🗑 20 ways to upgrade your worksheet

🎙️ In-person workshop: Student Writing in the AI Age

I’m trying something new: an in-person workshop down the street from my school!

Title: Student Writing in the AI Age
Description: When ChatGPT can do the writing, how do we keep students thinking? Get plenty of real talk and practical strategies here.

Date: Monday, November 17, 2025
Time: 8:30am to 3:30pm
Place: The Inkwell, 114 N Jefferson St, Rockville, IN 47872
Cost: $99 (includes lunch on-site) (group discount pricing available)

If you’re from Indiana or Illinois (or the Midwest): You might be close enough to consider this! Would love to share the day with you working through this topic.

If you’re NOT from Indiana or Illinois: I’m planning on turning this workshop into an asynchronous online course in 2026. I’ll keep you posted!

Note: Please only register if you’re planning on attending in-person.

PS: Are you interested in bringing me to your school, district, or even to run this workshop? Hit reply and let’s discuss!

💻 TECH TIP 💻

✖️➗ Practice math facts with “Six or Seven”

When Tony Vincent starts vibe coding, you know you’ll get something great.

Tony is the creator of the Learning in Hand blog and email newsletter. He’s been teaching for a long time — and is someone I’m always learning from.

Tony used ChatGPT to code this “Six or Seven” game that practices math facts with answers that are either six or seven. (If you’re a teacher, you know about the “six seven” phenomenon that just won’t quit …)

Even if you know nothing about ChatGPT or coding, you can send students to tonyv.me/sixorseven so they can play his game.

• About “vibe coding” — You can go to an AI assistant (like ChatGPT or Google Gemini) and tell it to code an app or game with the description it gives you. Once it codes something, you can ask it for adjustments and improvements.

• Another example — For a presentation at the ISTE Conference this summer, I vibe coded a fun game that mimicked Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

⬆️ Worksheet to WOW: 20 ways to upgrade your worksheet

Worksheets.

Lots of us have a love/hate relationship with them. (Our students definitely do.)

We give them to students so they can get repetitions and make learning permanent.

We give them to students so they can demonstrate skills and understanding.

But they’re usually not very inspiring or exciting. And sometimes, because they get help from their friends (or the internet) (or ChatGPT) they aren’t really that good a measure of learning.

We can do better! Today’s updated post — Worksheet to WOW: 20 ways to upgrade your worksheet — has a ton of ideas.

You’ll find a type of worksheet — and an idea for upgrading it … x20!

Here are a few of my favorites …

8. Analyzing images

An alternative to these worksheets: Caption This! activities

How it works: Students put an image on a Google Slides / PowerPoint slide. Then they annotate, adding text, shapes and other objects to show understanding.

Why it works: Students can speak or think for the subject of the video — and demonstrate observation and interpretation skills.

Read more here: Caption This! A fun, deep-thinking activity

11. Comprehension questions

An alternative: A Booksnaps interactive Google Slides activity

How it works: Students take a screenshot or a photo of a page out of a book. Then they annotate, adding emojis, highlights, and text comments to analyze.

Why it works: I first heard about this creative idea, combining the feel of Snapchat with reading, from educator Tara Martin. It lets students demonstrate comprehension in a manner that they’re used to seeing on social media.

13. Label a system or complex item

An alternative: A Learning Apps interactive activity

How it works: Add an image to an activity in Learning Apps (learningapps.org). Then drop pins on the parts students need to identify. Connect them to the terms / answers.

Why it works: It brings a tactile / spatial / visual approach to remembering these terms. Learning Apps is good on a traditional laptop/Chromebook, but it’s even better on a touch screen. Best bet: Using a Learning Apps activity on a big interactive display as a station during station rotation.

17. Retell a story

An alternative: The Pixar Story Structure template

How it works: Use the same core structure that Pixar story writers have used for years to write stories or recall the plot of a story. You give students their own copy of this template through your learning management system — and then they fill it in.

Why it works: It breaks stories — and even historical events — down into their most essential, impactful parts. It’s an easy framework that students can grasp immediately.

19. Character profile

An alternative: A character card template (for Google Slides or in Genially)

How it works: You give students their own copy of this template through your learning management system — and then they fill it in. You can customize the characteristics (attack, defense, speed, intelligence) to fit your needs.

Why it works: It’s a fun spin on baseball cards or Pokémon cards or any other collectible card. It’s a new lens students can use to describe characters — and it allows them to make judgments on the character’s traits.

Even more worksheet upgrades

Looking for more? In our updated post, this is the whole list of worksheet types — with an upgrade for each.

Click through to the post to get details — as well as apps and copy-and-use templates — to start using these right away.

1. Vocabulary matching — Wordwall match-up activity

2. Fill-in-the-blank — Learning Apps crossword puzzle

3. Short answer recall — Brain dump on Socrative

4. Word problems — Instant feedback in Snorkl

5. Mapping — An interactive Google Slides map template

6. Sequencing — An interactive Padlet TA activity

7. Multiple choice recall — Create a physical game

8. Analyze images — Caption This! activity

9. Video recall — YouTube storyboard template

10. Repetition — Gamified reps with Blooket

11. Comprehension questions — Booksnaps template in Google Slides

12. Write an opinion / justification — Record a ScreenPal video

13. Label a system / complex item — Learning Apps interactive activity

14. Summarize — “Design a t-shirt” exit ticket

15. Opinion — Human opinion meter

16. Draw — Create sketchnotes.

17. Retell a story — The Pixar Story Structure template.

18. Create a list — A Wakelet collection

19. Character profile — A Character card template

20. Oral recall — Friends without pens activity.

👋 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!