🤖 20 AI "first steps" for teachers

Plus: an AI prompting guide for educators

Matt Miller
July 26, 2024

I’m sorry to break this to you, but … next week is August.

I don’t know about you, but in my house, we’ve been soaking up the last days of summer break as well as we can.

Naps. Hikes. A pool party last night. Visits with friends and family.

Here’s what’s coming from Ditch That Textbook in the coming weeks to help support you as we (in the Northern Hemisphere) go back to school …

We’ll go back to our “three days a week” routine starting Monday
We’re planning on reviving our podcasts — The Digital Learning Podcast with Matt Miller and Holly Clark — and the Ditch That Textbook Podcast with Matt Miller and Karly Moura
The AI for Admins community/email newsletter should be up and running again very soon

Plus, we have some great back to school content ready for you — as well as some tech and AI ideas to get you primed for those first days of school.

We got this!

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

4 teaching resources worth checking out today

🎧 LISTEN: Balancing Human and AI in Edu — I joined Jorge Valenzuela to talk about the evolving landscape of AI in Edu on his podcast.
📣 Free online tech conference — The Cypress-Fairbanks DLC is a free online conference accessible to all with dozens of sessions.
🤖 All of our AI posts in one place — View dozens of articles we’ve written about AI in schools and the classroom.
💡 ICYMI: Back to school PD ideas — How can you engage teachers at back-to-school time? These 12 ideas can help!

Ever since ChatGPT was released in November 2022, there’s been buzz everywhere about artificial intelligence (AI).

Is it time for you to figure out what the buzz is all about?

Maybe you’re AI savvy but are always looking for new ideas?

(Or do you support teachers — and want to help them figure out the buzz?)

Today’s post offers LOTS of entry points for teachers to better understand artificial intelligence and how it can impact their work.

This post includes:

Browse the post.

Find a first step that feels right for you.

Take a step toward better understanding AI and its impact.

AI assistants like ChatGPT can be overwhelming at first. “What do I type in this thing?” “How does this even work?”

This AI prompting guide from Code.org (and ETS, ISTE, and Khan Academy) is a good place to start.

It offers starter prompts as well as beginner, intermediate, and advanced tools to level up your prompting skills.

It’s part of the AI 101 for Teachers resource by Code.org.

I mean, come on … it was … FOUR PENS IN ONE 😯

h/t Teacher Related via Teacher Memes Facebook group

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.
Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.
Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!

Choose the best fit for you ...