Teaching 'N Tech with Allan & Chad

In this episode, Allan and Chad are joined by Paul Donatelli, computer science educator from Canton City Schools. Paul details his unique experience transitioning from the field of engineering into education. His journey as a teacher includes both public and private schools, as well as work at the university level. The conversation goes deep into his science-based approach to skill mastery and motivation. We explore how he applies principles from behavioral economics and cognitive load theory to optimize learning, and combat barriers like expectancy cost. In addition, we tackle the massive shift of generative AI and its specific impact on computer science and learning to code. Find out how making small, intentional decisions can lead to a significant impact in student outcomes.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In this episode, Allan and Chad chat with Matthew Mays, Digital Innovation Consultant from the Stark County ESC and SPARCC in North Canton, Ohio. With new AI tools and resources being introduced every day, we discuss a few tools he's excited about right now. The conversation includes suggestions for better prompting, creating with Gemini's Storybook feature, and designing images with Google's AI experiment Whisk. Regardless of your experience level integrating AI resources in teaching, this episode has something for everyone. 100+ ways to use Gemini and NotebookLM in educationLeading for Learning - 09.17.25TeacherServerMusic: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Allan and Chad are back for a fourth season of Teaching "N Tech! In episode 1, Aaron DeHart stops by to talk about his journey as an educator. After starting his career in business, we discuss how the desire to work with kids and influence others changed his path completely. The conversation includes motivating reluctant readers, how the size of a school community impacts learning, and why making individual connections with family can pay big dividends in improving attendance and student outcomes.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In this episode, Dr. Lynn Rudd joins the show to discuss one her favorites topics: disciplinary literacy. An expert in the area of literacy, she shares her experiences teaching in both K-12 and higher education. In addition, she provides insight on some of her favorites strategies. Topics of discussion include questioning techniques with students in the classroom, anticipation guides as a tool to support reading in the content areas, and morphology & root words. Regardless of a teacher's content area, the conversation provides strategies that can enhance reading skills and student understanding.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In the first episode of season 3, Eric Curts joins the show to share some AI resources he finds useful in enhancing teaching and learning in the classroom. The discussion includes the origins of his blog Control Alt Achieve, and how it has become a go to resource for educators looking to develop the use of technology in learning. His catalog of resources covers just about anything you can imagine in instructional technology. The conversation also explores his philosophy of Poke a Stick at It, which provides a foundation for becoming a lifelong learner in EdTech. For teachers of any content or age level, his positive and straightforward approach to tech integration makes building capacity easy.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In the final episode of season 2, Allan and Chad take a deep dive into Ohio's new cell phone legislation. While many are referring to this as a "cell phone ban", the new laws actually gives schools quite a bit of latitude on how they will deal with distractions in the classroom from student cell phone use. In addition to looking at the actual language in the bill, there is discussion about current school cell phone policies and the advantages and disadvantages of further tightening on student use of personal technology. While this law is aims to reduce distractions in the learning process, it will definitely be interesting to see where things go next as schools seek to reduce distraction from personal devices.

As we approach spring break, many teachers are just trying to survive and catch a well-deserved break. In this episode, Allan and Chad explore three different areas in which teachers can save time and up their productivity. Topics for optimizing teacher workload include Google Calendar, integrating tasks between Gmail and Calendar events, and utilizing Google Keep. Additionally, they share some AI tools that speed up the process of creating learning activities and resources.

In this installment of Tech You Can Try, Chad digs into the possibilities of creating quizzes with Conker, an AI tool from the creators of Mote. While other AI-related tools often have a range of uses, Conker focuses on quiz creation and includes different options to make checking for understanding more effective. If you are looking to add to your repertoire in the area of assessment, give Conker.ai a try today!Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Continuing with the theme of AI tools, Chad introduces a new resource called Snorkl. This tool combines students diagraming their work on an interactive whiteboard while they record an explanation of their response. As they create their response, Snorkl's AI analyzes their explanation and provides feedback on areas of strength and improvement. In addition, teachers can view all student responses from a dashboard, along with an option where students can view each other's work and provide feedback to each other. While this platform is still in the early stages, the ability to give students timely feedback as they explain their work is certainly promising for teachers.

Chad heads to Columbus, Ohio for OETC, a three-day event filled with great ideas. Educators from all over the state share ways to leverage technology to improve student learning. The discussion includes a preview of promising strategies that will be presented to improve learning outcomes. Topics include career exploration through social media, using AI for universal design, and leaning into AI to provide feedback during the writing process.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In this episode, Chad breaks down some promising new tools included in Magic School AI. From generating academic content to developing data tables, Magic School allows for the creation of content with the input of just a few words. While AI will never replace the human connection of teaching and learning, Magic School has over 60 tools that are designed to make teaching less time-consuming and more efficient for educators. Many of these tools look promising!Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In this episode of Teaching "n Tech, Jessica Friesner and Debbie Varga share their expertise in teaching language skills. Both fluent in English and Spanish, they discuss experiences of teaching English and Spanish speakers together in their Spanish classes, As bilingual educators, their perspective provides insight and strategies that can be helpful to any teacher who is working with students who speak different languages.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Anyone who has taught writing will tell you that the amount of time between the student writing and teacher feedback being provided is a major hurdle. Class Companion is an AI Tool for teachers that creates assignments with prompts for short answers, essays, and outlines. As the students write, AI-generated responses are provided in real-time, so that they can refine their writing as they work without waiting for the teacher's response. Since the AI feedback may vary, teachers can always override feedback. Students can also dispute and give a rationale for AI feedback they may not agree with. While Class Companion is in the early stages, the ability for students to receive instant feedback while drafting their writing is promising. Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Teachers continue to adapt and find ways to bridge gaps while teaching students who speak a different language. In this episode, Allan and Chad discuss promising practices that teachers are using successfully in classrooms with English learners. The discussion includes vocabulary instruction strategies, the use of multiple screens to make translation apps more effective, and the utilization of AI to customize learning resources. While there is still progress to be made, teachers keep pushing forward to reach more students and improve learning.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In this installment of Tech You Can Try, Chad discusses a promising new web tool called School AI. While there are plenty of new AI tools becoming available, School AI provides a unique experience. Teachers can launch customized spaces where students join through a unique code and interact with chatbots similar to Chat GPT. Even better, the chatbots are tailored for use in school settings. While still in the early stages, School AI has the potential to improve learning outcomes.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

While math isn't usually the first content area that comes to mind when discussing group projects and student collaboration, McKinley High School's Quantitative Reasoning course provides a new approach to exploring mathematical concepts while giving opportunities for students to think critically and problem-solve through projects and group interactions. The situations that arise in these groups then direct the teacher's approach to instruction and skill building. While not a traditional environment for math instruction, the learning activities provide unique opportunities to think about math from a different perspective.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

In this edition of Tech You Can Try, we take a look at another generative AI tool called Diffit. Geared toward differentiating learning materials and resources, Diffit allows you to generate a variety of resources for students at a personalized reading level through searches, links, or pasted text. One of Diffit's best features is the ability to create graphic organizers that integrate nicely with Google Classroom. If you are looking for an efficient way to differentiate for your learners, give Diffit a try.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Most teachers realize that helping students learn to work together effectively is important for life after school. In this episode, Allan and Chad discuss planning for student collaboration through the lens of two group projects. The discussion includes planning activities for student success, using technology to meet learning objectives, deciding when to use more traditional methods, and clarifying how student work will be assessed.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

David Anderson joins the show to discuss ways he has found success in his career which spans over three decades in the Canton City School District. The conversation includes his role in implementing a microteaching cohort at McKinley High School to assess the effectiveness of teaching methods and describes a behavioral economics approach to evaluating students' reading comprehension and engagement. Additionally, he shares his keys to staying motivated and continuously finding ways to refine his craft.Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Continuing our theme of AI tools that can be helpful for teachers, we discuss Brisk Teaching. This Chrome extension is easy and practical to use, giving teachers the power of AI at their fingertips. Features that teachers might find useful include AI feedback for student essays, help writing lesson plans and assessment items, reading level conversion of articles in Google Docs and internet sites, and AI detection from student writing. Find ways to make your workflow more productive with the Brisk Teaching extension - found on the Chrome Web Store!