International Dot Day #withSchoolAI #EdChat

As a high school teacher, I had not idea what Dot Day was and that it was a big deal is schools all over the world. When I taught Middle School, I started to hear more about Dot Day from students and it sounded like a really fun story and activity. Once I finally sat down and read the book by Peter H. Reynolds, I was blown away. It was the type of story I needed to read when I was starting school and feeling like everyone was better than me at everything. As an undiagnosed neurodivergent learner throughout K12, it was hard not to feel "less than" when compared to my peers. I never thought I would be able to "make my mark" in any meaningful way. A simple story can really change the narrative for a young student if we make the time. 

Working at SchoolAI, I get the chance to spend time building amazing Spaces to support the awesome work educators are already doing in their classroom. With International Dot Day approaching next week, I was wondering if there was a way to create a Space to support this important day in school. After some fun exploring different prompts, I put together a Space that will allow the students to watch a reading of the story and be prompted by SchoolAI's Dot about ways they have made their mark even when things were tough. Then, they get to create their own Dot using the Doodleboard PowerUp. Here is a screenshot of my Doodleboard. 

I hope you have a chance to use the Space with your students who are looking for a way to explore Dot Day and make their mark. These types of Spaces are perfect for launching and sharing with families at home so they can explore with their children. 

If you want to find more Spaces that are created in the SchoolAI Community, join the Champions Program and you will get weekly updates on all of the amazing things educators are doing to make school awesome. 

Descriptive Writing Support #withSchoolAi #EdChat #ELA

One of the things that was always tough for me was to get students to expand their descriptive writing skills. High school writers were content to call think big or pretty and leave it at that. Getting them to see the beauty of word choice and what it can mean to a story can be a tough task. I have employed lots of different tactics over the years, but one of the last lessons on descriptive writing utilized SchoolAI to help students practice the idea of using imagery to get the reader to "see" what they were writing. With the launch of SchoolAI 2.0, I have updated the Imagery Workshop Space to create something I think is pretty awesome. 

There is a story from an episode of "Tales from the Darkside" that tells the story of a scary monster called The Grither that hates to have its name repeated and will come for anyone that dares to speak it. I took this episode and created a prose version of the story and shared it with students. There were descriptions in the story, but ones that could be elevated by another writer. The goal was to have students read the story, identify descriptive language, rewrite a portion providing more detail, and revising that piece of writing to make it stronger. The way to see if the writing was helping the reader to "see" their scene was to use the Image Generator PowerUp to create what they wrote! 

The Image Generator PowerUp allows the student to see what they wrote and make changes based on what they wished was in the image that they were not clear about on the first draft. Getting students to see their descriptive writing is a great way to help them connect their writing and imagery. Here is what was created based on my first draft,  

The Grither first attempt

After seeing this image, I was prompted to make an edits to my description to get it closer to what I want readers to see. 

Revised Grither description 

You can notice the difference in the images. It is not drastic, but enough that it was closer aligned to what I envisioned when writing the description. 

This Space can be launched in class and the teacher can use the teacher dashboard to observe all of the student inputs and how they are enhancing their descriptive writing skills. The students can save the images and connect them with their description and add that to their portfolio to show their growth. 

I think this is an awesome way to support students who are working on descriptive writing. Students can share their images with others, see how they are similar and different and take full ownership of their writing process. 

If you want to check out this Space, you can find it here and launch it with your students. If you want to learn more about SchoolAI supporting you and your students, consider joining the SchoolAI Community by becoming a SchoolAI Champion! 

Presentation Moderator @GetSchoolAI Space Template #EdChat #FETC #TCEA #ISTE25

Hi! It's been a while. I've been super busy with SchoolAI creating some content and running trainings. I have not forgotten about where all of this EdTech stuff started. I built something that I think is awesome to use in presentations to help answer questions people might have and to also see what people are asking about in your sessions to better help inform future presentations. 

A Space from SchoolAI can be prompted to do just about anything. It can act as a tutor, be a Bellringer or Exit Ticket, or story teller, an essay feedback bot, and so much more. Last year, I had the idea to build a Space that people could access while I presented to ask questions about my content and work through ideas. Some people will never be comfortable asking a question in a conference session, so using the Space is a step toward more inclusivity. Using the Space for yourself is simple. 

1. Click the link

2. Click Remix

3. Change the prompt by adding your session's information

4. Click Start Preview and test it out

5. Click Launch

6. Click Use a Space Code 

7. Copy QR Code and link and share at the start of the presentation

Things to Note:

Free Account users are limited to 75 users in a Space for 24 hours. If you are having a small workshop or a smaller session, this is perfect for you. 

Pro Users have unlimited Space access. 

If you want to know more about Pro Access as a individual teacher or an institution, follow this link. 

This worked really well at my sessions at ISTE last year and I will be using this again for my upcoming sessions at FETC, MACUL, and ISTE 2025! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on the socials @TheNerdyTeacher and I can help you!

Hugs and High Fives, 

NP