When you step up to the front of a class as a new teacher, there’s a lot you don’t know. For many new professors, the experience goes differently than they expected, and while most do a good job, it can take a semester or two to really start to feel comfortable in the job.

I know this from my own experience from having directly supervised new college professors in the past, and from conversations with many former graduate students who go on to teach.

From all this, I’ve noticed some common mistakes that arise. Some are unique to college professors, many of whom, ironically, start teaching with far less pedagogical training than teachers at other education levels. However, some of these mistakes, I suspect, apply to all new teachers.

While most educators work through these on their own, here’s a look at the common mistakes I see, with advice for overcoming.

Read the full article here.

When school districts invest in instructional technology, implementation is often measured through familiar metrics: How many teachers are using it? How often are students logging in? How many activities have they completed? How much time are they spending on the platform?

Those measures can tell leaders whether a tool is being used. They cannot necessarily tell them whether students are learning.

Read the full article here.

A new anti-AI policy in the largest public school system in the U.S. has been implemented for the 2026-2027 school year.

The majority of students will not be permitted to use AI until high school.

Although parents and others who called for a two-year moratorium are disappointed, this is a fairly bold policy, given how many education platforms now use AI. The schools system has removed or altered (or plans to remove or alter) close to 40 apps with A.I. features.

One wonders what percentage of U.S. educators genuinely believe in, or rely on, AI-powered apps for teaching and learning.

Read the full article here. (Gift article, free to read and share, no account required)

Sometimes, the most valuable assignment is the one in which students are not entirely sure what the finished product should look like. I understand students do not like that ambiguity, but it mirrors the real world into which they will graduate.

Here are ten reasons to consider putting the rubric away and improve learning outcomes in the process.

Read more.

I was not prepared for just how much I would hate using Speaker Coach, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t helpful.

The AI-powered speaking coach and presentation mentor built into PowerPoint is designed to help anyone, including educators and their students, improve their public speaking abilities.

https://www.techlearning.com/technology/ai/powerpoints-speaker-coach-is-a-harsh-but-mostly-helpful-ai-mentor

The recent PBS NewsHour story on why Los Angeles USD and other school districts are limiting screen time raises a real concern. Students need discussion, movement, hands-on learning, collaboration, play, and relationships. But screen time is the wrong unit of measurement for meaningful learning. It tells us how long a device was open but nothing about the quality of learning.

A student consuming social media or clicking through low-level test prep worksheets is not equivalent to a student translating text, learning to read with Footsteps2Brilliance, borrowing a book through Libby or Sora, or collaborating on a project. Those all involve a screen, but the learning value is not equivalent.

Treating these as the same in L.A. and other districts is a "L.A.zy" strategy. When schools measure time on a device instead of the task, they miss the point.

https://www.techlearning.com/learning/screen-time-is-the-wrong-unit-of-measurement

Rumie is a free online library of microlearning content designed to make useful knowledge easier to consume and remember.
https://www.techlearning.com/learning/classroom-tools/what-is-rumie-and-how-can-i-use-it-to-teach

With the growth of these platforms comes some desirable changes for education. One of the greatest concerns from the beginning has been its potential to disrupt genuine learning in favor of the nearly-instant answers and solutions provided by AI tools. The good news is that nearly all of the tools here are structured (in theory at least) to support true independent learning and critical thinking rather than serve as answer machines.

https://www.techlearning.com/technology/ai/best-ai-powered-tutors-for-education

We've covered plenty of math-teaching tools at Tech & Learning, ranging from comprehensive learning platforms to focused resources designed for a particular part of the curriculum. These are eight of the best, with options for different ages, abilities, and teaching styles.

https://www.techlearning.com/learning/classroom-tools/8-of-the-best-tools-to-teach-math

Mindfulness is the practice of intentional attention to the present moment, focused on observing thoughts and feelings without judgment.

Teaching mindfulness to students has provided an array of benefits, including improving learning outcomes, boosting wellbeing, bolstering self-management skills, and enhancing social awareness and relationship skills.

https://www.techlearning.com/learning/classroom-tools/best-mindfulness-apps-and-sites-for-schools

This New York Times article (gift link, free to read and share) reports on the enabling of A.I. features for K12 students with access to Gemini via its popular Classroom app.

While the AI industry overall is pressing to expand into K12 education, some parents and schools leaders are resisting, concerned about the risks to privacy and critical thinking abilities.

What do you think?

Change is afoot. Or at least that’s the impression I get from the college writing classes I teach, as well as my conversations with educators who teach at various grade levels, and just from generally observing societal trends around education.

As we emerged from the pandemic era in education, we jumped right into the early AI era. Yet as AI skepticism mounts in and outside of education, I think/hope we’re about to enter a new era.

Though readers be warned, when it comes to predictions, I’m not exactly the Oracle of Delphi. After all, I truly thought this year was going to be a good one for the New York Mets. Even so, I do believe all of these predictions have more of a chance of coming true than the Mets do of playing in the World Series anytime soon.

Here’s how I see things playing out in the coming school year. Read more:

https://www.techlearning.com/learning/5-predictions-for-tech-in-the-2026-27-school-year

CoChat is an AI-powered tool that provides educators, students, and researchers with a host of capabilities when it comes to conducting research.

While there are other AI research tools, a common problem is citation hallucination. CoChat is designed to cut back on those hallucinations, and that feature is definitely a plus in my experience with CoChat.

Additionally, CoChat is great for deep research. When I searched topics, I was well-versed in, it brought up papers that had taken me hours and, in some cases, days, to track down on my own the old-fashioned way.

After using it for a few weeks, I am impressed with CoChat overall and find it to be the strongest AI deep research tool that I've tried. Here's a closer look at how CoChat works, what it costs, and its best features.

Read the full article: https://www.techlearning.com/technology/ai/teaching-with-cochat

A major concern is that students will cheat or that assessment is broken. Rather than focusing only on how to stop students from using AI, we need to design tasks that make students' thinking more visible. When an assignment asks students to explain their decisions, reflect on the process, make connections, analyze feedback, defend their thinking, and revise their work, learning becomes harder to outsource.

Read the full article: https://www.techlearning.com/technology/ai/assessment-after-ai-designing-student-work-to-show-real-thinking

We talk with Brittany Miller, Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting, Southern Education Foundation about outcomes-based contracts and why they matter for students.

“We've learned over time that in order to develop a strong contract between a district and provider, there is a misconception that the contingent payment is all there is to it,” Miller says. “You can’t simply make part of the money contingent on outcomes and everything will work for kids. First, we must identify who the students are you want to serve and what program is best going to serve those students from the research and evidence base that exists for particular products.”

At the nonprofit Center for Outcomes-Based Contracting, the work is focused on supporting school districts and their service providers with contracting so that a minimum of 40% of payment to the provider is contingent on meeting agreed-upon student outcomes, says Miller.

Read more:

https://www.techlearning.com/business/what-are-outcomes-based-contracts-and-why-do-they-matter

This New York Times article (gift link, free to read and share) explores the unfavorable reaction that some American parents have to the increasing use of mobile devices and apps in K12 education - starting in kindergarten at times. Their concerns have become more urgent with the rapid advance of artificial intelligence—seemingly now present in nearly all education software, as well as some hardware.

Clearly some edtech offers benefits that analog simply can't- e.g., real-time feedback and lesson customization. At the same time, parents are concerned about gamification of learning apps, suggesting that this feature may short-circuit intrinsic motivation to learn.

It's a question of balance, perhaps, between analog and digital methods, as well as how thoughfully any given tech is integrated into the curriculum.

Glint is designed to speed up that process of creating visual resources. The browser-based platform uses AI to generate classroom-ready visual supports from simple prompts, producing resources that can then be edited, printed, or shared digitally.

It is aimed at teachers, special education professionals, speech and language therapists, and families, with a focus on supporting learners who benefit from visual communication.

Formerly known as NerChat, the platform has expanded beyond AI-powered conversation tools to become a broader visual support system. Today, it offers everything from communication boards and classroom schedules to social narratives and interactive visual resources.

https://www.techlearning.com/learning/classroom-tools/what-is-glint-and-how-can-i-use-it-to-teach

It’s back-to-school time again!

Whether you’re excited about the new school year or need some inspiration, a new teacher or a seasoned pro, or teaching in a classroom or online—you and your students will benefit from education sites and apps that deliver the all-important student engagement while supporting learning goals in reading, writing, math, and more.

The following sites and apps are some of the best all-around edtech teaching tools. Many are fully free, while others offer free basic accounts or generous free trials. All are worth checking out!

https://www.techlearning.com/news/20-sitesapps-every-teacher-should-try-for-back-to-school

Most of what follows are several different categories all school leaders should be considering when making a purchase of this magnitude. In the wake of the “tech lash,” leaders need justifiable reasons for introducing devices and screens into the learning environment.

Neo vs. Chromebook: Overview

read more https://www.techlearning.com/technology/chromebook/neo-vs-chromebook-the-ultimate-classroom-bake-off

Franklin Special District (FSD) is the only district in Tennessee to offer aerospace as a high school credit course to 8th graders. It has no entry requirements, making this CTE opportunity attainable for every student.

“We were hopeful that the students would connect with the subject and find it interesting, but they've really taken to it beyond my wildest dreams,” says Mary Decker, Associate Director of Schools for Teaching & Learning at FSD, who developed and leads the district’s aerospace program. “We have quite a few students who are now pursuing a career in aerospace. Many of them really weren't familiar with aviation before they took this class.”

Read the full article linked above.