What Would You Say To Your 

Start-Of-The-School-Year Self? 

It's the last week of school! While we are all undoubtedly ready to make a mad dash out the door after finishing up grades and all the other end of the year tasks that need to be completed, I hope you will at least take a moment to reflect on the year. Go for a walk or a run, sit in silence, write in a journal, or do whatever feels right to think about the year as a whole, but also in parts. Just as we look for growth over time with our students, it is important to remember where we started and how far we have come. 

There is a podcast that I often listen to that is hosted by Julia Louis- Dryfus called Wiser Than Me. In this podcast, Julia interviews legendary women like Carol Burnett, Diane Von Furstenberg, Jane Fonda, and Gloria Steinem. At the end of every interview she asks the same short series of questions. One of the questions that she asks is: What would you tell your younger self? The answers to this question really brings home how much has been learned over time and speaks to how we spend our time and our energy.

So to you I ask:

What would you tell your start of the year self? 

If you could go back in time to August 2024 and give yourself some advice, what would it be? 

In my case, here is my list of what I would say to the August 2024 version of me:

• Always assume everyone is trying to do the right thing for students.
• Spend more time hanging out in department workrooms than in your own office.
• When students do or say something funny, it's ok to laugh with them.
• Keep a wider variety of candy in your candy jar.
• You are not going to convince everyone that AI is not the enemy of education.
• Never sacrifice sleep, exercise, or time with family.
• Try to relax, it's going to be a wonderful, challenging year that feels impossible at times but that will end in celebration.

Here is another idea, why not schedule-send this list to yourself for August 2025? It could be a fantastic practice to you start the new school year with reflections on this past year. Also, what a nice way to open your inbox, with a message from the most important person in your life.

Have a wonderful summer!

Power Down & Plan Ahead: 

Your Edtech End-of-Year Teacher Checklist

@LisaBerghoff

 

Time is an interesting thing, especially when you work in a school. There are points of the year when it seems like we're really trapped. There's a lot behind us and so much of the school year in front of us. Then, we round the corner of spring break and it feels sudden, our academic year is coming to a close. One would think that after 29 years of doing this I would have a handle on this cycle but it seems to creep up on me each and every year. One thing that I have learned over the years is the value of taking care of a few items now in order to set myself up for success when the new school year starts. As much as it pains me to add to the already overwhelming to-do this, I know that taking care of these items will make the August version of me feel taken care of. 

1. Save Your Schoology Courses To Resources

If you do absolutely nothing else on this list, I hope you will do this. It will be much easier to access your materials if you save your entire course to resources. If you did not do this for first semester, I suggest that you go to your archived courses and take care of that now as well.

How To Do It:

1. Go to your course materials page 

2. Click where it says "options" and choose "Save Course To Resources"

3. It will ask you to choose a collection, the "home" collection is the one that belongs only to you by default. You do not need to select a folder. You may get a message indicating that it could take a little while because you have so much stuff in there. Don't worry about it! It will be done in plenty of time for August.

2. Clean Up Your Calendar

Do you have recurring appointments on your calendar that are not set to end? Do you already know about recurring appointments for next year? Now is a good time to delete the ones that you no longer need after May 30st. Come back in August with a fresh calendar that is ready to go. 

How To Do It:

1. Go to the recurring event in your calendar at a time when you no longer need it and click on it once.

2. Click the trashcan to delete.

3. Choose "this and following events" to delete the rest of the recurrences.

3. Email Inbox Zero

Am I the only one with email anxiety? I worry that if it leaves my inbox I will need it later and won't be able to access it. Consequently, my inbox is quite cluttered. In order to avoid this problem in the future, I suggest that you archive messages instead of deleting them. That way you can still access them in "All Mail" but they won't clog up your inbox. Also, you can set up a filter to archive current unread messages and start with a clean inbox in the fall. This is also a great time to unsubscribe from any messages you don't want to keep getting. 

How To Do It:

Archiving mail: 

1. Click on a message, or check the boxes for multiple messages, and click the archive icon.

 Filtering/Searching All Unread Mail: 

1. Click the search bar at the top. 

2. To locate all unread messages, choose "unread" and click search.

3. Click the boxes, or choose the box at the top and then choose "select all conversations that match this search".

4. Click archive or delete. If you have a lot, it might take a few minutes for the glorious clean slate to appear.

4. Extension Audit

This might be a me problem but I tend to collect extensions. There are a handful that I use a lot and then others that are just taking up space. Now is a wonderful time to do an audit and get rid of the ones you don't use.

How To Do It:

1. Click the puzzle piece next to your extensions in the Chrome url bar

2. From here you can look at your list and pin or unpin based on what you want to show up.

3. You can also click the three vertical dots (more menu) and choose "Remove From Chrome"

5. GDrive Organization

I have gone on record saying that I do not organize my Google drive, which is mostly true. I get so much stuff that when I think it's organized two days later it's a huge mess all over again so constantly organizing it feels like a waste of my valuable time. However, there are a few things that I do especially at the end of a school year and this is a wonderful time to think about an organization system that might actually work for you. I know some of you have folders in your folders in your folders. I love that for you, you can probably skip this section. 

Here are some suggestions: 

How To Do It:

Search and organize by file type. Google drive has a new look and you can easily find all of your files of a certain type and organize them. This is helpful for me in that I am often looking for a particular slide deck or spreadsheet. 

1. In Google drive, click the dropdown that says "Type" and choose the file type you are looking for. 

2. You can then click and drag them into a folder for easier locating in the future.

Create a folder system now and create within it.

Coming back to school can be so overwhelming. While you are still thinking about how you want things to go in the future, set up some folders and create in the folders.

1. In Google drive, click "New" and choose "New Folder"

2. Name and color your folder

3. Double click to open your folder and then click "new" to add documents, sheets, slides, etc. What you create will automatically be in that folder. 

I hope you find these helpful! Please use your time this summer to power down, unplug, and reconnect with the people who fill you with joy.

Want some help? Let me know. I'm happy to give you a hand. 

 

No More Misunderstood Comments!

Beep: Voice Comments In Google Docs 

@LisaBerghoff

Giving students feedback is one of the most important parts of the teaching and learning process. And yet, it's also one of the most arduous, time consuming, and misunderstood practices for both teachers and students. For feedback to be effective, it must be timely, specific, and actionable.  This can be a huge challenge for teachers who are giving feedback on over 100 multi-page essays, or for students who misread their teacher's comments. 

That's why I am excited to share a Chrome extension called Beep.

What Is Beep?

Beep is a voice feedback Chrome extension that allows you to record and listen to voice notes and audio comments. It works on Google docs, slides, sheets, forms, and gmail. Instead of typing comments in Google docs, you or your students can leave voice notes. Instead of typing messages in gmail, you can leave voice notes. This is not a voice to text tool. The receiver will hear your voice. Voice recordings can last up to three minutes each and there is no limit to the number of recordings you can make. 

How Do I Use Beep?

First, go to the Chrome webstore and search for Beep. Click Add To Chrome and then pin it to your Chrome extension bar. The first time you use it you may need to allow access to your microphone.

You have some very simple settings choices to make. First, You can decide when your recording will expire. In other words, it will be deleted after the time period you select. The default is set to "never". You can also opt to be able to listen to your recording before you submit. This adds an extra step but it is often a good idea to preview what you are sending before you send it. The default is set to "No, don't show preview".  

Use in Google docs:  Open a Google doc and highlight text. This also works on slides, sheets, and forms! When you click the comment button on the right, you will see an option to record. Click and start recording. To end your recording, click save and then click submit. You can also pause to gather your thoughts and then continue recording. 

What Does It Look Like For The Reciever?

If the person listening to the voice note does not have Beep, that's ok. They will get an notification and can listen through the notification, or they also will be give the opportunity to create a free account.

When/Why Would I Use Beep?

As an educator, this could be a wonderful tool to use when you are giving lots of feedback to lots of students. Sometimes when I am on feedback overload my comments come across as short or unfriendly. Hearing my voice could help make that feedback aligned with its intention, to help my students do better. Here are some other possible use cases:

• Have a student use it as an accessibility tool. If typing is a barrier, have them record what they want to say and then insert it into an email message, Google form, doc, slide, or sheet. 
• Ask students to use it to explain their thinking. Sometimes our students let the typed language get in the way of what they really want to say. Just let them say it!
• Use Beep with shared meeting notes. Instead of typing a whole page into the comments section, why not just say what you want everyone to understand?
• Leave voice notes for yourself. I will sometimes find myself with data on a spreadsheet and I run out of time but I want to make sure to remember where I left off. 

What are some other uses that I don't have listed here? Are you ready to get started with Beep?

Let me know if you would like some help getting going.

 AI Tools To Help Both Students 

And Teachers 

In May

I'm not counting, but it definitely feels like the number of school days we have left is in the twenties. While the air is filled with a combination of anticipation of summer and the pressure of the last few weeks of school, the mental checklist seems to grow at an unbelievable pace. We have final units to complete, grading to tackle, final assessments to design, all while keeping our students' success in mind. 

I like to explain the end of the school year to my non-teaching friends like this- imagine you are running full speed, into a brick wall. 

As we are looking at all of the new capabilities AI tech tools give us, one of the most common (and best) questions I get is: When would I use this? or Why would I use this? Those are the right questions to be asking. We don't want to jump on the bandwagon for some shiny new tool just because it's cool. 

With that in mind, I have curated some AI edtech tools that can be used for this time of year. I have broken them down into categories but many will cross over.

Enjoy. 

Tools For Help With Creating Assessments And Study Materials

• MagicSchoolai: Magic School has a panoply of ai chatbots designed to help you create materials for your students in a flash. You can use it to generate nicely formatted and customized rubrics, worksheets, review guides, questions based on any text or YouTube video, review games, DOK questions, sentence starters, and more. If you don't see what you want, you can quickly and easily create a custom tool or use Raina, their generative ai chatbot. MagicSchool is also where you can create a "room" which is a chatbot for your students to interact with. You can tell it to quiz them, give them study tips, tutoring, and more. 
• Schoolai: With a different interface but similar functionality to MagicSchool, Schoolai has a multitude of tools to help you create assessment and study materials. It also has "assistants" for you to interact with. They have  curriculum coach and  coteacher ai assistants that you can interact with as you are planning for assessments and review for your students. Sometimes it's nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and these Schoolai assistants are perfect for that. 
• Brisk Teaching: Brisk is a little different in that it is a Google chrome extension. They will soon have a website hub. The extension works on any Google doc, sheet, slide, etc. It also works on websites and PDFs. Open the extension and click "create". Here you can generate reviews, DOK questions, guided notes, rubrics, exemplars, and more. They even have a "create anything" button which you can customize to meet your needs. Brisk also has the Brisk Boost feature which allows you to create an assignment and have your students interact with the chatbot until they have reached mastery of the learning goals. You can tell it to act as a tutor, get a pulse check, or use it as an exit ticket. 
• Gemini: This is Google's generative AI tool (their version of chatgpt). This takes some patience and experience with prompting but once you get the hang of it, Gemini can give you rubrics, assessment ideas, review guides for students, etc. The possibilities are pretty much endless. 

Tools For Help With Giving Students Feedback

• Brisk Teaching: Ok. This is how Brisk got its start. This powerful chrome extension will give specific feedback on writing on a Google doc. You can upload a rubric and ask for it to generate targeted feedback which you can then attach to the Google doc OR have the feedback go into comments on the doc. If you are looking for a way to quickly get great feedback to students on their writing. This is the tool I recommend.  Brisk Boost also has tools to give students feedback on their writing without you needing to use the extension on each paper. Want them to get feedback BEFORE they turn it in to you? Use Brisk Boost.

Tools For Helping Students Prepare For Assessments

• Ok. If you want a way for students to do something interactive, I would suggest using MagicSchool's Magic Student capabilities, SchoolAI's spaces, or Brisk Boost.
• If you want something more game-like, Quizizz is a wonderful option and they now have incredible ai tools built in. 
• PearDeck should also not be overlooked. This is a tool that enables you to infuse interactive activities into your slide decks. They also have an ai powered tool that allows you to create instant Pear Decks based on any topic. 

Tools For Organizing, Prioritizing, and Managing Your Time

• GoblinTools- Magic ToDo: This is an ai tool that breaks large tasks down into smaller, managable ones. I find that just the act of writing out the task and then looking at the list is helpful. If you want more, it can give you an estimate of how long each part should take.
• Gemini Gems: Yes, you can put your long list of items into Gemini and ask it to help you create a schedule that works for you given all of your time constraints. I created a Gem for myself that I named "Time On Task Manager". It asks me a few questions about everything I need to complete, then it gives me 2 suggested schedules to follow. 
  
  
  

Did I miss any of your favorites? Want some help using these? 

Please reach out. I'm happy to help!

Gemini Gems

Create Custom "Experts" For Any Task:

 Google Gemini Gems

Have you dipped your toes in the AI waters yet? I have heard from several educators that they tried using a generative ai tool but they weren't pleased with the results. When I ask them to tell me more, it usually gets to the point that crafting just the right prompt was such an arduous task that the ai tool no longer was saving any time. 

Yes, prompting an ai chatbot to get the results you want can be frustrating and tiresome, especially if you are asking it to do similar tasks over and over. It can get annoying to keep copying and pasting and editing the same prompt.

That's why I'm excited to show you Gemini Gems!

What Are Gems?

Gemini Gems are a tool that lets you create custom experts for any task within Gemini. The idea behind Gems is to give you an AI chat bot that’s designed to help you specifically how you want it to. For example, you can create a Gem to act as a positive, upbeat time manager that has created a work-life balance schedule just for you. Basically, you can give your Gem unique context to meet your needs and revisit this exact AI expert, eliminating the need for constant prompt refinement.

How Do I Access And Use Gems?

• First, go to Gemini.google.com and log in using your school account. Since we have a Workspace For Education account, your data will not be collected and used to train the ai models.
• Hover over the gray bar on the left side of the screen to open the side menu and view the premade Google gems and the gem manager. Premade gems are a fantastic way to get started. 

You will see gems for Career Guide, Chess Champ, Coding Partner, Learning Coach, Writing Editor, and Brainstormer. 

• When you click on a premade gem you will see several ideas pop up. These are suggestions for how you can use this particular gem. 

• If you have a premade gem that is good but not quite what you are looking for, you can click the three vertical dots and copy it. Then you can customize it. 
• After you click "copy" you will see under the hood of the gem. You will have access to the purpose, goals, and instructions of the gem. You are able to edit all of these to your liking. 
• In order to really narrow the specificity of your gem, you can upload up to 10 files that your gem will reference. 
• You also have a preview window so you can test it out while you are tinkering. This type of iteration is exactly the way we want our students to be experimenting and thinking critically in order to get a desired outcome. 

Copying and editing is a wonderful way to create a custom gem without needing to start from scratch. This type of scaffolding is designed to help you get better at using the ai tools.

Ready to create a gem from scratch? 

• In the gem manager, click "new gem"
• Give your gem a name, add the instructions, load any reference files, and take it for a spin.
• If you are still not super confident in your prompting skills, you can click the little magic pencil icon and it will help you with your prompting.

 

Why or When Would I Use Gems?

Think about some repetitive tasks. One popular one is for help with writing. If you know that you have a tendency to be too verbose, perhaps you could create a gem that can help you be more concise. 

I have been struggling with not staying on task lately. I find myself bouncing from task to task without actually finishing anything (how I got this post done is a mystery to me). Consequently, I feel overwhelmed and a little directionless. I decided to create a custom gem that I titled: Time On Task Manager. I uploaded a document from University of Pennsylvania called Mastering Your Schedule Effective Time Management Strategies For Success to use as a reference because I wanted to make sure the ai bot would give me suggestions and strategies that were tested and proven. Because I am still not confident in my abilities to create new things from scratch, I made a copy of the Brainstormer gem and went sentence by sentence changing it to act as my personal time management specialist. Then, I tested it out. Did it do what I set out for it to do? Absolutely! What is funny is I think just the act of having it ask me to list out all of the items on my to-do list, and then explain my time constraints, was very helpful just to calm down and see that I can manage my list. Could I have done this on a sticky note? Probably. Did it feel productive and helpful and motivate me to get started? Definitely. Just having the positive words of affirmation there, followed by real time management strategies AND a custom schedule really did seem to make a difference. 

Are you ready to try Google Gemini Gems?

Let me know what you try and how it goes. 

Want to see mine in action? Reach out. I'm happy to show you.

 

 NEW From Brisk: 

Turn Content Into A Podcast, 

Then Boost It For Maximum Engagement!

@LisaBerghoff

Holy Cow!  (said in the voice of Harry Caray) I feel SO fortunate to be living in the edtech world right now. Ten years ago when I started this new position, I never could have guessed that we are now in the reality of figuring out how to leverage the power of AI to help students. At the same time, we are frantically trying to figure out how to teach responsible use. Meanwhile, the technology keeps barreling along with incredible speed. I have heard many say that the most important skill our students need for the future is the ability to be adaptable and to deal with change. This is a bit ironic because educators are notoriously bad at dealing with change. We tend to enjoy predictability, and the feeling that we have control. 

I hate to break it to you but predictability and control is all an illusion in life. The sooner we can lean into the idea that change is the most predictable constant, the better off our students will be.  You must admit, some of the changes are exciting the possibilities can be encouraging. 

That's why I am thrilled to tell you about a new feature in Brisk Teaching that will turn your content into a short, engaging podcast.

What Is The Brisk Podcast Generator?

The Brisk Podcast Generator will take your content and turn it into a podcast with 2 AI voices. The podcast comes with a transcript and both the podcast and transcript can be translated into over 40 languages. Since we currently have the district premium version, you get to choose the length. Options are 1-2 minutes, 4-5 minutes, or 9-10 minutes. The free plan gives you up to 2 minutes of audio. 

How Do I Get Started?

The same way you use Brisk to create other content! 

1. Start with your content- Google doc, article, PDF, website, etc. and click on the Brisk extension. 

2. Click on Create and choose podcast, or you will also see podcast under "popular tools".

3. Adjust the language, grade level, how long you want it to be, and any standards you would like to align it to. This is also where you would enter a prompt. Mine just said- "create an enaging podcast for my high school students". But you may want it to focus on a particular piece of the text or you may want to enter a specific learning goal here. 

4. Click Brisk It

To share it with your students, just copy the link and post to the LMS. 

You can also download it and share. 

How Do I Locate The Podcasts I Already Created?

To access any Boost activities or podcasts, you can click the red backpack icon from the Brisk extension. You can also go to https://app.briskteaching.com/teacher_home to get to this dashboard. At the top of the screen you will see "My Podcasts", click there to access all of your previously created podcasts. 

Why, And When Would I Use This? 

We know, through the UDL framework, that offering multiple means of engagement and representation of information. The podcast feature from Brisk does both of these. Giving students an opportunity to listen at their own pace, in their own language, and at a level that you deem appropriate, is important. Also, mixing up the modalities for student learning makes it more interesting and novel. 

This can be a wonderful way to introduce a new unit or lesson. By listening to a short podcast on their own, students can get information and come into class with some baseline knowledge. Conversely, this can be a wonderful tool for review before an assessment.

What Do I Do Next? 

The next step is to Boost it! Create an entire activity by clicking "Boost It". Then, your students will listen to the podcast and interact with the ai chatbot to ensure they understand the concepts. Remember, you can always customize the learning goals to steer the chatbot in the direction you want to make sure your students are having an experience that will support their learning. Not sure what Brisk Boost is? Here is the link to the post that will tell you all about it. 

Ready to give this new tool within Brisk a try? Want some help getting started?

Let me know. I'm happy to work with you on this!

High Quality Video Creation 

That Is Simple But Powerful:

Google Vids

@LisaBerghoff

The power of visuals in learning is undeniable. The power of video in learning can be even more impactful. What used to be a complicated skill that required specialized equipment and lots and lots of digital storage space, is now relatively easy and can be done with a chromebook. Video as both a means of teaching as well as a means for demonstration of knowledge and skills has become more commonplace in our schools and it makes sense that we have several tools to choose from. I'm ok with this because I believe that more tools in our toolbox means that maybe we are more likely to be innovative and try new things. I also think that this encourages the edtech companies to continue working on their products to make them better, more powerful, and more user-friendly.

Today, I'm excited to share Google Vids.

What Is Google Vids?

Google Vids is an online video timeline-based editing application that is included as part of the Google Workspace For Education license. That means that it complies with our student privacy laws and regulations, making it an easy choice when you are looking for something new to try with your classes. It can be found in the Google application launcher, otherwise known as "the waffle". When you click the grid of nine dots, you will see Vids as one of the options. you can also just type in vids.google.com into your url bar.  Google Vids is designed for short, ten minutes or less, instructional videos and presentations. 

Why Should I Use Google Vids?

Video in the classroom has benefits for both students and educators. First, as a teacher who probably answers the same questions over and over again all day long, creating a short video can not only help save yourself from frustration, it can give students control over their learning. There is no need for your students to sit and wait for you to answer their question, they can simply watch the video you created and have their commonly asked question answered right when they need it. Also, they have the ability to re-watch, pause, slow down or speed up the video. They can add closed captions or even adjust the language. In addition, Google Vids has the capability of recording your webcam, your screen, or both. It also allows you to record a voiceover, something that many of the other video creation tools do not have. There are pre-made templates, in case starting with a blank screen is not optimal for you. There are also music tracks that are legal to use as well as sound effects, stock images, videos, stickers, and GIFs. Since it is a Google application it will be automatically saved to your Google drive, making it easy to store and share. Just like other Google applications, you can add collaborators by clicking the blue share button. This works well for small group projects. Students do not need to create new accounts and finding their videos will be easy. 

Here's a whole list of ideas for you:

• Record part of a lecture/lesson
• Leave video instructions for your class when you are absent
• Communicate with parents via video instead of just a text email
• Share your course syllabus or overview
• Introduce a class project
• Differentiate content for students
• Have students do group projects
• Students can create an "about me" video explaining their learning journey
• Students can ask for help via video by screen sharing and showing their work
• Students can check in with teachers via video instead of taking up class time for individual check in meetings

How Do I Get Started With Google Vids?

1. Open the Google Vids application, either in your apps launcher, from your Google drive, or by typing vids.google.com into the url bar of your Chrome browser. 

2. Use the Vids recording studio. If this is your first time using the Vids recording studio, you will need to give permission to access your camera and microphone. In the top menu, you can choose between different recording options: camera, camera and screen, audio and screen, or audio only. 

3. When you're ready, click the red button at the bottom to start recording. When you are finished, click the stop recoding button on the bottom.

4. On the next screen you have the option to restart or preview the recording at the top right. Or, you can click the record button to add to your recording. 

5. After previewing, click Insert to add the video to a Google Vids file. 

6. Give your video a title and you're ready to share it.

If you have existing content you would like to import, such as screen recordings, videos, and photos, just click My Media on the sidebar. Find and click what you want to import. 

Want to add more media? Click the blue plus button (new scene) in the lower right next to the timeline. You can add additional videos, closed captions, voiceovers, images, text, and more. To add closed captions, click View-> Closed Captions in the top toolbar and choose Autogenerated.

How Do I Assign Google Vids To Students?

1. Go to Google Vids and choose a template. You can edit the template by selecting specific scenes to add, delete, or move to a new location. Edit any text and add video placeholders so students know where to insert their recordings. 

2. You can add the template to an assignment by sharing the link as view only. Prompt students to make a copy. Students can add media, music tracks, voiceovers, video recordings, etc. There is even a read along teleprompter built in so when students first type their scripts, they can easily record and maintain eye contact with the camera. 

3. When students click on the link, they will be able to edit and submit their own video creation. 

Yes, there are lots of video creation tools out there. I believe there is a time and place for each of them. Google Vids has a lot going for it and I highly encourage you to check it out.

Since you got to the end of this post, create a Google Vid and send it to me. I will send you a sweet prize!

If this post was not enough for you, there is a 45 minute free online course from Google that you can access here. 

Would you rather give it a try with a partner? Feel free to reach out or just book a time with me.