Five NEW Reasons To Try Diffit For Teachers

@LisaBerghoff

* I wrote my first  post about Diffit last September, you can read it here. This is an update on what is new with Diffit as of summer 2025. 

I have a problem with summer. 

Ok, that's not really true. I LOVE summer. What I have a problem with is that all of the edtech companies roll out their new features and updates over the summer. The result is that when we come back to school, the tools that we know and love, that we count on to be there for us, are often changed. I know, the next question to be asked is- If not over the summer, then when? Obviously there is no good answer to this. Also, the shiny newness of the school year makes some of this frustration go away. It just feels like a lot all at once, especially when the changes are substantial.

Also, I will admit that sometimes those changes and updates are welcome, like when the companies are making changes based on feedback from teachers.  That is my feeling about the updates that have been rolled out for Diffit For Teachers, an AI powered tool that is designed to help make learning more personalized for your students. Diffit is a tool that I love sharing because it aligns so beautifully with the Universal Design For Learning framework. In UDL, one of the core principles is to design multiple means for students to connect to content, take in and make meaning of content, and to show us what they know. 

Diffit continues to be my go-to for generating quick learning activities for my students in ways that don't require AI prompt writing and iterating. 

Here are five Diffit updates and reasons to try Diffit if you haven't already.

1. Everything is now in one place:

You now have the ability to add, edit, and organize student activities without switching views. You can also switch from one learning activity to another easily. This streamlines how you create materials and activities for your students. 

2. Use AI to modify the reading length with more specifity:

Sometimes the outputs that we get with AI are way to short for the needs of our students. Especially as we are encouraging them to persevere and work through challenging material. 

Now, you can choose between short, medium, and long passages. These are noted by the number of paragraphs. There is also the ability to state exactly how long you want it by clicking on Custom and specifying how long you would like it to be.

3. Use AI to modify content:

In addition to translating and changing the length, you now also have the ability to modify the reading content without rewriting everything yourself. When you click Modify Reading, you have the option to include more detail, remove information, rewrite the material with specific vocabulary words, or you can customize how you want the reading to be modified. 

4. Options in reading type and format: 

In all fairness, this update may not be so new but it's pretty new to me so I'm sharing it. 

When you are creating content, you can choose informational or fictional text. You can also select if you want the resources to come out in a Google doc format or slides. The Google docs format is also new and improved and so simple to use. This will work for any of the learning activities you choose.

5. New standards added, including WIDA:

Diffit continues to add standards with which you can align your content in seconds. How did we do this before we had this technology? You can choose up to 3 standards or skills and Diffit will create materials that are aligned. It's exciting to see that the WIDA standards have been recently added. If you are using standards that you don't see here, please reach out to me and I'm happy to contact the nice people at Diffit. They are really working hard to make sure this tool is helpful.

How will you use Diffit this school year? Want some help getting started? Feel free to reach out to me for more information. 

 

Allow Me To Reintroduce You! 

5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About

Pear Deck!

I recently got a new car. Honestly I wasn't that excited about it because I was very happy with my 2012 vehicle that had 120,000 miles on it. I knew the ins and outs of that car and didn't really see the need to get a more current version. When some concerning warning lights came on, and then my neighbor hit my car on the street and put a great big dent in the door, I couldn't deny that it was time to make a change. When I test drove new cars I was amazed by how many new features there were. There were things I had never thought of but were clearly very thoughtfully added, many for safety and ease of driving. When I decided on my new car, it took me a little bit to adjust to all the new bells and whistles. I was annoyed and missed my old car. This lasted for about a week. Now I'm thrilled that I drive a vehicle that has the latest features. 

This little story has a point. There are edtech tools that we know and love. We get used to using them a certain way and don't really bother to open up and look at new features of think of new ways of using them. For a product that we pay for everyone to have a premium license, we really should be using it to its fullest.

That is why I'm excited to reintroduce you to Pear Deck and to formally introduce you to Pear Start.

What you may not know about the current version of Pear Deck:

1. There is now a graded and a practice mode. Here's the difference- graded mode will lock in students answers for auto-grading, while practice mode allows students to go back and change and resubmit answers, allowing for multiple attempts. You can always change the mode in the dashboard. 

2. New! Instant Insights automatically analyzes student responses from your Pear Deck session and highlights key takeaways. You also then have an option to create learning pathways for students who need reteaching and students who could use an extension activity, all with the touch of a button. 

Understanding by Topic: AI-generated groupings of concepts students struggled with.

Understanding by Student: A snapshot of how each student performed across all questions.

Engagement Signals: Identification of students who skipped questions or didn’t respond.

3. Content Converter- Transform boring worksheets into Pear Deck interactive lessons.  Upload a pdf, presentation, worksheet, or other document into the content creator and watch it generate a whole new Pear Deck interactive slide deck lesson. Amazing!

4. Auto Grading And Polls:  Choice and number slides now allow you to add one or more correct answers for auto-grading. You can also add a poll question. This is a wonderful option for getting a pulse on where students are in their learning. It can also provide valuable feedback to you as you are making instructional decisions.

5. New! Pear Start AI tool. This is the newest AI tool from Pear Deck Learning. It's a library of AI tools designed for teachers. The tools will look familiar to you and the list of options is too long to list, you just need to go and take a look. 

Once you click on a tool, enter the information about your learners, goals, standards, etc. Pear Start will create an entire lesson for you. And then you can have it create a Pear Deck interactive slide deck for you!

If you want to learn more, here is an introductory video on getting acquainted with Pear Start. 

Ready to take Pear Deck for a new spin? Let me know if you want a copilot!

Back To School 

EdTech MythBuster Edition

@LisaBerghoff

Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year! As you begin your classes and get to know your students, you probably do a fair amount of clearing up of information. When we launch the year at such a fast and furious pace, it can feel a bit like a game of telephone. The information starts out pretty solid and then as it gets passed along it turns into something completely wrong. The purpose of this post is to help clear up some misinformation that has been floating around about edtech. I hope it's helpful. If you have further questions or myths you would like busted, please contact me. 

Myth #1: The AI Pilot Cohort Is Over

FALSE! 

• The AI Pilot Cohort began 2nd semester of last year and will continue through this semester. We would like to be able to make a recommendation to our district leaders by mid-January. We ALL have premium access to these 4 tools through the end of the school year: Brisk, MagicSchool, School AI, PowerBuddy. 
• If you would like to be included in the cohort and give your feedback, you can still join. Just send me an email.
• Even if you are not in the cohort, I highly encourage you to check out these tools while we have premium access.

Myth #2: If I enter my grades directly into IC, I don't need to use Schoology at all.

FALSE!

• Infinite Campus is our student records system (SIS) and Schoology is our learning management system (LMS). They do very different things and we need to use both of them. However, they both happen to have a grade book and that's where it gets confusing. It is true that you don't have to use Schoology's grade book but we all need to use Schoology to provide our students access to classroom materials. Even if you are handing out a packet, you should provide a digital copy on the Schoology materials page. 

Myth #3: As a school, we all have access to Google's AI tools like Gemini and NotebookLM, even for students.

TRUE!

• Gemini is Google's generative AI tool (like chatgpt) and since it falls under our Google for Education terms of service, it is SOPPA, FERPA, and HIPAA compliant.  This means that our data is protected and that our data will not be used to train Google's AI models. 
• Google also has a new model called LearnLM, which is designed based on teaching and learning frameworks. 
• Gemini and Notebook LM are also now approved for minors so you can use them with students, unlike ChatGPT.

Myth #4: Township HS District 113 has guidance on artificial intelligence use. 

TRUE!

• On the staff portal, under "AI Tools", click on the "AI Hub" and you will find a nicely worded document that outlines guidance for AI use in the classroom for both educators and students. Click here to take a look. 

Myth #5: Students only use AI to cheat.

FALSE!

• Harvard Graduate School of Education Report: A report on how students are using AI found that while some teens admit to cheating, many also use it for positive academic experiences. The most common uses reported by young people ages 14-22 were for getting information (53%) and brainstorming (51%). The study also noted that students, particularly Black and Latinx young people, reported using AI to get answers to questions they might be "too afraid to ask adults."

• Digital Education Council Report: A 2024 Global AI Student Survey by the Digital Education Council, which included 3,839 students from 16 countries, found that the most common uses of AI tools were for:

  • Searching for information (69%).

  • Checking grammar (42%).

  • Summarizing documents (33%).

  • Paraphrasing a document (28%).

  • Creating a first draft (24%).

Are there other myths out there that need busting? Please reach out and let me know. Want some help figuring out how to make sense of all of our edtech tools and how to use them effectively with students? Send me a message!

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!