ISTELive is a wrap! 🎬
ISTELive was a whirlwind, but I brought you some great resources!
When 15,000 people converge on the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando for the ISTELive conference, there’s a LOT to learn — and to bring back home.
(And when I say “bring back home,” I have new t-shirts, tote bags … even the washii tape that Figma was giving away.)
If it feels like all I’ve talked about these past couple weeks is ISTE, there’s good reason. Companies launch new features there. Top-notch presenters debut new presentations there. There’s always news — and when so many innovative educators converge, you learn SO much.
This year, I tried my best to record as many of my presentations as possible so you could see them from home!
In today’s 💡 Big Idea, I share video AND slides from 11 presentations I facilitated (or attended) at ISTE. Plus, there’s a resource dump from the DTT online community and others.
If you were #NotAtISTE, it’s my goal to make you feel like you were.
Inside:
🚨 HUGE sale on my books on Amazon
👀 DTT Digest: 4 resources worth checking out
👥 Community: 🤔 Deep Thoughts for the Summer #3 and #4
💡 The Big Idea: My best ISTE videos, slides and resources
😄 Smile of the day: How can this be?
👋 How we can help
🚨 HUGE sale on my books on Amazon
Amazon has my books on a MASSIVE sale right now.
Sometimes, I check Amazon to see if my books are on sale. To my surprise, almost ALL SEVEN of them are massively discounted right now!
AI for Educators — It’s like AI 101 for educators with chapters on the implications of AI on the classroom, how to use it, what it is, academic integrity, etc. (4.5 stars, 317 reviews)
List price: $24.95 USD (paperback)
Sale price: $11.78 USD (paperback)
Tech Like a Pirate — My book on student engagement with tech, all about making learning feel like the things that students love. It’s super practical with tons of classroom-ready ideas. (4.6 stars, 867 reviews)
List price: $26.95 USD (paperback)
Sale price: $13.83 USD (paperback)
Other discounted books:
Ditch That Homework (reg. $24.95, now $11.01)
Don’t Ditch That Tech (reg. $24.95, now $15.20)
Ditch That Textbook (reg. $24.95, now $13.22)
Do More with Google Classroom (reg. $21.95, now $18.18)
AI Literacy in Any Class (reg. $26.95, now $25.12 … not the cheapest, but the newest!)
👀 DTT Digest
4 teaching resources worth checking out today
🕵 Spy the AI vocabulary game — A game vibe coded by Vicki Davis using the terminologies she teaches her students at different levels.
📹 Adobe Edu LIVE from ISTE — The Adobe Education brought the ISTE experience home, from hands-on activities to live streams straight from our ISTE space! Recordings available until July 19th.
ICYMI 🔵 Summer PD Bingo — Summer is a great time to learn what YOU want to learn. This PD bingo choice board gives you LOTS of options! Absolutely ZERO judgement if you want to glide on past this one and try NOT to think about PD.
ICYMI 📒 Grab my Playbook for Implementing AI in K-12 — A practical guide and workbook for K12 leaders setting guidelines, choosing the right tools, and making AI matter across your schools.
👥 FROM THE COMMUNITY 👥
🤔 Deep Thoughts for the Summer #3 and #4
This summer, we started a series — Deep Thoughts for the Summer — where we think about big questions and ideas that we don’t always have time to ponder during the school year.
We’d love to hear from you! Below are the four deep thoughts we’ve already posted with a response. Click the question/headline to jump into the community and respond!
My students are really struggling with:
1.) Me not providing the right answer (on some of the project, there are more than 1)
2.) Stretching their thinking.
I’m finding it hard not to step in and show them what to do. I definitely want to work on this and balance with tasks need scaffolding or when do I start to pull back the scaffolding.
I hope my students remember that I loved them enough to challenge them to reach higher than they thought they could. That I loved them enough to help them make wise choices - and that I made good choices about what was worth teaching them and asking them to learn. I hope they remember a teacher who loved teaching, even if they weren’t as fond of learning my subject. I hope my students go further and touch more lives positively than I ever could. My students will be my legacy.
Collaboration is power, I would say! […] I myself love to collaborate and the best sessions are the spontaneous ones!
Recently I was once again asked by one of my unit managers to have a small lecture on how I use our platform for our colleagues, one of my colleagues was asked as well and she reached out to me and asked if we could do something together.
This is true collaboration at its best imho! 🙏
Being in a pre-K through 12 school I get lots of feedback. The lower school kids are honest about what they want what they need what they’re interested in etc. I usually meet with some recent graduates every summer about what we missed in upper school what they felt they were short on, etc. what they felt like we should add to our curriculum. It doesn’t cover everything, but it gives me a really good start. I’m literally rearranging my library this week because the kids want it to feel “homier”. They wanted mood lighting and more green plants. They are my clients and my hope is always that if they see, I respect their wishes then they will respect mine.
You can join the free DTT Community to read ideas like this, connect with other educators, discuss, and share ideas of your own.
💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡
🎙️ My best ISTE videos, slides and resources
The convention center in Orlando was FULL of great ideas!
The ISTELive conference is officially in the books for 2026. It was great to spend time with friends, to make new ones, and learn alongside so many fellow passionate educators!
The conference is so massive that I’ve been posting about it for the past couple weeks. Check out the previous resources if you missed them:
My 11 session videos / slides / resources
1. FULL SESSION VIDEO: How to Teach AI Literacy in Any Class (Video 57:36)
Description: AI literacy isn't just for the technology teacher. In any grade level or content area, teachers can incorporate tiny AI literacy lessons that prepare students for our rapidly evolving future. Learn about classroom-tested practical examples you can adapt to your teaching situation right away.
I learned about CodeAI’s free AI curriculum.
2 . Code.org is now CodeAI — and has free AI curriculum
I got to visit the CodeAI booth and sit in on a session about teaching students AI literacy. In the video (which you can watch here), I share three lessons to teach students about how to handle their business with AI from that presentation:
1. Teach predictive AI with sticky notes
2. Use the right metaphors
3. Learn about AI thru real life tasks
The good news: EVERYONE can get CodeAI's AI+CS curriculum for free! Go to: https://studio.code.org/catalog
3. Strengthen student thinking with your interactive display (Video 27:39)
If you have an interactive display in your classroom, it doesn’t have to be just for the teacher to show slides and videos. Students can interact with it — and it can be used to pique student interest, activate prior knowledge, and provide just-in-time learning. In this demo from the Samsung booth, I share how interactive displays can boost student thinking. Learn more about Samsung displays here.
4. PANEL: The AI Playbook for K-12 School Leaders (Video 22:55)
How do school leaders handle big decisions when it comes to AI? Let’s ask some! This panel discussion, which I facilitated in the Brisk Teaching booth, featured Dr. Kip Glazer (principal of Mountain View (Calif.) High School), Stephanie Jacobs (tech integration coordinator at Fort Mills (S.C.) School District; and Stevie Frank (digital learning coach at Zionsville (Ind.) Community Schools). Download the AI playbook I co-authored with Brisk Teaching for school leaders here.
5. Create a Unit in Less than 15 Minutes with Brisk Teaching (Video 15:57)
It’s so easy to create teaching materials with Brisk Teaching! In this demo, I got to share how to create an entire unit of teaching resources LIVE by using Brisk in less than 15 minutes. Get 3 months premium Brisk for FREE with this link!
6. AI Output to Student Insight: Deepening Thinking with FigJam (Video 28:59)
So many people worry that AI will kill our critical thinking skills. But AI outputs give us a chance to critically analyze them — and learn something about our class content in the process. In this session, I showed how you can use FigJam — an incredible collaborative whiteboard tool — to get students thinking and interacting digitally while also learning AI literacy lessons. Learn more about FigJam here.
7. Teach AI Literacy AND Your Class Content (Yes, It Can Be Done!) with MagicSchool (Slides)
So many teachers are using MagicSchool to create teaching resources. But when students analyze the decisions that AI had to make to create those resources, they can learn AI literacy, too. Check out the slides for this session to learn about some new MagicSchool features — and how students can learn AI literacy with them.
8. Student Voice + Immediate Impact + Visual Learning = Snorkl (Video 11:44)
Snorkl offers this incredible combination of features for learning for students. Students get to respond with their voice. They get instant feedback. Plus, they can draw and doodle on the canvas to show what they know. In this demo, I share what I love about Snorkl and how it can be used in the classroom. Learn more about Snorkl here.
9. How to Teach AI Literacy in Any Class with SchoolAI (Video 21:56)
Students can learn how to handle their business with AI while ALSO learning your class content and curriculum. In this demo, I share how you can use SchoolAI to get your students thinking and learning — and how to embed little AI literacy lessons along the way. Learn more about SchoolAI here.
10. Ditch That Vocab List: Language Learning with Knowt (Video 15:07)
If your students are just flipping through flashcards to learn vocabulary, they're missing out! Upload your list (and any other resources) to Knowt and get a podcast ... a call from Kai to study ... fun games to play, and more. In this short demo at the Knowt booth at the ISTELive conference, I share my favorite features of Knowt. Learn more about Knowt here.
11. AI Literacy in Everyday Learning with Kira (Video 18:39)
Students can learn a lot about AI (and how to handle their business with it) in the context of your day-to-day classroom -- without a special lesson or unit. In this session, I share how Kira can support student learning and AI literacy at the same time. Learn more about Kira here.
😄 Smile of the day
Oh but it IS possible.
Source: Bored Teachers
👋 How we can help
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!
