educators

"High school teachers are especially likely to see cellphones as problematic. About seven-in-ten (72%) say that students being distracted by cellphones is a major problem in their classroom, compared with 33% of middle school teachers and 6% of elementary school teachers."

"Overall, 68% of U.S. adults say they support a ban on middle and high school students using cellphones during class, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2024. This includes 45% who strongly support this."

AI detectors don't work. They don't work. How many times do we have to tell people? This is the article I point to when people don't understand this.

What is draining your laptop? This article will help you understand the problems in your laptop.

NVidia, Disney, and DeepMind have unveiled "Blue" a cute little R2D2 like Robot. While it doesn't talk yet, the bells and whistles sound pretty familiar. It responds and you can sort of tell how it is responding. I'm not sure of the applications of these, but it walked out of video onto the stage recently and into the hearts and minds of those who are eager to learn about the future. This is a video I'm sharing with my students.

With budget cuts and changes in the organizations running a variety of education programs, the Hechinger Report gives an overview on what will change about funding for those with special needs (it won't). If you're concerned, read this article.

Dr. Phillipa Hardman gives a great overview of AI generation, how it works and the challenges of using it to generate infographics in the classroom. If you're teaching us teachers how to use AI, this is a must read.

This video on image generation and the new engine that replaces Dall-E is a must-watch to get started on your journey. While not full of glitz and glamor, this down to earth, here's how to do it by the people who make the stuff always helps me learn in new ways. I also like to show these to students so they can see how people in the industry work. I already have teachers asking for ChatGPT now - I think we're going to have to price a group rate to see if it is possible.

Math and AI? Yes, AI is being used by math teachers - here's how.

Ethan Kross, says that we spend ⅓ of our time focused on the past or the future and not living in the moment and we engage in those conversations with ourselves. The negative self talk can consume us as anyone who loves a personal struggling with mental health knows. This article says that if you can address yourself by name and use second-person pronouns in a strategy called "distanced self talk" that you can literally help yourself. There are other powerful strategies in this article and it is worth reading.

AI will soon be taking your drive-thru orders at 500 Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC locations as they partner with nVidia starting in April and through June. Let's see how this goes.

Airpod Live Translation Coming soon? While we're talking Apple, the AirPods might get a live translation feature soon. It will be able to translate life in-person conversations from one language to another. When this happens, it will be truly a game changer for communications (and also possibly training data for the apple devices, but they are already full of data.) Could you imagine what this would do in ELA classrooms?

from Android Police shares some great tools to get the most of out of your phone when you're in the car if you have an android. On my iphone I love the live radar and the podcast apps that help me get the most out of my commute.

I do agree with the "knowing the reasoning behind" and the ability to analyze photos and I also do use the "talk to ChatGPT" features in the car. If you're feeling like a beginner and want to sharpen up your ChatGPT skills, this is a good place to start.

If you use gmail, the new AI-powered search results factors in how you click on things, frequent contacts and they say that emails you are looking for are more likely to be at the top of your results. The new "most relevant" search results are rolling out now.

For the first half of 2024-2025 overall K12 school attendance rates have improved, says eschool news, in a study that analyzed more than 1 million students in 143 districts. The overall rate is 93.45%. They noticed that 7th grade is the "tipping point" where attendance rates drop and chronic absenteeism rises. The report goes on to recommend early warning systems and proactive intervention. Perhaps this is a conversation for middle school teachers in your staff meeting this week.

Tech and Learning has information on how this works and why they are so effective. If you don't have one, check it out!

I do this with my truth or fiction game but this approach helps students learn about how people manipulate media and is a simulation. I'm not sure I'll do with students until I spend some time testing it but the interface and approach are intriguing.