“Worth the Price of Admission” Learning

I’m a firm believer that one should always learn and grow professionally.  Whenever I attend conferences or workshops, the hope and goal is that I am able to at least gain one new idea, perspective, or technique that I can take back into my own practice.  What I really appreciate and get excited for are these little moments of unexpected learning. I like to use the phrase “well that was worth the price of admission.” (no matter if I had to pay to attend the event or not)

One of those moments recently happen when I attended the Google Educator AI series event in NYC this past summer. This event highlighted the partnership between Google and ISTE and how the two were finding ways of support teachers in using AI to support their work. I learned many things over the span of the two days, but I had some unexpected learning outside of AI content.

As a means of kicking of Day 2 for the event, Dr. Tyler Tarver was tasked with getting the participants amped up for the day. So, he had participants participate in an activity called, ‘Which is better?’.

He asked the participants in the room to determine whom we felt was the know it at all of the group and invited them up to the front of the group. Once that person was selected, he informed the rest of the participants that they all were going to play a game and asked us all to stand up. With the ‘know it all’ person facing the screen not able to see what everyone else was doing, he would show two items on the screen. Us participants had to determine what we thought was ‘better’. Depending on which one we thought was better determined which arm we had to stick out. So if we thought the left item was better, we put the left arm out. Then the know it all person, who’s been deemed the expert of the group, indicated what the ‘right answer’ was. Anybody who disagreed with the expert sits down. Then two different items were shown on the next slide. You continue to play many rounds of this until you’re left with a winner. 

While I had attended the series to learn more about AI and the direction Google is going in in terms of educating educators, I still had an a-ha moment outside of AI. I just found a way to hook staff and students at a future training or presentation. I liked the energy in the room when the activity was completed. It was just a very fun, different, unique, and simple way of getting a group of people excited and engaged to kickoff the day or to kick off an actual training.

I have actually put this game into my practice over the past month, or a slightly altered version of this game and wanted to share with others.

Staff Training

I used this technique at my Welcome Back Tech Training that I give all educators at my high school. I decided to choose items that related to tech tools they use as well as some Bedford related information like ‘which staff member is better’. For instance, which is better – Google Slides or Canva Presentation OR which is better – Kahoot! or Blooket. The laughs and oohhhs that I got from showing a picture of our principal and one of our assistant principals and then saying ‘which one is better’. Such good fun there.

In the past I would put in some sort of fun element or play some sort of digital game, but I like how this was just different. It set the tone to the hour long session. It was a great way to welcome the staff back. I also provided a Canva Template for staff who were interested in doing something similar with their advisory as a optional fun game to play.

Students Getting to Know Two Teachers

I adapted this game with a group of senior students that myself and another teacher oversee with senior project. Instead of playing ‘Which is Better?’ we played, ‘Who is this about?’. We wanted our seniors to get to know the two of us. Each round, we put both of our faces on the slide – I altered this with a person 1 and person 2 for privacy sake. The students put their hand out depending on who they thought the statement was about. We thought it was a fun way for students to get to know us in a different way – and of course have a winner in the group.

Kicking off Student Assembly – High School Tech Expectations Presentation

Last week, I decided to kick off a version of this game at the start of the high school tech expectations presentation for our ninth graders in the theater. I decided to add this game element at the beginning and pulled out important ideas that I needed to get across to students and had students figure out what the answer is. In this version, I didn’t ask for an expert. Instead, I had all 300+ students stand in front of their chairs. Based on the question, they either put out their left or right arm. I have to tell you, there was so much energy and engagement at the start of the presentation. The 9th grade class truly got into it. I think there is something about competing against your peers in a visual way. No student could ‘bend the rules’.

I had a slide about how many students they thought were enrolled in the high school. I had a slide about broken chromebooks and where to go. I had a slide about appropriate tool to use to communicate with staff. And at the end I asked a couple random facts about BHS that were not tech related. By the end of the game we had 15 students left standing. Again these facts/slides were to help guide the remaining 15 minute conversation…I wanted things to sink in.

I’ve been giving presentations to students for the past 15 years. This hands down was the MOST fun that I had (and students had). When the librarian and I speak with the group again in the coming weeks, we will do round two of this game as a means of kick starting the presentation.

A simple fun game. A simple technique. A simple 5 minutes at the NYC event….turned into several opportunities for me to better connect with those that I serve. This ‘Which is Better?’ game can be adapted in many different ways. Thankful for the ‘aha moment’. The best type of learning happens when you’re not expecting it. I hope that I am able to pay it forward to help inspire what Dr. Tyler Tarver inspired in me.

And that is my Spiel…

Canva Bulk Create Webinar

Last week, I was given an opportunity to give a 20 minute webinar on Bulk Create, a feature in Canva Education, as part of the Canva Education Back to School Learning Series – search for “Bulk Create for the Classroom” – towards the bottom of the list and you will find my recorded session. (I highly recommend folks take a look at the full agenda/recordings of all 19 sessions that were offered for educators to help them get back into the swing of things. Lots of good learning there!) For those that don’t know what Bulk Create is or what it can do…Think name tags, certificates, customized ‘worksheets’, activities or announcement posts. Canva Bulk Create can produce multiple versions of a template in seconds based on the data you provide in the format that you want it in.

The whole opportunity in working with Canva, from start to finish, reminded me about the importance of always pushing yourself to learn new things. Sure, I have been using Canva for many years now. Sure, I have used Bulk Create before. Sure, I have given many trainings over the years. While all of that is true, I took the opportunity to also push myself to learn more advanced features that could be implemented with Canva Bulk Create – especially tied with Canva Sheets. I never even know that I could use Bulk Create when working with images…thought it only worked with text!

My Learnings…

Learning #1: While preparing for this webinar, I stumbled upon this idea that I could use images a part of a Bulk Create action – all organized through a Canva Sheet. This idea was a mind blown moment for me. Just that week, I was planning on putting together a ‘welcome new staff’ announcement for the new teachers in our high school. I had taken their photos or photos of themselves were given to me. I had found an announcement template in Canva that I made a copy of and made necessary adjustments that I wanted to make. Then, with the assistance of Canva Sheets and Canva Bulk Create, I was able to have multiple version of the announcement in seconds – one for each of the new staff members.

Learning #2: Background remover has to be one of the most used features for educators in Canva Education. I use it almost every time I make something. What I didn’t know was that if I am working with Canva Sheets and I have images located in a column, I can highlight the column and select the BG remover button. Yes, in seconds, all images will then have their backgrounds removed.

Learning #3: Just in terms of the logistics of making sure that the webinar runs smoothly, Canva ensured that there were two other folks in the webinar with me. Ryan kicked off the webinar and explained more about Canva in general. Sarah was there to help moderate the chat and provide links and resources when it was time to provide them. I have to say it was GREAT being able to say, “and right now Sarah will be providing a link to you all.” It was great to see how a business runs sessions and communicates information with end users in an online webinar. It is good to get this perspective especially when we tend to only see what things look like in education.

Final Thoughts…

I’ll be honest…if it wasn’t for me participating in this webinar, I don’t think I would’ve pushed myself to dive deeper with Bulk Create…which would have meant that I would not have had Canva help assist me with creating my ‘Meet the New Staff’ announcements. Furthermore, two practical applications of using Bulk Create would not have been in action either. Since we have been back at school, one teacher had Canva Bulk Create help create character trading cards for their writing course, while another will be having Canva Bulk Create help make visual journaling writing prompts. So important to continue to find ways to push ourselves to learn and grow.  

The possibilities are endless. If you would like to learn more, watch the webinar or feel free to reach out. You know where to find me.

And that is my Spiel…

(Oh and by the way…LOVE my new Canva Sweatshirt and socks)

Educating Students & Moving Forward with AI

Recently, our district made the decision to allow high school students access to NotebookLM. In an effort to help make sure that we’re being thoughtful and deliberate, we took this opportunity to have a reminder conversation with students on appropriate use cases as well as important reminders when working with AI. We wanted to remind students what the point of school is — it’s to learn. At times, learning should and needs to be done without the assistance of AI and in other instances it could supplement the work that the student is doing. Ultimately, we, the librarian Jessie Gilcreast and I, want to make sure that all students and teachers have a clear understanding of the expectations. Over the span of four days, we spoke with each graduating class in the theater for a 30 minute presentation. This presentation was broken up into three sections.

Section 1: NotebookLM introduction — highlighting what the tool is and how it could be used. Depending on the grade level depended on what we highlighted from the notebook. For juniors and seniors, we talked about how a notebook to help students prepare and study for some high stakes assessments coming up in the coming months. For seniors, highlighted how this tool just might be helpful for some of their college classes in the near future. For underclassmen highlighted what the experience would look like if a teacher shared a notebook in their Google Classroom for students to access.

Section 2: What is the purpose of school?– reminding students about this very idea and how sometimes it is important to persevere and other times, completely ok to reference a tool like AI.

Section 3: Important reminders when using AI — reminding students things to be aware of, even outside of education. Let’s face it, genAI is a business and students need to be aware of their privacy. Just because you can use it doesn’t mean you should always use it.

The Presentation

Below is the presentation that was presented to the students. We hope that this will help inspire you to have important conversations with your students as well. We understand that having just one conversation is not enough, but it is a start.

BHS Student Conversation – GenAI 2026 by Craig Sheil

Elements of the Presentation

Below, you will find some of the items that we wanted to specifically highlight from the presentation. What is important to know is that this presentation is a second presentation that students have heard relating to AI. For grades 10-12, we spoke with them two years ago. For the 9th grade class, they heard from us at the start of their high school career.

Using AI Visual

We informed students that common language has been created to help both teachers and students understand when AI might be able to be used on assignments or tasks. The AI committee (comprised of teachers, librarian, digital learning specialists, Deans of STEM and Humanities, and assistant superintendent) tweaked a scale that Pinkerton Academy, in Derry, NH, created a couple years ago. We came up with simple phrases so that if an assignment might allow the opportunity for AI to be used, a teacher can clearly indicate by it’s name. For instance, a teacher could say, “For this assignment, students are able to be in the Feedback level.” An image of our poster can be found below. The default for assignments will be ‘All Human’ unless otherwise stated by the teacher. We are thinking that this visual will be available in classrooms.

New York Times Challenge

Recently, I came across a New York Times challenge that asked students to submit entries on what it is like learning in the day and age of AI and there’s great submissions of visuals, videos, poems and writings. I took this opportunity to highlight a visual and a video from two different student submissions.

The visual, titled “Replaced by our own creations”, highlights the frustration and fear that some teachers have. The visual highlights how a teacher is asking questions to students in the class and the three students are called ChatGPT, Gemini, and Deep Seek. I bring up the point to students that teachers really want to make sure that students are thinking and want to get their thoughts and ideas. They don’t want to be asking questions to a chatbot in class. Reminding students that there is a time and place for when AI can be used. Sometimes, teachers really need to assess just their own thinking and knowledge.

The video, titled “In Progress” highlights how a student is struggling to get their work done. There is constant ‘noise’ coming from both sides of the student, trying to get them to just get the work done with the assistance of AI. This noise also says that they are smarter than their teachers and can help them get a good grade. The student does eventually power through without the use of AI and ignores the noise coming from both direction. To see the visual and the video, click through the presentation or reference in the New York Times challenge.

When we spoke with three student focus groups a couple of months ago, we did hear from some students say that sometimes they feel pressure to use AI even when they are not supposed to on an assignment because they know that everyone else is using it. The thought is that those students will get a better grade so to get the same grade, they should just use AI. We also hear that for some students they just decide to use it because it will save time and they can move on with something else. Don’t get me wrong, in the focus groups they also highlight how they use AI to act as a tutor as well as other appropriate ways. I remind students that what the video is highlighting is no different from what we heard in the focus groups…and that it is ok to to be challenged from time to time in school. We don’t need to be perfect, and in fact by not being perfect, we are learning.

Recently, I started to follow an individual by the name of Paul Matthews on LinkedIn. He shared a post about “if I only had thirty minutes to speak with students, this is what I would say”. I really appreciated some language and talking points as he referenced. I already knew the content in what he was sharing, as we have shared similar stuff prior. I just liked how he said them – it is always great to get a different perspective.

The Toothpick Activity

I don’t remember where I originally was introduced to this activity, but it was a webinar back when AI had started to come out. What really speaks to me about this activity is that it can be tailored in many different ways. Our staff have been through this activity in a previous staff meeting, and now students had the opportunity.

Students are told that they have one minute to come up with as many different ways to use a toothpick. The goal is to have the most. After that minute, students are then given 1.5 minutes to work with the person next to them and continue to build on their list, keeping in mind that the goal is to have the most number of ways. At the end, we ask students to raise their hands to see who had the most.

We then say to the students ‘what was the purpose of the activity?’. Well the purpose was for them to showcase their brainstorming and thinking skills. So in this example, we wanted students to use their own thinking by thinking alone, then collaborate with another individual and work together on each others’ thoughts…not AI thinking. We provide the ‘Using AI’ visual so they can see where that task would be on the list. This particular example models the All Human category.

Then, we gave students two other examples. For instance: If the purpose was for students to give a 30 second pitch as to why their use case is the most unique one, then we would be assessing their communication skills. Can they convince us? In this case, they could be in the exploration row of the ‘Using AI’ visual. We aren’t assessing if they came up with the toothpick idea. Instead, we are assessing on if they can communicate their idea in a way that convinces us.

Again, we are trying remind students that there is a time a place when it comes to AI use and it all relates to what the teacher is assessing for a particular task. Students should never just assume, but verify the expectations. Students need to keep in mind that teachers are wanting the best for their students and that they need to trust their teachers.

NotebookLM

I am interested to see how NotebookLM will be used by both teachers and students. To help educate teachers, I created examples of notebooks over the past couple months related to actual curriculum that they might be teaching and shared in a Google Classroom that they are students in. Outside of curriculum, I created two notebooks, one relating to our student handbook that is probably 90 pages long. Thinking, what a great opportunity to provide that information in a different format to allow students to ask questions or test their knowledge with flashcards on facts or rules that they should know about. That could be a great advisory activity at the beginning of the school year.

I also created a notebook on the college application process that students at Bedford are asked to walk-through, for those who are choosing to go to college. I took all of the important files and information that’s on the counseling website and put that into a notebook. Perhaps this could be helpful where students could ask questions.

Teachers could create a notebook and share that notebook with the other staff in their PLC to support their own curriculum.

Recently, I heard an example of a friend helping their daughter be successful in driver’s ed. They uploaded resources and important information into a notebook so that the daughter could quiz herself.

In order to continue to be thoughtful and deliberate, a NotebookLM resource page has been created for students (also made one for our staff). Students can find videos highlighted different features of the NotebookLM in 90 seconds or less.

Hope this helps others in tackling the world that we currently find ourselves in. We don’t have all the answers, but we are trying to do our best. Will be sure to share more as we continue to help students and teachers navigate learning during the era of AI. There is a lot more work that both Jessie Gilcreast and I still have to do. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. You know where to find me.

And that’s my Spiel…

Google Classroom Consistency

Our district, grades 3-12, decided to give a fresh look to Google Classroom. This year our district is working towards streamlining how homework and tasks for students are reported. This came from a district homework committee, that was put together over a year ago, analyzing how and what teachers are reporting as work needing to be accomplished. The committee discovered that there was absolutely no consistency. It was determined that from this committee, all teachers, especially grades 5 – 12, would report homework through Google Classroom.

Many students and teachers were unaware of the fact that Google Classroom helps organize the learner automatically for them whether it’s using the calendar mode to view assignments or the to-do list mode to see what has been completed or not completed. In the to-do list, there is also a missing column letting students know exactly what they are missing from all of their classes. Students also are able to see what assignments has to be done right on the main page of Google classroom in the classroom tiles or from the chrome device itself by clicking on the date and seeing right away what assignments are due very soon without even needing to be on the Google Classroom page in chrome.

One big change for this year is asking teachers to report work that students need to complete in Google classroom whether it is a digital assignment or not. This was something really new, especially at the high school level, as a teacher may not necessarily have assigned non-digital work through Google classroom because there wasn’t something to turn in online. As a result, we’ve had conversations with students about how they need to honestly use the “Mark as Done” button when it is something that isn’t physically being turned in. We also took this opportunity to remind students to create files right from the assignment itself if a teacher isn’t pushing an actual template to the students. By encouraging them to create the file right inside the assignment, not only will Google Classroom name the file for them, it will also keep the file organized. On the teacher’s side, this also allows the teacher to see student work right away and not have to wait until the assignment is physically turned in to see how and what the student is doing throughout the writing or creating process.

We’ve also taken the opportunity to send invites to guardians letting them know they have the opportunity to receive Google classroom guardian summaries weekly, or daily. These summaries let the guardian know what their child has or has not been completing as well as upcoming assignments that they have in their classes. Not only is this a great tool,  it’s automatically doing the work for the teacher of communicating to parents, if they want that communication. We took this opportunity to let teachers know what access parents/guardians would have now that parents/guardians can click on a link in the Guardian Summaries email and get ‘view only’ access to the classworks page of the Google Classroom.

In order to make this all work, we had to thoughtfully think about how we were going to educate all parties involved. We’ve had to educate administrators and what things would look like. We’ve given reminders to teachers who utilize Google classroom on a day-to-day basis…things that they should consider or maybe new techniques or approaches to use this year. We’ve reminded students five ways in which they can be notified what tasks or homework assignments they have to complete and determine which approach works best for them and their learning styles. Lastly, we’ve educated the community of what guardian summaries are all about, what they have access to and not have access to, and provided resources on our district tech website to help guide guardians and or students. The Digital Learning Specialist Team has curated resources on our district technology site to help parents/guardians and students. Click HERE to view. On the teacher side, we have provided resources in our in house google classroom that provides many best practices and how to’s with Google Classroom.

We still have a lot of work to do, but I am very proud of the work everyone has accomplished thus far.

And that is my Spiel…

Part 2: GenAI & Coding Interactive Activities (Comparison of Tools)

Last month, I wrote a blog post, “Gen AI & Coding Interactive Activities“. I gave three different examples of things that I was trying with Gemini to code for me. Then it dawned on me this week that Canva Code now allows users to copy html code from a prompt in Canva. When Canva Code first came out, this was not available. Now that it is, users are able to copy the code and then provide the interactive activity on a platform other than Canva, such as Google Sites. (One thing that I do like about Canva Code is the ability to hit the use in a design button and choose between what type of file it should live in, within Canva. You can choose Canva website, presentation, doc or whiteboard. However there are times where I think that being able to copy the code and place it on a different platform can be beneficial).

What I decided to do was to take two of the prompts from the previous blog post, the FDR timeline and the Family Feud activity, and put them into Canva Code. I then copied the code for each of them and embedded the interactive activity on the google site that already had Google Gemini’s version of the activity. You can view the sample timeline HERE and the Family Feud activity HERE.

This can be a great learning opportunity for students and teachers. As long as the prompt is exactly the same (I can’t promise mine is 100% the same but it is really close), it could be a great opportunity for students to learn that not all LLM’s are treated or designed the same. I also think it speaks to how working with one model might be good for one reason, but maybe realize not as good for a different reason. Just some food for thought.

For instance, I like how Canva AI interpreted the timeline in a vertical format, rather than how Gemini built it horizontally. I found it interesting that Canva AI used emojis with its timeline whereas Gemini did not. When you look at the Family Feud activity, they are both designed differently with different colors as well as with the organization of work flow of awarding points. Those are just a couple of examples of how even though the prompts are the same (or almost exactly the same), the LLM interpreted the result differently.

This then connects with the idea of if humans are going to work with genAI, they really need to be able to think critically with the tool. Humans need to be thinking about the output. The thinking needs to go beyond is the information right. Humans need to think about, was this information expected, is it organized correctly, is it telling the right story, etc. Critically thinking is important.

And that is my Spiel…