Control Alt Achieve: My HICE26 Sessions

I am excited to be presenting at the 2026 HICE Conference right here in northeast Ohio on June 2nd and 3rd.

This is the conference that we put on through my work at SPARCC and the Stark County ESC. It is a free, in-person event with over 130 sessions covering all areas of education, teaching, learning, technology, and more.

I even created a Gemini Gem to help you select the best sessions to match your interests!

If you are anywhere near the area, I encourage you to join us for this amazing conference! Here are the key details:

💡 High Impact Conference for Educators
📅 June 2-3, 2026
🏫 Lake Middle High School
📍 709 Market Ave SW, Uniontown, OH 44632
🔗 Website - https://bit.ly/summerhice
🎟️ Register for free - Google Form

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at HICE26, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!

🧔 My Sessions

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

8:30am - 💎 Your AI Treasure Chest: Creating & Sharing Gemini Gems
9:30am - 📓 NotebookLM for Schools: Your Grounded Google AI Super Tool
10:30am - 🎲 AI Games, Interviews and Activities for Student Learning
12:30pm - 🗯️ From Concept to Comic: Making Graphic Novels with Gemini and NotebookLM
1:30pm - 🚫 Did a Robot Write this Report? Managing AI Cheating
2:30pm - ✨ The "Gem in AI" - Google Gemini for Schools

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

9:30am - 🤖 The Power of Personalized Learning: Custom AI Chatbots for Students
10:30am - 💯 The Future of Feedback - Guided Grading with AI
12:30pm - 🧑‍💻 Good Vibes: AI for Vibe Coding Activities, Games & Tools
1:30pm - 💡 Wrestle-Rap-Reflect: AI-integrated Learning
2:30pm - 🧒 Gemini and NotebookLM for Students

📅 Tuesday, June 2, 2026

💎 Your AI Treasure Chest: Creating & Sharing Gemini Gems

Time: 8:30am
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: http://bit.ly/curts-gems
Description: Gems are reusable, custom prompts that save your best AI workflows for instant access, and they are a game-changer for educators! In this deep-dive session we'll start by using Google's pre-made Gems (like Brainstormer and Storybook Creator), then learn to create your own, with tips for effective prompting and uploading reference files. We'll also cover how to share your Gems with colleagues and how schools can build a shared, high-quality Gem repository for staff and students. To see their full potential, we will tour my "EduGems" website and demonstrate powerful, ready-to-use prompts for lesson hooks, rubric generation, DOK analysis, and even creating AI-powered classroom games.

📓 NotebookLM for Schools: Your Grounded Google AI Super Tool

Time: 9:30am
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: http://bit.ly/curts-notebook
Description: Generative AI is a game-changer, but sometimes you need answers based strictly on the facts you trust. NotebookLM is different because it is "grounded" in the specific content you provide, helping to reduce hallucinations and inaccuracies. In this deep-dive session, we will learn how to create notebooks using your own Google Docs, Slides, PDFs, websites, videos and more. We will explore how to "chat" with your sources to find specific answers and summarize key concepts, and then 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.

🎲 AI Games, Interviews and Activities for Student Learning

Time: 10:30am
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: http://bit.ly/curts-aigames
Description: AI can be the perfect interactive partner for learning activities and games. These can be done with any grade level or 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, and games including 20 Questions, 2 Truths and a Lie, Classroom Taboo, the Emoji Definition Game, and more. Come play and learn!

🗯️ From Concept to Comic: Making Graphic Novels with Gemini and NotebookLM

Time: 12:30pm
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: https://bit.ly/curts-graphic
Description: Graphic novels can be a great way to engage students in content. In this hands-on session, we will explore a creative workflow using Gemini and NotebookLM to turn simple ideas into professional-looking graphic novels. Attendees will view finished examples and walk through the entire process: brainstorming topics, selecting art styles, and generating formatted scripts using a custom Gemini Gem. We will also cover how to write scripts manually for staff and students who want total creative control. Finally, we’ll use NotebookLM to generate and share downloadable PDF versions of our creations.

🚫 Did a Robot Write this Report? Managing AI Cheating

Time: 1:30pm
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: https://bit.ly/curts-aicheat
Description: Although AI can help support students in their learning and work, unfortunately it can also be misused for cheating purposes. In this session we will explore ways to address academic integrity concerns in the age of AI. This will include creating student AI guidelines, adjustments to make assignments more AI-resistant, tools to monitor the use of AI and see what work students have done themselves, and educating students on the proper use of AI.

✨ The "Gem in AI" - Google Gemini for Schools

Time: 2:30pm
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: https://bit.ly/curts-gemini
Description: Discover Google’s powerful, free generative AI tool and how it can assist educators and students. In this session we will do a hands-on deep dive in Gemini including prompting, educational uses, fact checking, deep research, guided learning, the canvas tool (for slideshows, coding, and more), custom Gems, Gemini apps, image and audio generation, Gemini tools (in Classroom, NotebookLM, and other Google tools), data privacy features, and more.

📅 Wednesday, June 3, 2026

🤖 The Power of Personalized Learning: Custom AI Chatbots for Students

Time: 9:30am
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: https://bit.ly/curts-chatbots
Description: AI chatbots are a powerful way to provide safe, monitored, personalized learning experiences for students. Chatbots can be used for a wide range of engaging activities such as interviewing a historical figure, discussing a book, learning about a career, assessing understanding, providing tutoring, or diving into any topic. With AI these chatbots adjust to each student individually to meet their specific needs and interests. In this session we will explore free tools such as Gemini Gems, SchoolAI, Brisk, MagicSchoolAI and more, where you can choose from a wide range of pre-made chatbots or easily create your own.

💯 The Future of Feedback - Guided Grading with AI

Time: 10:30am
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: https://bit.ly/curts-aigrading
Description: One of the biggest challenges in education is the time required to provide detailed feedback on student work. Thankfully we now have powerful AI tools that can generate personalized feedback for student work based on the guidelines, rubrics, and style we suggest. This can include feedback on student writing from short answers to full essays, as well as feedback on spoken student explanations. In this session we will explore AI grading and feedback tools such as Class Companion, Snorkl, EnlightenAI, Brisk Teaching, MagicSchool AI and more.

🧑‍💻 Good Vibes: AI for Vibe Coding Games, Activities & Tools

Time: 12:30pm
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: https://bit.ly/curts-aicode
Description: Don't know Python from Perl? Is HTML all IDK to you? Do you think JavaScript is the handwriting on your Starbucks cup? Even if you have never written a line of code in your life, you can with AI! In this session we will see how to use tools such as Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude to create code that you can use in Google Docs, Sheets, and Sites for learning games, simulations, activities, supports, time-savers, productivity helpers, and more.

💡 Wrestle-Rap-Reflect: AI-integrated Learning

Time: 1:30pm
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: https://bit.ly/curts-aibrain
Description: AI can enhance student learning, but only if used correctly. The Wrestle-Rap-Reflect framework supports this by ensuring that students first wrestle with the content independently of AI, and then rap with the AI to enhance and extend their learning, and finally reflect on their use of AI to thoughtfully incorporate it. In this session we will explore how to apply this framework to your existing lessons and content to integrate AI in a way that is responsible, meaningful, and transformative to student learning.

🧒 Gemini and NotebookLM for Students

Time: 2:30pm
Location: Room 124-125
Session Agenda: http://bit.ly/curts-studentai
Description: Google's AI tools are no longer just for teachers. This session focuses on how K-12 students can now leverage Gemini and NotebookLM to support and deepen their own learning. We will demonstrate the specific features in Gemini designed for students, including Guided Learning, Quizzes, and Flashcards, and explain how the student experience is managed and protected. We will then dive into NotebookLM, seeing how students can turn their course materials into audio/video overviews, mind maps, and custom study guides. We will also cover how educators can create and share custom Gems and Notebooks to scaffold learning for students. To ensure a safe and effective rollout, this session also provides resources for developing school-wide AI guidelines and teaching responsible AI use.