🗑 50 AI tools for the classroom

💻 No new platform. Just Brisk.

The last thing teachers need is another tool to learn. Brisk works differently. It fits right into the tools you already use: Google Docs, Slides, PowerPoint, YouTube, websites, and more.

Need to adapt a reading? Brisk rewrites it instantly for different levels and languages.

Want feedback on student writing? Brisk gives detailed coaching right inside their Docs.

Staring at your curriculum and not sure how to turn it into tomorrow’s lesson? Brisk Next anticipates what you’ll need—and creates it in seconds.

And yes, it’s built for schools, with full COPPA and FERPA compliance.

We all know teaching is hard. Brisk makes the busy parts easier.

💻 TECH TIP 💻

🕹️ How I’m using Blooket for reps in my class

In my high school Spanish class this year, my students are really enjoying Blooket (blooket.com).

It’s free and it has a huge variety of games that let students get repetitions with new content, terms, or vocabulary they’re learning.

I’ve made a habit of opening class with a quick Blooket game on some days. I like how it gets students a high volume of repetitions in a short amount of time — many more than I could by doing much of anything else.

In about 10 minutes, I used ChatGPT to create a spreadsheet of 79 questions (from our unit!) that I could upload to Blooket and play right away.

My students really enjoy it — and they have strong feelings about their favorite (and least favorite) games.

Check out our overview of Blooket to learn more.

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

🤖 50 AI tools for the classroom

If you’re using classroom technology, it’s hard to miss all of the new AI apps — and the new AI features in the apps we already use.

Teachers are using AI to brainstorm lesson plans, generate teaching resources, provide just-in-time answers, make learning interactive, and help with assessment and feedback.

But your job is still to teach, right? (Not to use AI. Not to teach AI. TEACH.)

With the right tools in hand, you can still keep the main thing the main thing — teaching what’s important. But maybe you can get a little support or save some time.

We first compiled this list in February 2023 with 10 AI tools. Then it grew to 15 … and 30 … and 40 … and now we’re at 50 AI tools.

We don’t just throw in anything. We do our homework. We check out these tools, vetting them to see if the seem actually helpful to teachers. We listen to what teachers have to say — and value their suggestions greatly.

In the whole list of 50 tools, here’s what you’ll find for each one:

• A description of what it does

• How it works

• Pricing and terms

• A direct link to the tool

• Learn more (additional resources and tutorials)

New to the list

We’ve grown our list from 40 to 50 — removed a few, added a bunch. Here are a few notable additions to the list:

• TeachShare: This lesson planning tool does a great job of integrating learning science and pedagogy. It creates polished teaching resources that engage students in deep learning and critical thinking.

• Google Vids: This new Google tool lets you describe in text what kind of video you want it to create. It’ll storyboard it with scenes, scripts, and background music.

• Padlet TA: It’s an all-in-one AI teaching assistant. Create lesson plans, printable activities, interactive activities, etc. Plus it has little quick tools: short links, name picker, group sorter, etc. And it’s free.

• Socrait: It listens to what the teacher says in the classroom, identifying and logging what happens. Then it summarizes what happened with actionable data.

Categories to explore

We’ve broken the list down in categories to make it easier to find what you need. Click on a category name below to be taken to it in our post.

• Chatbots: AI that interacts back and forth with you

• Visual and design tools: Create images, slides, videos and more.

• Lesson design and content creation: Generate lesson plans, teaching resources, and more.

• Teaching aides: These tools help you while classroom instruction is happening.

• Quiz/assessment generators: They’ll create questions and assess student understanding.

• Reflection, feedback, and collaboration tools: These tools give students actionable feedback and guide their thinking.

Where to start

If you’re new to AI tools, this might be a good place to start …

• Chatbots: These large language models (LLMs) answer your questions and create things for you with regular text. ChatGPT is the most well-known. If you’re a Google school, you might try Gemini (or Copilot if you’re a Microsoft school) with your school account.

• Lesson planning tools: Three of the major ones that I hear lots of teachers using right now are Brisk Teaching, SchoolAI and MagicSchool. I’m hearing more and more schools talking about FlintK12, too.

Quick wins

Want something great — and fast? Here are some AI tools that can produce something awesome right away …

• Suno: Generate a custom song about anything.

• Grouper: Create student small groups for classroom collaboration quickly — and based on data.

• AI images: I use ChatGPT to generate images for instruction, but Gemini, Microsoft Designer and Adobe Express are good, too.

• NotebookLM: Add some sources students are studying — PDF files, websites, even a digital copy of your textbook chapter — and it’ll create custom podcasts and videos from it.

• QuestionWell: It’ll create quick assessment questions for students based on whatever you’re studying.

More AI tools (50 of them!)

This quick list is just scratching the surface — and there are a LOT on the full list that I’d love to discuss here!

Check out the whole list to see if there’s something you want to try out.

👋 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!