Saturday, April 4, 2026

Podcast Spotlight - LinkedUp Podcast

I recently had the pleasure to be a guest on the "LinkedUp Podcast" hosted by Jerri Kemble and Jamie Saponaro.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love podcasts and am always mentioning something new I learned from one of them, so I was super excited to get to join an episode of this podcast.

The podcast is described as follows:

Tune in to LinkedUp: Breaking Boundaries in Education to hear from Jerri Kemble and Jamie Saponaro as they seek global perspectives on educational topics that matter. With so many people to hear from and so many lessons to learn - they are gaining insights from education leaders worldwide. Powered by ClassLink, they are linking up the movers and shakers who make it happen!

I had a wonderful time chatting about topics including:
  • Overcoming Challenges: How high school theater helped manage my childhood stutter and build a foundation for public speaking.
  • The Human Element: Why AI will never replace educators, but instead give teachers more time to connect with and inspire their students.
  • Shifting AI Perspectives: Moving past initial fears of cheating to focus on getting AI into the hands of students for personalized learning.
  • "Wrestle, Wrap, Reflect": A practical framework inspired by an MIT study to help students use AI as a catalyst for critical thinking rather than a cognitive crutch.
  • The E-Bike Analogy: A comparison illustrating why throwing screens out of the classroom robs students of valuable learning scaffolds.
  • EduGems.ai: An overview of my newly launched platform with free, ready-to-use Gemini Gems for educators.
  • The Power of Sharing: The importance of releasing educational resources under Creative Commons to help the entire teaching community grow.

Take a look below to listen to the episode, access the resources that I shared in the episode, and explore more about the podcast.

Friday, April 3, 2026

Recorded Webinar - Making Graphic Novels with NotebookLM

I recently recorded a webinar about creating educational graphic novels with NotebookLM.

A while back I came up with a workflow to use Gemini and NotebookLM to generate graphic novels, which I shared on my blog

People have been loving this project and creating so many amazing things to help with teaching and learning in all subjects and grade levels.

To help more people try this out I did a deep-dive hands-on session where we covered the following:
  • 🗯️ Graphic Novel Overview
  • 📚 Loads of Pre-Made Examples
  • 🛠️ How to Create a Graphic Novel
  • 💡 Choose a Topic
  • 🎨 Choose an Art Style
  • 📄 Create the Script
  • ✍️ Review and Edit the Script
  • 📓 Create a Notebook
  • 📖 Generate the Graphic Novel
  • ✂️ Edit the Graphic Novel
  • 💾 Download and Share the Graphic Novel
To learn all about creating educational graphich novels with NotebookLM, see below to watch my recorded 1.5-hour webinar and to access the resources from the session.

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Upcoming Webinar: AI Games, Interviews and Activities for Student Learning

I am excited to be presenting a free webinar about using AI for educational games, interviews and activities for student learning

AI can be the perfect interactive partner for learning activities and games. These can be done with any grade level and any subject, either as whole-class activities where the teacher manages the AI but the students still participate, or with students individually interacting with the AI for their own learning experiences.

In this session we will try out these AI activities live and hands-on as we explore:
  • 🎙️ AI interviews
  • ⚖️ AI debates
  • 🔠 "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories
  • ✍️ Co-writing activities
  • 🤔 Games including 20 Questions, 2 Truths and a Lie, Classroom Taboo, the Emoji Definition Game

Details for this training:
  • 🎲 AI Games, Interviews and Activities for Student Learning
  • 🗓️ Tuesday, April 21st, 2026
  • ⏰ 3pm ET / 2pm CT / 1pm MT / Noon PT
  • ▶️ The webinar will be live-streamed and also recorded for those who can't attend live
  • ✅ Register at bit.ly/apr21games or in this Google Form

Feel free to share with others and I hope you will join me for this exciting webinar! Come play and learn!

12 New EduGems from March 2026

EduGems is my website where I share my favorite Gemini Gems for schools.

You can access, use, and copy any of the Gems at edugems.ai where I currently have 121 Gems!

Each month I add new Gems to the site. See below for links to the 12 new Gems I added during the month of March 2026, along with a short description for each.

Feel free to share with others and please consider submitting your own Gems to the site.

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Googley Poetry Projects and Tools

April is the time of year
For kids to write a poem.
There's loads of fun activities
Here for you to show 'em.

Google tools can be used
To make the perfect rhyme,
With templates, tools, and writing prompts
To save your students time.

Draggable Drawings, random Sheets,
And Google Docs highlighting
Will give your students inspiration
For their creative writing.

So look below to find out more,
Then get your students on it,
Writing their ode, haiku, free verse,
Their ballad or their sonnet.

Saturday, March 21, 2026

EdTech Links - Week of 3-16-26

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:
🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links
📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup
🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Recorded Webinar - NotebookLM for Schools

I recently recorded a webinar about NotebookLM for schools.

If you are not familiar with NotebookLM, it is Google's free AI-powered tool where you can load your own trusted sources and then generate engaging resources that are grounded in your vetted content.

In this deep-dive hands-on session we covered the following topics:
  • 🗃️ Add sources to Notebooks including your own Google Docs, Slides, PDFs, websites, videos and more
  • 💬 Explore how to "chat" with your sources to find specific answers and summarize key concepts
  • 🔊 Use the powerful Studio tools to instantly generate Audio and Video Overviews, slide decks, infographics, mind maps, data tables, flashcards, quizzes, and reports
  • 💡 Discover practical and creative ways to use NotebookLM for teaching and learning
To learn all about using NotebookLM in schools, see below to watch my recorded 1.5-hour webinar and to access the resources from the session.