the educational environment, emphasizing its security and privacy features.

00:01:15:17 – AI Tools in Education: Safety and Security

• Mark Sparvell explains the importance of using secure AI tools in education to protect vulnerable student data and maintain privacy.

00:02:11:03 – The Secure Advantage of Bing Chat Enterprise

• Discussion on how Bing Chat Enterprise ensures end-to-end security for faculty, with a focus on data protection and the absence of third-party plugins.

00:02:47:17 – Practical Applications of AI in Education

• Vicki Davis shares concerns about using AI tools for sensitive tasks like writing IEPs and emails, prompting Mark to explain the safety of data in public AI tools versus Bing Chat Enterprise.

00:03:19:10 – Understanding Data Security with AI Tools

• Mark Sparvell describes how data is handled in other generative AI tools and the continuous learning process of AI models, highlighting the security measures of Bing Chat Enterprise.

00:04:19:06 – Bing Chat Enterprise: A Secure, Cost-Effective Solution

• Mark illustrates how Bing Chat Enterprise integrates securely within the Bing search engine, providing a cost-effective solution for schools with existing Microsoft licenses.

00:05:11:15 – Streamlining Administrative Tasks with AI

• Mark Sparvell gives examples of how school administrators can use Bing Chat Enterprise to efficiently handle extensive policy reviews and other administrative tasks.

00:05:42:20 – Interacting with AI for Educational Content

• Vicki Davis discusses the interactive capabilities of Bing Chat Enterprise with PDFs and other educational materials, and Mark shares a story of its practical use.

00:06:55:23 – Quick Data Analysis for Educators

• Mark Sparvell talks about how Bing Chat Enterprise can assist teachers in quickly analyzing and summarizing educational content, such as books or policy documents.

00:08:07:03 – The Learning Assistant Feature of Bing Chat Enterprise

• Vicki Davis and Mark Sparvell discuss how Bing Chat Enterprise can act as a learning assistant by providing page references and summaries for educational content.

00:09:16:14 – Bing Chat Enterprise as a Tool for Various Educational Roles

• Mark Sparvell expands on the versatility of Bing Chat Enterprise, explaining how it can be used by different educational staff, including school nurses, to dialogue with data.

00:10:13:17 – Natural Language Engagement with Technology in Education

• The conversation turns to the natural evolution of engaging with technology using natural language, with examples relevant to school nurses and other staff.

00:11:37:21 – AI for Trend Analysis and Summarization in School Health Data

• Mark Sparvell discusses how school nurses can use Bing Chat Enterprise to analyze health trends and summarize student health data securely.

00:12:26:04 – The Security and Accessibility of Bing Chat Enterprise for Schools

• Vicki Davis emphasizes the security and ease of access that Bing Chat Enterprise offers to schools, allowing them to use AI tools confidently without compromising student data.

00:13:29:01 – Intelligent Agents for School Policy Induction

• Mark Sparvell shares how Bing Chat Enterprise can simplify the induction process for new staff by providing instant access to school policies and procedures.

00:14:33:00 – Educator Experiences with Bing Chat Enterprise

• Vicki Davis asks Mark Sparvell about the initial reactions of educators when they see the capabilities of Bing Chat Enterprise in action.

00:15:25:00 – Bing Chat Enterprise as an Educator's Copilot

• Mark Sparvell likens Bing Chat Enterprise to having a copilot, assisting educators with tasks like improving grammar and fluency in their documentation.

00:16:43:16 – AP Computer Science Principles and Bing Chat Enterprise

• Vicki Davis shares her personal experience using Bing Chat Enterprise to enhance her AP Computer Science Principles class, highlighting its effectiveness and efficiency.

00:17:47:08 – The Future of Education with AI

• Mark Sparvell discusses the potential for AI to change educational practices, using the example of students creatively engaging with literature through AI.

00:18:23:04 – Conclusion: The Impact of Bing Chat Enterprise in Education

• Vicki Davis wraps up the conversation by encouraging educators to explore Bing Chat Enterprise and utilize its powerful features for enhancing classroom learning.

00:21:03:23 – Microsoft's AI Course for Educators

• Vicki Davis promotes Microsoft's free AI course for educators, urging listeners to sign up and stay informed about best practices for AI in education.

00:21:53:08 – Podcast Outro

• John closes the episode, directing listeners to Vicki Davis's various social media platforms for more educational content.

Transcript

This transcript was generated by AI and proofed for accuracy by humans. 😀

Introduction to the Episode 00:00:00:22 – 00:00:43:01 John This is the Ten Minute Teacher podcast, with your host, Vicki Davis.

Sponsor Message and Episode Kick-off 00:00:43:03 – 00:01:13:14 Vicki Davis Today's sponsor is Microsoft Education. Stay tuned at the show's end to learn more about their artificial intelligence course for educators. As we continue to talk about A.I., we have brought my friend Mark Sparvell back on the show from Microsoft to talk about something we did not cover in the last episode. So, Mark, we're going to discuss Bing Chat Enterprise for faculty, and this is actually a really big deal, isn't it?

00:01:13:15 – 00:01:15:17 Mark Sparvell It is, yeah. It's a really exciting release.

The Significance of Bing Chat Enterprise for Faculty 00:01:15:17 – 00:01:27:00 Vicki Davis We have access to so many different AI tools. What makes this one different and truly such a big deal for faculty? Because it really is something that every single person in school can use.

Privacy and Security in Education Tools 00:01:27:03 – 00:02:11:01 Mark Sparvell The big deal in education is that we're working with our most vulnerable populations, our students, and student data. We're managing privacy all the time. The tools that we use, especially in education, need to be safe and secure. What goes in is safe. What comes out is safe. A key thing about Bing Chat Enterprise is that it's secure end-to-end. If you have an enterprise-level license with Microsoft, then all of your faculty have access to Bing Chat Enterprise. It'll just pop up. You will see a little green button at the top that says ‘Protected'.

Data Privacy and the Advantages of Bing Chat Enterprise 00:02:11:03 – 00:03:19:08 Mark Sparvell At the bottom, you'll see another message which says your personal data is basically yours. So Microsoft is not accessing that data. It's not using that data to train the language model. And it doesn't allow third-party plugins that might use that data. So, unlike some other generative AI tools where people might be crossing their fingers, this is a commercial-grade secure tool where you get all the benefits of chat functions, all of those generative tools, but knowing that your information is your information.

Practical Applications of Bing Chat Enterprise in Education 00:03:19:10 – 00:05:42:20 Vicki Davis I'll just give you some examples. When ChatGPT came out, I saw some special ed folks saying, “Oh, it's helping me write my IEPs.” And I'm like, “No, it's helping me write these emails to parents.” And I'm like, “No. Bad idea.” So help us understand, in a traditional large language model that's open to the public, when you type in that chat, what could happen to that data?

Interacting with Data and Documents Using Bing Chat Enterprise 00:05:42:20 – 00:08:16:00 Mark Sparvell With Bing Chat Enterprise, you can interact with massive documents. For example, a busy school principal can have Bing Chat Enterprise go through a 78-page policy document from the State Department and ask it to summarize it, create a SWOT analysis, or provide an executive summary for the Parent Governing Council. It can also generate questions to check understanding of the key policy recommendations, all while knowing that this confidential document is staying within the organization.

Bing Chat Enterprise as a Learning Assistant 00:08:16:01 – 00:10:13:14 Vicki Davis What's really cool to me is whatever I'm in, I can open it up and it can interact with what I have on the page. So PDFs, like I have this massive PDF for AP Computer Science principles, pull it up and ask it questions. Have you done anything like that with PDFs? Can you tell me a story?

Real-World Examples and the Future of Education with AI 00:10:13:17 – 00:12:26:04 Mark Sparvell Yes, one of the really exciting features for busy administrators and teachers is that this gives you a reasoning engine that sits on top of those massive documents. I was actually helping a teacher today with a picture book in a PDF form. She opened up the PDF, clicked on chat, and was able to ask questions about the content on the screen.

Closing Thoughts and Encouragement to Use Bing Chat Enterprise 00:12:26:04 – 00:14:32:22 Vicki Davis This is the incredible thing, Mark, is that I was present in the summer and I know you've been presenting a lot and talking about how eventually we will be able to converse with our textbooks and all the things that we have on our computer, but that's already here now. It's exponential change and it's happening and it's secure.

Final Sponsor Message and Sign-off 00:14:33:00 – 00:21:53:08 Vicki Davis So thanks, Mark, for sharing. And Mark has an amazing YouTube channel where he shares lots of secrets. So thanks, Mark, for coming on the show, and I'm really excited. Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools.

00:21:53:08 – 00:21:53:08 John You've been listening to the Ten Minute Teacher podcast. If you want more content from Vicki Davis, you can find her on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at Cool Cat Teacher. Thank you for listening.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Practical, Awesome AI: Unlock the Power of Bing Chat Enterprise appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Dr. Lydia Gonzalez, author of “Bad at Math: Dismantling Harmful Beliefs That Hinder Equitable Mathematics Education,” talks about the societal norms that make it acceptable to be “bad at math” and how these beliefs can be detrimental to learning. Dr. Gonzalez emphasizes the importance of broadening our understanding of math and its relevance in everyday life. We also discuss the critical role of relationships and a growth mindset in effective teaching, particularly in math subjects that many find intimidating. Let's explore how to dismantle harmful beliefs in math education and create a more equitable learning environment.

• Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher
• Stream by clicking here.

Subscribe to the Show

This week's sponsor

Microsoft 's Free AI Course for Educators

Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools. AI is changing rapidly, and you'll want your team to take advantage of this free course from Microsoft today. Go to aka.ms/AIforEducators. I highly recommend this free AI course from Microsoft. So sign up today.

Click Here to Learn More

This week's guest

Dr. Lidia Gonzalez is a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at York College of the City University of New York. A first-generation college graduate, she began her career as a high school mathematics teacher in a large, comprehensive high school in New York City. Interested in improving the mathematical experiences of urban students, she focuses her research on the teaching of mathematics for social justice, the development of mathematics identity, and teacher development. She is the author of the book “Bad at Math? Dismantling harmful beliefs that hinder equitable mathematics education” published by Corwin Press.

Blog: https://www.york.cuny.edu/portal_college/lgonzalez

X.com: https://twitter.com/LidiaGonzalez66

Notes

Resources:

• “Bad at Math: Dismantling Harmful Beliefs That Hinder Equitable Mathematics Education” by Dr. Lidia Gonzalez, published by Corwin Press.
• Microsoft Education's Artificial Intelligence course for educators: Link

Show Notes: 

• 00:00:00 – 00:00:33: Introduction

  • John D. introduces the host, Vicki Davis, and today's sponsor, Microsoft Education. Vicki introduces Dr. Lidia Gonzalez, the author of “Bad at Math: Dismantling Harmful Beliefs That Hinder Equitable Mathematics Education.”

• 00:00:33 – 00:01:32: The Problem with Saying “I'm Bad at Math”

  • Dr. Lidia Gonzalez discusses the societal acceptance of being “bad at math” and how it hinders students from excelling in the subject.

• 00:01:32 – 00:02:42: Broadening the Definition of Math

  • Dr. Lidia Gonzalez talks about how math is more than just numbers and equations; it's a study of patterns that applies to everyday life.

• 00:02:42 – 00:03:46: The Importance of Relationships in Education

  • Dr. Lidia Gonzalez emphasizes the importance of building relationships with students to foster a conducive learning environment.

• 00:03:46 – 00:05:45: Real-world Examples and Mindset

  • Dr. Lidia Gonzalez and Vicki Davis discuss the importance of a growth mindset and using real-world examples to make math relatable.

• 00:05:45 – 00:09:44: Math is Not Neutral

  • Dr. Lidia Gonzalez talks about the importance of inclusive and equitable math education, touching on issues of access and representation.

• 00:09:44 – 00:10:12: Closing Remarks

  • Vicki Davis thanks Dr. Lidia Gonzalez for her insights and mentions the Microsoft Education AI course for educators.

Transcript

00:00:00:22 – 00:00:04:06
John D.
This is the Ten Minute Teacher podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

00:00:04:10 – 00:00:33:21
Vicki Davis
Today's sponsor is Microsoft Education. Stay tuned at the show's end to learn more about their artificial intelligence course for educators.

I'm so excited about talking to Dr. Lidia Gonzalez today because so many issues happen with understanding how we can reach every single student with math. She is the author of “Bad at Math: Dismantling Harmful Beliefs That Hinder Equitable Mathematics Education,” published by Corwin Press.

00:00:33:22 – 00:00:37:06
Vicki Davis
So, Lidia, that's a great title. Why did you write the book?

00:00:37:08 – 00:00:55:09
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
It basically really troubles me that a lot of people are so comfortable saying that they're bad at math, and we're talking people across all different fields. People with all different levels of education will just openly admit that they're not good at math. But you would be ashamed to say you don't know how to read. And so it doesn't sit well with me that so many people are so comfortable saying this.

00:00:55:09 – 00:01:10:11
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
And I think that the fact that our society accepts this is one of the reasons why it's sort of difficult to get everyone on board and to make it so that the majority of students excel at it because there's like this way out, right. It's okay to not be good at it.

00:01:10:15 – 00:01:32:07
Vicki Davis
Right. I teach technology, and if I ever have a student who says technology doesn't like me, I have to deal with that belief before I can teach that student because they're excusing and they don't have a growth mindset. They have a fixed mindset. This is how I am. This is how I always will be. So what are some of the things that we have to dismantle those harmful beliefs besides just saying I'm bad at math?

00:01:32:10 – 00:01:55:20
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
That it's socially acceptable to say one is bad at math is definitely one thing we have to work on. But also even just how we define math, a lot of people, when they think about math, think about numbers and equations, and that's sort of a very narrow definition. If we think about math as sort of like a study of patterns, then a lot of what we do in our everyday lives falls into math.

00:01:55:22 – 00:02:16:22
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
So you're picking up stuff at the grocery store and putting them in the cart so they all fit. And that's actually a math problem, right? Like grocery shopping, getting stuff to fit in the cart. But you might not think that that's math. So you might look at yourself and say, “Well, I'm not very good at this. I don't really like it,” because you're not looking at this in a broad way where most everything you do every day revolves around that.

00:02:17:01 – 00:02:30:17
Vicki Davis
I'll tell my students when they say that, “Well, do you want to have money and do you want to be good at money?” And they'll say, “Well, yeah.” It's like, “Well, you need math so that you can manage your money and take care of your family. And that's just part of life, right?”

00:02:30:18 – 00:02:42:09
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
Yeah, definitely. I would challenge people to find things that they do in their everyday life that doesn't involve some kind of math. And I think that would be hard to do, but only if we have this broad view of what math is.

00:02:42:12 – 00:03:04:03
Vicki Davis
So is that what a teacher or an administrator does when they hear a student say, “I'm bad at math,” or a parent say in a conference, “Well, I'm bad at math too?” When they say that, what should we do? You said apply. Get some real-world examples. What is the most productive way to do that? That's not a shaming response, but an encouraging one.

00:03:04:05 – 00:03:28:20
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
You were saying about having a growth mindset. I think the word that really helps us is “yet,” to look at it as, “You know what, you might not be very good at math yet, but that doesn't mean that you can't be successful going forward,” and then find tasks and activities where that student is successful and keep reminding them that what you just did, you just did some math there and you were really good at it because most students are certainly capable of doing the work.

00:03:28:20 – 00:03:46:14
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
It's just the mindset sometimes gets in the way. And with parents who I would get that all the time as a high school teacher or a high school math teacher. “Well, I wasn't very good at it either.” And it's sort of like, “Oh, but to say, well, you know, but I think your student could be great at it.”

00:03:46:14 – 00:03:55:16
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
It's just a matter of working on it and finding ways we can support the student and things of that nature. But that little word “yet,” I think, goes a long way.

00:03:55:17 – 00:04:02:13
Vicki Davis
Well, not yet. And that's great with a growth mindset for anything. Are there any other harmful beliefs that we need to address?

00:04:02:15 – 00:04:23:15
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
Sure. Some people think that math is neutral and that teaching math, you don't really have to pay attention to student identities, for example. But this is just a neutral subject that I teach devoid of anything. But if we really want to engage students, then building on their histories and their experiences is important. And it's important in math, just as it's important in other subjects as well.

00:04:23:15 – 00:04:28:18
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
So that's another thing that we can work at, finding ways to connect the math to the students in your class.

00:04:28:19 – 00:04:46:23
Vicki Davis
To Lidia, if you could travel back in time and talk to Lidia, the first-year math teacher, and travel back and coach yourself, think of a situation that you dealt with and how you would tell yourself, knowing what you know now, how to deal with that situation.

00:04:47:01 – 00:05:09:18
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
That my experiences going through school were sometimes very different from my students and I didn't quite get that, so I didn't always know where they were coming from why they might look at a problem a certain way, or why they might be acting a certain way. In class, a student would have their head down, and I would knock on their desk like, “Wake up, what's going on?”

00:05:09:20 – 00:05:29:07
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
Because in my mind, well, you must not care about class if you're doing that. But I never stopped to, like, ask why. And then, one day, there was a student with his head down, and I have no idea why that day I said, “What's going on? Why is your head down?” And he explained that his uncle had been arrested and he was watching his nephew's up till like three in the morning.

00:05:29:07 – 00:05:45:05
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
And the fact that he made it to school the next day was a really big deal. And I didn't stop and ask those questions before. So I think that if I went back in time, I would say the math is really important. But building relationships and knowing where your students are coming from, that matters a great deal.

00:05:45:05 – 00:06:01:12
Vicki Davis
That touches my heart because we have to relate to educate. And I know I remember the first time I did that it may not have even been my first year. I think it was maybe my second or even early in my third. And I had a student who was just acting out in a way he never had before.

00:06:01:12 – 00:06:20:06
Vicki Davis
And I used to just deal with the behavior. But I actually took the student out of the room and I said, “What's going on?” And she said, “My parents told me they're getting a divorce this morning.” And you're like, “There's some things that are just going on in their lives and we don't have a transparency to see that.”

00:06:20:06 – 00:06:22:19
Vicki Davis
And that's just such a powerful story.

00:06:22:19 – 00:06:44:23
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
Lydia, thank you. There was also I taught during a time when there was a transit strike in New York, and very few students made it to school during those days. I mean, it was impossible, right? There was no public transportation. A lot of our students lived quite a distance. But what was really nice is that we all had lunch together because it was such a small number of students and faculty that were there.

00:06:45:01 – 00:07:06:12
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
And I had a group of students there, and I had, you know, where do you live? How did you make it here? They lived on 100, and something street, and our school was on 16th, and they walked, and I was like, you know, like, we're not giving these students enough credit like this is amazing that you walked all the way to school so you wouldn't miss it on a day where it was very easy for you not to because there was no easy way of getting here.

00:07:06:14 – 00:07:11:18
Vicki Davis
So do you remember what those breakthrough relationships did for their learning of math?

00:07:11:22 – 00:07:31:02
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
You know, if your teacher believes in you or not. And so I think that once you establish some sort of connection, that that makes it a lot easier for the student to learn the math to come to you if they have questions, to be honest about what they do and do not get into like give it a good go at it, I think that that's essential.

00:07:31:04 – 00:07:50:12
Vicki Davis
And you know what? Students are not always going to be transparent with us, but if we can always remember that there's a reason that they do what they do, not that we're going to excuse inappropriate behavior, but if we can relate to them as a human being and know that, hey, there's more here than they may be telling me, then that will help teach difficult subjects because they know that you care, right?

00:07:50:13 – 00:08:04:04
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
You don't always know what's going on. So whatever the first thought is that this must be because of this. It's probably five other reasons that it could be. And if we don't stop to think about it, we might alienate students that really could benefit from someone just sitting down and talking to them.

00:08:04:04 – 00:08:08:01
Vicki Davis
So your passion is math, but you're talking relationship here?

00:08:08:03 – 00:08:17:02
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
I think so. I didn't know where we would go today, but if you don't have a good relationship with your students, then it doesn't matter how much math you're trying to get across. It probably won't.

00:08:17:02 – 00:08:32:09
Vicki Davis
Work. So as we finish up dismantling the harmful beliefs that hinder equitable mathematics education, you said math is not neutral. What do you mean? And how can math in all teachers understand that better?

00:08:32:09 – 00:08:56:22
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
I think there's a couple of things to do with that. One is who has access to high-quality, rigorous math instruction. So issues of access making it non-neutral, but also the content we teach. So every civilization that we know about has had some sort of math, even if our enumeration system let's go with that. Even if it was something as simple as one to many, a lot.

00:08:57:00 – 00:09:22:20
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
But when we went through school, we probably only learned about the Roman numerals. So why did we only learn about the Roman numerals? Why didn't we learn about the Egyptian enumeration system or the Mayan enumeration system, the Babylonian enumeration system? So even what we teach and who we attribute it to, like we teach Pascal's triangle and we call it Pascal's triangle, but other civilizations knew about it way before that, and they're not necessarily getting the credit for it.

00:09:22:20 – 00:09:44:19
Dr. Lidia Gonzalez
So there's issues of like what we teach, whose math gets taught, who is featured in the textbooks, how many people can name like a female mathematician or can name a mathematician of color? What gets taught, whose math gets taught, who gets the credit, and then also who has access to the type of rigorous math that will benefit them going forward.

00:09:44:19 – 00:10:12:21
Vicki Davis
So Dr. Lidia Gonzalez, author of “Bad at Math: Dismantling Harmful Beliefs That Hinder Equitable Mathematics Education.” Thank you, Lidia, for coming on the show and for your passion for kids and for excellent teaching of math, which is something we all need to understand. Thanks. Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools.

00:10:13:03 -00:10:49:23
Vicki Davis

Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools. AI is changing rapidly, and you'll want your team to take advantage of this free course from Microsoft today. Go to aka.ms/AIforEducators.

Now that aka.ms/AIforEducators sign up for this free course today so that you're ready to understand and use AI in your school in ways that are safe and work for schools. I highly recommend this free AI course from Microsoft. So sign up today.

00:10:50:00 – 00:11:02:11
John D.
You've been listening to the Ten Minute Teacher podcast. If you want more content from Vicki Davis, you can find her on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube at Cool Cat Teacher. Thank you for listening.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Breaking Down Barriers: How to Make Math Accessible for All Students appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

I've been working on a big project and am very busy, but I have been studying the changes in Windows 11 Copilot, released on Tuesday, September 26, and wanted to share them with you. This wouldn't be 80 Awesome Days of AI and HI if I didn't keep you up to date, would it? Meanwhile, I will be sharing Part 3 of the series I've been writing about how every school needs an AI policy now, including the empirical evidence in Part 1 and the Generative AI examples in Part 2. Now on to today's topic, Windows 11 Copilot.

How Do I get Copilot?

First, Windows 11 with copilot (technically Windows 11 version 22H2) is being released now. If you update your Windows, you may have it. If you don't, then hold on; it will likely come to you soon. I thought sharing the significant updates in a graphic you can read and share would be easier, so there we go. Remember that our most significant changes will be when Copilot releases for Microsoft 365 on November 11.

1. Summarize and Access Web Content

First, inside Edge, you'll want to toggle on the feature that lets you access web content inside the browser. I'm using Bing Chat (and Bing Chat Enterprise for private items) to access and work with all of my PDF's and web pages now. I have noticed you have to give it a smidge of time, particularly for super large PDF's, but it is a handy tool for every administrator and teacher.

This means that your students have access to tools that will summarize, write, and create for them inside their PC. As I've been saying for some time, AI isn't blockable and pedagogical approaches must evolve.

2. Snipping Tool Gets an Upgrade

You can now redact confidential information in the snipping tool and other text actions. [See Windows Insider Blog.]

3. Talk to AI

Using Voice Access, you can dictate to your apps and have some improved correction tools. Now, sometime ago, I would have to give you instructions on how to click here and go there, but all you need now is the name of the feature. Just type “voice Access” or set up voice access, which should guide you through it. If not, search for voice access in your apps list. The Narrator is also built-in and will read things to you.

4. Edit Settings

This is probably the most helpful feature from an IT support perspective. Users will start being able to chat to their computer about their problems. So, eventually, teachers can ask their Copilot about helping them fix their projector and it will help them. Perhaps the most significant difference will be helping people learn to ask their computer for help instead of asking another person.

5. Organize Windows

You can ask Copilot to organize your windows for you. Pretty cool.

6. Create Digital Art

For everyone wishing they could access Dall-E, you can now access it inside Bing by just asking it to create an image for you. For example, I asked for it to “create a smiling cat on a computer.”

Now, granted, I think the cat's teeth are creepy. However, we can access the DALL-E engine inside our Bing browser and bing chat. So, download Bing (on any computer; I happen to be using my Mac with Bing Chat Enterprise,) but try it in the regular Bing as well. (Bing Chat Enterprise keeps your data within your organization and is something many are using to keep their data private.)

7. Web Apps

I'm using web apps more (even the web version of Word and PowerPoint) to access the generative features inside my web browser. This is what I'm excited about when Microsoft 365 Copilot is released.

8. Office 365 Copilot

November 11 is the date for this. I do believe everything changes when we all have copilot in Office 365. While students may not have it inside Microsoft Word, remember that if they have the consumer version at home or on their laptop, they will have access to these powerful features. The power of ChatGPT is everywhere and in everything and cannot be blocked. So, let's use it wisely and well to do our jobs better and teach better.

Other things are coming…

Another tidbit is that Edge Browser Control is coming to Microsoft Access which means you can pull web content into Access forms and reports. This means that anything public on the web becomes even easier to pull into content – which can be both good and bad for schools depending on what that public data is.

What This Means for Schools

Generative AI is here. I've been telling people that by Christmas, we would be in the throes of massive change, conversations, and consternation by many educators. The time is now to create your generative AI policy. You cannot run. You cannot hide. It is here.

And if you sit down with it for a moment, you might find that you'll do your job better, faster, and easier and perhaps we can change how we teach and what we teach for the betterment of students.

The way I see it, flipping the classroom, project-based learning, authentic assessments, and the other pedagogical approaches that we know work should be adopted anyway. I'm hopeful that the generative AI that we can all access cannot be blocked and is everywhere, which will force us to get to some excellent teaching practices to help our students learn even better.

As I said last week on Edutopia, the AI tools we use must respect the productive struggle required for learning. But until we get there, we'll have to facilitate that productive struggle and dynamic learning environment in our classrooms.

Check out the full series on 80 Days of AI and HI.

The post Microsoft’s AI Copilot in Windows 11 is Out Now appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

This week on Edutopia, I blogged about “Using AI to Encourage Productive Struggle in Math” and about how students don't need the answers to math problems; they need help with the process and how they can use Wolfram Alpha with ChatGPT to do that (as well as some other thoughts. Shout out to my principal, Jonathan Dyal, and math teacher, Matthew Sheets, who work with me for their advice and thoughts as I crafted this post. I'd like to add this as another day of learning about AI and HI in education as I spend the majority of my time digging into and teaching on this topic.

Some of my most important thoughts from this article, I think are:

“The problem with Photomath or AI, in general, isn’t that they help us find the correct answer; it’s that they do little to help students learn the right process to find the answer themselves. In my view, this is where AI can truly be useful in math education, and fortunately, new tools are being developed to guide students through the productive struggle that helps them learn.”

“Effective AI does not make humans obsolete; it unleashes human potential. Using AI as a partner to accurately coach our students through the productive struggle is the sweet spot we’re all looking for. That, my fellow teachers, is the answer to improving math with AI. Now let’s improve our process when it comes to using AI.”

The post Using AI to Encourage Productive Struggle in Math appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

In today's episode, we sit down with Stephanie DeLussey, a dual-certified veteran special education teacher, IEP coach, and author of the upcoming book “The Intentional IEP.” Stephanie shares her unique insights into the often daunting process of writing Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). She emphasizes the importance of collaboration between parents and teachers, and offers practical tips to make the IEP process more effective and less stressful for everyone involved.

• Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher
• Stream by clicking here.

Subscribe to the Show

This week's sponsor

Microsoft 's Free AI Course for Educators

Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools. AI is changing rapidly, and you'll want your team to take advantage of this free course from Microsoft today. Go to aka.ms/AIforEducators. I highly recommend this free AI course from Microsoft. So sign up today.

Click Here to Learn More

This week's guest

Stephanie spent 7.5 years in the traditional classroom, teaching in multiple states and special education settings and grades, and has over 12 years in education. She has always enjoyed writing IEPs and is a self proclaimed #data nerd. Upon leaving the classroom, Stephanie dove in to learning more about special ed law and student and parent rights – where she quickly realized that a formal IEP training for teachers was needed. She understands that not everyone will love IEPs as much as she does, but it is her hope that with the appropriate training and resources, teachers will not only advocate harder for student services and supports, but also bridge the gap between teachers and families to foster a true IEP Team.

She also provides professional development for teachers. You can connect with her at Mrs. D's Corner and The Intentional IEP.

Notes

Resources:

• The Intentional IEP – a Book coming out from Stephanie DeLussey
• Free AI Course from Microsoft

Show Notes:

Introduction

Timestamp: 00:00:00 – 00:01:00

In this episode, Vicki Davis sits down with Stephanie DeLussey to discuss the importance of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and how to approach them intentionally. Stephanie shares her expertise in creating effective IEPs that genuinely cater to the needs of each student.

The Importance of Parent Input

Timestamp: 00:01:01 – 00:04:48

Stephanie emphasizes the crucial role that parent input plays in shaping an effective IEP. She suggests using input forms to gather valuable information from parents, which can then be used to write the present-level section of the IEP.

Writing the IEP: The Present Level Section

Timestamp: 00:04:48 – 00:05:22

Stephanie walks us through the process of writing the PLAAFP (Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance) section of the IEP, which serves as the foundation for the entire plan.

Gathering Additional Input

Timestamp: 00:05:22 – 00:06:08

Stephanie advises sending out teacher input forms and consulting with other professionals who work with the child. This additional input helps in determining the skills to focus on when writing IEP goals.

Drafting and Revising the IEP

Timestamp: 00:06:08 – 00:07:16

Stephanie talks about sending a proposed draft IEP to the family for review. She emphasizes the importance of open communication and flexibility in making any necessary changes.

Communication and Feedback

Timestamp: 00:07:16 – 00:07:48

Vicki and Stephanie discuss the best ways to communicate with families, whether it's through email, phone calls, or face-to-face meetings, depending on the family's preference.

The IEP Meeting and Follow-Up

Timestamp: 00:07:48 – 00:09:11

Stephanie outlines what happens during the IEP meeting and the importance of ongoing communication with general education teachers and parents throughout the year.

Addressing Misconceptions

Timestamp: 00:09:11 – 00:11:09

Vicki and Stephanie tackle some common misconceptions about IEPs, including the difference between being “fair” and being “equitable.”

Conclusion and Resources

Timestamp: 00:11:09 – 00:12:02

Vicki wraps up the episode by thanking Stephanie for her insights and mentioning Stephanie's upcoming book, “The Intentional IEP,” set to release in January.

Transcript

00:00:00:22 – 00:00:04:07

John Davis:

This is the Ten Minute Teacher podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

00:00:04:09 – 00:00:42:05

Vicki Davis:

The IEP Journey: The Heart of Special Education Planning, Episode 818. In today's episode, we sit down with Stephanie DeLussey, a dual-certified veteran special education teacher, IEP coach, and author of the upcoming book “The Intentional IEP.” Stephanie shares her unique insights into the often daunting process of writing individualized education plans. She emphasizes the importance of collaboration between parents and teachers and offers some practical tips to make the IEP process more effective and less stressful for everyone involved.

00:00:42:06 – 00:01:11:17

Vicki Davis:

Let's get started. Today's sponsor is Microsoft Education. Stay tuned at the end of the show to learn more about their artificial intelligence course for Educators Day. We're talking with Stephanie DeLussey, dual-certified veteran special education teacher, IEP coach, author, and teacher mentor. And she has a book that will be released in January 2024 called “The Intentional IEP,” which is available for pre-order right now.

00:01:11:18 – 00:01:23:10

Vicki Davis:

Stephanie, IEPs are not something a lot of people look forward to writing. What's the philosophy behind how we should be writing IEPs? These are kids, right? So it is important.

00:01:23:12 – 00:01:48:00

Stephanie DeLussey:

I'm one of those weirdos that loves writing IEPs and loves the data collection. All the paperwork that comes with being a special ed teacher. We need to be working together to write the IEP. And what I mean by “we need to be working together” is that the parents and the teachers for the school need to be working together to write those IEPs, because when that happens, that's when the magic happens and really good things come from that.

00:01:48:04 – 00:02:06:10

Vicki Davis:

I can speak from personal experience. Out of our three children, we have two children who have learning differences, and once we got the results from the testing center, we did sit down with teachers and talk through and say, “Okay, this is what I'm doing as the parents, this is what you're doing as a teacher, this is what it means.”

00:02:06:10 – 00:02:19:14

Vicki Davis:

And we each had our roles, and then we met every so often to kind of go over that. Is that revolutionary? Is that something that a lot of people don't do? I mean, what are people doing now instead of involving parents and teachers?

00:02:19:14 – 00:02:41:11

Stephanie DeLussey:

You know, I don't know that it's revolutionary. I feel like it should be across the board that it happens. I don't know that it is happening everywhere in every single school. I don't think that's the fault of the teacher or of the parent. Honestly, as special education teachers, we're not really taught how to write IEPs or what elaborative IEP writing looks like, but it definitely should be happening.

00:02:41:11 – 00:02:54:16

Stephanie DeLussey:

And it doesn't have to be anything laborious or like extra added on to the teacher's plate or the parent's plate because we're both so stinking busy all the time. But it can definitely happen in little moments that really make a big impact.

00:02:54:18 – 00:03:03:12

Vicki Davis:

Okay, so let's talk through those little moments. You have a student; they obviously have some testing going on. And then where do you go from there to do this simply?

00:03:03:14 – 00:03:21:13

Stephanie DeLussey:

The biggest thing and one of my favorite ways to begin, including the parent in the whole process, is when you begin writing that IEP. So this begins way back. So if you're evaluating a student, you're going to do this at the beginning of the evaluation process. You're going to send home what I call a “parent input form.” It's also called like a parent questionnaire.

00:03:21:15 – 00:03:45:07

Stephanie DeLussey:

And essentially just ask the parent for their input on their child. You can also give one to the student. And even if you have kids in pre-K, you can still get a student's input for an IEP. It just might look different than a third grader or a seventh grader or a 12th grader. Those input forms bridge that gap and open up that communication between the teacher and the family and sharing what works well at home.

00:03:45:11 – 00:03:59:13

Stephanie DeLussey:

What the parents' hopes and dreams are, what they want to work on this year, what skills maybe they have priorities for this year for IEP goals. It just really starts that conversation and really opens the doors. And you never know this information as a teacher unless you ask.

00:03:59:19 – 00:04:01:22

Vicki Davis:

So every year you think you should ask?

00:04:01:22 – 00:04:21:00

Stephanie DeLussey:

Absolutely. Every time you're rewriting a child's IEP. So every annual IEP, every reevaluation, every three years, you should be asking for this information. I send home like a back-to-school parent input form. It's not as in-depth as the IEP input form, but it just lets me know like, “How was your child's summer? Did they go to any camps?”

00:04:21:01 – 00:04:38:16

Stephanie DeLussey:

It gives me talking points with the kids, like, “Oh, I heard you went to horseback riding camp. Can you tell me about that?” So those input forms really are just that gate opener for so many conversations between the teacher and the student and building those relationships and just building relationships with the family as well.

00:04:38:19 – 00:04:48:00

Vicki Davis:

This is just great teaching. A lot of teachers

get sort of input forms for every single student, and this is just a great thing to do. So you get these input forms, and then what do you do?

00:04:48:00 – 00:05:05:15

Stephanie DeLussey:

Once you have those input forms, especially if it comes to writing the IEP, let's say you have Stephanie's annual IEP meeting coming up and you're 30 and 45 days out from that IEP meeting. You know when it's due. On that input form, give them about a week or two. You can touch base and say, “Hey, don't forget to send it back.”

00:05:05:17 – 00:05:22:07

Stephanie DeLussey:

And then once you get that back, that's when you're going to start writing the present level section of the IEP. So the PLAAFP (Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance), you're going to start writing that present levels and putting that data into the present level section of it, because that's the meat and potatoes and that's where you should start when writing IEPs.

00:05:22:09 – 00:05:32:23

Vicki Davis:

Okay, so you take that information, you plug it in, I guess you have a first draft. So what do you do? What, you kind of have it all together or do you just check it off your list or what do you do next?

00:05:33:00 – 00:05:47:10

Stephanie DeLussey:

Yeah. So once you have your parent input form, not only are you going to send it out to parents, you're going to send out a teacher input form, have other teachers on the team as well, and any adult or professional or specialist that works with that child, they're going to get their own input form. You're going to get them all back and put them into that present level section.

00:05:47:10 – 00:06:08:19

Stephanie DeLussey:

And from there is where you're going to determine what skills to write IEP goals for based off of student need that you have written into the present level. So once you have that information in the present level, all the data set can be even at evaluation time. Present levels come first, and then you're going to move into those IEP goals and you're going to do proposed IEP goals.

00:06:08:19 – 00:06:27:02

Stephanie DeLussey:

So nothing is set in stone with an IEP, which is amazing. You can change anything at any time. And so you'll move from present levels to IEP goals. And then I like to send home a proposed draft IEP to the family, letting them know, “Here's all the data that we have, a level playing field. They know exactly where our starting place is.”

00:06:27:02 – 00:06:45:18

Stephanie DeLussey:

And then here, based off of that information, here's what our IEP goals we're proposing are. What do you think? What concerns do you have? Is there anything you want to change? Do you want a different skill? Are our priorities in the same way? It just between the input form and sending home that draft IEP, it's a game changer for special ed teachers.

00:06:45:18 – 00:07:11:06

Vicki Davis:

And how do you get the feedback? Is it better to talk about the feedback face-to-face? Is it better to, you know, I am just not crazy about email, or particularly with tense or possibly having a child and in IEPs are really very important for children. Every time I've had to work with teachers, it's always been face-to-face on these issues because it just prevents miscommunication.

00:07:11:06 – 00:07:16:03

Vicki Davis:

So do you suggest a meeting? Is email okay or phone calls or what do you do?

00:07:16:05 – 00:07:38:13

Stephanie DeLussey:

I think it depends on the dynamic between you and the family. So every family that you work with, that IEP team is going to have a different song and dance that we all like to sway to, right? So it really depends on what works best for the family. So back to the email then. That's what I'm going to use. But I prefer to make a phone call or I'll even say you can mark up this proposed draft IEP with a pen and then send it back and I'll read your notes.

00:07:38:15 – 00:07:48:10

Stephanie DeLussey:

I can give you a call when I get it back if I have any questions. So again, it just really depends on your dynamic with the family and what's going to work best for open communication between both parties.

00:07:48:12 – 00:07:55:12

Vicki Davis:

Awesome. So you kind of get to where it's written, it's done. We know we're not done there though, are we?

00:07:55:14 – 00:07:57:16

Stephanie DeLussey:

We are not, no.

00:07:57:18 – 00:07:59:14

Vicki Davis:

Okay, so what's next?

00:07:59:16 – 00:08:19:23

Stephanie DeLussey:

So after that point, that's when you're going to have that IEP meeting. Typically, I like to send that proposed draft IEP anywhere from 3 to 10 school days before that IEP meeting comes. That gives the family enough time to look over the draft, ask questions, for me to reach back out, touch base, make any changes that I need to based off of what their concerns and suggestions are.

00:08:20:00 – 00:08:40:19

Stephanie DeLussey:

And then that comes time to the IEP meeting. And so that's when you're going to have that I

EP meeting. That's when you're going to write all of those support services like accommodations, modifications, you're going to do related services, service times, choose the LRE (Least Restrictive Environment), and do all of those other little checkboxes that IEP formats have that you're finished writing out that IEP with the IEP team at that meeting.

00:08:40:22 – 00:08:52:19

Vicki Davis:

Okay, so now we have our IEP. Obviously, we have to follow that and go with it. Anything else happen during the year after you have this already written? Does the teacher need to review it? Check over it?

00:08:52:19 – 00:09:11:05

Stephanie DeLussey:

What I think that touching base, especially with the general education teachers and letting them know, “This is Stephanie's IEP, you have to read over it. It's a legal document.” But oftentimes when you say that, like people don't respond well to, I don't want to say open threat, but like just saying it's a legal document, you need to read it.

00:09:11:05 – 00:09:37:06

Stephanie DeLussey:

Like that's not going to make me read something. So really sharing with them like, “This is Stephanie's IEP. Here's the basis of what it says, here's what it means, and this is what it may look like in your classroom.” But also, I like to touch base with the general education teacher before I write IEPs because I can say, “What support does Stephanie need in your classroom to work on these proposed goals and what supports unify that general education teacher to help Stephanie reach those goals?”

00:09:37:06 – 00:09:55:07

Stephanie DeLussey:

So it's a lot of communication throughout the year and having just those relationships with the parents and the teachers and just the entire team. And you all have to be best friends with anyone on any IEP team, but you do have to have a good working professional relationship. And with that comes that communication.

00:09:55:09 – 00:10:15:07

Vicki Davis:

And I love that you're consulting with teachers, you're talking with teachers, and so many teachers do really understand that the kids learn differently. Every so often, though, there are those that think, “Well, this is not okay, I'm going to say a word and I'm sure you hate because I hate it. As a mom with kids who learn differently, do you know what word I'm going to say?”

00:10:15:07 – 00:10:17:18

Vicki Davis:

I'm going to say it's not fair.

00:10:17:23 – 00:10:26:02

Stephanie DeLussey:

Oh, yeah, there's a big difference between fair and being equitable and oh, yeah, that could be a whole other conversation.

00:10:26:03 – 00:10:47:23

Vicki Davis:

I always point out to teachers who use that word, “If somebody has a broken foot, is it fair that they have crutches? They need crutches. You're giving them something that they need in order to move from place to place.” I've also had teachers say, “Well, so-and-so is doing really well now. They must have gotten over their learning disability.”

00:10:48:01 – 00:10:49:08

Vicki Davis:

If you ever heard these things?

00:10:49:08 – 00:11:09:10

Stephanie DeLussey:

Before, I've heard different versions of them. Yes. And I love when people are like, “Oh, it's not fair. Well, it's not fair that I have to wear glasses every day to be able to see. But this is how I was created and this is how I am. And there's nothing that's going to change my vision. And so I have to wear glasses and that helps me see everything helps so I can thrive.”

00:11:09:10 – 00:11:17:08

Stephanie DeLussey:

It helps my free health so I can watch TV, it helps. I can be a member of society. And that's what all of our systems are as well.

00:11:17:10 – 00:11:44:11

Vicki Davis:

You know, these are so important and thank you for demystifying and encouraging us with the IEP process. I really look forward to seeing your book in January for the intentional IEP because I know that it's going to help a lot of kids as it helps all of us do our jobs better. So thanks, Stephanie. Sign up for this free course today so that you're ready to understand and use A.I. in your school in ways that are safe and work for schools.

00:11:44:13 – 00:11:50:06

Vicki Davis:

Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools. AI is changing rapidly, and you'll want your team to take advantage of this free course from Microsoft today. Go to aka.ms/AIforEducators.

Now that aka.ms/AIforEducators sign up for this free course today so that you're ready to understand and use AI in your school in ways that are safe and work for schools. I highly recommend this free AI course from Microsoft. So sign up today.

00:11:50:06 – 00:12:02:17

John Davis:

You've been listening to the Ten Minute Teacher podcast. If you want more content from Vicki Davis, you can find her on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube at Cool Cat Teacher. Thank you for listening.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post The IEP Journey: The Heart of Special Education Planning appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

In Part 1 of “Why Every School Needs and AI Policy Right Now,” I shared the empirical evidence about Artificial Intelligence and how it is impacting our world and schools.

As I said in the first article, with so many things grabbing the attention of administrators, AI seems to be taking a back seat in the minds of many. But why? Is this a problem we need to care about or talk about? The US Office of Educational Technology says,

"Everyone in education has a responsibility to harness the good to serve educational priorities while also protecting against the dangers that may arise as a result of AI being integrated in educational technology."

US Office of Educational Technology: Artificial Intelligence Tweet

What happens if we wait a month?

Well, in addition to the statistics that say we can't, AI is being built into all of the tools around us. Let's look at what is happening and a classroom application where there is one. I'll also share stories from my classroom and how we're using AI if it applies.

This blog post includes eight use cases of Generative AI impacting classrooms and schools now. After explaining the case, I share the classroom and school impact and some personal classroom examples from my classroom. Let me hear from you on social media or in the comments if you have some awesome examples to share!

Part 2: AI in Everyday Educational Tools: Real-World Examples

We must first acknowledge that spell check and autocorrect are forms of AI, although not like the large language models (LLM's) we are seeing now. While ChatGPT is the most talked-about tool, and rightly so, generative features are being built into every tool we use. 

Generative AI Use Case #1: AI is built into social media.

First, if you think that the age limit means kids won't get on ChatGPT, you're wrong. As I blogged before, the SnapAI feature has ChatGPT built right into Snapchat, a tool used by over half of middle schoolers in the US. 

Therefore, ChatGPT is directly available and also available through Snapchat. 

Classroom Examples

How SnapAI (and ChatGPT) Are Impacting YourClassroom

Homework. A student last spring told me that he complained about homework and SnapAI offered to do his homework for him and began by typing something for him.

Psychological Wellness. Another student told me that she was grappling with some significant emotional issues over losing a loved one and would talk to her "AI Friend" about coping with the loss.

Perspectives as a classroom teacher. The productive struggle of learning is real and part of learning. We do not need AI tools to step in and interrupt the learning process. Secondly, the way LLMs like ChatGPT work (that underlies Snap AI) -- they are not equipped with wisdom, only what humans say or might say in a situation. If more people knew how to cope with depression properly, we wouldn't have so many people who are depressed, so the training data for these tools cannot be counted on. Additionally, ChatGPT and other tools are not "mandatory reporters." As a teacher, I must inform parents about their children's emotional distress. If someone is talking to a child, parents should be able to supervise that relationship.

Generative AI Use Case #2: AI in Office Suites: Microsoft and Google's New Features

With what looks to be, arguably, the best generative AI tool on the market, Microsoft 365 Copilot is rolling out this year to businesses ($30/ month per user) and consumer editions of Office 365. 

Many similar features are also built into the Generative AI cloud features that can be accessed by application from Google.

Classroom Examples

How Generative AI in Office Suites Are Impacting Your Classroom

Generative AI is at most student's fingertips. Just to demonstrate, I went into my personal Google account and asked it to write a paragraph on Abraham Lincoln like a fifth grader.

I asked Google Docs consumer version after my acceptance to their labs program, to generate for me with typos.

Then, it generated a short essay for me with three errors. (I would argue that it was way above a fifth-grade level and at least one issue, it wasn't a typo but a factual error.)

The text I generated from the Google consumer version with their generative text features.

This again demonstrates that to attempt to block AI is pretty much impossible. Most students I know have personal office or gmail accounts, or their parents do. So, we must continue to make the presumption that all students have access to generative AI. Therefore, it comes down to the integrity of the student and if you do not discuss generative AI as being an integrity issue, how will they know? 

Additionally, when these features move out of labs, everyone will have it with a "help me write" in their document when they start.  That said, you could see a large chunk of data pasted into a Google doc unless the students retyped it themselves.

Once I insert the generative text into the document, I have it ready to go. I just need to decide if I want to keep the typos.  Again, this looks higher than a fifth grade level to me, but the point is the generative text is being built into the consumer versions of all Office suites and many students have access to those consumer versions.

Generative AI Use Case #4: AI in Creative and Visual Tools: From Google Slides to Canva

Google Slides now has generative art built-in with the “help me visualize” feature. Canva has it, too, with its text-to-image tool. (Available for those in the workspace labs program.)

Additionally, as I stated in the post in the first part of this series, my students used Adobe Firefly in my classroom's generative AI art competition. Adobe Firefly can generate deep fakes in seconds which used to take my students weeks to do in Photoshop. A student took a photo of him in the hall and turned it to him in a boxing ring. Another student sat in her chair with her head down and put herself at a bus stop in New York City. The photos are so realistic that their own families can't tell they are fake.

Classroom Examples

How Generative Art Is Impacting Your Classroom.

Citations. While the art world rages about the data sets used to train generative artwork, our students can generate artwork in most creative tools they use. While we can claim fair use in many cases, we must require citations of artwork if we allow their use. 

Art Classes Beware. Meanwhile, art classes must have specific AI artwork generation policies related to their coursework. 

Understanding the names, periods, and artists is more important than ever. Meanwhile, I'm rapidly adding art literacy to my computer classes so that students have the language to make effective AI artwork generation accessible. To know the words is to be able to create the art. One could argue that art classes can and should use this knowledge to generate AI artwork in appropriate cases and for assignments.

Generative AI Use Case #5: AI in Curriculum Alignment and Document Accessbility: A Personal Case Study

Bing Chat Enterprise is a game changer for schools. Accessible right now to the faculty in schools that have A3 and A5 licenses, it is a powerful tool that many teachers and administrators may not know is there.

For example, I've loaded my AP Computer Science Principles textbook into Bing Chat Enterprise. I can chat with Bing as it extracts information from my private PDF (without sending it to Microsoft and keeping it within my organization.) I use this for:

• Refining essential questions
• Lesson planning
• Generating practice quiz questions

To use this tool, just download Edge, sign into your organization, and open PDF's into it using the sidebar. (Note: Microsoft is sponsoring some work I do in this area, but not this blog post.)

Additionally, if you use Bing Chat from the Edge sidebar, anyone can use this feature. (The difference being that data can be sent to Microsoft in this second scenario, so you wouldn't use private or internal PDF's in this case.)

Classroom Examples

How Generative AI "Chat" with PDF Documents Impacts Your Classroom and School

Curriculum Alignment. Every teacher who has a PDF that they use for curriculum alignment (like all of us teaching AP Classes, for sure), should make a folder for their PDF's and then learn to load them in Bing Chat sidebar for quick conversations with documents.

Summarization of Reading. This is also a useful tool for administrators or anyone required to adhere to policies when those policies are in documents that are publicly available. Remember that to keep your data private and to analyze internal documents, you should enable and use Bing chat enterprise, immediately. I believe this is a massive game-changer for administrators who can ask Bing Chat to help them summarize policies or draft letters relating to PDF policy documents that come from their superintendent's office, saving so much time.

Student Reading Assignments. College professors and those who assign PDF's for reading need to understand and be aware of the generative features of Bing Chat which can access those documents in powerful ways. Now, I urge all of us not to be too hasty in dismissing this as a vital skill to be nurtured and taught. I am going to be giving assignments to my students and have Bing loaded on all of my Mac devices so they can learn to access large PDF's and summarize and use the data inside the large PDF. This is an assignment I will give my classes ninth grade and up as I believe generative accessibility to large documents is a skill they will need. (More on this in a future post.) 

Generative AI use Case #6: AI in Research: A Personal Research Assistant for My Students

Perplexity.ai is a super cool AI search assistant that might change research forever as it seems to get right what many search tools haven't entirely perfected yet. When you search, it finds the sources, summarizes them, cites them with footnotes, and gives you the sources.

Classroom Examples

How Generative Search Impacts Your Classroom

Requirements for a generative search tool in my classroom. Generative search is built into Google and Bing now (those boxes at the top of the search.) However, not all search includes hyperlinks to original sources. So, to select a tool for generative search, I require two things:

1. The tool must cite original sources in its generative summary. If it does not, students are not allowed to use it in any way.
2. The generative chat must be linkable so students can cite the chat.
3. Students are required to read original source documents (like they would with Wikipedia or any other tool like Wikipedia) and they must cite the original source document with a hyperlink.

You can see these rules reflected in my AI Classroom rules below. It may seem like more work, however, we've been doing this for years with Wikipedia with the exception that we never let them even link to Wikipedia (a mistake in my opinion as this made an extra step for teachers to ensure no plagiarism from Wikipedia.) 

In this case, citing the generative chat gives the teachers the summary document that students accessed. Citing generative chats is important because of the generative and transformative nature of LLM's (See my explanation on the What is ChatGPT? blog post to understand this.) Every generative chat is unique and therefore, in my opinion, must be cited (as I did on a recent article I wrote for Edutopia about Generative AI in math.)

My Classroom Rules for Generative AI

Generative AI Use Case #7: Generative Question Creation

Kahoot has built-in generative question creation, as does Quizizz AI. Quillionz gives you 5 question sets a month, and OpExams has a free AI question generator on the app stores.

We know that quizzing yourself is a great study habit, but in the past, it was only accessible to kids who took the time to make out their test. Now, self-quizzing can be accessible with a caveat: we need Human intelligence to ensure the answers are CORRECT.

Math is notoriously awful in these generative tools called Large Language Models (LLM) unless it uses Wolfram Alpha or another tool to assist. Again see the article I wrote on Edutopia about Using AI to Encourage Productive Struggle in Math for more on how to use AI in Math effectively.

Quizlet launched Q-Chat, which they say is the “first fully-adaptive AI tutor” built on top of ChatGPT API with Quizlet's educational content library. (Available for students 18 and older in the US.) Using accurate content should improve tutoring ability; however, as we all know, Quizlet and Quizizz have wrong card decks. We still need human intelligence to double-check our content area. (I'll repeat it, effective AI needs human supervision.)

KhanMigo has, in my opinion, the best coaching program for writing a college admissions essay which is observable by teachers and has safety measures built in. It won’t write the student essay; it coaches them through the process. Every guidance counselor should be using this tool. It doesn’t write the essay; it coaches students to write it about their unique experiences. KhanMigo is also available for all classes, including my AP Computer Science Principles course. Yes, I’m trying it out, and I think every school should be looking at this tool as an assistant to helping teach classes.

One caveat about KhanMigo. If you don't have it available for your school, you may have to have parents sign up, link their child's account, and permit them to access these features. I had to do this as I used some of the features in my AP CSP course.

Classroom Examples

How Generative Question Creation Impacts Your Classroom

ChatBot Tutoring is still being tested. First, I must clearly state that this is an emerging area I'm testing with students. For an assignment this week, I've asked my AP Computer Science Principles students to use Q-Chat from Quizizz to tutor them in the AP Computer Science Principles vocabulary.  For comparison, I've also created a Gimkit from their words and given them the Google Doc with all of their vocabulary words. Additionally, they have been studying already with the words so I have asked them to note if the chatbot gives errors. Expect their experiment's results in a future blog post.

Teachers Can Save Time. As teachers, we must be concerned about the accuracy of generative question creation as I've seen some answers and questions to be wrong, for sure. However, I want to note that my textbook gave me the AP vocabulary in a very unhelpful list. I copied the vocabulary and pasted it into ChatGPT and asked it to generate a CSV file for me. Then, I was able to take that CSV file and import it into Gimkit. This would have taken me an hour or so previously. (Ready: How to Take Questions and Answers from ChatGPT to Gimkit.)

So, whether or not you like generative question creation, you can certainly use current question manipulation techniques using generative tools. Create questions using BingChat as it chats with your tests and PDf documents you create or you can convert what you already have to a format used by your favorite edtech tool.

Ai Generative Use Case #8: AI Documentation of Steps on a Computer

Scribehow with its step-following, video, and webpage creation making, is a game-changer and time-saver for those of us in IT Support and technology integration coaching.

Note: The Scribehow link above is an affiliate link above, if you use that link I get a free week of Scribehow. If you do not wish to support me in this way, you may use this link instead. 

I created a short documentation on my newsletter for someone helping me. It. has no private data, so you can see it and see how this tool followed me and made a powerful, quick instruction page that I created in 14 seconds!

Classroom Examples

How Generative Documentation Impacts Your Classroom (and School)

Saving time. One of the reasons many of us teachers don't use new tools is the headache of onboarding students (or colleagues) into those tools. I would challenge edtech tools to always have a "student view" available to teachers so they can quickly turn on Scribehow (or another IT documentation tool) and create a simple documentation page to share. 

New skillset for students. Here's another assignment for all of my students in eighth grade and up. I now have them create personal screencasts. Now, I'll have them create how-to's using Scribehow which gives you several free documentation instances using the web browser. This is just as valuable as screencasting (and faster.) 

The IT Coach and IT Department's Dream. A tool like Scribehow is something every IT department or IT coach needs. The Pro version lets you use any desktop tool to capture the how-to's which makes anything you load on teacher devices available. You can collaborate and edit and tweak things as you see fit and built out a simple FAQ for your school as I have done for my school.

In Summary

Now, I have shared the empirical evidence substantiating the reasons that schools need to create AI policies NOW in Part 1 of this series.

Then, in this post, I've given you eight use cases with classroom applications (with both good and bad outcomes) that I hope has demonstrated to you, the remarkable reader, how we cannot block AI, we cannot ignore AI, and it can do great good and also great harm.

In part three of this post which I will share in the next few days, my goal will be to share with you the simple steps you can do now in your school to create an AI policy that is not only effective but is adaptable.

• Four Things You Can Do Now (With Links)
  • Read Part 1 of this series if you have not already.
  • Learn how Generative AI Works Essential
  • Go back through this post and find 3 things you can do now
  • Adapt my classroom rules template to be your own (link to Canva template) Free Template
  • Subscribe to my weekly newsletter so you don't miss future posts.

The post 8 Important Generative AI Use Cases in the Classroom appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

With so many things grabbing the attention of administrators, AI seems to be taking a back seat in the minds of many. But why? Is this a problem we need to care about or talk about? The US Office of Educational Technology says,

“Everyone in education has a responsibility to harness the good to serve educational priorities while also protecting against the dangers that may arise as a result of AI being integrated in educational technology.”US Office of Educational Technology: Artificial Intelligence

What happens if we wait a month?

I've divided this article into Part 1: Why We Can't Ignore AI(Anecdotal and Empirical Evidence), Part 2: AI in Everyday Educational Tools, and Part 3: 8 Steps Schools Can Take. I will post this over the next few days.

Part 1: Why We Can't Ignore AI: Anecdotal and Empirical Evidence

The Growing Influence of AI: Why Timing Matters

If you want to remove a weed, grab it when it sprouts. If you wait, you might find that it will take a chainsaw and a crew of several able-bodied strong people to get rid of it later – if you can at all.

Such is AI.

AI hasn’t just sprouted; it is overgrowing… exponentially, even as it is being put into every app. It is already too late to get rid of AI. But in many cases, attempting to do so would be a terrible mistake.

A Classroom Perspective on AI Change: My Students Feel Like Last Spring Was Ancient History

Recently, my students used Adobe Firefly in my classroom's generative AI art competition. Adobe Firefly can generate deep fakes in seconds which used to take my students weeks to do in Photoshop. A student took a photo of him in the hall and turned it to him in a boxing ring. Another student sat in her chair with her head down and put herself at a bus stop in New York City. The photos are so realistic that their own families can't tell they are fake.

Some of them had extensive lessons in Adobe Photoshop last spring. Yesterday, they reminded me that I had told them last spring that in a few years, they could do what was taking them weeks to do in a click now.

And then one of them laughed and said,

“Back in my day…. last spring…It would have taken weeks to do in Photoshop what Firefly can do in seconds.”My student after a class period using Adobe Firefly.

We all laughed. But that is how much it is changing and how fast! So fast that my students feel like last spring was ancient history.

The Data: The Accelerating Pace of AI

The empirical evidence backs them up.

• AI is expected to see an annual growth rate of 37.3% from 2023 to 2030. (Grand View Research)
• Statistics shared on Forbes Advisor are staggering: 64% of businesses expect AI to increase productivity, AI will have an estimated 21% net increase on US GDP by 2030, and 25% of companies are turning to AI to address the labor shortage issue. These apply to schools too.
• For example, at ISTE 2023, the New York City Public school systems said they reduced call volume to their IT Support line by 30% when implementing an AI support chatbot. (See my interview with Microsoft VP Lydia Smyers)
• While 69% of consumers prefer the use of chatbots (Salesforce), 60% of millennials say they have used chatbots and 70% say they have had a positive experience (Forbes).
• Even moreso, 90% of businesses report large improvements in the speed of complaint resolution using AI Chatbots.(MIT Technology Review)
• In their article “Top 5 Use Cases of Conversational AI in Education in 2023, education is one of the top 5 industries benefitting from chatbots and conversational AI applications.
• Georgia Tech used a chatbot named “Jill Watson” as one of the nine TAs for a 300-student classroom. It answered 10,000 messages with a 97% success rate. It took months before one student finally realized the TA was a bot. (Wall Street Journal)
• “Georgia State University introduced an AI Chatbot, Pounce, that prevented 324 students who claim they would have dropped out had it not been for the chatbot's guidance.” (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• There's more…

A recent McKinsey report stated that 2023 is “Generative AI's breakout year” and is worth a read if you are a leader of your organization.

Why We Can't Ignore AI

In the next post, I'll share how AI is being built into all of the tools you use now. Finally, I have eight steps that I've found that many schools are doing with success as they navigate through this time. I'll share those in Part 3.

4 Action Steps to Learn About AI in Your Field.

1. Look at your area and use a tool like Perplexity.AI to investigate case studies of how AI is being used in your area of responsibility.
2. Load a long PDF document (like the US Department of Education 71-page paper on AI) into Bing Chat Enterprise and “talk to it” by asking it to summarize, pull out key quotes and such.
3. Engage with conversations on the social media or PLN tool of your choice. Set an appointment to talk with someone about AI in your field.
4. Listen to a podcast about AI in your area of expertise and see what other schools are doing.

Oh, and step 5. Come back here for Part 2 and 3. This has been a work of weeks and I would like it to be helpful to you!

The post Why Every School Needs an AI Policy Right Now (Part 1) appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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Are you a middle school science teacher looking to ignite your students' curiosity? Look no further than ResearchQuest, a treasure trove of free investigations that immerse students in the steps of the scientific method. From analyzing real-world artifacts to drawing their own conclusions, your students will become budding scientists. And the best part? All these resources are freely accessible from the Natural History Museum of Utah.

Research Quest sponsored this blog post. All opinions are my own.

Transform Your Classroom with Project-Based Learning and the Scientific Method

We all know that hands-on exploration is the best way to engage students in the scientific method. Whether they're examining dinosaur bones, investigating the causes behind dying tree species, or exploring predator-prey relationships, ResearchQuest offers fourteen investigations for your middle school students. They come with lesson plans, NGSS standards alignment, and real-world integration as the museum's scientists are often part of the investigation. 

Sign up for Research Quest

Easy Access to Engaging Science Projects

When you sign up for a free teacher account, you'll receive a special code that allows your students to dive into these investigations without needing their own accounts. Each project is meticulously designed to foster critical thinking and comes with a downloadable ‘research assistant' guide, assessments, and even digital options for Google Classrooms and other Learning Management Systems (LMS).

Comprehensive Instructional Guides

Each investigation is aligned with NGSS standards and comes with a detailed lesson plan, assessments, and rubrics for evaluating student critical thinking. It's a one-stop-shop for any middle school science teacher looking to incorporate the scientific method into their curriculum.

5 Ways to Integrate ResearchQuest into Your Classroom Now

1. Exploring Environmental Stewardship Through Natural and Synthetic Materials

Dive into the “Artifact Investigation” to explore early ceramics and their impact on both history and ecology. This cross-curricular study is an excellent way to engage students in the scientific method while discussing the importance of environmental stewardship.

Students learn about early ceramics as well as how to understand history and how it relates to science, as well.

Sign up for Research Quest

2. Unearth the Secrets of Dinosaur Bones

The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry artifacts offers a fascinating look into the world of paleontology. Students can use the scientific method to identify fossilized bones and learn about ecosystem disruptions, the fossil record, and trait-based survivability through a “Dino Lab Simulator.”

3. Delve into Forest Ecosystems

The Uinta Mountains ecosystem investigations offer a deep dive into change and stability in ecosystems. Students can build their own digital food web models and explore various phenomena affecting Lodgepole pine trees, among other things.

4. Predator and Prey Bioscience Investigations

This project-based learning activity involves game-based digital manipulatives and gathering data from museum specimens. Students will explore what physical cues predators use to make eating decisions and will have the opportunity to compare specimens from museum collections.

5. Investigating Bat Diets in Changing Ecosystems​

The virtual bat dissections offer an engaging way to explore adaptability in bat diets. This investigation can spark some fantastic classroom conversations and is a great way to engage students in the scientific method.

Why Choose ResearchQuest?

ResearchQuest is more than just a set of free investigations; it's a comprehensive resource that aligns with NGSS standards and offers a wide range of project-based learning activities. It's an invaluable tool for any middle school science teacher looking to make science engaging and relatable. So why wait? Sign up today and transform your science curriculum with the power of the scientific method and project-based learning!

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored blog post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Research Quest: Free Middle School Science Project-Based Learning appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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In this uplifting episode, we're joined by Todd Nesloney, a seasoned educator and advocate for authentic leadership in schools. This conversation is a must-listen if you've ever questioned your worth or impact as an educator. Todd delves into the transformative power of vulnerability, the importance of emotional intelligence, and why every single person in a school setting is a leader in their own right—offering actionable insights that could reignite your passion for teaching.

• Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher
• Stream by clicking here.

Subscribe to the Show

This week's sponsor

Microsoft 's Free AI Course for Educators

Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools. AI is changing rapidly, and you'll want your team to take advantage of this free course from Microsoft today. Go to aka.ms/AIforEducators. I highly recommend this free AI course from Microsoft. So sign up today.

Click Here to Learn More

This week's guest

Todd Nesloney is the Director of Culture and Strategic Leadership for the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA). He is also the Director of Get Your LEAD On (underneath the Get Your Teach On umbrella). He was previously a Principal/Lead Learner at a PreK-5 school in Texas. He is an award winning author for his books Kids Deserve It!, Stories From Webb, Sparks in the Dark, When Kids Lead and his newest book, In This Season: Words for the Heart. He has also published a children’s book, Spruce & Lucy. Todd has been recognized by John C. Maxwell as a Top 10 Finalist for the 2018 Transformational Leadership Award, by the White House as a Connected Educator “Champion of Change”, the National School Board Association as one of the “20 to Watch” in Education, the Center for Digital Education as one of their “Top 40 Innovators in Education”, the BAMMYs as the “National Elementary Principal of the Year” and the “National Elementary Teacher of the Year”, and the Texas Computer Education Association as their “Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year”.

Notes

Hosts, Guests & Featured People:

• Todd Nesloney @techninjatodd
• Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher

Resources:

• Kid's Deserve It [Book]
• Building Authenticity [Book]
• When Kid's Lead [Book]

Summary of Show:

Introduction and Guest Background [00:00:00:02 – 00:00:37:23]

• Introduction of the podcast and today's guest, Todd Nesloney, who is the Director of Culture and Strategic Leadership for the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association. Todd has won many awards and authored several books.

The Concept of Leadership [00:00:38:00 – 00:02:43:09]

• Todd Nesloney discusses his belief that everyone is a leader in some capacity, whether at work, home, or among friends. Leadership is not confined to a job title but is expressed through actions, choices, and words.

The Importance of Vulnerability [00:02:43:09 – 00:04:52:11]

• Todd emphasizes the power of vulnerability as a leadership quality. He talks about how sharing personal struggles can inspire others and make them feel that their own struggles are important.

The Evolution of Beliefs [00:04:52:14 – 00:05:33:05]

• Todd shares how his beliefs have evolved over time, particularly with a chapter in his book “Kids Deserve It” that he now disagrees with. He stresses the importance of bringing your whole self to your job.

The Role of Emotions and Therapy [00:05:33:05 – 00:07:48:15]

• Todd talks about the impact of personal life on professional life and the importance of not minimizing your feelings. He also discusses the benefits of therapy in understanding oneself better.

The Value of Authenticity [00:07:48:20 – 00:08:50:12]

• Todd and Vicki discuss the importance of being authentic and true to oneself, both as an individual and as an educator. Todd emphasizes that everyone brings something unique to the table.

Closing Remarks [00:08:50:16 – 00:11:47:12]

• Todd gives a heartfelt message encouraging listeners to recognize their worth and the positive impact they can have on the world. The episode closes with information about a free AI course for educators from Microsoft and final remarks from the host.

Transcript

Transcript of the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Vicki Davis and Todd Nesloney

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[00:00:00:02 – 00:00:03:10]

John:
This is the 10 Minutes Teacher podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

---

[00:00:03:15 – 00:00:30:05]

Vicki Davis:
Today's sponsor is Microsoft Education. Stay tuned at the show's end to learn more about their artificial intelligence course for educators.

So today we're talking with my friend Todd Nesloney. He's Director of Culture and Strategic Leadership for the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association, Director of Get Your Lead On. And he's won many awards. Books, Kids Deserve It. Stories from the Webb, Sparks in the Dark.

---

[00:00:30:05 – 00:00:37:23]

Vicki Davis:
When Kids Lead, Words From the Heart, And recentle as Todd is Building Authenticity Thanks for coming on the show again.

---

[00:00:38:00 – 00:00:41:18]

Todd Nesloney:
Hey, Vicki, I'm so excited to be back, and it's great to get to connect with you again.

---

[00:00:41:20 – 00:00:46:07]

Vicki Davis:
Your message is everyone's a leader, so everybody's a leader, Really everybody?

---

[00:00:46:09 – 00:01:10:21]

Todd Nesloney:
It's so funny when I talk to educators or anybody in particular, and I'm like, Hey, define yourself in one word. For me, it's always broken my heart. That word is never the word leader. There's always some other word they choose and in my head, I've always looked at it as every single person is a leader, whether you have the job title or the pay scale or whatever it is, you are leading other people by your actions, by your choices, by your words.

---

[00:01:10:21 – 00:01:26:21]

Todd Nesloney:
And it's not just leading at work. When we lead, and we hear that word leader, sometimes we just think it's just a job thing. Well, when you go home to the people you live with, you're leading in that environment. When you're out with your friends, you're leading. Because in those spaces, people are watching what you do and people are listening to what you say.

---

[00:01:26:21 – 00:01:28:18]

Todd Nesloney:
So whether you like it or not, you're leading.

---

[00:01:28:19 – 00:01:35:14]

Vicki Davis:
So go back in time and explain the situation where you realized maybe it was back when you were a principal. Everybody truly is a leader.

---

[00:01:35:15 – 00:01:57:06]

Todd Nesloney:
I remember working with a group of educators at my school and just hearing some of the incredible things they were thinking about, or they wanted to do. And I just kept thinking, Oh my gosh, you are so brilliant. And nobody gets to see some of the things you do because you don't believe yet that you are as brilliant as you are.

---

[00:01:57:06 – 00:02:21:12]

Todd Nesloney:
And that's what I realized. One of my biggest opportunities as a school principal was to help others see the greatness in themselves so that they could see all the amazing things they can take and do. I knew that I had to eliminate some barriers for them. I had to encourage them because once somebody has a taste of, Whoa, I am pretty awesome, they're willing to take a little bit more risks and take some more opportunities to take charge in different ways.

---

[00:02:21:16 – 00:02:43:09]

Todd Nesloney:
And so a lot of that whole idea of being a leader, a lot of it does come down to battling the imposter syndrome. It comes down to really just believing that you have something worth bringing to the table and living and owning that and then honing it as well. Just identify some of your core beliefs: how are you going to operate, and what are you doing when you operate like that?

---

[00:02:43:09 – 00:02:52:17]

Todd Nesloney:
So really, just helping people identify that you've got it in you, let's now massage it and get it just right so that you can go and inspire people to do better things.

---

[00:02:52:22 – 00:03:00:01]

Vicki Davis:
So when you speak on this topic, describe a typical educator who comes up to you and what they says to you when you're done.

---

[00:03:00:02 – 00:03:35:06]

Todd Nesloney:
I'm known for being a little honest in my presentations. I love that my current role in education allows me to say some things that all of us as educators are thinking, but we're not always allowed to say because we don't want to upset anybody or anything like that. I think one of the biggest things I get after I lead presentations, especially about growing the leader in us, is just they appreciate the honesty, but at the same time, I also try to make sure to really share some really personal pieces of my story, because one of the things I tell people is I have to model for people what their biggest superpower is as a leader.

---

[00:03:35:06 – 00:04:02:11]

Todd Nesloney:
And my opinion is that one of the biggest superpowers people have as a leader is the power of vulnerability, of letting people see When you struggle, when you've gone through something hard, how you're working through it, and how it's not always pretty and it doesn't always work out as a happy ending. I think when you share some of that vulnerability as a leader, what it allows other people to do is see that their pain or struggle is important and that it's not something that is meant to be walked alone.

---

[00:04:02:11 – 00:04:20:10]

Todd Nesloney:
We think sometimes that if I'm going to be  “a leader,” I've got to have my act together, I've got to be strong. I've got to know the right answer. And the message that ends up sending to others is that it's not okay to have heartache. It's not okay when you don't know the answer. It's not okay to make a mistake.

---

[00:04:20:10 – 00:04:41:00]

Todd Nesloney:
And then that ends up being somebody who lies or doesn't lead well or breaks down in the end and can't lead at all. That's what I really try to do, is have that honesty piece, but also really try to show an example of what vulnerability looks like. Even though every time I share pieces of my story, it is terrifying, and it opens me up to judgment and comments back.

---

[00:04:41:00 – 00:04:52:11]

Todd Nesloney:
But I really try to let people see that that's where your strength lies, is in who you are and what you're going through and how it is changing you for the better.

---

[00:04:52:14 – 00:05:00:22]

Vicki Davis:
So what are some of those things that you say that you think all of us are thinking? I mean, one of them is that it's okay to admit you're not perfect. I mean, who is right?

---

[00:05:01:00 – 00:05:16:19]

Todd Nesloney:
I also talk a lot about how in my book Kids Deserve It. I'm so proud of that book. And it opened up so many doors. But there's one chapter that I wrote with my coauthor that I hate in the book now. So we write something, and we or we say something we believe in, and then we grow in life.

---

[00:05:16:19 – 00:05:33:05]

Todd Nesloney:
And you're like, I don't believe that at all anymore. Now that I've experienced things, I don't like that. And it's a chapter called “Leave It In Your Car,” where we wrote about how as educators, we got to leave our mess in our car and show up as our best self for kids every single day. And now I don't believe that at all anymore.

---

[00:05:33:05 – 00:05:52:06]

Todd Nesloney:
I don't think that's true because I bring who I am into my job. What happens to me outside of work? It affects how I teach. It affects the relationships that I build. And to ignore that because it's a nice soundbite or a great graphic that I could make, I just feel so ignorant then to the way life is.

---

[00:05:52:12 – 00:06:08:03]

Todd Nesloney:
Because now, living life, it's like, if I just lost somebody I love, I can't leave that in the car. If I just found out I have a terminal illness, I can leave that in the car, or even if my significant other lost their job and their income was necessary for the life that I live. I can't leave that stuff in the car now.

---

[00:06:08:03 – 00:06:24:06]

Todd Nesloney:
It doesn't mean my school becomes my therapy session. There's a line here, but it does mean that I have got to bring my life to work. I have got to let my coworkers in on what's going on, and I've got to walk this journey with them because we're not meant to do this alone.

---

[00:06:24:10 – 00:06:43:22]

Vicki Davis:
Being honest about, okay, this is where I am. It does help us be there for each other. Because face it, sometimes we have a good day, sometimes we don't have a great day. And Dawne, who's my partner across the hall, there are times where I'll say, Dawne, I just need one second. Just let me walk down the hall or she'll say the same to me.

---

[00:06:43:22 – 00:06:49:22]

Vicki Davis:
And that authenticity actually helps us to be better teachers because we're being real with our colleagues, you know.

---

[00:06:50:00 – 00:07:12:15]

Todd Nesloney:
And sometimes our brains can convince us that the emotions we're feeling are completely unique to us and that we shouldn't talk about it because nobody else is feeling that way. But what I talk about, too, is just the power of therapy and how when I started doing therapy, it changed my life. And I wish when I was a building principal or a classroom teacher, I would have been doing weekly therapy because it would have changed my whole way that I teach and lead.

---

[00:07:12:20 – 00:07:28:05]

Todd Nesloney:
But I remember one of the biggest things that was said to me recently in a therapy session is I made a comment and I said, “Well, I shouldn't really share that because there are other people who have it worse than I do in that situation.” And my therapist looked at me, and he said, “Don't ever let those words leave your mouth again.”

---

[00:07:28:06 – 00:07:48:15]

Todd Nesloney:
He said, “How dare you minimize what you're feeling? Because somebody else might be feeling emotion, too.” He said, “The words you're saying and the emotions you're feeling and the things going through your head, they matter because they're important to you and you're important. So don't minimize what you are going through because someone else might have worse. Yes, someone always has it worse.”

---

[00:07:48:20 – 00:07:54:00]

Todd Nesloney:
“But that doesn't mean that you don't matter because they have it worse.” And that's been really powerful for me to hear.

---

[00:07:54:00 – 00:08:25:06]

Vicki Davis:
Yeah, because what we're going through does matter. I mean, it just absolutely. And every, you know, here's the thing is how can we as educators look at every single child and say that they are valuable and they are priceless if we don't look at ourselves in the mirror and say the same thing? So your message, I know that as we're recording this, you're getting ready to keynote a leadership conference in Nashville, but what's going to be your big message when you get on that stage and you look at everybody out there, What's going to be the thing that you're like, I really want to get this across?

---

[00:08:25:11 – 00:08:50:12]

Todd Nesloney:
You know, one of the biggest things I focus on right now when I close out my messages is just encouraging people to remember that they bring something fantastic to the table. I don't care what your job title is; it doesn't even matter what you feel like you're bringing in the moment. You are in that moment for a reason, and you're there because in that moment nobody can do what you're about to do.

---

[00:08:50:16 – 00:09:18:07]

Todd Nesloney:
That's why you were placed there. Now, maybe in a year from now, you'll be replaced and somebody does it differently or does it better. But guess what? That's a year from now. Today you're in that role or that campus or that job because you are meant to do something nobody else can do except for you. And when we live in that realization that this is my moment, like I am the one who is going to make change and inspire because I was placed here right now, that's kind of a powerful thing to think about.

---

[00:09:18:07 – 00:09:30:20]

Todd Nesloney:
So that's what I always love setting people off on. It is just that reminder that don't be frustrated that you didn't get the promotion or the job or the campus that you wanted. You're where you're meant to be for a reason, and work hard to get those goals later.

---

[00:09:30:20 – 00:09:54:09]

Vicki Davis:
Yes. And, you know, being faithful where we are is a big part of contentment and joy and purpose. And I thank you for being faithful where you are. I remember many years ago, we were talking about reading in Sparks in the Dark, and we talked about kids who deserve it through the years. And I just appreciate that you're being faithful to a profession which needs encouragement.

---

[00:09:54:10 – 00:10:07:18]

Vicki Davis:
There's just a lot of challenges with teaching right now, as you know, and that encouragement is so needed. So as we finish, if you gave a one-minute elevator pitch to everybody listening, go ahead.

---

[00:10:07:20 – 00:10:30:07]

Todd Nesloney:
I am so thankful that you showed up today. I am so thankful that the world gets to experience you and the things that you're going to say, the choices you're going to make, the lives you're going to change. Because just because you are here, the world is a better place, and our kids are in better hands. And so thank you.

---

[00:10:30:07 – 00:10:46:04]

Todd Nesloney:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Because if nobody has told you today, maybe the only reason you were listening to this podcast was that some random guy you probably don't even know was meant to be here. Just to tell you, listening right now, that you are worthy.

---

[00:10:46:04 – 00:11:10:01]

Vicki Davis:
Microsoft has an amazing artificial intelligence course for educators that will help you and your education team have the knowledge you need to understand the best practices for artificial intelligence in schools. AI is changing rapidly, and you'll want your team to take advantage of this free course from Microsoft today. Go to aka.ms/AIforEducators.

---

[00:11:10:01 – 00:11:35:00]

Vicki Davis:
Now that aka.ms/AIforEducators sign up for this free course today so that you're ready to understand and use AI in your school in ways that are safe and work for schools. I highly recommend this free AI course from Microsoft. So sign up today.

---

[00:11:35:01 – 00:11:46:12]

John:
You've been listening to the Ten Minute Teacher podcast and if you want more content from Vicki Davis, you can find her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

---

[00:11:46:14 – 00:11:47:12]

John:
Thank you for listening.

 

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Encouragement in Education: Why It’s More Crucial Now Than Ever appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

I’ve used many Chrome­books and pur­chased quite a few. I’ve al­ways pur­chased  Leno­vo for one reason — they last. Now, I have a new, even more, durable Chrome­book  with a touch screen, which has become my go-to for Chrome­book ex­cel­lence: The  Leno­vo Flex 5i Chrome­book. I recommend this Chromebook as the best Chromebook for teachers. Here's why.

Spon­sored by Leno­vo and Google for Education. All opinions are my own.

Crisp Clear IPS Screen

When I am planning my lessons, I like the larger screen.

While students often have smaller screens, as a teacher, I like a larger screen, which is why the crisp, clear IPS 13.3” screen is perfect for me. I haven't seen a Chromebook screen this awesome. I also like its clarity because as I use the pencil and sometimes use my finger to interact with the screen, it just feels natural to me.

The Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook is Very Sturdy and Flexible

The first thing I noticed as I un­boxed the Leno­vo is it is very stur­dy. It boot­ed right up, and I could type on it with the key­board or stand it up with the pen­cil, which also had a charge. This de­vice op­er­ates like a stur­dy lap­top, a tablet, or even in my fa­vorite  for pre­sent­ing — like a “tent.” Also, when I'm working with students it is often easier to bring their work up in the “tent” position and I can annotate on it right there on my device as they work on theirs.  

I love an­no­tat­ing with the pen on my Google Slides and anywhere

I love transmitting wirelessly to the Chromecast and moving around the room as I annotate slides and so much more!

I was ex­cit­ed to get it work­ing with the Chrome­cast de­vice and my big mon­i­tor at the front of the class­room. I give many pre­sen­ta­tions in class, and with the pen­cil, I can annotate on my Google Slides. (Click the Slideshow but­ton to go into slideshow view.  Then, put your mouse over the bot­tom left side of the slides, and the three-dot menu will show. Click on the el­lipses icon and se­lect “Turn on the pen.”) 

If you’re us­ing slides, an­no­tat­ing them is a game-chang­er. Pret­ty much every tool I  use, including Google Slides, Near­pod, and Power­Point lets me an­no­tate on it using this pen. I love it because I can note anything on any slide, PDF, or graphic. Many years ago, teachers used transparencies because of this feature, and it is great to have this feature back and so easy to use. Because of this powerful ability to annotate anything with the pen, the Chrome­book is becoming my go-to for presentations, and I’ll be us­ing it in class today in AP Com­put­er Sci­ence.

Adap­tive En­vi­ron­ment

The Leno­vo de­vice au­to­mat­i­cal­ly man­aged pow­er loads and screen bright­ness and ad­justs to ex­cel­lent view­ing as I’m work­ing in my class­room. This is done, ac­cord­ing to Leno­vo with as­sis­tive AI.

It also has a “lock on leave” automatic feature. So, when I'm in front of this device, it stays awake longer; if I'm there, the screen will sleep instead of lock. However, if someone else looks at my screen, I get a notification, and the content is hidden. This adaptive feature is powerful for privacy and security as I work with sensitive student data. 

I’m set free!

So, I’ve been us­ing a sol­id de­vice but kept it plugged into HDMI. With the Chrome­cast and this de­vice, I can move all over the classroom, and it works all day. (It has a 10  hour bat­tery life.) The speak­ers are sol­id, as well, if I’m pulling up an in­struc­tion­al video to help a teacher with tech­nol­o­gy or helping a stu­dent right there at my desk.  

The built-in 1080p  cam­era also lets me cap­ture what­ev­er I need – par­tic­u­lar­ly when I put my face on a screen­cast as I often do for students and teachers.

What’s In the Leno­vo Flex 5i Chrome­book?

The 12th Gen In­tel(r) Core(tm) i5 Pro­ces­sor is in­side this de­vice with 8 GB of Ram and  512GB SSD Stor­age, so it is the fastest Chromebook I’ve used. Great device!

My Rec­om­men­da­tion

If you have Chrome­books for your school or are us­ing Google Class­room, this is a  rock-sol­id rec­om­men­da­tion for every teacher in your school. It is stur­dy, re­li­able, and the pen makes it even bet­ter. It has every­thing you need to be suc­cess­ful but what  I like best are the stur­dy de­sign, spill re­sis­tant key­board, the su­per long bat­tery life,  the abil­i­ty to po­si­tion the com­put­er any way I want to work and just how well it works with Google. 

Some Notes on the Google En­ter­prise Edition

Many schools are pro­vid­ing Chrome­books now be­cause of the Locked and kiosk mode, which pre­vent stu­dents from open­ing another tab while they are test­ing. Additionally, you can eas­i­ly re-en­roll a de­vice af­ter it is re­set. Fur­ther­more, Leno­vo Lan School man­age­ment soft­ware gives teach­ers fur­ther con­trol over the class­room environment in terms of fo­cus and ac­tiv­i­ties. This de­vice can work the whole day for a stu­dent and is very stur­dy. These de­vices are pow­ered by the “world’s only car­bon-neu­tral cloud,” ac­cord­ing  to Leno­vo.

I highly recommend this device.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this sturdy device as a perfect fit for teacher Chromebooks. Teachers need the flexibility of annotation, the security of the additional features that protect sensitive student data, and the reliability of a long-charge device that will last the whole day and be as mobile as we are. If this sounds like what you're looking for, the Lenovo Flex 5i is for you! 

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored blog post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Unboxing the Lenovo Flex 5i: The Best Chromebook for Teachers appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

WORD Force: A Literacy Adventure is an excellent tool to help improve reading. These fun, free reading games give students the foundational reading skills they need in a fun, engaging practice that you can use as an enrichment or alongside your current reading program. If you’re in elementary school, this tool is a win for you; the kids will love it. Parents will too!

Sign up for WORD Force

EVERFI sponsored this post. All opinions are my own.

What Reading Skills Does WORD Force Teach?

WORD Force is a research-based early literacy course that is free for teachers. Targeted to students in kindergarten through second grade, this is an excellent free course to use to teach:

• Phonological awareness skills like rhyming (cat, sat)
• Phonics skills like putting alphabet letters together to make written words
• Spelling words like cat, sock, bike, and rain
• Vocabulary building to know and use many words
• Reading comprehension skills to understand the meaning of stories

The students are playing games, but as a teacher, you'll have lesson plans, activities, and discussion guides to accompany the lessons.

Additionally, you can recommend this to parents for them to play with their children at home. What a fun way to practice reading and learn together!

WORD Force is free from EVERFI, which has the ISTE Seal and Digital Promise Certification. Let's look at some of the things students will see and do in these fun, free reading games.

Sign up for WORD Force

Phonics Skills

Putting alphabet letters together to make written words.

Phonological Awareness

Skills like rhyming (cat, sat)

Spelling Words

Learning to spell words like cat, sock, bike, and rain.

Vocabulary

Building vocabulary to know and use many words.

Reading Comprehension

These skills will help kids understand the meaning of stories.

Oh, and there's so much more with WORD Force. I highly recommend these fun, free reading games for kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade classrooms.

Sign up for WORD Force

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored blog post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Teach Reading with WORD Force: Fun Games Kids Love appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Early exposure to technology can help children develop digital literacy skills. Around 70% of kindergartners can use educational apps on tablets or smartphones. But it stands to reason that we must help students know how to effectively use these tools so they do not hinder and that they help  But do they know how to use technology effectively? And how much is too much?

Not all technology use is good, and overuse can hold students back. Use should be appropriate, tied to classroom content areas, and guided. With over 70% of US parents concerned about too much screen time for littles, they have a valid concern. And especially with littles, the time should be limited. Debbie Tannenbaum gives us guidance on the practical, balanced use of technology for children in kindergarten through second grade. If you want to know how to start helping little ones learn about technology, this podcast resource is for you to get started.

Debbie Tannenbaum, a veteran teacher and tech coach, has made it her mission to help students develop digital skills even as young as kindergarten. This podcast will explore Debbie’s key strategies for teaching digital literacy skills to our youngest students.

• Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher
• Stream by clicking here.

Subscribe to the Show

This week's sponsor

EVERFI - Free Digital Lessons for All Ages

Want to prepare your students for career and life success but short on time? Busy teachers use EVERFI’s standards-aligned, research-based digital lessons, recently awarded with the ISTE Seal for high-quality curriculum, to teach students to thrive in an ever-changing world. Interactive, game-based lessons designed by experienced educators help you engage students at all grade levels and bring critical real-world skills like financial education, early literacy, character education, health & wellness, and more to your classroom. Thanks to partners, these lessons are FREE for all K-12 schools and students. With back-to-school season gearing up, now is an exciting time to give your students a jumpstart on their future. Go to everfi.com/coolcat to learn more and sign up to get a virtual swag bag full of free goodies to get the school year off to a great start.

Click Here

Sponsor

This week's guest

Debbie Tannenbaum, an ISTE Certified Educator, author, blogger, and speaker, offers schools and districts a wealth of expertise. With over 20 years of experience, she advocates starting with pedagogy first and then transforming learning experience by using technology tools. Debbie empowers educators with practical strategies, innovative ideas, and insightful guidance for leveraging technology to amplify student success. Connect with Debbie at TannenbaumTech.com.

X.com (Formerly Twitter): @TannenbaumTech

Notes

Hosts, Guests & Featured People:

• Debbie Tannenbaum, Tannenbaum Tech
• Vicki Davis, Host, Cool Cat Teacher Blog
• Pana Asavavatana's @PanaAsavavatana episode on How she helps her students using iPads that Debbie said helped her understand how to use icon literacy to teach littles. Episode 388

Digital Resources Mentioned:

• EVERFI and WORD Force, amazing reading games for reading literacy
• Wixie one of Debbie's favorite tech tools for young learners
• Book Creator – students can write their own ebooks.
• Flip (formerly Flipgrid)
• Clever – how students login to their apps

News and Research on This Topic:

• Office of Education Technology – Early exposure to technology can help students with digital literacy skills
• PEW Study – Children's engagement with digital devices and screentime
• MIT Review “How Use of Technology is Holding Students Back“
• PEW Study – Parenting Children in the Age of Screens

Podcast Table of Contents:

1. 1. Introduction and Episode Overview 00:00:00:00 – 00:00:32:10
      
   2. Sponsor Mention and Blog Review 00:00:32:12 – 00:00:59:13
      Vicki Davis talks about the episode's sponsor, EVERFI, and mentions her blog review of WORDFORCE.
   3. Debbie Tannenbaum's Journey 00:01:25:09 – 00:01:50:19
      Debbie Tannenbaum shares her teaching journey, frustrations, and how reaching out to a podcast guest on this show helped her make amazing progress with teaching littles.
   4. Importance of Professional Learning Network (PLN) 00:02:11:22 – 00:02:34:20 Debbie Tannenbaum discusses the importance of a PLN and how it has enriched her career.
   5. Focus on Young Learners 00:03:35:13 – 00:03:54:19
      Vicki Davis and Debbie Tannenbaum discuss the focus on young learners and how to help teachers reach them.
   6. Icon Bingo and Visual Learning 00:04:18:09 – 00:04:39:18
      Debbie Tannenbaum talks about using “Icon Bingo” to help young learners understand digital icons.
   7. Tech Tools for Young Learners 00:07:56:05 – 00:08:11:21
      Debbie Tannenbaum mentions her favorite tech tools for young learners, including Wixie and eBook Creator.
   8. Making Learning Stick 00:09:24:00 – 00:10:02:00
      Debbie Tannenbaum gives an elevator pitch on how to make learning stick with technology for four and five-year-olds.
   9. Closing Remarks and Sponsor Mention 00:11:09:08 – 00:11:38:0
      Vicki Davis wraps up the episode, thanking Debbie Tannenbaum and mentioning the sponsor, Everfi, again.

 

Transcript

00:00:00:00 – 00:00:03:10
John Davis, Producer
This is the Ten Minute Teacher podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

00:00:03:14 – 00:00:32:10
Vicki Davis
The future is now preparing our youngest scholars for a digital world. Episode 860. In this show, we'll sit down with Debbie Tannenbaum, the tech-savvy educator for early childhood education and author of “Transform Techie Notes to Make Learning Sticky.” Get ready to discover innovative strategies for integrating technology into early education, building Student Agency, and why your professional learning network can be a game-changer for your teaching career.

00:00:32:12 – 00:00:59:13
Vicki Davis
If you teach the youngest students and are looking to transform your classroom into a dynamic digital learning environment, this episode is your roadmap. Today's sponsor, EVERFI, has created an incredible set of early literacy lessons called WORD Force. Go to everfi.com/coolcat to sign up for these early literacy lessons perfect for K to 2 classrooms everywhere. And check out my review this week on my blog.

00:00:59:14 – 00:01:25:07
Vicki Davis
So today we're talking with Debbie Tannenbaum from Tannenbaum Tech, the author of “Transform Techie Notes to Make Learning Sticky.” And Debbie, you have a little bit of a story of your teaching career, how you were teaching and how you started learning. Now you're helping schools and districts and doing so many things. So tell us a little bit about your journey.

00:01:25:09 – 00:01:50:19
Debbie Tannenbaum
This is my 25th year in education, my sixth year as a tech coach, and during my first year as a tech coach, I'm in elementary school. I was getting super frustrated because I felt like I could never help all my kids. And so it's actually funny because I was listening to your podcast back in I guess 2018, 2019, and you were interviewing this woman, Pana Asavavatana, and she was talking about icon literacy.  (See episode 338)

00:01:50:21 – 00:02:11:22
Debbie Tannenbaum
And I reached out to her immediately after the podcast and found out more about her. And this kind of started me on this whole journey. I help districts with a lot of things, but my true passion is helping our little learners, making sure that they develop agency, that they really understand how to use digital devices and how they become digital learners.

00:02:11:22 – 00:02:34:20
Debbie Tannenbaum
It's become a really big passion to me. A lot of what I see is for secondary school. A lot of what I share tends to focus on those littles, those youngest scholars, because we really need to make sure that our kids are ready. There's so much change going on in technology right now and education. And if we don't make sure our kids have those skills, it becomes really, really tricky down the road.

00:02:34:21 – 00:02:58:02
Vicki Davis
Well, I love that you are seeking help. You didn't let your frustration get to you. You found somebody who resonated with you by listening to podcasts. And I'm sure you've been listening to lots of different podcasts, but then you're like, “Oh, this partner really is awesome.” You reached out to her and then you just got excited. So building your PLN really does make a difference, doesn't it?

00:02:58:04 – 00:03:24:20
Debbie Tannenbaum
It absolutely does. And I, over the last five years since I joined Twitter, it's maybe even more than that, becoming part of a PLN has totally changed everything for me. I've had so many opportunities to learn, so many opportunities to share that I would have never had if I hadn't had those experiences. And I've gotten to feel so much richer in what I do because of those experiences.

00:03:24:20 – 00:03:35:10
Debbie Tannenbaum
So it's really been great as the last couple of years have gone. I'm doing things now that I would have never imagined doing five years ago, and a lot of that is due to the people I've been connected with through social media.

00:03:35:13 – 00:03:54:19
Vicki Davis
We're going to talk about making learning sticky and really we want to focus today on the littles because you know what? You may be somebody that resonates with those who are working with trying to reach and help the littles. So where do you start? How do you help teachers reach our youngest?

00:03:54:21 – 00:04:18:09
Debbie Tannenbaum
I think it's really important to start simple. I always talk about when I first start working with my youngest learners because of the work that I had experienced talking to Pana and working with her, I really try to think about those nine icons that I feel like are the most important for my students to understand, to really navigate those digital learning environments before we even touch a device, we really start to learn those.

00:04:18:09 – 00:04:34:17
Debbie Tannenbaum
And whether we're talking about power or we're doing some total body response and we're using our hands, or we're talking about username, which has seven digits or password, everything we do is really concrete and then we even play some icon bingo to really make sure that the kids know those things.

00:04:34:18 – 00:04:39:18
Vicki Davis
Icon Bingo. Okay, I love that. Tell me about Icon Bingo.

00:04:39:18 – 00:04:59:02
Debbie Tannenbaum
Icon Bingo. There's a really great site. I think it's called ESL Activities and you can put pictures on a bingo board and I put like, I'm trying to remember all nine of them, but like, power, username, image, text, video, microphone. And so I put those ones that I'm going to use with all of my students a lot on there.

00:04:59:02 – 00:05:21:14
Debbie Tannenbaum
And we play it. We play. I even had some educators play some icon bingo in one of my playgrounds because it's really important to make sure that they understand what those icons are. And then, you know, as we build, we can get even more. But there's so many icons that go across different platforms that, yeah, I want to make sure my students understand that.

00:05:21:14 – 00:05:42:05
Debbie Tannenbaum
And so I want my students to know no matter what program they're in, a way to navigate that digital learning environment. And I really, once I've done that with them, I do a lot of things where I reinforce those icons as we're learning and really try to link the digital literacy that they're building with the learning that they're working on as well.

00:05:42:07 – 00:06:03:05
Debbie Tannenbaum
I think that's super important. I have something I call an edu Rubicon that has, you know, the icons on the left and then those criteria for access on the right. And it's very visual because I want my students to know that they can do these things. I incorporate things like video inside of it because I want them to have that agency.

00:06:03:05 – 00:06:34:01
Debbie Tannenbaum
Before this, I was spending a lot of time playing Whac-A-Mole and trying to get my students all down and never being able to. And now what I'm really my goal is, is now they're calling me because they want to show me what they're creating. And that's a big shift. And I think that that's so important. So when I'm working with those, when I'm working with, you know, our primary educators and our youngest learners, I build on that, making sure that before I even mention a tech tool, that I really spend time to talk about ways to promote that agency.

00:06:34:03 – 00:06:53:23
Debbie Tannenbaum
Because far too often we go directly to the tech tools, and when we do that, we're missing a piece. And so whenever I share about littles, I always tell them the first half hour has nothing to do with tech tools. I won't even mention a tech tool until that second half hour. But then when I mention those tech tools, you're going to see those connections made.

00:06:54:03 – 00:06:58:05
Vicki Davis
Love it. So when you say littles, define the age.

00:06:58:07 – 00:07:03:16
Debbie Tannenbaum
With what I do, I really look at like that pre-K to second. But the stuff I share will really work.

00:07:03:16 – 00:07:08:21
Vicki Davis
Pre-K and so have you. Have you done this with three-year-olds or is it more like four-year-olds or five-year-olds?

00:07:08:21 – 00:07:09:15
Debbie Tannenbaum
Four-year-olds.

00:07:09:18 – 00:07:24:20
Vicki Davis
Four-year-olds? The Whac-A-Mole is a complaint that teachers and coaches have with those four-year-olds. So you find that playing bingo really helps them understand the icons and what they do and how long the username is?

00:07:25:01 – 00:07:44:10
Debbie Tannenbaum
I haven't played bingo with my four-year-olds. I played it with my kindergartners. But just that same idea of really building it and making sure when I work with my youngest learners, I try to stick with programs that are very, very visual. One of the ones I really like is called WPXI, and they have a primary view that's super easy for our kids to use.

00:07:44:10 – 00:07:56:05
Debbie Tannenbaum
And then when I get to my older kids, then I'm able to build on that. I'm so excited because we had iPads this year that my pre-K kids, when they get to kindergarten, this is not going to be the first time they've been on a device.

00:07:56:05 – 00:08:02:13
Vicki Davis
What are your favorites? You've got Wix. See, you're excited about the iPads. Just throw some out at us that your kids love.

00:08:02:14 – 00:08:09:12
Debbie Tannenbaum
Wix is probably one of my favorites. I also love eBook Creator. I think eBook Creator is an amazing tool. I use Flip a lot with my kids.

00:08:09:12 – 00:08:11:21
Vicki Davis
Oh really? How do you use it?

00:08:11:23 – 00:08:29:11
Debbie Tannenbaum
Well, I start really simple. We start with the paper version and they'll start with my kindergartners and I'll say, okay, here's a five screen, color it in two different ways. Do you want to hold it up in front of your face and report or do you want to hold it to the side? I make it so that they only have the camera to start and then I just let them watch each other.

00:08:29:11 – 00:08:50:04
Debbie Tannenbaum
And honestly, they love watching each other. And so we build on all of those things as we're working small strategic steps to really make sure that they understand how to do these things one step at a time. And I like programs that allow our kids to share their own knowledge in lots of different ways. So it's not just, “Oh, I'm drawing the picture,” but maybe I can create a video, maybe I can add my voice.

00:08:50:04 – 00:09:11:05
Debbie Tannenbaum
And so I like those things. And it also makes it easier for our teachers. If our teachers pick a tool that has lots of different choices, then the teachers learn one tool, the kids learn one tool, and then it's easier to help them transfer over when they really understand how all of that works together. So I can work with my kids on Wixie and then when I get to Flip, they understand how they're alike and different.

00:09:11:05 – 00:09:12:18
Debbie Tannenbaum
We can make that transfer.

00:09:12:20 – 00:09:23:19
Vicki Davis
So as we finish up, could you just give us a quick elevator pitch for here's how you can make learning stick with technology. With four and five-year-olds.

00:09:24:00 – 00:09:43:02
Debbie Tannenbaum
I think you have to look at the opportunities the technology can give our students. And is it going to give our students opportunities to share in ways that they can't without the technology? And a lot of times having them record their voice or having them make a video, you're going to get different things than you might get if you just have them draw a picture.

00:09:43:04 – 00:10:01:22
Debbie Tannenbaum
And so giving them those opportunities to do that, having it be able to read to them, really giving them authentic tasks and being like, you're actually creating something on the computer. With my four and five-year-olds, I do a lot of stuff where they have choice boards, where they go. There's a couple of different activities and they get to choose what they're doing.

00:10:02:00 – 00:10:16:02
Debbie Tannenbaum
I want them to feel like when I come to their rooms to do our technology, that it's always linked to what we're learning. I never do something that isn't linked to what they're learning, and I work with the teachers to do that and they see the connection between us.

00:10:16:04 – 00:10:22:03
Vicki Davis
So are the choice boards projected on the board? Are they in a Google doc or Google slide? Or where are those?

00:10:22:04 – 00:10:38:06
Debbie Tannenbaum
A lot of times I'll use Wixie because it allows you to link within and then they get into Wixie using Clever and they know how to do that. I teach them that; we learn how to find the Clever icon. We learn how to find what they call the Rainbow hand. We're really intentional with those icons as we build.

00:10:38:09 – 00:11:09:07
Vicki Davis
Love that Debbie Tannenbaum and you work with districts all over helping them use technology with the littlest to make learning stick. And I love your techniques. So many great ideas. Thank you, Debbie, for coming on the show.

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00:11:09:08 – 00:11:38:00
Vicki Davis
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00:11:38:00 – 00:11:51:05
Vicki Davis
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00:11:59:08 – 00:12:09:15
John Davis, Producer
You've been listening to the Ten Minute Teacher podcast and if you want more content from Vicki Davis, you can find her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

00:12:09:15 – 00:12:14:10
John Davis, Producer
Thank you for listening.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post The Future is Now: Preparing Our Youngest Scholars for a Digital World appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!