In today’s episode, I kick things off with a Soapbox Moment relating to a new CommonSense Media report about the gap between the AI-awareness of teens and their parents—and what that means for us as educators. Then, we’ll explore five updates! We’ve got a game-changing differentiation feature in Google Classroom, an time-saving resource in Canva’s Teacher Work Kit, an upgrade to Pear Deck with Graded Mode, a great learning opportunity from Google, and a powerful classroom culture strategy called Feedback Friday.
#EduDuctTape Episode 116
- Today's Sponsor
- Short Answer - myshortanswer.com use code jakemillerwrites
- SoapBox Moment - ““Skibidi What? AI, the Generational Divide, and John Wooden”
- “The Dawn of the AI Era: Teens, Parents, and the Adoption of Generative AI at Home and School” - commonsensemedia.org/research/the-dawn-of-the-ai-era-teens-parents-and-the-adoption-of-generative-ai-at-home-and-school
- Edu News I’ve Got My Peepers On:
- Introducing Student Groups in Google Classroom - workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2024/08/student-groups-in-google-classroom.html
- Teachers Work Kit - canva.com/work-kits/teachers
- Pear Deck Graded Mode, Submit Button, and Locks - youtu.be/G7hpt8vtZHk?si=H33qulwg--JIBMea&t=227
- Google for Education Product Training Series - educationonair.withgoogle.com/events/product-training-series-h2-2024?tab=emea-sessions
- “Soliciting Weekly Student Feedback” - edutopia.org/article/soliciting-weekly-student-feedback
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
In today's episode of the educationalduct tape podcast, we're diving into
(00:03):
some big ideas and exciting updates.
That'll transform your classroom.
I'm kicking things off with a soap boxmoment relating to a new CommonSense
Media report about the gap between theAI awareness of teens and their parents,
and what that means for us as educators,then we'll explore five updates.
We've got a game changing differentiationfeature in Google classroom.
(00:26):
A time-saving resource inCanva's teacher work kit.
An upgrade to pear deck with graded mode.
A great learning opportunity fromGoogle and a powerful classroom culture
strategy called feedback Friday.
When I think of my childhood backin the eighties, I think of He-Man.
Uh, choose your own adventure books,Michael Jordan, and the book it program.
(00:51):
Do you remember pizzahut, book it program.
If you are a child of the eighties,you probably do maybe child
children of the nineties do as well.
If not, it was a program where you wererewarded for reading books by getting free
personal pan pizza is now the Pepsi's andthose classic pizza hut, plastic cups.
I don't think those were free,but the pizzas were, and it
(01:12):
was a core memory for me book.
It helped me fall.
Fall in love with booksand pizza, probably.
And I think that today's sponsorShort Answer will help your
learners fall in love with writing.
Just like how book it helped us havefun while growing as readers, by
reading, reading, and reading some more.
(01:32):
Short Answer helps learners have funwhile growing as writers, by writing,
writing, and writing some more.
And you heard me correctly, they'vefound a way to make it fun and engaging
with gamified activities and toolslike peer feedback and reflection.
Students, aren't just writing more.
(01:53):
They're writing better and doingit in a community of writers.
Short Answer helps students improvetheir writing in any subject,
ELA, science, math, you name it.
Teachers try Short Answer forfree at www.Myshortanswer.com.
That's myShortAnswer.com.
(02:15):
Use code JakeMillerWrites all one word.
JakeMillerWrites for threemonths of premium access.
For free.
So book it over to my Short Answer.com.
To see how they can help your learners.
Love to write.
(02:40):
Hey there, Duct Tapers, whether youare a longtime listener or you're
tuning in for the very first time.
Welcome to the show.
My name is Jake.
I am a personalized learning anded tech specialist and a former
middle school teacher from Ohio.
And by joining me here today,you are officially a duct taper.
(03:00):
That means you are on board withthe educational duct tape metaphor.
Seeing educational technology, not asthe end goal, but as a powerful tool,
like duct tape used to solve problems.
Achieve goals.
And meet learning standards.
So typically I feature an interviewwith an awesome educator or
(03:21):
sometimes pair of educators.
But today I'm going tobreak from that pattern.
Actually, I'll be doing thatpretty regularly so that I
can stick to a weekly pace.
So in today's episode, I'm flyingsolo and you'll see me do that every
other week or so do one of these soloepisodes to save myself a little bit of
time so I can come back to you weekly.
I do have a soap box moment today though.
(03:43):
And I've got five pieces of educationnews that I am eager to share with you.
Some of that I'm really,really excited about in here.
By the way, if you haven't heardmy recent episodes, you're going to
want to go back to hear the two partseries with Adam Sparks that just
launched over the last few weeks.
So many amazing insightsfrom that conversation.
Uh, and next week I'll be bringing to youa super episode featuring team AdaKat.
(04:08):
That is husband and wife, ed tech,duo, Adam Juarez and Kat Goyette.
In which we talk aboutaccessibility tools.
It's another not to be missed episode.
So make sure that you are subscribed.
All right.
Without further ado, let'sget to today's episode.
(04:37):
I have that skibidi rizz.
just kidding.
Well, maybe not, maybe I do haveit, but I'm kidding by saying it.
I should say though, on a relatednote, If you think about how
clueless most adults feel abouttheir kids slang, like skibidi rizz.
Well, it turns out that they're justas clueless about their kids' AI use.
(04:58):
And that's more concerning.
Check this out a recent report fromCommonSense Media, which I will provide
a link to found that seven in 10 teens.
So 70% of teens in the studyhave used generative AI tools.
Now that's probably notthat surprising to you.
Also unsurprising.
The report found out that themajority of the time, this is for
schoolwork, that probably is notcoming as a surprise to most of you.
(05:20):
Here's the part that is surprising.
This is the plot twist.
Most parents don't even knowtheir kids are using these tools.
Only 37% of the parents inthe study who have teens who
are using AI are aware of it.
So 70% of the teens are using AI ofthose 70% of teens, only 37% of their
parents are aware they're using it.
(05:42):
So teens are diving head first intotools like chatGPT, AI, enhanced
search engines, and even AI imagegenerators for everything from
brainstorming ideas to translatinglanguages and homework, you guessed it.
That's the big one.
More than half of teens in the studysaid they're using these tools to
help them tackle their assignments.
(06:04):
But here's, what's striking.
The adults are taking the L inawareness of what their kids are doing.
Yeah.
Sorry, you had to go back to the slangthere on that one, but seriously.
There's a ginormous awareness gapbetween the teens and their parents.
While, they're teens are busyexperimenting with these powerful tools.
A lot of them are flying completelyunder the parenting radar.
(06:26):
Many of the parents are oblivious.
Here's where we as educatorscome into the picture, schools
are still playing catch up.
The same report found that six in10 teens either said their school
had no rules about AI, or theyweren't sure if there were any.
Think about that, these tools arerevolutionizing how students approach
(06:48):
learning, but many schools haven'testablished clear guidelines or
even opened up the conversation.
And I think there's also a possibilitythat those rules and guidelines do exist
and those conversations have happened,but they haven't been communicated to
the learners and that's problematic too.
Now when I call for guidelinesor policies or rules, I'm not
(07:09):
asking for a stern, no AI policy.
Definitely not.
But I'm asking us to think through what'sbest for our learners and their future.
So I recently saw Ken Shelton givea keynote presentation in which he
shared one of legendary UCLA basketballcoach, John Wooden's favorite phrases.
And it is so apt here.
(07:31):
Wooden told us players "Be quick, butdon't hurry." "Be quick, but don't
hurry." Wooden used it to teach hisplayers to act with urgency, but without
carelessness, With urgency, but withoutcarelessness and isn't that exactly the
mindset we need right now with generativeAI, we have to act with urgency, but
(07:55):
we cannot act with carelessness.
We don't have the luxuryof dragging our feet.
We have to be quick.
70% of teenagers are using it accordingto this study, but we also can't
afford to rush into bans or rigidrules without thoughtful planning.
We also can't rush into wide openuse of AI in our classrooms either.
(08:15):
We can't hurry.
We have to be quick, but we can't hurry.
We need to move quickly.
Yes.
But with intention.
We need to balance urgency withclarity, creating a framework that
doesn't just restrict AI, but teachesstudents how to wield it wisely.
And here's what we need to think aboutWooden's goal for his team was to score
(08:39):
more points than the other team, right.
That's how you win.
That was his goal.
So when he said "be quick, butdon't hurry." That was his strategy.
To get them to winning basketball games,being quick, help that hurrying did not.
So we need to thinkabout what our goal is.
How do we want our decisions aboutAI to impact our learners today?
(09:00):
Tomorrow?
A week from now?
A month from now?
A year from now?
Five years, 10 years from now?
What policies, rules,guidelines, and guardrails.
Can we put in place today?
To make that ideal future happen.
If we hurry.
(09:20):
We'll skip considering these questions.
We don't want to hurry.
But we need to consider these.
We need to do it quickly.
Let's act quickly.
But with purpose let's act quickly.
With urgency.
But without carelessness.
(09:42):
All right.
So in lieu of an episode today,my main content are five updates.
Uh, and the education and ed tech spacethat I thought you'd love to hear about.
So I'm going to dive infirst with one from Google.
So differentiation just got so mucheasier in Google Classroom now.
Before I get you too excited.
If you're using Google WorkspaceEducation Plus, or the Teaching and
(10:05):
Learning upgrade, there's a new feature.
You'll definitely want to check out.
It's called student groups.
Now, if you're not on one of thoseversions that was Education Plus,
or the Teaching and Learning upgrade.
If you don't have one of those.
I apologize for rubbing saltin that wound, but you do not
have access to this feature.
If you want to, you might wantto jump like a minute and a half
forward, so you don't have to hearany more about it and cry about it.
(10:26):
I'm sorry.
I wish you had it.
I wish it was free.
It's not moving on.
So anyhow, for those of you whohave it, this update allows you to
create groups within your class.
And assign content directly to specificstudents or groups of students.
Now you've long been able to manuallyselect students out of a list.
Uh, on check the boxes next to theirnames and assign things to them.
(10:49):
Um, but now you could set up groupsand reuse them on future assignments.
Imagine the time savings you couldset up groups based on reading levels
or interests or scores on uh, preassessments or map test data, or even
the pace at which students are working.
And then those groups aresaved for you to reuse.
(11:10):
For example, let's say you'reteaching a math lesson.
Some students are working onmultiplication while others
are ready for division.
Now you can easily create twodifferent groups and assign targeted
practice to each group, ensuring thatevery student gets what they need.
Without slowing anyone down.
And the flexibility here is key.
These groups are saved to bereused, but they aren't fixed.
(11:31):
You can adjust them as studentsgrow their needs change, or
even just for specific projects.
And students can be in multiple groups.
For example, you may have alearner who struggles with
reading, but excels in writing.
Or maybe pre-assessment data indicatesthat they need more support in unit
three, but are ready to rock it.
And unit four, we don'twant to track them.
We want to differentiate, and thistool helps you do that Again, it's
(11:54):
important to point out that this featureis exclusive to premium accounts,
Google workspace Education Plus, orthe Teaching and Learning upgrade.
So if you're on the free version, Idon't believe it's available to you.
It makes me sad that they're notmaking this pedagogically beneficial
feature available to everyone.
But I suppose I can understand the notionthat if companies are getting money for
their service, they're more likely to puttheir weight behind adding good features.
(12:17):
And so if it was a free service,maybe we wouldn't have this at all.
Anyhow.
Off that kind of sore subject there.
I'm curious.
How would you use thisfeature in your classroom?
Share with us on Bluesky.
Use that #EduDuctTapeand tell us all about it.
Okay.
Moving on from Google toone of the other ginormous.
Um, companies and thetechnology space nowadays Canva.
(12:41):
And this one is mostly for theelementary teachers out there.
So Canva can't help you elementaryteachers with things like tying
your kid's shoes or rustlingthem into their snow pants.
Have you been dealingwith the Ohio winter?
Like I have.
Canva can't help with those things, butthere are new teacher work kit might just
save you a ton of time on lesson planning.
(13:02):
And I guess that gives youtime more time to tie shoes.
Maybe.
I don't know.
I hope that's not how you use it.
So, what is the teacher work kit?
Well, it's a collectionof ready-made templates.
Designed specifically for teachers.
So you'll find tools forcreating review games.
Um, guided practice activities.
Uh, SEL or social-emotional learningresources and more they're all
(13:23):
in their, pre-made the best part.
No design skills necessary.
More importantly, notime to design required.
So you could just pull upa template, tweak it to fit
your needs and have somethingprofessional looking and engaging.
Ready in minutes.
Let's say you need a quick jeopardystyle game for a test review.
They've got ya.
Let's say you want an SEL activityto use during morning meeting?
(13:46):
You're covered.
There are even sequenced lesson plans.
So lesson one, lesson two, lesson three,and so on to help you string everything
together smoothly so that you can getmultiple connected lesson plans in order
and use them over a series of days.
It's all about making your workeasier and freeing up your time
to focus on what matters most.
Which is tying shoes and snowpants.
No, I'm kidding.
(14:06):
Which is your students.
And unlike the previous update fromGoogle that made us a little sad.
Here's the great news.
Canva for education is completely freefor teachers in schools, as long as it's
approved in your school district to beused, which means you can access all
of this without worrying about budgets.
Just log in.
Explore the templates.
See what sparks your creativity.
And that's what I love to dowith any pre-made or AI stuff.
(14:28):
I don't often use itexactly the way it was made.
I use it to get mycreative juices flowing.
I think that's the perfect ideafor those like Monday mornings when
you're short on time, or just needa fresh idea to spice things up.
So we're coming up on super bowlSunday that next morning use
one of these Canva lesson plans.
If you try out the Canva teacherwork kit, please let us know.
(14:49):
Reach out on Bluesky, #EduDuctTapeand tell us all about it.
Third, if you are a pear deck user,you've definitely felt this one before.
Students entering an answer on a slide.
And then during the discussion thatyou had with them, because you're a
good teacher, they magically fixedtheir response to make it seem like
they had the right answer all along.
(15:09):
Well, good news Pear Deckhas introduced graded mode.
And with it comes a brandnew submit button for text,
number, poll, and choice slides.
So here's how it works.
When students type in their response andhit, submit their answers, get locked in.
No sneaky edits allowed.
So I'm excited about that.
But I do think there are times when Iwant students to be able to revise their
(15:32):
answers based on discussions with peersor with the teacher or the full class.
I mean, that's learning, right?
So sometimes I do want them to be able tochange that answer before it's submitted.
And Pear Deck must value thatas well because they're giving
teachers control over this feature.
If you want to allow resubmissions,you can turn that feature on if
you don't, you've turned it off.
So it's great for moments when studentsneed a second chance or when you want them
(15:54):
to revise their thinking after feedback.
But I think there's the overall is agame changer for combining the benefits
of formative assessment, which PearDeck has always been really good for,
um, and data, which is kind of a newthing that could be used for now that
it auto grades and calculates thescores and lets you lock an answer.
So that data is accurate.
Now we get the benefitsof formative assessment.
And data, and we can have the benefitof having those class discussions
(16:16):
too, about the answers they put in.
I also really liked that the studentshave to hit the submit button themselves.
So it's not like they're going to besurprised that they can't change it as,
as they already committed to the answer.
They clicked.
Submit.
Um, so it's not like,oh, I want to change it.
No, you clicked submit.
So at least they do know thatagain, if you try it, I'd love
to hear your thoughts on it.
(16:36):
Bluesky, #EduDuctTape.
Okay.
Fourth update.
If you are ready to level up yourskills with Google tools, you might
want to check out the 10 part producttraining series that they just released.
It covers everything from Gemini AI,Google's AI tool to the newest AI
powered innovations for Chromebooksand for Google workspace for education.
(16:58):
So if you want all the way to learnabout all of the AI stuff happening
in Google land, this course isfor you or this series is for you.
So I haven't gone through themyet, but it looks like there's
plenty in there for teachers like.
Learning how to use AI to personalizelearning as well as for admins, like
finding new ways to be super efficient orit leaders like optimizing your setups.
(17:19):
So the series also appears to be reallywell tailored to educators at every level.
And it looks like they're providingpractical step-by-step guidance, you know,
it's truly step-by-step and applicable.
So that's perfect too.
I also like that you have the flexibilitybecause it's an online course to pick and
choose sessions that matter most to you.
I just attend the ones you want.
And if you can't attend them live,the recordings will be available.
(17:41):
So you can learn at your own pace.
Again, if you try it out, pleaseshare with us #EduDuctTape.
I'd love to hear all about it.
Our fifth and final update.
This next one is something I thinkevery teacher needs to hear about.
I recently came across an article onEdutopia about feedback Friday and the
concept of unconditional positive regard.
(18:02):
So I was familiar with feedbackFriday, but I had never heard of
unconditional positive regard.
And as Lloyd Christmas would say indumb and dumber, I like it a lot.
Pretty excited aboutunconditional positive regard.
So the idea is simple but powerful.
If you're creating a classroomenvironment where every student
feels valued, no matter what they do,it's unconditional positive regard.
(18:26):
It's about showing students thatyour belief in them isn't conditional
on their behavior, their grades,or their attitude on any given day.
Instead it's about buildingtrust and making it clear
that you're in their corner.
Always.
By the way, if you've read the bookNever Enough by Jennifer Wallace, which
I've read and loved, you know, theimportance of this kind of belonging
and mattering that unconditionalpositive regard brings about.
(18:50):
So the article highlights aspecific practice that ties into
this mindset and that's solicitingregular student feedback.
The author of the article,her name is Nicole Greene.
She recommends doing this throughsomething like feedback Friday.
So Greene shares about her system, whereshe meets with every member of her class.
One-on-one each week fora quick check-in session.
(19:11):
Again, obviously that happens on Fridaycause she calls it feedback Friday.
Now Greene has a small class.
I think she said she has 12 kidsor 11 kids or something like that.
So really realistic for her to spend 20minutes talking to all 12 of those kids
for a teacher, with a higher number ofstudents, that's going to be really tough.
So if you've got a larger class load,
you may not want to meet with eachstudent every Friday, but you could
(19:31):
meet with subsets and you could usea tool like Google forms to hear
from everyone efficiently, or maybeyou meet with three students a day.
And by the end of every twoweeks, you've met with everybody.
You can certainly have anothersystem to make sure you hear
from them all regularly.
I think this process really couldbuild a deeper connection and
help you tailor your teaching tomeet the needs of your learners.
(19:52):
But most importantly, itgives students a voice.
It shows that we value their voice.
It's about listening andacting on what they share.
Whether they're telling you howthey feel about a recent lesson.
Uh, the classroom environmentor even their own struggles.
These moments can be classroomculture, transformers.
But can also deeply impact your studentsas learners outside of your classroom.
(20:15):
Uh, if you use feedback Friday ora similar strategy or unconditional
positive regard, or you have thoughtson how to implement it again, please
share on social media, use that#EduDuctTape and tell us all about it.
All right, folks that does it for today.
Thanks again to today'ssponsor Short Answer.
You could find that code.
Uh, back at the beginning of the episode,JakeMillerWrites at myshortanswer.com.
(20:38):
Uh, thanks to them forsponsoring today's episode.
I hope that I will see you all next week.
I guess.
I don't see you.
You're listening to me.
Neither of us can see each other.
Uh, but I hope that you all return tothe show next week for that awesome
episode with Kat Goyette and AdamJuarez, a team AdaKat, as we talk about
some amazing ideas from them aboutaccessibility in the classroom, some
(21:00):
AI, some tech, some not tech at all.
Uh, so please join us next week.
Thanks for being here.
Have a great day.
In today's episode of the educationalduct tape podcast, we're diving into
(00:03):
some big ideas and exciting updates.
That'll transform your classroom.
I'm kicking things off with a soap boxmoment relating to a new CommonSense
Media report about the gap between theAI awareness of teens and their parents,
and what that means for us as educators,then we'll explore five updates.
We've got a game changing differentiationfeature in Google classroom.
(00:26):
A time-saving resource inCanva's teacher work kit.
An upgrade to pear deck with graded mode.
A great learning opportunity fromGoogle and a powerful classroom culture
strategy called feedback Friday.
When I think of my childhood backin the eighties, I think of He-Man.
Uh, choose your own adventure books,Michael Jordan, and the book it program.
(00:51):
Do you remember pizzahut, book it program.
If you are a child of the eighties,you probably do maybe child
children of the nineties do as well.
If not, it was a program where you wererewarded for reading books by getting free
personal pan pizza is now the Pepsi's andthose classic pizza hut, plastic cups.
I don't think those were free,but the pizzas were, and it
(01:12):
was a core memory for me book.
It helped me fall.
Fall in love with booksand pizza, probably.
And I think that today's sponsorShort Answer will help your
learners fall in love with writing.
Just like how book it helped us havefun while growing as readers, by
reading, reading, and reading some more.
(01:32):
Short Answer helps learners have funwhile growing as writers, by writing,
writing, and writing some more.
And you heard me correctly, they'vefound a way to make it fun and engaging
with gamified activities and toolslike peer feedback and reflection.
Students, aren't just writing more.
(01:53):
They're writing better and doingit in a community of writers.
Short Answer helps students improvetheir writing in any subject,
ELA, science, math, you name it.
Teachers try Short Answer forfree at www.Myshortanswer.com.
That's myShortAnswer.com.
(02:15):
Use code JakeMillerWrites all one word.
JakeMillerWrites for threemonths of premium access.
For free.
So book it over to my Short Answer.com.
To see how they can help your learners.
Love to write.
(02:40):
Hey there, Duct Tapers, whether youare a longtime listener or you're
tuning in for the very first time.
Welcome to the show.
My name is Jake.
I am a personalized learning anded tech specialist and a former
middle school teacher from Ohio.
And by joining me here today,you are officially a duct taper.
(03:00):
That means you are on board withthe educational duct tape metaphor.
Seeing educational technology, not asthe end goal, but as a powerful tool,
like duct tape used to solve problems.
Achieve goals.
And meet learning standards.
So typically I feature an interviewwith an awesome educator or
(03:21):
sometimes pair of educators.
But today I'm going tobreak from that pattern.
Actually, I'll be doing thatpretty regularly so that I
can stick to a weekly pace.
So in today's episode, I'm flyingsolo and you'll see me do that every
other week or so do one of these soloepisodes to save myself a little bit of
time so I can come back to you weekly.
I do have a soap box moment today though.
(03:43):
And I've got five pieces of educationnews that I am eager to share with you.
Some of that I'm really,really excited about in here.
By the way, if you haven't heardmy recent episodes, you're going to
want to go back to hear the two partseries with Adam Sparks that just
launched over the last few weeks.
So many amazing insightsfrom that conversation.
Uh, and next week I'll be bringing to youa super episode featuring team AdaKat.
(04:08):
That is husband and wife, ed tech,duo, Adam Juarez and Kat Goyette.
In which we talk aboutaccessibility tools.
It's another not to be missed episode.
So make sure that you are subscribed.
All right.
Without further ado, let'sget to today's episode.
(04:37):
I have that skibidi rizz.
just kidding.
Well, maybe not, maybe I do haveit, but I'm kidding by saying it.
I should say though, on a relatednote, If you think about how
clueless most adults feel abouttheir kids slang, like skibidi rizz.
Well, it turns out that they're justas clueless about their kids' AI use.
(04:58):
And that's more concerning.
Check this out a recent report fromCommonSense Media, which I will provide
a link to found that seven in 10 teens.
So 70% of teens in the studyhave used generative AI tools.
Now that's probably notthat surprising to you.
Also unsurprising.
The report found out that themajority of the time, this is for
schoolwork, that probably is notcoming as a surprise to most of you.
(05:20):
Here's the part that is surprising.
This is the plot twist.
Most parents don't even knowtheir kids are using these tools.
Only 37% of the parents inthe study who have teens who
are using AI are aware of it.
So 70% of the teens are using AI ofthose 70% of teens, only 37% of their
parents are aware they're using it.
(05:42):
So teens are diving head first intotools like chatGPT, AI, enhanced
search engines, and even AI imagegenerators for everything from
brainstorming ideas to translatinglanguages and homework, you guessed it.
That's the big one.
More than half of teens in the studysaid they're using these tools to
help them tackle their assignments.
(06:04):
But here's, what's striking.
The adults are taking the L inawareness of what their kids are doing.
Yeah.
Sorry, you had to go back to the slangthere on that one, but seriously.
There's a ginormous awareness gapbetween the teens and their parents.
While, they're teens are busyexperimenting with these powerful tools.
A lot of them are flying completelyunder the parenting radar.
(06:26):
Many of the parents are oblivious.
Here's where we as educatorscome into the picture, schools
are still playing catch up.
The same report found that six in10 teens either said their school
had no rules about AI, or theyweren't sure if there were any.
Think about that, these tools arerevolutionizing how students approach
(06:48):
learning, but many schools haven'testablished clear guidelines or
even opened up the conversation.
And I think there's also a possibilitythat those rules and guidelines do exist
and those conversations have happened,but they haven't been communicated to
the learners and that's problematic too.
Now when I call for guidelinesor policies or rules, I'm not
(07:09):
asking for a stern, no AI policy.
Definitely not.
But I'm asking us to think through what'sbest for our learners and their future.
So I recently saw Ken Shelton givea keynote presentation in which he
shared one of legendary UCLA basketballcoach, John Wooden's favorite phrases.
And it is so apt here.
(07:31):
Wooden told us players "Be quick, butdon't hurry." "Be quick, but don't
hurry." Wooden used it to teach hisplayers to act with urgency, but without
carelessness, With urgency, but withoutcarelessness and isn't that exactly the
mindset we need right now with generativeAI, we have to act with urgency, but
(07:55):
we cannot act with carelessness.
We don't have the luxuryof dragging our feet.
We have to be quick.
70% of teenagers are using it accordingto this study, but we also can't
afford to rush into bans or rigidrules without thoughtful planning.
We also can't rush into wide openuse of AI in our classrooms either.
(08:15):
We can't hurry.
We have to be quick, but we can't hurry.
We need to move quickly.
Yes.
But with intention.
We need to balance urgency withclarity, creating a framework that
doesn't just restrict AI, but teachesstudents how to wield it wisely.
And here's what we need to think aboutWooden's goal for his team was to score
(08:39):
more points than the other team, right.
That's how you win.
That was his goal.
So when he said "be quick, butdon't hurry." That was his strategy.
To get them to winning basketball games,being quick, help that hurrying did not.
So we need to thinkabout what our goal is.
How do we want our decisions aboutAI to impact our learners today?
(09:00):
Tomorrow?
A week from now?
A month from now?
A year from now?
Five years, 10 years from now?
What policies, rules,guidelines, and guardrails.
Can we put in place today?
To make that ideal future happen.
If we hurry.
(09:20):
We'll skip considering these questions.
We don't want to hurry.
But we need to consider these.
We need to do it quickly.
Let's act quickly.
But with purpose let's act quickly.
With urgency.
But without carelessness.
(09:42):
All right.
So in lieu of an episode today,my main content are five updates.
Uh, and the education and ed tech spacethat I thought you'd love to hear about.
So I'm going to dive infirst with one from Google.
So differentiation just got so mucheasier in Google Classroom now.
Before I get you too excited.
If you're using Google WorkspaceEducation Plus, or the Teaching and
(10:05):
Learning upgrade, there's a new feature.
You'll definitely want to check out.
It's called student groups.
Now, if you're not on one of thoseversions that was Education Plus,
or the Teaching and Learning upgrade.
If you don't have one of those.
I apologize for rubbing saltin that wound, but you do not
have access to this feature.
If you want to, you might wantto jump like a minute and a half
forward, so you don't have to hearany more about it and cry about it.
(10:26):
I'm sorry.
I wish you had it.
I wish it was free.
It's not moving on.
So anyhow, for those of you whohave it, this update allows you to
create groups within your class.
And assign content directly to specificstudents or groups of students.
Now you've long been able to manuallyselect students out of a list.
Uh, on check the boxes next to theirnames and assign things to them.
(10:49):
Um, but now you could set up groupsand reuse them on future assignments.
Imagine the time savings you couldset up groups based on reading levels
or interests or scores on uh, preassessments or map test data, or even
the pace at which students are working.
And then those groups aresaved for you to reuse.
(11:10):
For example, let's say you'reteaching a math lesson.
Some students are working onmultiplication while others
are ready for division.
Now you can easily create twodifferent groups and assign targeted
practice to each group, ensuring thatevery student gets what they need.
Without slowing anyone down.
And the flexibility here is key.
These groups are saved to bereused, but they aren't fixed.
(11:31):
You can adjust them as studentsgrow their needs change, or
even just for specific projects.
And students can be in multiple groups.
For example, you may have alearner who struggles with
reading, but excels in writing.
Or maybe pre-assessment data indicatesthat they need more support in unit
three, but are ready to rock it.
And unit four, we don'twant to track them.
We want to differentiate, and thistool helps you do that Again, it's
(11:54):
important to point out that this featureis exclusive to premium accounts,
Google workspace Education Plus, orthe Teaching and Learning upgrade.
So if you're on the free version, Idon't believe it's available to you.
It makes me sad that they're notmaking this pedagogically beneficial
feature available to everyone.
But I suppose I can understand the notionthat if companies are getting money for
their service, they're more likely to puttheir weight behind adding good features.
(12:17):
And so if it was a free service,maybe we wouldn't have this at all.
Anyhow.
Off that kind of sore subject there.
I'm curious.
How would you use thisfeature in your classroom?
Share with us on Bluesky.
Use that #EduDuctTapeand tell us all about it.
Okay.
Moving on from Google toone of the other ginormous.
Um, companies and thetechnology space nowadays Canva.
(12:41):
And this one is mostly for theelementary teachers out there.
So Canva can't help you elementaryteachers with things like tying
your kid's shoes or rustlingthem into their snow pants.
Have you been dealingwith the Ohio winter?
Like I have.
Canva can't help with those things, butthere are new teacher work kit might just
save you a ton of time on lesson planning.
(13:02):
And I guess that gives youtime more time to tie shoes.
Maybe.
I don't know.
I hope that's not how you use it.
So, what is the teacher work kit?
Well, it's a collectionof ready-made templates.
Designed specifically for teachers.
So you'll find tools forcreating review games.
Um, guided practice activities.
Uh, SEL or social-emotional learningresources and more they're all
(13:23):
in their, pre-made the best part.
No design skills necessary.
More importantly, notime to design required.
So you could just pull upa template, tweak it to fit
your needs and have somethingprofessional looking and engaging.
Ready in minutes.
Let's say you need a quick jeopardystyle game for a test review.
They've got ya.
Let's say you want an SEL activityto use during morning meeting?
(13:46):
You're covered.
There are even sequenced lesson plans.
So lesson one, lesson two, lesson three,and so on to help you string everything
together smoothly so that you can getmultiple connected lesson plans in order
and use them over a series of days.
It's all about making your workeasier and freeing up your time
to focus on what matters most.
Which is tying shoes and snowpants.
No, I'm kidding.
(14:06):
Which is your students.
And unlike the previous update fromGoogle that made us a little sad.
Here's the great news.
Canva for education is completely freefor teachers in schools, as long as it's
approved in your school district to beused, which means you can access all
of this without worrying about budgets.
Just log in.
Explore the templates.
See what sparks your creativity.
And that's what I love to dowith any pre-made or AI stuff.
(14:28):
I don't often use itexactly the way it was made.
I use it to get mycreative juices flowing.
I think that's the perfect ideafor those like Monday mornings when
you're short on time, or just needa fresh idea to spice things up.
So we're coming up on super bowlSunday that next morning use
one of these Canva lesson plans.
If you try out the Canva teacherwork kit, please let us know.
(14:49):
Reach out on Bluesky, #EduDuctTapeand tell us all about it.
Third, if you are a pear deck user,you've definitely felt this one before.
Students entering an answer on a slide.
And then during the discussion thatyou had with them, because you're a
good teacher, they magically fixedtheir response to make it seem like
they had the right answer all along.
(15:09):
Well, good news Pear Deckhas introduced graded mode.
And with it comes a brandnew submit button for text,
number, poll, and choice slides.
So here's how it works.
When students type in their response andhit, submit their answers, get locked in.
No sneaky edits allowed.
So I'm excited about that.
But I do think there are times when Iwant students to be able to revise their
(15:32):
answers based on discussions with peersor with the teacher or the full class.
I mean, that's learning, right?
So sometimes I do want them to be able tochange that answer before it's submitted.
And Pear Deck must value thatas well because they're giving
teachers control over this feature.
If you want to allow resubmissions,you can turn that feature on if
you don't, you've turned it off.
So it's great for moments when studentsneed a second chance or when you want them
(15:54):
to revise their thinking after feedback.
But I think there's the overall is agame changer for combining the benefits
of formative assessment, which PearDeck has always been really good for,
um, and data, which is kind of a newthing that could be used for now that
it auto grades and calculates thescores and lets you lock an answer.
So that data is accurate.
Now we get the benefitsof formative assessment.
And data, and we can have the benefitof having those class discussions
(16:16):
too, about the answers they put in.
I also really liked that the studentshave to hit the submit button themselves.
So it's not like they're going to besurprised that they can't change it as,
as they already committed to the answer.
They clicked.
Submit.
Um, so it's not like,oh, I want to change it.
No, you clicked submit.
So at least they do know thatagain, if you try it, I'd love
to hear your thoughts on it.
(16:36):
Bluesky, #EduDuctTape.
Okay.
Fourth update.
If you are ready to level up yourskills with Google tools, you might
want to check out the 10 part producttraining series that they just released.
It covers everything from Gemini AI,Google's AI tool to the newest AI
powered innovations for Chromebooksand for Google workspace for education.
(16:58):
So if you want all the way to learnabout all of the AI stuff happening
in Google land, this course isfor you or this series is for you.
So I haven't gone through themyet, but it looks like there's
plenty in there for teachers like.
Learning how to use AI to personalizelearning as well as for admins, like
finding new ways to be super efficient orit leaders like optimizing your setups.
(17:19):
So the series also appears to be reallywell tailored to educators at every level.
And it looks like they're providingpractical step-by-step guidance, you know,
it's truly step-by-step and applicable.
So that's perfect too.
I also like that you have the flexibilitybecause it's an online course to pick and
choose sessions that matter most to you.
I just attend the ones you want.
And if you can't attend them live,the recordings will be available.
(17:41):
So you can learn at your own pace.
Again, if you try it out, pleaseshare with us #EduDuctTape.
I'd love to hear all about it.
Our fifth and final update.
This next one is something I thinkevery teacher needs to hear about.
I recently came across an article onEdutopia about feedback Friday and the
concept of unconditional positive regard.
(18:02):
So I was familiar with feedbackFriday, but I had never heard of
unconditional positive regard.
And as Lloyd Christmas would say indumb and dumber, I like it a lot.
Pretty excited aboutunconditional positive regard.
So the idea is simple but powerful.
If you're creating a classroomenvironment where every student
feels valued, no matter what they do,it's unconditional positive regard.
(18:26):
It's about showing students thatyour belief in them isn't conditional
on their behavior, their grades,or their attitude on any given day.
Instead it's about buildingtrust and making it clear
that you're in their corner.
Always.
By the way, if you've read the bookNever Enough by Jennifer Wallace, which
I've read and loved, you know, theimportance of this kind of belonging
and mattering that unconditionalpositive regard brings about.
(18:50):
So the article highlights aspecific practice that ties into
this mindset and that's solicitingregular student feedback.
The author of the article,her name is Nicole Greene.
She recommends doing this throughsomething like feedback Friday.
So Greene shares about her system, whereshe meets with every member of her class.
One-on-one each week fora quick check-in session.
(19:11):
Again, obviously that happens on Fridaycause she calls it feedback Friday.
Now Greene has a small class.
I think she said she has 12 kidsor 11 kids or something like that.
So really realistic for her to spend 20minutes talking to all 12 of those kids
for a teacher, with a higher number ofstudents, that's going to be really tough.
So if you've got a larger class load,
you may not want to meet with eachstudent every Friday, but you could
(19:31):
meet with subsets and you could usea tool like Google forms to hear
from everyone efficiently, or maybeyou meet with three students a day.
And by the end of every twoweeks, you've met with everybody.
You can certainly have anothersystem to make sure you hear
from them all regularly.
I think this process really couldbuild a deeper connection and
help you tailor your teaching tomeet the needs of your learners.
(19:52):
But most importantly, itgives students a voice.
It shows that we value their voice.
It's about listening andacting on what they share.
Whether they're telling you howthey feel about a recent lesson.
Uh, the classroom environmentor even their own struggles.
These moments can be classroomculture, transformers.
But can also deeply impact your studentsas learners outside of your classroom.
(20:15):
Uh, if you use feedback Friday ora similar strategy or unconditional
positive regard, or you have thoughtson how to implement it again, please
share on social media, use that#EduDuctTape and tell us all about it.
All right, folks that does it for today.
Thanks again to today'ssponsor Short Answer.
You could find that code.
Uh, back at the beginning of the episode,JakeMillerWrites at myshortanswer.com.
(20:38):
Uh, thanks to them forsponsoring today's episode.
I hope that I will see you all next week.
I guess.
I don't see you.
You're listening to me.
Neither of us can see each other.
Uh, but I hope that you all return tothe show next week for that awesome
episode with Kat Goyette and AdamJuarez, a team AdaKat, as we talk about
some amazing ideas from them aboutaccessibility in the classroom, some
(21:00):
AI, some tech, some not tech at all.
Uh, so please join us next week.
Thanks for being here.
Have a great day.
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