My New-Ish Summer Rules 2026

@LisaBerghoff

Rules for summer sounds like an oxymoron, or a bad idea, but hear me out. Summer goes by so fast. We know this. I want to do all the fun things but I also want to relax and see my friends and spend time with family and get projects done around the house and... 

This is the problem. If I spend time lounging then I feel like I did not use my time well. If I spend my time doing all kinds of projects then I am upset that I didn't get to relax. The best solution I have come up with after many years of struggling through summer (that's a joke) is to come up with this list. I make sure that I do all five of these every day. Some activities can count for more than one and I get to make up the rules as I go because it's my summer. This calms my mind and helps me to really enjoy it. I know this is an edtech blog but just stick with me on this. Want to check them off in an app? Go for it. No tech is needed to follow these rules. My best suggestion is to do as the kids say and go touch grass. 

Every day I do something that is:

• Relaxing/Mindful
• Productive
• Social
• Physical
• Indulgent

NEW TWIST FOR 2026!

This summer as I follow my summer rules, I am going to focus on strengthening neural pathways. I want to experiment this summer with plans to share with students in the fall to help us all learn better in this time of rapid technology development. Neuroplasticity is the brains ability to recognize itself. This is about combining focused repetition, cognitive novelty, and physical support. It sounds wild but it can be as simple as brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand.

Here is a breakdown of the summer rules with the added neuroplasticity lens. 

1. Relaxing/Mindful: I have a hammock in my backyard and it is my most favorite place to relax in the summer. Relaxing doesn't have to mean lying down or even staying still. Sometimes a walk can be relaxing, listening to music, reading a book, or doing a hobby. I find baking to be relaxing and it can also check off the productive category if we need a dessert to bring to a bbq. As I am relaxing I am going to take a moment to be present and mindful. I'm going to check in with myself without judgement, just to increase my own awareness. 

2. Productive: The key here is to have no judgement and set the bar as low or as high as feels comfortable to you. I will sometimes choose a drawer to reorganize. Running errands can be both productive and social if you do it with a friend. Some days will be massively productive and others will just touch the edges of productivity, that's ok. As long as I feel like I have done something that checks this off the list. When being productive, I am going to have a bias towards doing something that challenges my brain in some way. When running errands, maybe I look for a new route to take. As I am organizing that closet, perhaps I examine how best to use the space instead of putting everything back where it came from 

3. Social: This may surprise some of you but I am actually an introvert. While I love people and I love being social, the way I recharge my battery is typically alone or with one other person. There is a wide continuum of what counts as being social. It could be plans with friends, a phone call, a chat with a neighbor, or just being somewhere where there are lots of people and likely someone I will know. In this realm I am going to seek new experiences. There is so much going on in and around Chicago and summer is a great time to allow my brain to experience something new. Whether it's blueberry picking or axe throwing, I'm going to be open to it because you know, it's good for my brain. 

4. Physical: This is key. I will often start my day with some sort of exercise. Running is my addiction and I have noticed that when I start my day with a run, everything just tends to go better both physically and mentally. As long as the weather is nice, stop looking at screens and get outside. It doesn't have to do a hard workout, just get moving in some way. Take a walk around the block, lift some heavy things, try a new exercise class, do some yoga. The beauty of it is that it's summer and I get to choose. The research is solid on this, physical exercise and sleep are critical to brain health. My plan is to get lots of both this summer. 

5. Indulgent: This is the one my family gives me the hardest time about. What is indulgent to me is sometimes ridiculous to them. Again, my rules, and I get to decide how to follow them. To me, indulgent is something that I enjoy that does not happen regularly.  Indulgent could be anything from a massage or a mani/pedi to a really good cup of tea. It could be buying myself a little treat at a sidewalk sale. Indulgent does not have to be expensive nor does it have to involve food. It could be spending an afternoon binge watching a show. Giving myself permission to do something indulgent helps remove any guilt I may feel and exponentially increases my enjoyment of summer. I'm just following the rules!

Do you have summer rules that you follow? What would your list consist of? I look forward to hearing about it.

Enjoy the summer! 

 Sharing In Google Docs: Set An Expiration

@LisaBerghoff

I think I will always be in awe of digital tools that allow us to collaborate in real time. Back in 2016 I worked on a project with two other edtech professionals. One was in California and the other was in Georgia. We had never met in person but we put together an amazing slide deck for a presentation that we gave together weeks later. I know it seems basic, but sharing Google docs is something I will never take for granted. 

We may not realize it but we are often working with information that can qualify as Personally Identifiable Information, that's the information that can be traced to our students. Things like grades, ID numbers, IEP, or 504 information. It is important to take a moment and think about how we are protecting that information. Yes, our district technology department has set up many safeguards, but one wrong setting can completely undo those.

There are often times when someone needs to be able to edit a document but perhaps they don't need that level of access forever. If you are collaborating on a document and then it is finalized, this may be the right time to change the sharing settings. I know in theory this makes sense but how will this work in practice? Do you need to set reminders to change levels of sharing access on your documents? This seems like way to much to manage. 

That is why I am excited that now you can set an expiration date and time on sharing permissions in Google docs. If you aren't looking closely you could easily miss this one.

How To Set An Expiration On Google Doc Sharing: 

1. Click the blue share button in the upper right corner

2. Type in the name of the person you want to have access

3. Click the box that says "editor" and click on "add expiration"

4. Click the pencil icon to adjust the date and time that you want editing rights to be revoked

That's it! Here is what it looks like:

Here is a handy graphic that was shared by the information technology department in our district newsletter. this is a wonderful guide to help you decide the type of access to grant. 

Want some help? Feel free to reach out to me. I'm happy to talk it through with you. 

Adding Course Materials In Schoology To and From Resources

You Could Wait- But You Don't Have To:

Adding Course Materials In Schoology Before Classes Are Loaded 

@LisaBerghoff

Over thirty years of teaching, I have learned to savor the summer because it goes by so quickly. I have also learned that there is very little that I can do over the summer that truly makes an impact on my time or stress level when we return in August. However, I also understand that as an educator, when you have momentum, ideas, and time to think, you need to seize the day.  Instead of feeling like you have to put it all down on paper, or in the notes app on your phone, you can create materials, folders, assignments, and more in Schoology resources and then you can simply move them over to your courses once they are populated with students.

How To Create Materials In Schoology Resources: 

Screenshots and a video walkthrough are below.

1. In the top navigation bar, click Resources

2. Click the filing cabinet icon to add a collection

3. Name the collection

4. Click on the collection in the left menu and then add resources

How To Move Materials From Resources To Your Fall 2026 Classes:

1. In the top navigation bar, click Resources

2. Click on your collection

3. Find what you want to move, it can be a whole folder, and click the gear to the right

4. Choose "Add to Course" and click to choose the courses, here you also have an opportunity to choose an existing folder in the course

Want some help getting started? Let me know. I'm here to help!

Spring 2026 EdTech Tool Roundup

@LisaBerghoff

At home, spring cleaning means taking everything out of a closet, evaluating the need for it, and then making a decision. Most of the time, I find I have things I did not even know about. Or, I am often reminded of what I do have and realize that I don't need new things, I just need to make better use of what I've got. This is the time of year when it's good to take an inventory of what you have. Here is a quick roundup of the edtech tools that we have premium licenses for along with a very short description.  To learn more, you can search the blog for previous posts or reach out to me directly. It might be time to dust off some old favorites and bring them back before the school year ends. Many of these have new updated features that I hope you will check out. These are in alphabetical order.

1. Canva: This is the Swiss Army Knife of design tools. Great for presentations, infographics, video, logos, and more. 

2. Diffit: This is an incredible tool for teachers. Create content, lessons, and activities using Diffit's AI powered platform. No need to know how to prompt. Start with what you already have or start from scratch. Easily convert reading levels, translate, and more. 

3. Edpuzzle: Easily embed questions into videos to make them interactive and more engaging. There is a live feature to do in class or assign as homework. 

4.  Gimkit: Popular game-based platform. Great for review. Live games that are very engaging and fun but also has the ability to assign outside of class. 

5. Goose Chase: Scavenger hunt style activity. Students use a free mobile app and you set it up on a computer. Students solve "missions" through pictures and text. You get to see their submissions and leaderboard. 

6. Hapara: Help students stay on task by locking browsers or only allowing specific sites to be reached. Can also see open tabs and help students by closing them. 

7. Padlet: Digital bulletin board that has many options, features, and templates for how to use. Perfect for review, digital gallery walk, student interaction. Supports audio, video, drawing, and more. Has many AI powered features. 

8. Pear Deck: Make your slides interactive. In-person or assign for outside of class. Many new features! Can also auto-grade for you. 

9. Read&Write: Perfect for any student who could use some support. Has text to speech, screen mask, highlighter, vocabulary sheet maker, and more. 

10. Respondus Lockdown Browser: Within Schoology assessments. Locks students out of websites or you can determine which sites are allowed. 

11. Schoology: The main hub for all materials. This is where students should be going for everything including due dates, copies of materials, assessments, and more. 

12. Screencastify: Records what is on your screen, your webcam, or both. Can also create lessons and have students submit videos. Build in questions, translate the closed captions, and more. There is also a library of video content already created that you can use. 

13. Turnitin: Checks for plagiarism and provides another platform for students to turn in work. 

 Choose What To Automate:

Google Workspace Studio

@LisaBerghoff

As educators, our to-do list often feels never ending. Between responding to emails, keeping up with lesson planning, and staying on top of our students' needs, it can feel like we're running as fast as we can on a hamster wheel. If you've ever wished your Google Docs could talk to your Gmail or that your Google forms could automatically organize themselves into Drive folders without you needing to lift a finger, keep reading.

What is Google Workspace Studio? 

Google Workspace Studio is essentially the connective tissue of the Google ecosystem. It is powered by Gemini and lets you automate multi-step tasks. You do not need to know how to code, you can just describe what you want to happen. For example: When I get an email with a pdf from Ron, save it to my "Edtech" folder. The studio builds the automation for you. 

Why Should I Try Google Workspace Studio?

Here are a few reasons I think you should give this a try.

1. Automate some of the tasks you do repetitively that don't actually require your expertise. Things like organizing your inbox or your drive can be handled without you spending the time on it. 

2. Make sure you never miss an important email. You can set up agents to scan your inbox for key words like "IEP meeting" or "please respond by" and ping you in Google chat immediately. 

3. Make digital organization easier. This can act like your own personal filing clerk. It can move between sheets, docs, and drive so your online spaces stay neater. 

4. Know and understand how these types of tools work. This is a very low risk way to try out agentic ai. Regardless of how you feel about it, it's in our ecosystem. Knowledge is power so this can give you some information. 

How Do I Use Google Workspace Studio?

You can get started in 3 simple steps.

1. Access the studio. Head over to studio.workspace.google.com or click the icon you see in the upper right corner of your screen in gmail.

2. Describe your dream scenario. On the "discover" page you will see a box that says " Describe a task for Gemini". Type exactly what you want in plain English. For example, "Every Friday at 2:30pm, send me a summary of all emails from parents I haven't replied to yet". 

3. Gemini will show you a "flow". It's a visual map of the steps. If it looks good, click on "test run", and then toggle it to on. If not, you can go in and edit to make it the way you want. 

Other options:

There are also templates of pre-made Flows if you aren't sure where to start. 

This short video does a nice job of showing the three ways to get started with Google Workspace Studio. You can use Gemini, use a template, or create on on your own from scratch.  

What are some examples of ways I could use this?

1. Problem: Parents are emailing you scanned permission slips and they are getting lost in your inbox.

    Starter: When I receive an email with an attachment

    Filter: If the subject contains "permission slip"

    Action: Save the attachment to a specific drive folder AND add a row to a Google sheet with the student's name and date received. 

2. Problem: You walk into school Monday morning feeling overwhelmed by 40 unread emails from the weekend.

    Starter: On Monday at 7:30am. 

    Action: Use Gemini to recap emails from the last 48 hours. Send a summary to Google chat.

Those are pretty advanced. Here are some nice templates to try.

• Star emails for follow-up
• Notify me about messages with a keyword
• Notify me about urgent emails
• Auto-add email attachments to Drive
• Notify me about emails from key people
• Send guests summaries and action items after a meeting
• Get meeting reminders in Chat
• Auto-create tasks for me from meeting transcripts

Want to try Google Workspace Studio but feeling like you want a friend to try it with you? Let me know. I'm here to help!

Putting AI To Good Use:

Custom Gem in Gemini

*Image created with Gemini

UDL/Blooms Planner

@LisaBerghoff

There has been so much chatter in the news lately about either: how technology and AI are destroying humanity, or how technology and AI are tools that we need to be utilizing if we want to keep up with our ever changing and progressing world. I'm here to say it is both of those things and none of those things. Being in schools, we have some control over what we decide to use for ourselves as well as in our classes. I strongly believe that it is the intent that determines whether or not technology is useful or harmful. Let's be clear about our purpose and thoughtful about our why when we select technology tools to use with students.

Today's tool is an example of how technology can be helpful to you. Stop scrolling on social media and try this. I created a custom Gem in Gemini just for you. This Gem is designed to help you level up your current assignments and activities both through a UDL lens as well as a Blooms lens. Click here to try it out. 

Why Should I Use The UDL/Blooms Activity Planner?

• We rarely have an honest perspective on our own teaching. Using a tool like AI can help remove some of the subjectiveness and it doesn't sting the way it does when you get feedback from an administrator or another teachers.
• This is a safe use of AI. Since the Gem was created using district credentials, all information is safe and data is kept private from the outside world.
• This can be an easy way to try out a Gem in a practical manner. See how it works for you and maybe decide if you want to make some of your own.
• AI will come up with ideas that you probably have not thought of.
• It will only take a couple of minutes and it's not going to do any harm to try it so just try it.
• This is a first pass for me and I would love feedback on how to make this tool better.

How Do I Use The UDL/Blooms Activity Planner?

• Start by clicking here
• Type "hello" or anything you want into the chat box. 
• Follow the prompts, enter your activity or lesson ideas and see what the results are.
• Refine! Didn't quite get what you were looking for? Keep asking and get very specific. 

Want some help getting started? Feel free to reach out with questions, suggestions, and ideas.

 

 What's New In Google Forms?

*image created by Gemini

@LisaBerghoff

Sometimes, while we are using the tools we use everyday, we forget that there are engineers pouring over pages and pages of feature requests and they are working to make the tools better. They quietly add features, or move buttons, or subtly make adjustments and these can be easily overlooked. Google Forms has recently gotten enough upgrades that I thought it would be a good idea to call out some of these that you might not know are there. Here are my favorites.

1. Automatically close a form on a specific date/time or when the responses have reached a limit.

I used to use an add-on for this and I'm thrilled that it is now built-in. Once your form is published, click the lines next to the published button to see the options. Here you can turn the form on or off to responders. You can also determine when the form should close. Choose a date and time or you can choose an amount of responses after which your form will no longer receive responses. 

2. Response Summary For Open-Ended Questions

Asking open-ended questions is a common way to get feedback and suggestions. The format of reading those in a spreadsheet is kind of a drag. Now, when you click the responses tab, you will first see an AI summary of the responses, with the actual responses below. Seeing a summary can be a real time saver for you. It will recognize patterns and trends in the responses. If you are not happy with the AI summary, you can click "retry" and give it another go. 

3. Help Me Create With Gemini

When you start off creating a form, you are now directed to a Gemini page where you can enter a prompt and have it get started on your form. You can also include the @ symbol to include content from your own files. If you have an assignment in your Google drive and want it to create a quiz, or an exit ticket, just write a prompt and include the file. This feature also supports multiple languages. 

4. Granular Sharing And Access Control

You can now specify exactly who can respond to your form. Instead of just limiting to inside vs. outside your organization, you can now indicate specific people you want to be able to respond to your form. The "send" button has been replaced with a "publish" button. This allows you to manage access to both responders and editors. Also, the responder link is already shortened for you.

5. Set Form Defaults

If you find yourself consistently going in and changing the settings in your forms and wondering how you can get your forms to start out the way you want them, this is for you. In the "settings" tab, scroll to where it says "defaults". These settings will be applied to your current form AND new forms that you create in the future. You can determine that it will always (or never) collect email addresses. You can also make all questions required by default. 

What are your favorite uses for Google forms? Want some help getting up and running with your forms? I'm here to help!