🗑 How to help parents help their kids

🖥 vivi: Student screen sharing made simple

What apps do your students use in class — Google Slides, PowerPoint, FigJam, Book Creator … others?

With vivi (vivi.io), no matter what the app, students can quickly share their screen so the whole class can see.

And it’s FREE.

Students join your class with vivi. Then, using your computer or even your cell phone, you can mirror students’ screens to the big screen in front of the room.

Vivi also has a student whiteboard feature that can be mirrored for everyone to see.

Did I mention it’s FREE?

👉 Sign up for a free vivi account to get students sharing quickly.

See a quick 2-minute set-up demo here.

This message contains affiliate links. If you create a free account, I may, at no cost to you, receive a small commission.

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

🤖 5 ways parents can support learning with AI

We’ve talked a lot in the Ditch That Textbook newsletter about the impact of AI in the classroom — about how it can support teaching and learning.

But what about learning at home?

We know that if parents/guardians will support their kids’ learning at home, it helps us all push in the same direction.

But what if they don’t know how to help — or need some help helping?

Here’s something you can give them that’ll help.

Our new post — What parents need to know about kids and AI — is for them. (Although you’ll get useful ideas for yourself, too.)

In this post, you’ll find …

• Understanding AI (for Parents)

• 4 Places to Find AI in Daily Life

• 3 Impacts of AI on Education

• 4 Ways to Prepare Our Kids for the Future

Then, we share 5 ways for parents to support student learning with AI (each with a sample prompt you can use) …

• Build background knowledge with chatbots

• Get instant homework help

• Create study guides with digital or written notes

• Get “just right” resources in seconds

• Introduce pre-programmed AI tutors

The “just right resources in seconds” is a pretty slick trick — using OpenStax free open textbooks as a resource for AI assistant Google Gemini to create learning resources.

The sample prompt to use with Google Gemini: “@OpenStax I am a 9th grader. Please teach me about atoms.”

Read: What parents need to know about kids and AI

🎯 QUICK TEACHING STRATEGY 🎯

🤔 “How much do you really remember?”

In a new unit, we might activate prior knowledge — to tap into learning students have done in the past.

But do we actually stop to understand how much students ACTUALLY remember?

In Visible Learning Feedback by John Hattie and Shirley Clarke (2019), the authors simply wonder — why don’t we ask students how much they remember? Or try to assess it in some way?

Here’s how it can help:

• We get to see preconceptions that students might have about what we’re studying

• Cause students to retrieve — pull information from their long-term memory, further strengthening it.

It’s something simple but it’s a practice we forget sometimes!

Don’t forget to ask: “How much do you remember about this?”

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!