🗑 AI image generators: tools, tips, teaching ideas

🎙 Want me to speak at your school or event?

As a subscriber to this newsletter, you know I’m full of practical teaching ideas you can use in class tomorrow.

What if professional development was like these email newsletters? Fun? Hands-on? With lots of practical application in the classroom?

Bring me to your school or event for …

• Full-day workshops. I can present a full day for your staff on fun student engagement with technology — or artificial intelligence — with lots of hands-on activities and ideas for class tomorrow.

• Keynote speeches. My three keynote speeches are super relevant to classrooms today. They’ll make you laugh. Make you think. And change how we think about teaching right away.

• Breakout sessions. I have dozens of practical sessions for a conference or conference-style professional development day to empower teachers with practical strategies.

“He received rave reviews from our participants.” — Event organizer, New Mexico

“Matt is one of the most down to Earth, easy to work with speakers I have ever worked with.” — Director of Professional Learning, Illinois

“He was entertaining and we learned a lot. I would definitely have him present to our teachers again.” — Curriculum director

“His positive attitude was contagious.” — Conference organizer, Mississippi

💻 TECH TIP 💻

📺 Turn on the captions!

There's a simple, research-backed tech hack that can dramatically boost children’s literacy:

Subtitles. For everyone.

It’s called Same Language Subtitling (SLS), or simply, turning on the captions when they watch TV or a device.

A reader recently shared SwitchOnReadOn.org, an organization aimed at raising awareness about the positive impact that turning on captions can have.

It’s not an app or a service … just making you aware of the simple, powerful practice of using captions when showing videos.

The core concept is simple: the subtitles match the audio perfectly. Children are getting input through both their eyes (reading) and ears (listening) at the same time.

• Automatic Reading: Studies show that for both children and adults, reading captions is virtually automatic—you literally can't ignore them. This creates unavoidable reading engagement.

• The Literacy Boost: Regularly watching content with SLS provides massive reading practice, which is key to fluency. This practice has been proven to directly lead to an improvement in a child's reading, language, and literacy skills. Read the research.

• A Safety Net for Struggling Readers: The impact is particularly strong for those struggling to read or children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. For example, one longitudinal study in India found that for children who couldn't read a single letter, the percentage who became functional readers more than doubled when exposed to weekly subtitled content.

Help promote the "Default On" Idea 

We can raise awareness among parents and caregivers that turning on captions during screen time can boost literacy dramatically.

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

🖼️ AI image generators: A guide for the classroom

It’s almost like magic.

You go to an AI image generator. You describe the image that you want. And the app creates something for you.

Sometimes, it’s great! But even if it’s not, you just tell it to make adjustments.

There are SO MANY ways these AI-generated images can spark learning — and power some really cool activities in class.

In our updated post — AI image generators: A guide for the classroom — we share some tips for using them, our favorite tools, ways to use them in class, and more.

Here’s a quick recap of some of the top takeaways from the post:

1. 10 things to know about AI image generators

• Experimentation is key: Don't expect the perfect image on the first try. Take time to tinker with your prompts.

• They create visual art in a huge variety of styles (photorealistic, oil painting, anime, etc.).

• Controversy exists: Be aware that many artists feel AI models stole their work for training.

2. 10 AI image generators to use in the classroom

I break down the pros and cons of my favorite tools. You have options!

• Ideogram: My go-to for accurate, vivid images (and I get 20 free prompts a day).

• Adobe Firefly: It’s free, very easy to use, and creates great, clean images.

• Nano-Banana (inside Google Gemini): I use this when I need to make complex edits or iterative changes just through natural conversation.

3. 10 classroom ideas that use AI image generators

Need lesson inspiration? I cover how to integrate these visuals right now:

• Create alternate endings for stories or history lessons to spark imagination.

• Generate images to describe for world language classes (works great with the 8 Parts EduProtocol).

• Illustrate tough-to-envision content, like a story problem or a physics scenario.

4. 10 styles to prompt image generators with

Don't just ask for a "tree"—ask for a "tree, watercolor painting style."

• Photorealistic: Ideal when you want visuals that feel real and grounded.

• Minimalist Vector Illustration: Perfect for slides and handouts where clarity counts (think infographic style).

• Surreal / Fantasy Illustration: Wonderful for creative writing prompts or visualizing abstract concepts.

5. 10 image prompt tips (with cut-and-paste prompts)

Get better results immediately with these techniques:

• Specify the art style to avoid a generic result.

• Define the angle/view (e.g., close-up, bird's eye view).

• Use negative prompts (like without extra fingers) to fix "AI weirdness."

6. Key AI lesson: Talk about "AI weirdness"

This is the most important lesson I learned:

• It helps students navigate the world by teaching them to spot what’s synthetic vs. artificial.

• It's a quick, in-the-moment lesson—not a whole unit—that builds real-world AI literacy.

  Read the full post

👋 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!