🤖 AI superpowers for your Google tools

📚 6 books to support teaching with tech

I’ve authored (or co-authored) six books that can help you level up teaching and learning with tech …

• Ditch That Textbook: Lots of ideas for teaching with tech in the 21st century

• Ditch That Homework: If homework doesn’t give you the results you want, here’s what you can try instead.

• Don’t Ditch That Tech: Use tech to differentiate instruction, engage students, and meet them where they are

• Do More with Google Classroom: Go beyond the basics with Google Classroom to create better assignments

• Tech Like a Pirate: Create fun, memorable learning activities with tech to engage students

• AI for Educators: A primer on AI in the classroom, translating it for teachers and suggestions ways to use it

Check them out on Amazon in paperback or Kindle ebook here.

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

🤯 This is a MUST HAVE chrome extension (yes, it’s FREE)

Brisk Teaching has gotten a lot of attention lately, and rightfully so. It’s a tool that can actually (yes, actually) save you time!

Brisk (briskteaching.com) is a set of teacher tools that lives inside of Google tools like Docs, Slides, Forms, and Classroom – places where you’re likely already spending time.

That way, it’s NOT one more thing (thank goodness!) It’s something that helps you out where you’re already working. Brisk overlays on top of your tools, without the hassle of managing a separate app or platform.

So why aren’t you using it?

Let’s dive into a few questions we’ve seen come up and see if we can help you get started “Brisking” today.

🤔 Brisk Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Is it free?

Answer: Yes, Brisk is a totally free Chrome extension that you can start using now.

Question: Wait. It talks about a “premium account trial”? That doesn’t seem free.

Answer: The forever free version includes ALL of these features:

• Create Quizzes & Presentations without Images

• Create Rubrics, Resources, & Exemplars

• Create Lesson Plans, DOK Questions, & Decodable Texts

• Create Emails, Newsletters, & Letters of Recommendation

• Give Feedback in 3 ways: Glow & Grow, Rubric Criteria, & Next Steps

• Inspect Student Writing with Replay

• Change Reading Levels of Google Docs, Web Articles, & Digital Texts

• Translate Text into 20+ Languages

• Upload Rubrics & Give Aligned Feedback

• Feedback Insights

• Personalization Features

There are more tools that you can get access to with the premium version that’s available only for schools and districts. You get access to ALL of the features for 14 days when you create your free account. However, the forever free version truly does have everything you need.

Question: So what happens after my 14 day premium trial ends?

Answer: You’ll still have access to everything listed above. You can keep creating lesson plans, giving feedback, changing reading levels, translating text and instantly make quizzes in Google Docs or Forms without missing a beat.

Question: What if I want to try out all of those cool premium features again in 3 months or next school year?

Answer: Easy! Become Certified with the Brisk AI Professional Training (a 20 minute course that will teach you all of the Brisk AI essentials) and get 45 more days of Brisk premium.

🙌🏽 OK, let’s do this! How do I get started?

Here’s a step by step guide for getting started. It’s as easy as 1-2-3…4!

1. Install Brisk Teaching Chrome Extension:

• Visit the Brisk Teaching website.

• Click on “Add to Chrome for Free.”

• This will open the Chrome Web Store.

• Click the “Add to Chrome” button to install the extension.

• Confirm the installation by clicking “Add Extension.”

2. Sign In with Google:

• After installation, click on the extensions icon in your browser toolbar (it looks like a puzzle piece).

• From the dropdown menu, find “Brisk Teaching” and click on the corresponding pushpin icon.

• Brisk Teaching should now be visible on your toolbar.

3. Complete Your Profile:

• Click on the Brisk Teaching icon.

• Sign in with your Google account.

• Answer a few questions about your school (school name, state, etc.).

• Click “Next” to proceed.

4. Explore Brisk:

• Brisk overlays on top of the tools you already use (Google Docs, Slides, YouTube, web articles, etc.).

• It helps you save time by providing features like targeted feedback generation, creating quizzes, lesson plan generation, rubric creation, and more.

• Explore the various ways you can use Brisk within your existing workflow.

• Keep in mind that Brisk is continuously improving, so stay tuned for updates!

👍🏽 Excellent! Now it’s time to start Brisking (it’s a verb, trust me)

Want to see Brisk in action? Use it on the document below to see what it can do.

Make a copy of this AI generated essay on the Boston Tea Party

With the Brisk extension installed you’ll see a Brisk icon in the lower right corner (It is a black circle with a blocky white B in the center)

Click on the icon and start exploring Brisk!

Here are a few things you can try on your copy:

• Click on the “Create” button and make a quiz.

• Click on the “Give Feedback” button and see how the Glow & Grow feedback works.

• Click on the “Inspect Writing” button and try to Detect AI Writing. (Remember the essay was AI generated).

• Click on the “Change Level” button and level the writing either above or below 7th grade. Try changing the language too!

💻 Tech Tip

🚫 Use restricted mode for sensitive information

This tech tip comes from Alice Keeler who shared this on Twitter/X:

“When working with sensitive information, use the "restricted mode" feature in Google Docs to prevent others from copying, downloading, or printing the document. Tip: You can also set an expiration date for the document.”

🔗 Learn more: Stop, limit, or change sharing in Google Workspace

👋 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!