🗑 How much I use paper in class

🚨 Sale on my book, AI for Educators

If you haven’t read my book, AI for Educators, now might be the time!

Right now, Amazon is displaying (for me in the U.S.) an incredible 44% off discount on the paperback …

Regular price $24.95 USD … sale price $13.99 USD!

If you’re trying to get up to speed on all of this AI stuff — what it is, what it means for education, how you can use it, how to think about academic integrity, how to prepare students for the future — it has chapters on all of that.

It’s readable. It’s a page-turner. You can finish reading it without too much effort and be ready to take steps forward.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Chock full of ideas, it is a great resource for educators at all levels who are curious about AI and it’s potential impact on teaching and learning. Highly recommend! — Dr. Todd Schmidt via Amazon

💻 TECH TIP 💻

📺 Teachflix: Free instructional videos + activities

Have you heard of Teachflix? It’s our FREE collection of instructional videos — with activities that go with the videos!

We asked teachers: What are the instructional videos you ACTUALLY show students? The good ones? We collected them on the Teachflix site.

• Browse by school level (junior, elementary, middle, high)

• Browse by content area (math, history, science, read alouds, etc.)

• Sort by category

• Choose a video and play it from the Teachflix site

• Download an activity packet for worksheets/activities you can use with the video

Plus, our activity pack includes instructions on how to create custom questions for the video you’re showing!

❤️ Know someone who would love Teachflix? Just forward them this email — or spread the word on social media!

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

📄 How much I use paper in class

I’ve been back to teaching for the better part of three months now. I’m starting to get into my routines …

• We’ve completed a grading period, so I’ve submitted grades once.

• This week, we’re getting ready to finish our third unit.

• My Spanish classes have completed their review of the present tense and are on to the preterite (past) tense.

Sometimes, when I speak at school districts or conferences, people will ask me …

“What are the new, innovative, creative ways you’re using technology?”

I hate to break it to them, but after three months of teaching one class a day, well … like I just told you … I’m still settling into my routines.

So the answer is: I haven’t really had time to innovate too much. I mean, I’m teaching part-time. Hourly. My full-time job is still Ditch That Textbook — creating these newsletters, writing, speaking, etc.

Does this make me a fraud?!?

If I’m not careful, that answer makes me feel a bit like a fraud. Everyone thinks I’m this super techy guy (and I still think I am!) …

… but my daily lesson plans just ARE NOT an enormous tech stack, one app after another, one techy lesson after another.

Here’s another realization I’ve had recently that (if I’m not careful) can make me feel like a fraud …

I’ve had my students doing assignments on paper quite a bit recently.

• My students do story retells on paper.

• They do five-minute timed writings on paper.

• They draw vocabulary pictures on paper.

• My class participation system — it’s based on handing out little slips of paper for participation points. Then I count them by hand.

Plus, all of my quizzes and tests have been on paper.

If I’m not careful, those thoughts start to creep into my mind …

Does this make me a fraud?

Do you the pressure to use AI and edtech, too?

If you’re reading this, there’s a chance that you feel this way, too.

• On social media, the AI cheerleaders tell you how AI is going to transform education — and you’d better get on board.

• Some of the edtech influencers criticize the teachers who switch back to paper for some of their assignments.

• All of these cries for AI literacy and AI integration? Some people use them to bully us more and more AI and tech. “It’s preparing students for the future.”

Then, I sit down at my desk to plan lessons and get ready for class and that voice starts to creep into my mind …

“Does this make me a fraud?”

I had a conversation with a teacher at the OKSTE Conference this week in Oklahoma where it started to become clear to me.

My job isn’t to integrate technology

I was telling her about how I use paper to do several tasks in class. And I said (paraphrasing here, of course) …

“I mean, I COULD have them submit their work in a document. But it adds an extra level of effort (get the Chromebook out, open a doc, go to Canvas, submit) that doesn’t add anything to the learning process.”

“I COULD try to create a conversational chatbot that interacts with my students in Spanish. But the results I get haven’t been great yet. Plus, my students and I really love our storytelling time together in class.

“Plus, it’s so easy for them to just look Spanish words up online when they use the Chromebooks. Sometimes, I just want them to write with the words they already know … and that works when we use paper.

“I’m doing what’s best for my students. It’s not that I’m not using technology …

• I use AI to generate practice questions.

• I generate AI images we can describe and discuss.

• I use AI chatbots to ask my students questions about reading passages — and to offer them real-time feedback on their writing.

• AI helps me make Blooket and Wayground practice games SO quickly.

“I’m using AI and tech. I’m just not using it for everything.

“I’m making conscious choices as a teacher — as a designer of instruction! — when to use it and when not to use it.

“Because in the end, my job isn’t to integrate technology. That’s not my end goal (even though some of the edtech influencers and tech companies pressure me to think that).

“My end goal is my students’ learning. I want my students to learn Spanish.

“My job title isn’t tech integrator. My job is teacher.

“As a teacher, I’m an instructional designer BEFORE I’m a tech integrator.

“And if using paper in certain circumstances to teach them (and maximize instructional minutes) is the best option for their learning? Then I’m going to do it.”

(As the conversation went on, I feel like I was trying to justify it to MYSELF more than I was to this teacher … and I’m pretty sure she could tell!)

Be an instructional designer first

Maybe you needed to hear this in the same way that I needed to say it out loud to someone.

I’m an instructional designer first. I want to design instruction that leads my students to learn, to think, to have certain experiences.

• Technology SERVES instruction, not the other way around.

• As teachers, we have a duty to our students, not to the tech companies. (Or, dare I say it, to school leaders who want to justify their tech purchases by forcing us to use it …)

Now, I think there’s a balance here. If we always teach the same old way, we’re missing out on opportunities to level up our teaching practice.

That’s why we still need to try new teaching (and lesson planning) practices …

• If you’re like me, I’m constantly evaluating new edtech products and techy teaching practices.

• If something looks like it aligns with MY classroom — what my students need — then I’ll give it a try.

• Some apps and teaching practices are great for some classrooms but not for mine. (Or yours.) No pressure to try anything that isn’t a good fit.

And I believe we do have a duty to prepare our students for a future where AI plays a big role in our work and our day-to-day lives … not because we like it necessarily, but because it’s going to happen.

But let’s be honest. We don’t have to force AI on our students because we think it’s “preparing them for the future.”

• If a certain app or teaching practice makes learning better — or more efficient, then let’s use it.

• But let’s not engage in the nonsense of forcing something that isn’t in the best interest of students for the sake of “preparing them for AI.”

SIDE NOTE: We still can improve our students’ AI literacy. And I think that’s valuable — crucial — to preparing them for the future. But there’s a difference between teaching with AI and teaching students AI literacy.

• Teaching with AI means using AI-powered tools to teach and learn. (Sometimes, that can be effective.)

• Teaching students AI literacy means teaching them the skills and knowledge to survive and thrive in a world full of AI.’

We can teach AI literacy without using AI — and it can even strengthen and support the teaching and learning of our content, standards, and curriculum.

(That’s what my new upcoming book, AI Literacy in Any Class, is all about. You’ll be first to find out when it’s available right here!)

(END SIDE NOTE)

You’re not a fraud. (Neither am I.)

So if you’re like me and have been feeling the pressure to use more AI and more tech to “prepare students for the future,” let me tell you …

You’re not a fraud.

Your students are your first priority.

Use it where it makes sense — where it supports you and your students the most.

Make use of your powerful tool — your teaching experience and your keen sense of what supports your students best.

As educators, it’s our job to protect the sanctity of the classroom and instructional minutes.

Let’s only let in what’s best for our students.

👋 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!