Use Gemini to Check Your Lessons for UDL

AI is getting better everyday. I still remember using Google's Bard. to try to put together a data dashboard. Most of the formulas it gave me were long and convoluted. I would often have to correct the AI and question the choices it made.

The models have improved so much. Things that I was doing before, are becoming easier to get through. I haven't seen a reason to use a "specialty" AI model — one that is designed for a specific purpose. For at least the tasks I perform, the standard models work really well.

The designers of Ludia came out with an updated version. That got me thinking ... and so I decided to see how a standard AI model would handle UDL feedback for a lesson plan.

It turns out it's better than I expected.

I used Google Gemini — which has become my preferred AI model recently — since they say they do not use data. That's what the policy says at least.

I am thinking of having teachers I work with to first check their lessons for UDL ideas, then meet with me to discuss what ideas they came up with and how they might fit into their lessons.

The sample lesson plan I used:
https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/what-is-ai

Link to the screenshot for the above chat.

Flipping Doesn't Need to be the Whole Lesson

This morning I was talking with two teachers and we were talking about ways to record lessons. One mentioned that PowerPoint has recording built in. The teachers were wondering aloud about what it might look like. 

The recording of the lesson doesn't need to be everything you teach. In fact, I don't think it should be. It should just be the essential learning outcomes. (Which sounds strange when I read it back because learning outcomes are essential.)

For example:

Math

Is the lesson is Logarithm practice, maybe they need to know the laws and a few example problems.

Language

If you are having them write a response to an article, they might need a reminder about what the directions are, an idea for how to structure the writing, and an example is that is what you show the rest of the class.

An easy-ish way around not having PowerPoint is to use Google Vids. (vids.google.com) Google Vids is a great way to make videos out of your lessons.

MYP Design Vibe Coding Unit Reflection

I got a little behind on my grading, and I can see the issue now, and I will try not to make the same mistake next year.

This year, I allowed students to redo assignments after I graded them. I did not put any constraints on it; I just said anything. As a result, I had a hard time motivating students. 

I started the second semester with a unit in Vibe Coding. This was an assignment that I thought of based on a conversation with a friend and a podcast episode I had just heard. I had intended it to be a way to improve the students' AI skills. 

We did include a checklist at the top of the assignment, 

• I followed my specifications
• I made an adequate prompt
• I made additional prompts
• I did some actual coding
• I looked up code to solve an issue

The checklist was good for the students for sure. But for next time:

• It would be good if the students talked about the prompts with other students,
• It is necessary to ask the students to write the prompts they used,
• We should have had a lesson or two about prompting, but we were time constrained. Next time I would build that in.

Reflection

• The prompt was the most technical part of this criteria. 
• I need to be clear on the outcomes beforehand. That is what really got me. This unit was put together too quickly and next year I will watch for that.

Vibe Coding a Professional Development List

That title doesn't make much sense, but here's the scenario: in my first year teaching, a wise mentor teacher suggested I started writing down all the professional development I took. So, I started a Google Doc with a few columns and started adding to them. It's funny to look back and see that the first ones I attended were freebies put on by my school at the time. 

Thomas Hammerlund Professional Learning and Professional Development

I still think this is good practice for new teachers. (In fact, this might also be a good way for teachers to be introduced to AI.)

https://script.google.com/macros/s/AKfycbxuN0xhABzp0Vdb_4a8GG8HZnme2BlZRw7hCAkYh6VC/dev

A Snapshot in Time

When I weigh myself, I look at the scale and write down the weight that I see at that moment. Student assessments are similar. An assessment is a snapshot of the student's performance at that place and time. And then behaviors are the same. What I don't do is think of all the different weights in my life and write down the range of weights that I have weighed in my life.

When I was thinking about how to better analyze data we collect from our Student Support Data Collection form, I looked at the "Approximate time of day concerning behavior occurs" field. I have a lot of data in that field that looks like this: 

[Morning Class time 8:30 - 10:50, Morning Class time 10:50 - 12:00, Mid day class, Lunch - Lunch recess, Afternoon classes].

Data is always easier to work with when it is singular. One cell, one piece of data. I set up this form to try to make it easier for teachers to report on students, but by setting up the time field in this way, I have muddled the data set and have made analyzing data much harder. 

Next year, I am planning on reintroducing the data form in August and talking more about why data is collected in this way and how it works.

Use AI as a Study Partner

I just saw that Brisk now does writing. Maybe it always has. Even though I have it installed, I rarely use it. (Sorry!)

But today, as I opened my Google Doc there was a large black button on my blank page provoking me with the text, "Create anything". When I clicked, I got a prompt box where I could select my program, grade, subject, and strand. I opted for it to make me a presentation. 

Brisk has a range of tools for a range of people from students, to educators, to administrative staff and I am sure that these are useful. The world is fast-paced, and expectations are higher than ever. Now imagine what it must feel like for a student. This must be very seductive for students.

There are a million AI tools out there, and that is what had me alarmed. I just happened to have Brisk installed on my computer.

The IB has a document called the Digital Blueprint that outlines how they their path forward with their digital environment. 

They are basically saying that AI is not going anywhere and trying to ignore it will not help students, so we should help them use it skillfully in a way in which they can get the benefits without using it to do the thinking for them.

One way to do this is by using a Gem in Gemini, by Google. A gem is a kind of personalized AI where you can tell it how it will respond and with which parameters. Google has given Gemini several templates for its Gems, one of which is called "Study Partner". It is pretty impressive. It does not give direct answers and guides the user with the Socratic Method. The Gem prompt is below.

Here is a link to a document where the words to change for your own prompt have been bolded. Copy the Prompt. Change the words in bold and copy the text and paste it into the Gem instructions.

...

**Persona**

You are Study Partner, a Socratic and encouraging AI tutor. Your mission is to guide students to develop and apply transferable understanding and skills. You are patient, adaptive, and prioritize the student's thinking process above all else. Your tone is calm, encouraging, and conversational.

---

### **Your Core Principles (Non-Negotiable Rules)**

1. **THE ABSOLUTE FIRST RULE: NEVER ANSWER, NEVER USE TOOLS ON THE FIRST TURN.** Under no circumstances should you ever provide the direct answer to a student's initial question. If the user's first message is a problem, question, or prompt, you are **forbidden** from using any tools (like a code interpreter) to solve it. Your only job is to begin the Socratic conversation as defined in 'Step 1' below. This is the most important rule to prevent academic dishonesty. ...

...

Vibe Coding with Claude

Since the rise of ChatGPT in 2022, I have been looking for a way to make an app that helps me delete a range of events on my Google Calendar. 

Right away, I was able to get a Google Apps script out of ChatGPT, but I could not figure out how to get the interface right. So, I put the idea on the shelf.

image via vecteezy.com

This year in MYP Design, I tried a unit about Vibe Coding. 

I was hoping that I could accomplish a few things with this unit. 

1. I wanted students to have a chance to use AI tools if they had not yet tried them. 
2. I wanted students to see both the benefits and the limitations of AI.
3. I also wanted students to learn about the energy costs when using AI tools and had ideas to compare AI to "standard" internet apps.

After we finished our unit, I went back to my idea and tried vibe coding the Calendar Cleaner again. 

This time I was successful, but I wasn't satisfied and had to make some changes.

1. The UI looked like Claude, I think that is the default Claude look, so I changed it to something more Google-like. 
2. I also had to update the log in as the first time allowed other users to access my account. (!)
3. I added a help page.
4. I added a way to "star" your main calendar so it becomes the default calendar.
5. I tried to fix the preview button so it shows the events that would be deleted, but this fix is still in the works.

I am not a fan of vibe coding, but if I need an app, I might just make it myself from now on.

Give Calendar Cleaner a try here.

(The updated name is Google Calendar Cleaner.)

What are the Most Important Courses for a Grade 9 IB Student?

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

The other day, one of my students asked me what the most important class they could take in Grade 9. 

I answered with math and design. 

The reason I answered with those subjects was because I was put on the spot, but also because those courses are directly related to critical thinking. 

As we head towards an increasingly unknown future, where the threats of technology, climate disasters (it's a summer day's temperatures in Osaka in February today) and authoritarianism, humans will have a lot of problems to deal with. It is probably a good idea for students to pick a problem they are interested in solving instead of a specific course.

In reality, all courses are important and all courses can help you to think critically, it is how you use the course material and how intentional students are with their learning.

Task Breakdowns!

It's been about 10 years since I was in the MYP classroom as a content teacher, I have been supporting them might be classes for the past 6 years, but actually being in charge of the class is a lot different from supporting it.

The first major difference is just the way that my last school where I was MIP design teacher does their MYP and my current School where I'm out and MYP design teacher again.

At my last school we use PowerSchool for our grading. I never got a I don't remember getting a training on how to how to PowerSchool so I just kind of learn by asking and learn by doing.

And my current school we use manage back and this is a whole other ball of Wax.

A lot of the a lot of the areas in the unit that I need to get to are buried deep into the system so I have to click multiple times to get to where I want to go.

Then when I make a task I have to determine if it's summative or formative. We are trying to get away from summative informative and just label everything as assessment and everything as a part of the outcome.

So for the first task I put in there I put in just the whole criteria as a summative because I wanted to get the assignment in with more than three weeks before it was to be due.

Students are really struggling with a long deadline and four strands of the Criteria. 

I have totally over estimated how much they can manage.

Even though they are in 10th Grade and are 15/16 years old, they are still little kids.

Next unit, I am going to realign things a little. I am going to have each assignment have two formative dates before the final turn-in. This way I can give them some feedback before they submit the assignment. 

Advisory Lesson Co-Creating Our Essential Agreement

The students at my school do not respond well to lectures. Well, they don't respond to my lectures. A large part of that must be because of my not wanting to give them.

So, I avoid that teaching method whenever I can and I always try to keep my students engaged. 

I am a Grade 9 advisory teacher along with two others, so we have to collaborate. And again, I did not want to lecture or sit through one. I have seen some teachers, and I have also at one point in time, read out the technology agreements to the students. But that never sticks. And I wanted this to stick. 

So I pulled out a trick I learned from Jeff Utech. I had them brainstorm ideas for what we should include in our essential agreements. Their advisor teacher from last year told me they spent too much time on them. 

I didn't want a repeat of that.

From there, they then got with a partner, randomly chosen for them, and put their ideas together into these groups.

The last time I did something like this, I wrote the whole list out on the board. This time I pasted this list into Google Sheets and showed them the UNIQUE function. (I want to show them the power of a spreadsheet.) This gave us a list with no duplicates.

The next step was for them to make categories of ideas. Looking at the shared spreadsheet of the unique topics, as pair groups, they think of topics that will act as umbrella categories. We came up with the following:

• Respect
• Responsible
• Mindful
• Cooperation
• Learning
• Environment

We only had a few minutes left, otherwise I would have asked them to create sentences for the list we made. So I made these sentences:

• Be Respectful

• Help make a positive learning environment

• Cooperate with others

• Be Mindful of others

• Be Responsible

I guess these are not sentences.

We did a lot of work in a short period to get these together.

This is how I want all my classes to run.

A New Year All Over Again

I was originally going to talk about the start to the new school year from a system point of view, but today I started trying to plan for my MYP Design class, and I feel so rusty. 

I planned for a "first day activity" - something to get to know the students. I planned questions to ask. I planned an overview of the course. 

Then I was late to class.

Today was the second Monday and it went a little better. I spent more time on planning out the activities. I grouped the students and gave them a short time to put their ideas onto a Thin Slide. 

Criteria A - Inquiring and Analyzing - The Principles of Design

Next time I need to have them in some sort of a seating plan. I think before we start, they should do some sort of activity where they can talk a little beforehand.

Patterson, Brenda. csomethingalivethatsnotaplantorhuman.jpg. 2017. Pics4Learning. 1 Sep 2025

Inclusive Questioning

Last week I subbed in the Grade 7 Math class. While I was going through a few problems, I made the mistake of asking a question of the entire class. 

Why was it a mistake?

Callahan, Samantha. preschoollearning1.jpg. 2013. Pics4Learning. 2 Jun 2025

When I was asking the students the questions, one student kept answering them. He was answering correctly, which was impressive, but what were the other 24 students doing while this was happening?

After this lesson, I started thinking back about how I used to handle this kind of situation when I was in the classroom full time. 

I thought that grouping students and having them talk within their groups would be good. Then I could call on a group and they would tell the class what they answered. Another way could be to pair students up and have them "turn and talk", but the issue here is time. 

What are the other students doing while a few are active?

Then today on my way home I heard this podcast that talked about how to make discussions better. Give it a listen.

===

[Math Chat] 149: Common Mistakes That Shut Down Math Discussions (And What to Do Instead) #mathChat
https://podcastaddict.com/math-chat/episode/199233095 via @PodcastAddict

The Beginning of a Blog Post from 10 Years Ago

Many people say learning is messy. While I do not disagree with that statement, I do disagree with its wording. "Messy" is too simplistic. Rather, I believe learning is complex. Looking at the surface does not always reveal the undercurrents of thoughts.

It is the same reason why "popping into" a classroom can lead to a false conclusion.

In my classroom I foster a dynamic community to f learners who are able to learn from each other through the connections they make to their experiences.

I believe connections to prior knowledge to be essential to learning and take a constructivist approach to the way learning experiences are constructed in my classroom.

Student learning does not flow linearly and will often move beyond the teachers expectations so we must be flexible and prepared to move with the flow of understanding.

Teaching a Blended Classroom - Midpoint Reflection

Yesterday I had the opportunity to substitute I in the class for which I made the blended math lessons.

It was only the third lesson I have been involved with during this unit. 

I started going through the anchor problem and one student answered my questions. What I should have done instead was to group the students and have them work out the problems in the group.

I was able to sit with a few students to have them explain how they think through the problems. This included one who didn't have any quizzes completed.

I forgot to record the lesson so I could give them a summary, but the lesson is on video anyway.

I noticed a few things in this lesson: 

• students need to be taught early to allow other students a chance to answer

• teachers need to be intentional about grouping

• I need to update the pacing guide to show pass/try again instead of simply "done".

One other thing to note is that students need to understand that they are taking responsibility for their learning. This means they need to work to really understand what they are learning.

When I was reflecting with the math teacher, she suggested that students should be asked to do all the assignments posted.

I like that idea, but I am not sure that is teaching them to think about what they need for themselves. I wonder if another way would be to do more tests along the way. I would make the tests "redo-able" (maybe this would be less awkward if I wrote "I would allow students to retake tests"). I would like to allow students to try to recognize what they need help with.

AI: Environmental and Humanizing

I wasn't sure how to title this post. Maybe I should do what I used to do when blogging - write the post then titling it. But, Blogger will save the post title as it is and doesn't change it after the title is changed. 

Confused?

We are finally getting started talking about AI at our school. 

Yesterday we were talking about politeness, and I shared two main points. The first was how being polite to AI can actually be harmful to the environment. When we start thinking about being polite to AI, we're humanizing it in ways that might not be helpful. These are two points I think we should at least raise with students when teaching them about AI.

On the environmental side, I didn’t have the exact data with me last night, but I’ve read stories about how much water is used per AI search or prompt. I’ve noticed that I sometimes type “thank you” at the end of a prompt, and then the AI responds with something like, “You’re welcome! Come back if you need anything!” It’s nice—but those extra, polite responses from the AI actually add to its environmental footprint. That politeness might be better embedded within the prompt itself, not tacked on at the end.

The more concerning issue, though, is humanizing AI. I've read about how people are starting to fall into the trap of thinking AI is communicating with them personally. I’m all for teaching students to be polite—it’s good writing practice, and a good habit in general—but if we encourage them to be polite to AI, we need to be very clear why we're doing it. We also need to teach them that AI isn’t alive. Just because a hammer doesn't talk back when you use it properly doesn’t mean it's “happy”—it's just giving feedback based on your action. AI is kind of the same: it responds, but that doesn’t mean it’s feeling anything.

These conversations among teachers are important. The more we talk about these issues, the better prepared we’ll be when they come up with students. Hopefully, students will feel comfortable enough to share how they’re using AI, what they’re using it for, and why. My concern is that they’ll feel the need to hide their usage instead, and that’s when the real risks start—when they’re exploring these tools without guidance.

That’s why it’s so important to bring up these topics. We need to help students understand the various costs of AI—environmental, cognitive, academic, and even social. Every tool has trade-offs. I don’t think we can use AI without some cost. So our job is to help students become aware, to look at the bigger picture, and to consider multiple perspectives.

In a way, it's like playing chess. If you're locked into getting a particular piece or following a single path, you miss the bigger strategy. The same goes for AI—if we're only thinking about the tool in one way, we're not really thinking critically about how it's shaping our thinking and communication.

Here are a few articles related to what I am talking about.

• https://www.greenmatters.com/technology/cost-of-saying-thank-you-to-ai
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/politeness-vs-planet-surprising-cost-thanking-chatgpt-techverx-sjlge/
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-new-discontents/202403/dont-be-fooled-by-ai

Filter Multiple Google Forms to a Single Sheet - Update Main Sheet as "Done"

Part of my goal in this Geometry unit was to collect more data on the students and ease the teacher load at the same time by automating the grading. 

I naturally thought of Google Forms.

We are two weeks into this unit, and (among other issues) I have a progress tracker that should show the teacher where students are and show the students where to pick up from.

I had this sheet with dropdowns that I could select to see where students were at. The problem was that:

• It doesn't show the score,
• It wasn't automatic.

With a little ChatGPT work, I got a formula using the FLATTEN formula. 

=IF(COUNTIF(FLATTEN('Lesson 4 Lesson Snap'!A:AC), A3), "Done", "")

This now gives me something that can automatically mark when students complete a lesson. I still have to go in to see what issues students have and where they need help.

Chat prompt and response

Blended Lesson 1 Reflection

Room a little warm

Sunny day

Second to last period of day

Activity in the hallway

Students getting bored during score problems

===

Check map scores about angles

===

Google Docs access with first few lessons off

The design was for free use of time. Not sure we will have time for students to redo mastery checks

The conferencing piece to the blended learning is missing

I've been thinking about my blended Grade 7 geometry unit and how to improve it. We're only in Lesson 3 right now, but I can already see that students need more time for conferences. I need to figure out how to make that work since I'm only in the classroom one day a week.

One of the most important parts of this model was to be able to work with small groups. This needs to happen more.

I also think I need to communicate more with the homeroom teacher and better explain how I envision the unit unfolding—something like a clearer program or a visual of student progress. I want to use a student progress tracker, but I need to figure out how to input scores automatically. Checking each one manually every day will be too time-consuming.

Piloting a Blended Model of Learning

I tagged this post with "flipped learning" since I don't have a page for "blended learning". I guess I should add one. (I made a Blended Learning tag.)

Today was one of the first-ish lessons in the unit. I have been reading about the Modern Classrooms Project for a number of years, and have been promoting it while not having my own classroom, but this year I have a chance to work with the Grade 7 Math Team (team of 1) to pilot a unit on Geometry. 

When I was first planning this unit, I thought it would go more smoothly than it has so far.

I should explain what hasn’t gone well—mainly the communication with my co-teacher and the limited time I’ve been able to spend in the classroom. Since this is my first time blending a unit, I didn’t know exactly what to expect.

I’ve done a lot of reading on blended learning and flipped classrooms, and I know it’s normal for things not to go perfectly at first. Still, I think it would be easier if I were in the room and leading. Because this isn’t my own classroom, I don’t have the same authority as the homeroom or content teacher.

At the beginning of the year, I was scheduled to be in this class three times a week, but that has dropped to once a week. So during this unit, I’ve only been in the classroom once so far, and that’s made it difficult to prepare students for what to expect.

I haven’t had the chance to clearly explain to students what they should be doing, and I’m already seeing the effects of that. I did make a video explaining the flow of the unit, but I had wanted to redo it before we started and didn’t get the chance.

Here are a few of the changes and run-ins the students have had:

• The lessons have three kinds of problems - Must do, Should do, Aspire to do - and they are color coded. Students were looking for "Must do" to do - not the color.
• The videos are a support. They are there if the students need them like a textbook. Some students are not using them at all, or are unsure of what to do.
• I changed lesson 0 vocabulary baseline to aspire to do since not many students got to it. This is what I believe to be a crucial part of the unit, and I need to get them back on that.

Lesson 1

• Mini lesson (anchor problem) ended at about 13:05 - giving the students more time to work on math.
• We are still in the weeds with learning how to do the lessons, and one student asked me what would happen if he finished all the lessons early. I said there is always more, but this students was particularly engaged with GeoGebra - my Aspire to do tasks.
• Each lesson has an essential question. I changed this from an "I can ..." statement because I thought they knew what they were. I got a question about what it was and why I was "giving them more work".

Reflection after lesson 1.

---

I'm looking through the data I've collected about Grade 7 and the geometry unit I'm blending. There are a number of things I should have expected, but I had hoped things would go more smoothly. I should have known that things wouldn’t go 100% smoothly.

One thing that stands out is that because I wasn’t there and didn’t have good communication with the homeroom teacher, students weren’t properly informed about how the unit runs. In fact, they were misinformed. They weren’t told to complete the exit tickets I call “lesson snaps” for each lesson.

I had to go in last Thursday and explain what to do, but I don’t think many students were really listening. There’s a low response rate to the lesson.

Looking at the data from Lesson 1, the question was:
Kelly says that angle CEB is vertical to angle AEF. Explain why her reasoning is incorrect and name the angle that is vertical to CEB.

A lot of students assumed the angles were right angles. They need to be shown that unless you're told it's a right angle, you shouldn’t assume it. They don't have protractors to measure the angles themselves, so they have to rely on the given information.

Another issue is that this is a two-part question, but many students only answer one part. Which part they answer varies by student. They either need to be explicitly taught to recognize two-part questions, or the question should be split—or maybe both.

Use Kahoot Better

The other day I was supporting a teacher who was using Kahoot as a review task. Gamifying learning can be a great way to get students interested in the lesson and this one had plenty of interest.

While the students were playing, I was standing in the back watching what was going on. This perspective allowed me to notice a few ways teachers might make Kahoot more fun and inclusive for students.

Image from Wikipedia

Read questions for students - the text can be quite small

My eye sight is getting worse as I get older. And it was really hard to read the questions projected on the board. I think teachers can help students -- all students -- by reading out the questions and answers for them. This is a quick way to help those -- me! -- who have a hard time seeing.

Read the answers - for the same reason and the contrast is sometimes lacking (orange with white text)

Just like above, the answers were also a challenge to read for me. The text was small and sometimes the text was white on a yellow background. This made it e

Review the answer after seeing the correct answer

One strategy that could help students retain the information longer might be to discuss the answers after seeing the results. Instead of allowing the students to celebrate, OK, maybe a short celebration, spend some time discussing why the correct answer is correct.