Get Started with Google AI in K12 Education

WEBSITE ↬ Get Started with Google AI in K12 Education

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & admins

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I believe we adults need to learn about AI - and this course is 100% free to help with that! I've completed it myself and found it to be helpful. It's not a course that tells you AI is going to magically change your life and "fix" everything. Instead it provides an understanding and shares helpful ways for us to use AI in our lives. Anytime we can better understand, we can better guide and structure our use.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this to help themselves have a better understanding of AI. This can also help teachers better understand where and how they can implement AI in their work. And you can earn 2 hours of professional learning once you've completed the course (provided your district allows it).

*** Interested in more resources like this? Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

EOY Checklists & Close out

WEBSITE ↬ Angela Watson's End of Year Checklists & Classroom Close Out Plan

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I don't normally share resources that require purchasing when it's for use as an individual teacher, but this one is a MUST (& super cheap!). Angela Watson, of the 40 hour work week, shares this "complete plan" to help teachers close out their classrooms at the end of the year. I will not pretend like I've used her checklist, but I have read enough of her stuff and used several of her other lessons, that I KNOW I can share this one, too.  

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this to help wrap up the school year on a good note. Decluttering, organizing, and putting things away in a place to allow for a positive and solid start next year will do amazing things for your sanity as a teacher. But it once, use year after year.

*** Interested in more resources like this? Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

The Essential Retrieval Practice Handbook

WEBSITE ↬ The Essential Retrieval Practice Handbook

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Learning is not a "one & done" activity. All learning is something that you have to some back to over and over. In this fast paced world we teachers are having more and more heaped on them, it's super important to remember that we must go back to previous information - not only as a best practice, but often content builds on itself.  

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this to help boost and reinforce the learning in their classroom. Since there is no one perfect path, teachers need to make sure they have multiple activities they can rely on to support all students'. Edutopia has created this resource to help us teachers out. Bookmark ... there are 4 categories of support for teachers. 

*** Interested in more resources like this? Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

INFOhio: Decodable and Phonics eBooks for Early Readers

WEBSITE ↬ INFOhio: Decodable and Phonics eBooks for Early Readers

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ ELA, early reading

GRADE LEVELS ↬ preK-3

I am an INFOhio Coach and I love their resources. I believe it is a very under used resource and I wanted to be sure to share this one out. With the focus on early literacy, these books and resources can go a long way to help your students (and yourself!) with supporting their early reading.

Not only does this share books for your early readers, it also shares professional learning ebooks to support YOU in teaching.  

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers sharing the books with their students but also the ability to create collections to share with other teachers can be super helpful when you work as a team to support each other. While reading with physical books is super important, having access to quality ebooks is also a great classroom activity (or to share with home for times when parents ask what digital resources are available). 

Teachers can also take advantage of the professional resources included in this article.

*** Interested in more resources like this? Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Headers That Move: The Missing Piece in Your Google Forms

WEBSITE ↬ Headers That Move: The Missing Piece in Your Google Forms

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & admins

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Ok, you have to check out this awesome guide from Tony Vincent on how to spruce up your Google Forms with custom headers! He walks you through exactly how to create eye-catching banners using tools like Canva and provides the perfect dimensions so your digital assignments look super professional. My favorite part is how it explains that Google automatically matches your theme colors to your image, making your forms look totally polished and fun with zero extra effort! 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this create more fun & engaging headers when they create Google Forms for surveys, class activities, or assessments. No need to be boring!

*** Interested in more resources like this? Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2026

WEBSITE ↬ 6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2026

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & admins

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I have followed Jennifer Gonzalez & her Cult of Pedagogy blog for many years. Every year in January, she and her team share out this small highlight of edtech tools they have found to be timely and valuable. This year their 6 tools are: Makers Making Change, BandLab, Brilliant, Napkin AI, Short Answer, & Retro Report. This blog & accompanying podcast will allow you to decide which of these you'd like to check out for yourself. 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this to find new and reliable tools they might want to try for themselves and in their classrooms. Cult of Pedagogy (Jennifer Gonzalez) is a highly respectable educator who has been sharing 6 tools every year for a number of years. She and her team do a lot of research to find ones that will provide benefits and advantages to teachers who are interested. This is part of a bigger project - the Teacher's Guide to Tech - they put together to provide the support, reviews, and guidance we need in this ever changing world of edtech. 

*** Interested in more resources like this? Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

TAPS

WEBSITE ↬ TAPS

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & admins

CONTENT ↬ phones in schools

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

"The Toolkit for Assessing Phones in Schools (The TAPS) is a free, ready-to-use toolkit designed to help elementary, middle and high schools evaluate their phone policy. The TAPS was jointly developed by the Stanford Social Media Lab and the Tech and Society Lab at NYU Stern."  

I have become a big believer in the need to limit/eliminate the use of students' cell phones in school. I also believe we, as a society, need to push back on the "norm" of giving devices to kids at a young age. This resource is built for schools to help your school figure out what is best for you. I love that it is set up in a way for you to include ALL the "players" - students, parents, teachers, and admin. 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers sharing this resource with their school leaders. Some of us need to start a conversation, some of us need to continue a conversation, and some are at the point of revisiting conversations to ensure the policy best fits their community.

*** Interested in more resources like this? Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Ditch That Textbook: Templates!

WEBSITE ↬ DTT: Templates

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Matt Miller, of Ditch That Textbook, has a wonderful website packed with templates that are free and available to teachers everywhere. I love how he has them organized into groups to make it easier to find what you are looking for. The categories are:

• Social Media Templates
• Game Templates
• Interactive Activities
• Graphic Organizers
• Lesson Plan Templates
• Communication Templates
• Feedback Templates
• Exit Ticket Templates
• Back to School Templates
• End of Year Templates

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using DTT's Template Gallery to hep themselves in quite a few ways. Feedback & Exit Tickets are helpful in many classrooms. Having students provide each other feedback is helpful to learn and improve. The Back to School & End of Year Templates are a great way to help start and reflect on the school year. If you only check out one of the categories, be sure to hit up the game templates ... so many different games that you - AND your students - can customize and create using.

*** Interested in more resources like this? Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Advancement Courses

WEBSITE ↬ Advancement Courses

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I love learning. And I very much appreciate online/on-demand courses. Being able to find virtual courses is so much easier now and Advancement Courses provides a ton of them for teachers. There is a wide variety and I guarantee there is something to fit your learning needs & many of the topics you want to learn about.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this to continue learning on a wide variety of topics that are important in their classrooms. Continuing education can also provide teachers with the ability to move up on the salary ladder. 

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

girls4tech

WEBSITE ↬ girls4tech

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ technology/ STEM

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Created in connection with Discovery Education, girls4tech is a resource to help support and engage with girls in the world of technology. Videos and classroom resources are a highlight. As stated on their site, girls4tech "empowers young people to embrace digital connectivity and explore creative solutions to real-world challenges in tech."

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this with after school clubs and groups to encourage students, girls in particular, to learn more about technology. Don't miss out on the career profiles so your students can also have a peek into future possibilities.

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Print speaker notes WITH your Google Slides

WEBSITE ↬ Google Support page

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & admins

CONTENT ↬ any & all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I recently was asked for help and while I'd never had a need for this, the person did. So I did a search and was pleasantly surprised how easy it is! Have you ever wanted/needed to print out the speaker notes along with your Google Slides? Yes! It can be done, and it's really not too terribly difficult.

I've linked the support page above, but I'm going to just include the steps below because it's easy.

HOW DO I PRINT SPEAKER NOTES with MY GOOGLE SLIDES?

1. Open your Google Slides.

2. Click on the File menu & go towards the bottom.

3. Click on "Print settings and preview".

4. Find the dropdown menu in the toolbar and select "1 slide with notes". 

    --- depending on how large your slide deck is, it might take awhile to load ---

5. Click on the printer icon in the toolbar. 

    --- it might take a minute or two to load ---

At this point, I'd strongly recommend using the option in your print menu to print 2 or more pages on a sheet. You probably don't need a giant version of your slide and you can save some paper while still getting your slides & speaker notes.  

To return to your typical slide deck, click the "Close Preview" in the upper right corner.

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

OEA Learning Opportunity

WEBSITE ↬ OEA Learning Opportunity

AUDIENCE ↬ Ohio teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

This is too good of an opportunity to pass up sharing. It's not a traditional resource - as in, you probably won't use this site in your class. Instead, it's an opportunity for Ohio Educators to earn credit for renewal of licenses. And it's not super expensive! (Which is a huge relief!) The summer is the perfect time to jump on this opportunity ... but you can continue learning through the school year.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

Ohio teachers can use this opportunity to earn graduate credits - pretty inexpensively - in order to level up or renew their license. There appear to be quite a variety of topics to learn about.

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Ohio Learning Community

WEBSITE ↬ Ohio Learning Community

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ any/all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades 

I was able to attend OETC 2023 in February, 2023, and attended the session sharing this wonderful opportunity for teachers. I was very impressed by it! 

The Ohio Learning Community is founded by 3 guys who wanted to bring a professional learning platform to life. It is a joint effort by 4 ESC's (Educational Service Centers) in Ohio. They have recently launched the platform offering 8 courses with many more in the works. And if you can believe it, they are FREE for Ohio educators! You can opt to purchase graduate credit, as well, if that is something you are interested in.

The courses are all aligned to the ISTE Standards for Educators.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

Teachers will definitely be able to use this complete professional learning hours. Since it's online, it's easy to do anywhere you can connect to the internet. Be sure to check out the description of each of the courses and enroll today!

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Session Lab: Library of facilitation techniques

WEBSITE ↬ Session Lab: Library of facilitation techniques

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ n/a

GRADE LEVELS ↬ n/a

I attended a two day workshop this summer with other coaches and I learned a lot. One of the take-aways was a website that offers up teamwork activities. We played a couple of the games during the workshop and they were different from your typical.

Whether you plan professional learnings for adults or you are looking for other ways to do teamwork activities in your classroom, this is one website you will want to bookmark and return to - often. 

We played one game where we passed a rock and another where we built with Legos. Interested? Check out Session Lab for more!

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Library of Congress Image Collection

WEBSITE ↬ Library of Congress Image Collection

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students

CONTENT ↬ all content

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Have you ever looked for good photos and struggled to find some? Then this is one to add to your bookmarks for sure! Richard Byrne - of Free Tech for Teachers - shared this out recently and I was very impressed!

I have been inside the Library of Congress and I had no idea they also had this digital collection! I spent some time looking at several of the collections - lighthouses, libraries, travel posters, and bridges. Wow! 

Ohio Ed Techs

WEBSITE ↬ Ohio Ed Techs

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ professional learning

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I came across this website and thought - jackpot! Ohio EdTechs is a website built just for teachers. They share out short professional learning videos to support teachers. 

Be sure to check them out & then bookmark their site & come back often.

If you like this resource, be sure to check out the other resources like it tagged below.

EduProtocols

WEBSITE ↬ EduProtocols

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ any & all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

As a teacher, have you ever asked yourself "Who is doing all of the work?" 

Or have you felt like you are working so hard at teaching but your students are not really learning?

Or have you wished your students were more engaged with their learning? 

Then I would like to introduce you to EduProtocols! Use with any content and every grade level. EduProtocols are ready-to-go activities that put your students in the drivers seat of their learning.

So many different templates ... and memorable names to go along with them:

• Iron Chef
• Cyber Sandwich
• Bookakucha
• Sketch and Tell
• 8 p*arts

Once you start using EduProtocols, you won't look back!

And did I mention .... it's all FREE!!!

I also highly recommend you connect with Jon Corippo (@jcorippo) & Marlena Hebern (@mhebern).

If you like this resource, be sure to check out the other resources like it tagged below.

Ditch That Textbook: Remote Learning 101

WEBSITE ↬ Ditch That Textbook: Remote Learning 101

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ any/all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

These last 3 months or so has really shined a light on the need for teachers to better understand "Remote Learning". For most of us, this period came very swiftly and unexpectedly, and we learned a lot.

Let's not lose this - let's keep moving forward and capitalize on this energy.

To help, today I'm sharing Matt Miller's FREE online course to better help teachers feel comfortable and confident when teaching remotely. Matt is known for his book and site, Ditch that Textbook. Video based and resources included, sign up and continue building your tool belt! 

Hopefully we won't need this in it's entirety again but I'd bet, some of what you learn can go a long way in helping your teaching when we are face-to-face, too!

If you are looking for MORE professional learning, I have a Wakelet with numerous FREE or low-cost opportunities. Take a peek! You just might find a gem ... and get some professional learning, too!

https://wke.lt/w/s/FEGf63

National Geographic: Learn at Home

WEBSITE #1 ↬ National Geographic: Learn at Home 

WEBSITE #2 ↬  National Geographic: Education

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers, parents, students

CONTENT ↬ any/all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

National Geographic is an amazing resource ... and it's not all strictly Science related content. (Can I say my heart skipped a beat when I saw the map resources they have???) 

I was browsing around their curated collections for the different grade levels and I was impressed with what I found. If you are a math teacher, might I suggest taking a look at the "Interpreting Data" collection? What about an ELA teacher - there is a Storytelling & Photography collection? Science teachers? So many good ones to check out - Infectious Disease, Earth Day, the Age of the Earth? History/SS teachers - yep, good stuff here for you, too - maps & finding out about explorers, might be 2 spots to start. And all of that from the Learn at Home page!

The 2nd link I've included is their Education page. Here you will find a great filtering system (type of activity, grade, and subject) to better guide you in finding something you'd like to use. There's even a decent number of professional learning activities, too!

And here's an even better piece to both of these sites ... you can click and navigate and get lost finding some pretty amazing "stuff". This is a site where being curious and willing to click around will prove beneficial and fun. You are sure to find some real treasures here.

#PodPeeks Innovator's Mindset - George Couros & Dr. Jody Carrington

YOUTUBE link ↬ Connecting with Kids & Teachers in Challenging Times - A Convo with Dr. Jody Carrington

PODCAST (ListenWise) link ↬ link to listen - (I listen via the podcast app on my phone)

AUDIENCE ↬ educators & administrators

CONTENT ↬ SEL, mental health, future of eduction, solid philosophy

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades 

I make no secret of the fact that I LOVE listening to podcasts. I listened to this one on my morning walk. I will admit, at first I wasn't super excited, but I thoroughly love listening to George Couros. Then as he & Dr. Jody Carrington got to talking, I became captivated. Dr. Carrington is a child psychologist and loves working with the "toughest" of our kids. (She's someone I think I'd love to have on speed-dial!)

Both George & Jody said so many wonderful things - PLEASE take the time to listen to this podcast or watch the YouTube video. If I could shout from the rooftops to listen to this, I would. Ours kids deserve it.

I won't spoil the episode for you, but there were a couple of things they said that really made an impact on me.

1 - Jody said she has this quote nearby - "Leaders must either invest a reasonable amount of time attending to the fears and feelings, or squander an unreasonable amount of time trying to manage ineffective and unproductive behaviors." ~ Brene Brown

*** Spend a minute unpacking that quote ... I've spent nearly ALL day contemplating it!

2 - All behavior has meaning. 

*** Yes! Yes, it does!

3 - George said, "School is about ensuring that every kid has the opportunity to be successful in a way that is meaningful to them." (He also noted that we often define what success is for others.)

*** Yes! Let's contemplate the purpose of school.

I now have 2 more books to go on my "Books" Wakelet ... "Kids These Days" & the soon to be released, "Teachers These Days". 

Goodness. Looks like I have a busy summer ahead!