This week I was tasked with finding five new digital sources and documenting my
experience using these tools. I consider myself to be pretty well rounded when it comes to technology, but I’d also be the first to admit that I don’t know everything, and I get frustrated with complex digital resources quite easily. That said, each of the digital resources I tried out was new to me in some way. With some, I was successful, and with others, I’ve added them to my “do not ever use again” list.
1.
It felt appropriate to introduce the site I’m using to create my portfolio, as it’s not
something I’ve used since I was a senior in high school ten years ago. When deciding what platform to use for my portfolio, I started with Google Sites, but I was disappointed by its limitations. So, I reached out to my classmates to see what they were using, and every single person that responded was using Wix. Curious, I decided to give it a shot. I logged into my account, surprised it still existed and clicked to create a new site.
Although I consider myself a technology-obsessed 20-something, I was immediately
overwhelmed by all the options. I knew I wanted to add a blog, so I did that, and I also clicked a box to add a portfolio. Then, I was taken to an AI generator that would create a template for my site. I thought this was amazing at first... until I couldn’t figure out how to add or remove anything. At that point, I just wanted a blank slate. I wanted to click somewhere to add a text box or image and be done with it, but instead, it was all too complicated.
When I tried to add a blog post, I finally realized that I had to leave the site editor and go back to the main dashboard to make any changes. I wanted to change the font to meet APA guidelines, and I’m embarrassed to admit that I still haven’t figured it out. Initially, I thought I could use Wix to transition my current staff hub for my afterschool program into a site that offers more than Google Sites does. After trying it out for my ePortfolio, though, I think I’ll stick with what’s simple for now. While I have no plans to quit trying, this experience with Wix has been humbling and is a great reminder to myself of what my seasoned staff members might be feeling when I introduce an AI tool to them, and they’re looking at a foreign language on their screens.
Last week, during a casual conversation with a colleague in the teacher's lounge, I was
introduced to a tool called Magic School AI. This tool, much like ChatGPT, is designed
specifically for educators, making it more relevant to the work I do as an afterschool program coordinator. Intrigued by the concept, I quickly signed up for a free account, providing information about my role, the grade levels I serve, and the content we provide. Upon logging in, I was greeted by a dashboard filled with opportunities and decided to try the worksheet generator.
I opted to create a worksheet for one of our teacher's assistants, who will be teaching ESL to Kindergarten students. As someone with limited experience in lesson planning, I hoped Magic School AI could assist in generating appropriate materials for her. I input the topic I wanted to focus on: basic greetings like "hello" and "goodbye to students who
2.
only speak Spanish." Unfortunately, the generated worksheet was more suited to upper-grade students with stronger reading skills, which was disappointing given that the teacher would be working with Kindergarteners. Despite my repeated attempts, the output remained inappropriate for the younger grade level. This experience brought to light an important limitation of the tool and reinforced the reason I always tell my staff to read through and revise anything they ask AI to help them with. While AI can certainly help streamline lesson planning, it can also be problematic if the content generated is not appropriately tailored to the target audience. The worksheet would have been great for students in grades 3-5, but it would not be effective for Kindergarteners who only read basic words and thrive more with pictures.
Despite this setback, I believe that with more practice and exploration, Magic School AI has the potential to be a valuable asset for my work. The platform offers a variety of tools that can help build more efficient and engaging educational content, and I plan to continue experimenting with its features to better serve my students.
3.
From my experience with MagicSchoolAI, I found myself exploring a variety of AI tools
that could be useful for teachers. This led me to Conker, a tool designed to generate assessments. I started by creating a free trial account, and the first step was to enter a learning topic. I chose to create a pre-assessment for students learning about money value. Next, I was prompted to customize my quiz by selecting the grade level (kindergarten), the number of questions (10), the language (English), and the question type (multiple choice). I also had the option to add reading material, but I decided it wasn’t necessary for this assessment. After clicking "Generate," the tool created 10 questions that were both age-appropriate and aligned with the content. In my professional context, I also saw the benefit of being able to change the language of the assessment, which would be helpful for the Spanish-speaking students in my program. In my role, we are required to administer pre- and post-assessments for all academic
classes, which can be a burden on staff. However, Conker could ease this workload while still allowing us to assess students on the appropriate content. Although Conker has some limitations such as customization options that might not meet all specific needs. Its efficiency in generating assessments quickly and accurately makes it a useful tool in a busy teaching environment as well as for staff like mine who are already pre-occupied with school day tasks and work for me in the afterschool program on top of their regular work.
A major part of my afterschool program is striving toward increasing academic success,
and I found a tool called Prodigy that uses AI to tailor math problems to students' specific
abilities. Since I have a 3rd-5th grade tutoring class that will focus on math this semester, I
decided to test it out as an option for math enrichment. I started by creating a free account, where I was prompted to add students. I could either use an existing Google Classroom roster or add students manually. Since I don't use Google Classroom, I chose to add students manually. From there, I had the option to read an article with more information about the program or one that explained how the placement test works. The articles explained how Prodigy uses games of
varying difficulty to determine students’ starting level and assess what they need. While I didn’t go further into exploring the site, I forwarded it to my math tutor as a suggestion for her class. The only downside to using Prodigy for my program is that my students only have access to a limited
4.
number of devices. However, I wonder if I could have all students take the placement test and then group them based on their ability levels. This could be a good opportunity to encourage collaboration, which is essential for student success. Even if students have to work with a buddy, I think adding this system to our program would break up the monotony of their regular schedule and make their learning experience more tailored to their individual needs.
5.
ClassDojo is not completely new to me, as I’ve used it before when working in a middle
school for a whole-school reward system. In that system, teachers had the opportunity to award
students points that could be redeemed for items from the school store. In my current role, I am
exploring how I can use ClassDojo to streamline my student behavior system. I currently keep
track of behavior issues on a Google Spreadsheet, which I then transfer to a separate sheet to take to parents for their signatures. Ideally, I’d like to use a more efficient, all-in-one system where
parents can track behavior incidents as they occur, rather than waiting for periodic updates.
To set up this system, I started by creating a free teacher account. I was prompted to join
my school and choose a grade level, with the added option to import students directly from my
school’s directory, though I chose to input them manually for this test run. I added a fake student,
"John Doe," to explore the features. With this student, I could click on his icon and select from a
few positive behaviors, such as helping others and participating. I also had the option todesignate "skills that need work," and I added "off task" as an example. The simplicity of thesystem, where positive and negative behaviors are tracked with the click of a button, isappealing. However, upon reflection, I realized this might not be the best fit for my program,especially in cases of more serious behaviors. For example, I typically report behaviors thatrequire a referral, such as physical altercations or even more extreme actions like pulling the firealarm. ClassDojo’s focus on general behaviors seems better suited to managing more routineclassroom behaviors, rather than serious incidents.
That said, ClassDojo could still be a useful tool for reinforcing positive behaviors, particularly through its reward system, where students earn points that they can use at our club store.