Is There a Right or Wrong Way to Use AI?

It is obvious I use AI with my content. It has been a game changer for creating content. Rather than spending hours, tediously designing content, I just describe what I want and it is created in minutes. I used to spend hours zooming in on my designs to ensure lines were touching, or that I put something in the correct place. AI has made that so much easier. I spend more time on the quality of the content that users will interact with than the design now. 

AI was a game changer working in Technology as a Project Manager. I was able to use it to help write my project management software so that it automatically ran. I couldn't imagine managing 30+ projects by hand. No thank you! A lot of my work was data driven as well, but I had no API access into the platforms I needed the data from. AI helped me build website scrapers. AI has saved me so many hours in the work field. 

No matter the work field you are in, you will have exposure to AI in some way. It is important to create and implement AI Guidance. I use the term guidance as AI is ever changing, and if we use policy it makes it feel set in stone. I like guidance because it sets the guardrails, but leaves room to continue to adjust it as AI grows. It truly is amazing how many companies allow the use of AI, but don't have current guidance on its use. 

My husband's company recently purchased Microsoft Copilot for all office staff and is encouraging employees to explore how it can be incorporated into their daily work. When I asked what guidance the company had provided regarding appropriate use, he indicated that none had been communicated. I then asked whether the company had addressed issues such as entering customer information into Copilot or protecting proprietary information covered by licensing or manufacturing agreements. He was unsure how those situations should be handled, suggesting that employees may not have received guidance on the responsible use of AI in the workplace.

I worked in Technology for the largest public school district in Indiana. We earned grants to purchase AI platforms for our teachers to use. We were proactive and created AI Guidance, however our guidance focused more on its use in the classroom. It didn't cover teachers using it to analyze class or student data, or even writing IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). Even though the district pays for the use of that platform, do we truly know what the company does with the data that is collected? 

The use of AI will be unique to each user. Ultimately, they are the one to determine how ethically it is used. Youth are only seeing how it can do their work for them, which in the long run will hurt them as they won't be able to do that skill. There's the the group that is completely against AI, as you should be able to do everything yourself like you always have done. Then we have the happy middle. This group is finding ways to use it to improve the functions of their work or lives. Yes, it replaces some mundane tasks, but that leaves them open to do the more attention to detail tasks. Personally, I've used AI to learn new skills to apply at my job. 

Users just need to understand there is a line you don't want to cross with AI, which is what information you give it. Provide AI with information to help you with your work, but don't give it the full details that it can remember forever. You never know where those details will end up out in the cyber world. 

AI is not going away, and avoiding it entirely is unlikely to be a realistic strategy for most organizations. The better approach is to use it intentionally. Employees need clear guidance about approved tools, confidential information, customer data, student and employee records, copyright, human review, and accountability. AI can eliminate repetitive work and create more time for judgment, creativity, and problem-solving—but only when people understand both its capabilities and its limits.

*Interesting Fact: Confabulation is a memory error where a person - or an AI system - creates fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted stories with out any intent to deceive. The individual or machine genuinely believes the false information is true.

Stages of Grief

Did you know when you lose a job you go through the stages of grief? I didn't know it was a thing until I experienced it myself. I'm not ashamed to admit that the first four to five days that I was terminated, I did a lot of crying. It wasn't out of anger. It was about being upset about letting people down that I had been working with, not finishing projects that I had been working on, and not feeling valued after working my butt off well beyond my contracted time for nearly 12 years. It was all thrown away with an air of smugness, and never truly stating what I did wrong. 

Eight weeks later, and you still do not know what you did "wrong". There are other things you have learned. One being that co-workers, whom you thought of as friends, were never friends. It has been amazing to see who has reached out to stay connected, and who has completely ignored me. It has been a learning experience. The most ironic part is that my former co-teachers, or teachers that I worked with as an administrator, are the ones sticking with me. None of my fellow administrators have reached out. Teachers truly are the backbone of education. 

A huge lesson I learned as well, was that I need to be more careful with my files. The day I was walked out, I lost access to all of my drives. Anything I had made or used teaching in the classroom is gone, all of my supervisor reviews are gone, my license and coursework are gone, and I could keep going. Normally, we leaves drives open for those separated to grab the files they need before we lock it. I guess I was an exception. Six years in the classroom, and six years as an administrator, and all of that work was gone. I was devastated. I felt like I had nothing to show for myself when I went job hunting. 

I found some light at the end of the tunnel when I started to think about my options for creating a professional portfolio. I was fortunate to be involved in a lot of projects for my district in the past 6 years, and there was a lot of information on their public site. I spent time scouring the site to grab any relevant information to help build my professional portfolio. A platform my district used actually posted on LinkedIn articles they had recently wrote from interviewing districts. My district happened to be one, and it was my interview from this previous April. It was perfect timing. 

With all this being said...

• Don't over dedicate yourself to someone who isn't loyal to you
• Ensure your important files you need for licenses and such are stored in a personal location
• When a culture is no longer a culture you want, don't stay
• Your family and you should always come first

Innovation Exchange 2017

Here are my presentation slides for todays conference. I'm going to be talking about technology in the classroom, Showbie, Google Forms, using social media to communicate with parents, and creating a classroom blog.

Board Builder by Discovery Education

This is my follow up post on Discovery Education. In my 1-1 meeting with a company representative I learned that DE offers more than just videos. I learned about creating assignments and quizzes, but I also learned about this awesome feature called Board Builder. It's a giant educational Pinterest board! I feel there is no limit to your options for this feature. My first time using the Board Builder was for sub plans. I was going to be out, but wanted to continue on with my lessons. So I used the Board Builder to teach my lesson to the students so they could complete their work. I'm excited to explore it more this summer for setting up my reading centers, and pairing it with my mentor texts. if you have Discovery Education access, dive into the program and enjoy it!

Discovery Education

I recently had the opportunity to have a one-on-one with a representative from Discovery Education.  I went into the meeting not knowing much about them. I knew how to log onto my account, and knew from coworkers that it was a site with educational videos that I could share with my students. I can now say, Discovery Education has more to offer than just videos! This site is now redefining how I'm wanting to set up reading centers, implement my mentor texts, and do my sub plans. I may not have known about this for the past 3 years, but I NOW know about it and plan to utilize it! Check out my video to see a brief glimpse into all of its cool features!

Math-Aids.com

I love to use as many extra resources as I can for teaching, especially for those topics that need extra skill work. Our textbook series at my school only gives so much extra resources that I like. Typically I head on over to commoncoresheets.com. Sometimes I don't find what I want there (don't get me wrong, I still love this site. I recently discovered their spelling word activities).

As I was saying, I'm always looking for new sites to use. I recently discovered math-aids.com. I am absolutely in love with this site. I've been able to find those extra resources for my math topics, and I love that I can slightly manipulate what will be on the worksheet. Another feature I love is that I can print the document or just download it to my computer to save! I love downloading the PDF file to have for future use, and so I can upload it to Showbie rather than wasting paper to print it.

I highly recommend that you add this site to your list of must haves for math!

Guided Access

We all have that one student that never does what they are supposed to while working on the iPad. My favorite is you are walking by and you see them quickly hit the home button and start swiping up. Like I really don't know what you are doing. For these students I like to enable Guided Access. I discovered this feature of the iPad with my daughter; once she learned what the home button did she always pressed it upsetting herself that she got out of her game. Guided Access locks the user in their current app. It's great too for those ads that pop up in the middle of your game that when you accidently tap them take you away from your game - Guided Access doesn't let those ads take you away.

All you need is a passcode and the user is locked within the app. The only downside is if you lock them in Safari they have free reign out on Safari still, just locked within that program. By far, my favorite feature of Guided Access is the timer. I can set how long they can play within that app. This is great for kids who earn game time on their iPad. Check out the video below that I've created to show you how to set up and use Guided Access.

 

iPadpaloozaIN2016

iPadpaloozaIN2016 has officially started! We just finished with an awesome/inspiring keynote speaker presentation. Thank you to Brad and Drew (Two Guys and Some iPads) for motivating us as educators this morning. I have two days packed with presentations and workshops, and can't wait to share what insights I learned. I'm just going to leave you with this video that touches you as an educator, and then gives you a really good chuckle. 

Kahoot/Quizizz

As promised here is a post on two apps I am using in my classroom!

I know I love playing games, but so do our students. As a teacher we can turn games into learning moments. There are two programs that enable us as teachers to do that - Kahoot and Quizizz. Both of these are learning websites where you can play games made by other people or you can create your own games/quizzes. The two are very similar, but they do have their differences. I use either one almost daily in my classroom. I like to use them for math facts, test reviews, surveys, etc. I lean more towards Kahoot for my math facts, but choose Quizizz for test reviews. I use Quizizz for test reviews because I can give the students longer time, and they are able to work through the problems at their own pace. I hope to shed light on both for you, and persuade you to use them in your classroom.

Kahoot
Kahoot is the first program I started using with my students. They love this one! I display my screen on the projector, and they all join my game. While joining they tend to dance to the music. Recently Kahoot made changes to their settings that enable you to modify how the game is played/displayed.

Before launching a game you now have options. The main one that affects us is the ability to automatically move through the game. If you choose to let it automatically move through the game it does that in the beginning when they are joining the game. It starts with a 15 second timer. Once a student joins, the timer starts to count down. BUT once another student joins the timer will start back over. When no one has joined the game after 15 seconds it will start the game. From that point on you can walk around the room watching your students play.

If you don't think your students can type quick enough once one person joins, you can turn off the option for it to automatically move through the game. It will just have a start button on the join screen that you click when your class is ready. Then for the rest of the game you have to click next after every question.

With Kahoot, the question does not display on their screen. It only displays on your screen that you have displayed. They have to look up at your screen, and then select the correct answer. They know they earn more points the faster they answer, so with them having to look between two screens they can click the wrong answer.

With Kahoot, the students have to move through the questions together. Until every student has answered, it won't tell them if they are right or wrong, and what rank they are. After those steps, it will then move on to the next question repeating the process. It does display the question first for about 5 seconds before displaying the answer options with the question.

Below is a video where I show you the basics of using Kahoot. I did not cover all of the features, such as discussion or survey, since they are similar to creating a quiz.




Quizizz
Now let's talk about Quizizz. This program is very similar to Kahoot. My students don't like Quizizz as much as Kahoot. Their reasoning is because we can't all hear the music, and the game is more individualized.

As with Kahoot, you have options before launching your game; be sure to set those up before launching the game.You may have your screen displayed for the students to see so they can input the join code  or you can write it on the board. It isn't as important with Quizizz to display your screen because the question displays on the student iPad.

With Kahoot, the students have to move through the questions together. In Quizizz, they work at their own pace. Since the question is displayed on their iPad they can answer it at their own pace, and work through all the questions. Depending on how you set up your settings before launching, they may be able to see how they did on the questions at the end. Once all the students have finished it will display their final rank. On each device music will play while they are working. I have my students wear headphones, or if you do not have headphones they can silence their device.

Below is a quick video on Quizizz to show you the basics of how it works.

Showbie

My goal is to go as paperless as I can this school year by utilizing the iPad. One of the ways I plan to do this is by using the program Showbie. This is a wonderful app available in the app store, and it has a free version that works for almost all your needs. Your students don't even need an email to register to use it! 

Basically this app allows you to upload documents to your class that you created, and your students assignment right there in the app. The app is limited on what file format you can upload and write on using their tools. It accepts PDF's and pictures as a format you can write on in the app. Word Documents, PowerPoint, Excel, etc can be uploaded from you to Showbie, but they will have to be opened in a compatible app or program for the document to work for your student's to write on. They can then be re-uploaded by the student into Showbie.

The easiest thing to do is convert your document to a PDF, and then upload onto Showbie for the students to work on. To convert a document from Word, Excel, or PowerPoint to a PDF you click on File in the top left of your screen and click on Save As. A new window will appear, and this is where you title and select the file format for your document. For the first box, file name, title it what you want, then in the box directly below, click on the drop down arrow and select PDF. Now your document is a PDF! Now, the original document that you converted, make sure you save it as you normally would so you may edit it later if you need to.

Now that the logistics are out of the way you are ready to start with Showbie. Download the app and set up your free account! Watch the following video to learn how to create a class, register students, and set up/load assignments.

It will take time for you and your students to learn all about this app and to become more familiar with it. I love to have my students complete their morning work, and any multiple choice test on here. I do this because it is super easy to grade a mass amount at once. All you have to do after the mass grading is go through and tally their scores! Watch this video, and I will show you how!

I use Dropbox to store all my files due to the ease of access to it on my iPad, and for the fact that many apps can access your Dropbox account. If you do not use it and are wondering how to upload from your computer I have a solution for you!

This program is not limited to only what you upload. I have created new assignments where I just upload the assignment guidelines and grading rubric, but they complete their work in another app to upload to Showbie. The assignment could be to write a paper, create a PowerPoint presentation, book report, etc, but they can send it from that program on their iPad to Showbie for you to make comments on or grade! Here is a video showing you exactly what I mean.

Now, you should be a master at Showbie! Go out and use it, and make your classroom digital!

Pencil Thieves

I struggled with keeping pencils in my classroom last year. I kept them in a bucket on my  classroom supply shelf that my students had access to.....somehow they disappeared really quick. No one seemed to know where they went. LOL

Every once in a while I'd look through their desks after hours and take any yellow #2 pencils and leave them with 2. Some students would have 6 pencils! Some days I would find pencils broken in half laying around the room. The other thing I saw was they tore off their eraser to try and get a pencil eraser topper. When I wouldn't give them one (I could tell if it was gone from erasing or tore off) they would come back to me later saying their pencil somehow broke in half and they needed a new one.

I've done some thinking and research this summer, and I think I have a solution. It involves a straw dispenser and duct tape. My step dad went on to Amazon and found me a clear plastic straw dispenser for around $20 (My parents are wonderful contributors to my classroom)! I bought standard yellow #2 pencils, and cut thin strips of decorative duct tape. I wrapped the duct tape around the top of the pencil below the eraser. I placed them in the straw dispenser but they wouldn't turn out.

Due to the pencils ridges they wouldn't fit - they weren't smooth and round like a straw. We used a dremel to shave down the slit the pencils slip out of. Now they come out! They are a little heavy for the turner when they are all in there so you have to turn the knob until one slips into the groove then it turns right out! 

Now, how am I going to use this in my classroom? What's the purpose of the duct tape? The dispenser is going to replace the bucket of pencils that were a free for all. To get a pencil from it they have to bring me a pencil that is too short to be sharpened, but still has the duct tape on it. Hopefully, this will eliminate going through a bazillion pencils this year!

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My Story

I started working towards my career in 2006 as a Senior in High School. I took the college connections courses, and started college while in High School. I was adamant I wanted to be a pediatric nurse because I wanted to help children. About 2 years into my degree I was so unhappy. I couldn't stand my classmates! They never helped you out or if they did they gave you the wrong information to sabotage your work. Nursing is very competitive with only 30 students taken each semester at the time into the program. I took a summer off to think about my future. I started to weigh my options and reflect on advice I had been given.

In High School, a teacher told me my calling was teaching. She told me she'd never seen someone so natural in front of classmates talking and teaching a subject. She said I taught a lesson as well as she could. Finally, my decision was made - I want to teach preschool. I spent the next two years obtaining my Associate of Science in Early Childhood Education. I was truly happy with what I was doing. I even loved my job as a preschool teacher.

With persuasion, from my parents, I went on to obtain my Bachelors in Elementary Education. I told myself I just did this to make my parents happy and I had no intentions of using my teaching degree. That first fall after graduating, I applied to a few schools to make my parents happy, but I never received any calls. For the next year I continued to be a preschool teacher. I loved it! In this year, I married the love of my life and we truly got pregnant on our honeymoon! 9 months to the day of our wedding, I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Marley. Once our beautiful daughter was born I didn't want to leave her. I quit my job and took a part time administrative assistant position at an electric company.

It was that time of year that school started back up. I was bored at work one day and went online to the FWCS job postings page (don't tell my previous employer I wasn't working that hard LOL). Even though it was the first week of school, there were about 20-30 teaching positions posted. Sitting there bored I applied for about 5-6 positions - I figured why not, last year I did it with no responses, and I can say I did it to appease my parents. LOL

I continued on with my work day like it was no big deal. Literally, within 10 minutes I had a principal from an elementary call me to set up an interview for the next day. I was shocked, set up my interview, and just sat there. Not even kidding, 5 minutes later, another principal called to set up another interview. I had two interviews the following day. I was totally shocked! The next two hours of work took forever! I just wanted to go home and share my news with my husband, and call my best friend  over to help me cram all my education information into my head. It had been a year since I had looked at any of my college stuff! What had I done?

I was a hot mess the next day. I kept telling myself that there was no way they would hire me, I wouldn't know enough, and it would be good practice for the future. The first principal intimidated me. He took me into his office and made me stare at his school data board of test scores for like 5 minutes - I'm being totally serious here. I ended up doing better than I thought. All my curriculum, classroom management, data based lesson planning, etc all came back to me like riding a bicycle. I felt really good when I left there. I had about 3 hours to kill in between interviews. Things just kept stewing in my mind. I was so bad, I went to our mall and bought myself a whole new outfit for the next interview (I'm not kidding).

Finally, it was time. I pull up to the school and I'm walking in - a lady shouts out to me to ask if I'm the one applying for the new fourth grade position. She sneaks me into the school library, and gives me all these tips for my interview. After, she sneaks me back out and has me go to the main door. LOL I fell in love with this principal. I could tell she really supported her staff and had a passion for her job. I left her interview on cloud 9.

As soon as I got home, I had to have a beer. I was such a mess, I didn't even pick our daughter up from child care since I still had 2 more hours. LOL My husband, who is my rock, sat and listened to me tell all about my day. I had been home maybe 20-30 minutes and my phone rings. It was that last principal calling to tell me that she loved me and would love for me to come work for her. WTF! OMG! I literally was talking to her calmly while jumping up and down. My husband and I both knew I was going to take the job, but we decided to let her wait an hour or so before I called back. In the meantime, the first principal called me wanting to hire me as well! I started the day saying it would be good practice and ended it would two wonderful opportunities for me to choose from. I actually made the first principal tell me why I should come work for him. I completely threw him off with that one. They were two different schools and I wanted to know his thoughts. He tried selling me on the fact he pushes his teachers hard, and he mainstreams spec. ed. students into the classroom. I told him about my other job offer. He said he understood why I would want to work there - it being an intercity school and Title I. He said it wasn't fair for him to take me from those kids, but the same applied for his school. He said it was up to me ultimately.

In the end, I chose the second interview. I chose the Title I school, in a not so great location, with students that really needed me. Then I had the longest two weeks of my life waiting on HR to complete all my paperwork. BUT finally it was my first day, 3 weeks into the school year. I walked into the school like a deer in head lights. I only brought a note book and pencil with me. Little did I know, I needed to bring everything to set up my classroom. OOPS!!!! My new principal rocked! She let me go home and get what I needed. I was completely overwhelmed. The room was massive and I didn't think I could fill it up. I had 3 days to set up my room. With the help of my husband, mom, and best friend I pretty  much got my room done. I like to call it the red room of pain - it has red cabinets and red carpet!

It was a long first year, but I survived! I even learned my first year. I had a very tough class. It felt like the two other fourth grade rooms took kids they wanted split up and gave them to me. It was a very challenging class for a first year. I think if I can handle them I can handle any class! I had students yelling at me, threatening other students, throwing desks, hitting furniture, running out of the room, refusing to get out of their seat, etc, but I survived! Not only did I survive, but I saw them grow and mature as well as learn. I saw growth in my students data. I was still effective with them with all the chaos of behaviors in our room. I'm happy to say I'm ready for my second year in this room!