Home Author
Author

Lori Gracey

Lori Gracey currently serves as the executive director of the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) and is responsible for training technology directors, administrators, curriculum supervisors, librarians, and teachers across the country. Since 2009, she has led TCEA in membership and revenue growth, helped to pay off their building and purchase a new, larger building, and implemented new conferences, partnerships with other associations, and professional development opportunities for members and non-members. She serves more than 75,000 members and oversees a staff of 20. Lori has served on the board of the Texas Society of Association Executives and SXSWedu, and she has served as the Regional Program Chair for the ISTE 2017 and 2021 Convention in San Antonio. Lori has 28 years of experience in education, with 22 years as a curriculum and technology director.

reading unlocked with Lexile levels on book spines
Artificial IntelligenceEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Social Studies

Personalizing Reading Stamina in an AI World

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Picture this: You’ve assigned a Socratic seminar on the Gettysburg Address. It’s a powerful primary source, packed with meaning, and you can already envision the rich conversation your students are going to have. Then reality sets in. Half your class reads at or near grade level. A quarter read significantly below it. A few are ready for something even more challenging. And you only have one version of the text.

If you’ve ever tried to run a whole-class Socratic seminar with a single, complex primary source, you already know the problem. The students who struggle with the reading stay silent, not because they don’t have ideas, but because they never had a real chance to access the ideas in the first place.

Here’s the good news: AI isn’t here to write the seminar for your students. It’s here to make sure every student can actually show up to it.

The Big Idea: AI as Scaffold, Not Author

The most important thing to understand about using AI for reading instruction is this distinction: AI levels the playing field for comprehension, not thinking. When you use AI to rewrite a primary source at different Lexile levels, you’re not dumbing down the content or giving some students an easier assignment. You’re removing the decoding barrier so that all students can engage with the same ideas, the same argument, and the same historical moment, at their individual zone of proximal development.

Research on differentiated instruction and cognitive load theory consistently confirms that when students are forced to allocate all their mental energy to decoding, very little is left for analysis and discussion (Sweller, 1988; Tomlinson, 2014). AI text leveling directly addresses that load.

Step-by-Step: Creating Three Leveled Versions of Any Primary Source

Here is a practical workflow you can use tomorrow. The example below uses Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, but this process works for any primary source text in ELA or social studies.

Step 1: Choose Your Text and Identify Target Lexile Ranges

For a typical secondary classroom, three levels cover most students:

  • Level 1 (Below Grade Level): 600–800L — simplified vocabulary, shorter sentences, key ideas preserved
  • Level 2 (On Grade Level): 900–1100L — moderate complexity, grade-appropriate vocabulary, some scaffolding retained
  • Level 3 (Advanced/Original): 1200L+ — close to or including the original text, with annotation support

Step 2: Use an Education-Specialized AI Tool

Option A. MagicSchool AI

MagicSchool AI is purpose-built for educators and is FERPA/COPPA-compliant, meaning your student data is protected. Its Text Leveler tool is one of the fastest ways to do this work.

  1. Go to magicschool.ai and sign in (free for individual teachers).
  2. Navigate to Tools > Text Leveler.
  3. Paste your primary source text into the input box.
  4. Select your target grade level or Lexile band.
  5. Click Generate. Review and edit as needed.
  6. Repeat for each of your three levels.

MagicSchool also offers a Text Scaffolder tool, which adds sentence starters, vocabulary support, and comprehension prompts directly into the leveled version, saving you a second round of editing.

Option B. Diffit

Diffit is a favorite among social studies teachers for exactly this workflow. You can paste a URL, upload a PDF, or type a topic, and Diffit generates a full differentiated reading passage, complete with a vocabulary list and comprehension questions, at the grade level you specify. It’s particularly powerful for pairing leveled texts with Socratic seminar discussion questions in one pass.

Option C. Brisk Teaching

If you live in Google Docs, Brisk Teaching installs as a Chrome extension and lets you highlight any passage and instantly level it up or down, right inside your existing document. This is ideal if you’re already building your seminar materials in Docs.

Step 3: Use a General AI Chatbot for Custom Prompting

If you prefer more control over the output, general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude can produce excellent leveled versions with the right prompt. Here’s a ready-to-use template:

“You are an expert reading specialist. Rewrite the following text for a [grade level] reader at approximately [Lexile level]. Preserve all major ideas, arguments, and historical references. Simplify vocabulary and sentence structure without changing the meaning or omitting key content. Do not summarize. Produce a full-length version. Here is the text: [paste text]”

Run this prompt three times, adjusting the grade level each time, and you’ll have three versions ready to compare, edit, and deploy.

Pro Tip: Always read the AI output carefully before distributing it. Check that no key ideas were dropped, that historical names and places are accurate, and that the tone remains appropriate for classroom use. You are the expert, the AI is the assistant.

Bringing All Three Versions into the Socratic Seminar

Here’s where the magic happens. On the day of the seminar, every student receives a leveled version of the same text, matched to their reading ability, but every student is discussing the same primary source with the same essential questions.

A few structures that work well:

  • Color-coded packets — Print each level on different colored paper. Students know their level without announcing it to peers, and you can distribute quickly.
  • Shared anchor questions — Project three or four universal discussion questions that any student, regardless of their text version, can address. Questions like “What does Lincoln believe is the cause of the Civil War?” are answerable at all three levels.
  • Mixed-level inner/outer circles — In a fishbowl format, intentionally mix reading levels in the inner circle. Students who accessed the simpler version often bring fresh, direct observations that surprise their peers who over-complicated the text.

A Note on Reading Stamina

Text leveling is one piece of the puzzle, but building reading stamina over time remains a teacher-led responsibility. Use leveled texts as entry points, not permanent scaffolds. Over the course of a semester, gradually move students toward more complex versions of the same type of source. AI can help you track that progression, too. MagicSchool AI’s scaffolding tools let you reduce support incrementally, so students are always reading in their zone of proximal development while stretching toward the next level.

Quick Reference: AI Tools for Text Leveling

ToolBest ForCostFERPA-Compliant
MagicSchool AIFull workflow, scaffolding, + 60 other teacher toolsFree (paid tier available)Yes
DiffitPrimary sources + auto-generated questionsFree (paid tier available)Yes
Brisk TeachingGoogle Docs integration, fast in-line levelingFree (paid tier available)Yes
ChatGPTCustom prompting, flexible outputFree (paid tier available)No — avoid entering student names or data
ClaudeNuanced language, long documents, custom promptsFree (paid tier available)No — avoid entering student names or data

Important: When using general-purpose AI chatbots, never input identifiable student information. For classroom-facing tools and FERPA compliance, stick to education-specialized platforms like MagicSchool AI or Diffit.

The Equity Case for Text Leveling

Every student deserves a seat at the seminar table. For too long, “access to rigorous content” has been code for “access if you can already read at or above grade level.” AI-assisted text leveling changes that equation. It’s not about lowering expectations. It’s about removing the barrier between a student’s decoding ability and their thinking ability, two very different things that we have too often treated as the same.

Your below-grade-level readers have ideas worth hearing. Give them a text they can actually read, and you might be surprised who leads the discussion.

References and Resources

  • Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285.
  • Tomlinson, C.A. (2014). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners (2nd ed.). ASCD.
  • Lexile Framework for Reading: lexile.com

Want to learn more ways that AI can help you and your students? Register today for the AI for Educators virtual conference June 9-11, 2026.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
National AI Literacy Day
Artificial IntelligenceProfessional Learning

You Can’t Teach What You Don’t Know: AI Literacy Starts with You

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Every spring, a quiet revolution takes place in classrooms, libraries, and community centers across the country. National AI Literacy Day, observed this year on Friday, March 27, 2026, is a nationwide invitation for every learner, educator, and community member to better understand artificial intelligence, how it works, how to use it safely, and how to think critically about its role in our world.

For K–16 educators, this day isn’t just a calendar moment. It’s a mirror.

The Research Is Clear: Educator Readiness Comes First

Brain research consistently tells us that learning is social, contextual, and modeled. Students don’t just absorb information. They watch what their teachers do, trust what their teachers know, and mirror the confidence, curiosity, or anxiety those teachers bring to new topics.

That’s why the most important thing you can do for AI literacy in your school or district isn’t to hand students a chatbot. It’s to become AI literate yourself.

John Hattie’s decades of research on visible learning reinforce this: teacher credibility and subject knowledge are among the highest-leverage factors in student achievement. When it comes to AI, credibility requires fluency. You don’t need to be a data scientist. But you do need to understand what AI is, what it isn’t, and how to use it ethically and effectively.

TCEA’s AI Literacy Framework: A Map for the Journey

Where do you start? TCEA has built a practical, research-aligned starting point: the TCEA AI Literacy Framework.

This framework organizes AI literacy into clear, actionable domains that span foundational understanding, ethical reasoning, practical application, and critical evaluation. Whether you’re a classroom teacher just beginning to explore AI tools or an administrator shaping district policy, the framework gives you a shared language and a progression path.

Think of it as a curriculum map not just for students, but for you.

Key domains include:

  • Understanding AI: What it is, how it learns, and what its limitations are
  • Using AI Responsibly: Privacy, bias, transparency, and ethical use
  • AI in the Classroom: Pedagogically sound integration strategies
  • Critical Evaluation: Helping students question, verify, and think deeply about AI outputs

Build Your Own Literacy First: TCEA Courses for Educators

The most meaningful National AI Literacy Day activity you can do this March 27 isn’t a student lesson. It’s investing in your own learning.

TCEA’s AI Learning for Educators provides on-demand, self-paced professional development designed specifically for teachers and administrators. These courses are grounded in sound instructional design and connect directly to the TCEA AI Literacy Framework. Topics include:

  • Foundations of AI for educators
  • Using AI tools in instructional planning
  • AI ethics and responsible use in K–12 settings
  • Practical classroom integration strategies

The pedagogical principle here is straightforward: model what you want students to do. When educators engage in genuine inquiry, take risks with new tools, and reflect on what they’re learning, they become the most powerful AI literacy teachers in any building.

Go Deeper: Virtual AI in Education Conference 2026

If National AI Literacy Day sparks something in you, don’t let the momentum stop there.

Join TCEA for the AI for Educators Conference 2026, a virtual conference designed to take your AI literacy to the next level. Connect with forward-thinking educators, researchers, and practitioners who are navigating the same questions you are: How do I use AI without replacing the human heart of teaching? How do I prepare students for a world where AI is everywhere? How do I lead my school or district through this transformation with confidence?

Whether you attend sessions live or on-demand, you’ll leave with practical strategies, a stronger professional network, and a clearer sense of where you fit in the AI in education story.

What You Can Do Right Now

On or before March 27, 2026:

  1. Explore the TCEA AI Literacy Framework and identify one domain where you feel confident and one where you want to grow.
  2. Enroll in a TCEA AI course at tcea.org/courses and commit to completing at least one module by the end of March.
  3. Share what you’re learning with a colleague, a student, or your professional learning community. Articulation deepens understanding.
  4. Register for the AI for Educators Conference and mark your calendar.
  5. Facilitate a short AI conversation with your students or staff on March 27. Ask: What do you think AI is? What are you curious about? What worries you? Then listen.

The Bottom Line

AI literacy isn’t a one-day event. But National AI Literacy Day is a powerful reminder that every journey starts with a single, intentional step.

The students in your care are growing up in an AI-shaped world. They deserve educators who understand that world, can navigate it with integrity, and can guide them to do the same.

That educator is you. TCEA is here to help you get there.

Explore TCEA’s AI resources, frameworks, and professional learning at tcea.org and blog.tcea.org.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Students in classroom doing a bellringer activity
Good Teaching

Bellringer Strategies to Capture Student Attention

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

You know the scene. The bell rings. Half your students are still mentally scrolling TikTok, replaying a conversation from the hallway, or staring blankly at the ceiling. You’ve got maybe 90 seconds before their attention splinters entirely.

Welcome to teaching in the attention economy.

The Attention Economy Has Entered the Building

Economists Herbert Simon and Michael Goldhaber coined the term “attention economy” decades ago, but teachers are living it every single day. The idea is simple: attention is a finite, valuable resource, and every app, notification, and social platform is engineered to capture as much of it as possible.

The result? What researcher Gloria Mark at UC Irvine calls “attention fragmentation.” Her studies show that it now takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to fully regain focus after an interruption. For teenagers who have never known a world without smartphones, the baseline for sustained focus may be even shorter.

The classroom is fighting an arms race it didn’t start. But here’s the good news: cognitive science gives teachers powerful tools to win the first five minutes.

Why Bellringers Work: The Neuroscience

A well-designed bellringer isn’t just a time-filler. It’s a neurological on-ramp.

1. Priming the Brain Cognitive priming (Tulving & Schacter, 1990) shows that exposure to a stimulus increases sensitivity to related stimuli. A short, curiosity-provoking prompt literally prepares the brain to receive new content.

2. The Spacing Effect and Retrieval Practice The Learning Scientists (learningscientists.org) consistently highlight retrieval practice as one of the most evidence-backed strategies in education. A daily bellringer that asks students to recall prior content strengthens long-term memory consolidation more than re-reading notes ever could.

3. Dopamine and Novelty Neuroscientist Wolfram Schultz’s work on dopamine reward circuits shows that novel, surprising, or game-like stimuli trigger dopamine release, which is associated with motivation and focus. If your bellringer is slightly unexpected or interactive, you’re working with the brain’s chemistry, not against it.

4. Reducing Cognitive Load at the Transition John Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory tells us transitions (hallway to classroom) are cognitively expensive. A structured, predictable low-stakes task at entry reduces extraneous cognitive load and redirects working memory toward learning.

The Warehouse: Five Micro-Learning Bellringers

Each bellringer below takes five minutes or less to set up, is designed to capture attention immediately, and connects to brain science.

1. “One Word Wonder”

Tool: Curipod  | Setup time: 2 minutes

Create a Curipod slide with a single image and the prompt: “What one word comes to mind when you see this?” Students respond on their devices and watch a live word cloud populate on the screen. The visual movement and peer responses are magnetic.

Why it works: Social comparison and novelty trigger dopamine. Real-time anonymized responses reduce anxiety and increase participation across all learners.

Tip: Use images that loosely connect to your lesson’s essential question without giving it away.

2. “Spot the Error” Slide

Tool: Canva Magic Design | Setup time: 3 minutes

Use Canva’s AI-powered Magic Design to generate a visually rich infographic on yesterday’s topic, then manually introduce one or two factual errors. Project it as students walk in. The first one to spot and explain the error wins a small incentive.

Why it works: Activates retrieval practice and error detection, which research links to deeper encoding (Butler & Roediger, 2008). Competitive framing engages the reward system.

3. “Two Truths and a Misconception” Poll

Tool: Curipod or Mentimeter | Setup time: 3 minutes

Post three statements about the upcoming or previous unit. Two are true; one is a common misconception. Students vote in real time.

Why it works: Directly targets and disrupts misconceptions before they compound. Research by Manu Kapur on “productive failure” shows that confronting incorrect ideas before instruction improves learning outcomes.

4. The 60-Second Silent Sketch

Tool: Paper, whiteboard, or Google Slides | Setup time: 1 minute

Display a vocabulary word, concept, or quote on the board. Students have 60 seconds to sketch what it means, no words allowed. Share two or three sketches anonymously via phone camera.

Why it works: Dual coding theory (Paivio, 1971) tells us that combining verbal and visual representations strengthens memory. The sketch also externalizes thinking, helping students self-assess what they actually know.

5. “This or That” Visual Debate

Tool: Canva or PowerPoint | Setup time: 2 minutes

Create a simple slide with two contrasting images or ideas side by side (or use one of these Canva templates). Students physically move to one side of the room (or respond digitally) to declare their choice, then defend it in 10 words or less to a neighbor.

Why it works: Physical movement boosts alertness via cerebellar-cortical activation. The brief verbal justification activates elaborative encoding, which deepens understanding (Craik & Lockhart, 1972).

Getting Started: Your Three-Step Micro-Learning Launch Plan

  1. Pick one bellringer from the warehouse and try it tomorrow. Commit to the same one for a week so students develop a predictable routine (which itself reduces cognitive load).
  2. Build a five-minute buffer into your lesson plan at the start. Treat the bellringer as sacred instructional time, not optional warm-up.
  3. Rotate every two to three weeks. Novelty is a feature, not a bug. When the same format loses its spark, swap to a new one.

The Bottom Line

You can’t out-engineer TikTok’s algorithm. But you don’t have to. The research is clear: a structured, engaging, low-stakes entry task resets the cognitive clock, draws attention back into the room, and activates the neural pathways that make learning stick.

Five minutes at the start of class can transform the 45 that follow.

Want more strategies like this? Explore TCEA’s professional development library and connect with fellow educators in our member community.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
VIVA Framework
Artificial IntelligenceAssessmentWriting

Talk the Talk: Authenticating Student Voice in a Generative AI Era

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

In an era where generative AI can craft a convincing essay on the French Revolution or a lab report on osmosis in seconds, educators are facing an “authenticity crisis.” We’ve all felt it: that nagging doubt when a student’s written voice doesn’t quite match their classroom persona.

While we shouldn’t abandon writing, the traditional “take-home” essay is losing its status as the gold standard of evidence. The solution, however, isn’t necessarily more high-tech surveillance. It’s actually quite “low-tech:” we need to start talking to our students more.

Welcome to the revival of the Viva Voce, Latin for “with the living voice.” Traditionally reserved for PhD defenses, a simplified VIVA Framework is the perfect tool for middle and high school teachers to verify understanding quickly and authentically.

What Is the VIVA Framework?

The VIVA Framework is a structured, two-minute “micro-assessment” designed to confirm that the student who submitted the work is the same student who understands the work.

Recent research (Auckland, 2025) suggests that “Interactive Oral Assessments” (IOAs) are among the most effective ways to see what students truly know. Unlike a test, a VIVA is a dialogue. It’s hard to “prompt-engineer” your way through a live conversation.

The Two-Minute VIVA Framework

To make this sustainable for a class of 30, the goal isn’t a long interview. It’s a surgical “check-in” using four specific pillars:

  • V – Validate: Confirm the student knows the basic “what” of their work.
  • I – Interpret: Ask them to explain the “how” or “why” behind a specific choice.
  • V – Vault: Have them apply the concept to a new, hypothetical scenario (the “Vault” of knowledge).
  • A – Authenticate: Discuss the process—what was the hardest part? What did they change?

You don’t need a complex rubric. Keep these four questions on a sticky note or your clipboard during “Work Time” or “Student-Teacher Conferences.”

PhaseQuestion PromptWhat You’re Looking For
Validate“In your own words, what is the ‘big idea’ or central thesis of this piece?”Can they summarize without reading their screen?
Interpret“You chose [specific detail/source/method] here. Why did you pick that over another option?”Understanding of intent and selection.
Vault“If the circumstances changed to [new variable], how would your conclusion change?”Transfer of knowledge to a new context.
Authenticate“What was one ‘dead end’ you hit while working on this, and how did you pivot?”Insight into the human learning process.

Or check out these subject-specific questions below:

What the Research Says

You might worry that oral assessments take too much time, but the data tells a different story:

  • Integrity without Policing: A 2025 study from the University of South Australia found that replacing some written exams with structured orals reduced academic integrity breaches to nearly zero in targeted subjects.
  • Better Grade Accuracy: Research published in Frontiers in Education (2025) indicates that students often perceive oral check-ins as more “fair” and accurate reflections of their knowledge than high-stakes tests.
  • Employability: Beyond “catching AI,” oral exams develop “work-ready” skills: the ability to defend a position, communicate clearly, and think on your feet (University of Auckland, 2025).

Implementation Tip: The “Sampled” VIVA

You don’t have to VIVA every student for every assignment. Try sampled moderation. Tell the class you will randomly select five students to do a two-minute “VIVA check-in” after they submit their digital work. The mere possibility of a conversation encourages students to engage more deeply with the material themselves rather than outsourcing it to a bot.

Pro Tip: Tech-Smarter, Not Harder

A common hurdle for oral assessments is the “Where do I put the grade?” factor. Luckily, you don’t need a heavy gradebook entry for a two-minute chat. Use this streamlined workflow to keep your data organized without the paperwork:

  • The “VIVA Tracker” Form: Create a simple Google Form or Microsoft Form with three fields: Student Name, Phase (Validate, Interpret, Vault, Authenticate), and a Checkmark for “Demonstrated Mastery.”
  • Voice-to-Text Feedback: Instead of typing notes while the student talks, use the dictation (microphone) feature in a Google Sheet cell. Briefly summarize their “Vault” answer. This creates a time-stamped record of their verbal mastery that you can refer back to during parent conferences or IEP meetings.
  • The “Randomizer” Spreadsheet: Use a simple =RANDBETWEEN formula in a spreadsheet to select your “VIVA 5” for the day. Projecting this on the board adds a layer of gamified transparency: students know the “Living Voice” check-in is a standard, fair part of the classroom routine.

Ready to try your first VIVA? Pick one assignment this week and choose three students for a two-minute “desk-side chat” using the template above. You might be surprised at how much more you learn about their thinking than a “Turnitin” score could ever tell you.

1 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Planning and PreparationTCEA News

What to Expect in 2026

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

I think we can all agree that 2025 has been a wild ride. But as we get ready to close it out, it brings up the question “What can I expect for 2026?” I’ve dusted off my crystal ball and invite you to peer with me as we take a look at the trends that will affect all of us soon.

World Events

America’s 250th Birthday: The semiquincentennial (say that three times fast!) will be on July 4, 2026, marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The official celebration will run for a full year—with a heavy emphasis from Memorial Day 2025 through July 4, 2026—as nationwide events commemorate the nation’s past, present, and future. In fact, student contests are already happening across the nation. How will your school district celebrate?

2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics: The Olympics will be held from February 6 to 22, 2026, followed by the Paralympics from March 6 to 15, 2026. The event will be co-hosted by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, and will bring countless spectators to Northern Italy’s Alps.

2026 FIFA World Cup: This will be a landmark tournament, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, from June 11 to July 9, 2026. Matches will take place in 16 host cities across the three countries, including Dallas, Miami, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Mexico City. The opening match is in Mexico City, and the final will be at MetLife Stadium in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area.

Technological Development

Concerns Over AI: Whether the AI bubble bursts or not, the world will continue to question the value and expense of artificial intelligence. And educators will be right there in the mix. What are the implications of AI’s electrical and water usage? How can students be taught to use AI effectively, safely, and without plagiarism? What new products will AI create to make life easier or better for overworked administrators and teachers? How will the job market change with AI in the picture, and how can we prepare for that change? As AI evolves seemingly overnight, how can we ensure that everyone is current and feels confident in using the tool? 

The Growth of AI: Despite the concerns of artificial intelligence use in schools, AI will move from the experimental/pilot stage to standard practice, powering personalized learning platforms, automating administrative tasks (like grading), and providing 24/7 AI tutors. The “one size fits all” lesson plan will become less common as the technology enables each student to receive customized support, leading to improved academic performance and student confidence. Teachers will not be replaced, but will finally begin to have the time to full meet each student’s needs.

Educational Insights

Reduced Administrative Burden: In 2026, AI will streamline administrative tasks such as grading, attendance tracking, and scheduling. This will free up significant time for educators to focus on mentorship, fostering creativity, and providing social-emotional support, all areas where the human touch is invaluable. Teachers and administrators will have access to real-time analytics and data dashboards that provide insights into student performance and learning patterns. This data will allow them to quickly identify at-risk students and tailor interventions more effectively, making instruction more responsive and effective.

Enrollment Declines and Diversification in Higher Education: Higher education institutions will face a sustained decline in traditional-aged undergraduate enrollment; a “demographic cliff” beginning in 2026. The decline in the number of traditional-aged college students is a predictable outcome of falling birth rates following the Great Recession (2007-2011). Demographers and higher education experts have been tracking this for years, and the consensus is that the decline in high school graduates will begin precisely with the class of 2025, impacting college enrollment from 2026 onwards.

In addition, students and families will place a greater emphasis on the return on investment (ROI) of a degree leading to growth in non-traditional programs, such as short-term certificates, micro-credentials, and accelerated “degree in three” programs. To adapt, universities will target adult learners seeking reskilling, dual-enrollment students, and individuals who started college but did not finish previously. 

Funding Remains Tight: Potential federal budget proposals for FY 2026 signal a push for expanded school choice programs (e.g., charter schools and vouchers) and significant cuts to the Department of Education and core student aid programs like Pell Grants and TRIO. A major feature is the creation of a K-12 Simplified Funding Program (SFP), which would consolidate 18 existing K-12 formula and competitive grant programs into a single block grant for states. While framed as offering state flexibility, this move would represent a reduction in funding for these programs by nearly 70% collectively.

Healthcare Advancements

Precision Medicine and Gene Editing: Significant progress is expected in gene-editing technologies like CRISPR with the continued growth and integration of AI in healthcare. Researchers hope that this will lead to new therapies for genetic conditions and cancers, offering potential cures rather than just symptom management.

AI for Diagnostics and Efficiency: AI is expected to become standard in clinical diagnostics, improving the accuracy of medical imaging analysis (like X-rays and pathology slides) and reducing diagnostic errors. AI will also automate much of the administrative burden (e.g., clinical documentation, scheduling), freeing up healthcare professionals for more direct patient care.

Societal and Lifestyle Shifts

Focusing on the “Human Experience:” Following a period of intense digital life, there is an anticipated shift toward prioritizing authentic human experiences, intimacy, and depth in interactions.

Prioritizing In-Person Interactions: People are already spending more time outdoors or in nature and meeting friends in real life. By 2026, this “social rewilding” is expected to be more prominent, with a greater push for physical proximity and face-to-face communication over digital-only exchanges.

What are you expecting in 2026?

That’s what my crystal ball had to say. What about yours? What are you seeing for the future? How might these changes impact you, your role, your students, or your school? Keep following TCEA as we try to keep you up to date!

2 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
AI/VRDigital Citizenship

AI Safety for Grades 7–12: Privacy, Consent, and Media Smarts

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

While I love using AI—and have found that it saves me time and helps me think through things more clearly—I will be the first one to say that it has a dark side, especially for students. AI has made it easy to create convincing fake or sexualized content fast. Apps that can take a photo of someone who is dressed and undress it or face-swap it with someone else’s face can be used to harass, humiliate, or extort students. As educators, we need to prepare our students to safely navigate the AI world with age-appropriate AI safety for grades 7-12. The goal isn’t to scare them, but to equip them—and us—with clear norms, quick responses, and compassionate support.

The Dangers of AI

Here are just a few of the scenarios that are currently possible with AI tools: A ninth-grader’s yearbook photo is pulled from Instagram and “undressed” with AI, then posted to a group chat. A senior’s face is swapped into a sexual video and used in an extortion scheme demanding gift cards. A coach’s voice is cloned from a game livestream and used to prank-call a student with hateful remarks. These ai-facilitated incidents, and others like them, can escalate quickly; students need to know how best to prevent them and what to do if and when it happens.

Teach “Privacy by Default”

Many of us, including students, share too much information with the online world. And while it’s fun to post photos of our new car or our redecorated bedroom, it may not be the smartest thing to do. Instead, we must learn to use privacy by default, especially when using AI.

  • Remember that anything shared with a public AI (including the vast majority of tools being used today) is not private and can be seen by others or used by the AI company to train its model.
  • Keep identities separate. Never use full name + school + team + daily routine in posts or prompts.
  • Never upload classmates’ images, voices, or schoolwork to public AIs without explicit permission: a clear “yes” from them for this specific upload. Silence or “they won’t mind” doesn’t count.
  • Model safe prompting. Use placeholders (e.g., “Student A”), blur faces, and avoid unique photos/videos.

As adults, we must emphasize that editing or sharing someone’s image/voice without permission is a violation of consent and community norms and possibly the law. If students encounter harmful content, teach them: don’t forward it, support the targeted student, and report it immediately to a trusted adult. Use plain language, visuals, translated materials, captions, and alt-text so ELLs and students with disabilities understand both the risks and their rights.

Show Students Ways to Check Information

The teacher should model quick checks without turning the class into detectives. 

  • Run a reverse image search (Google Lens/Bing) to find the earliest appearance of a photo.
    • Upload an image or paste its URL into the Google Images search bar and click on the camera icon, or use the “Search with Google Lens” option in the Chrome browser’s right-click menu.
    • Google will display search results that may include visually similar images, websites where the image appears, and more information about the image. 
  • Scan for obvious AI artifacts (warped text, mismatched lighting or reflections). 
  • Look for Content Credentials (C2PA) labels that attach verifiable provenance to media. Explain the limits: a C2PA label can help confirm origin when present, but absence doesn’t prove a fake. 

What Adults Should Do If Harm Happens

Stay calm, believe the student, and preserve evidence (URLs, usernames, timestamps, screenshots). Report on-platform and through school channels (administrator or counselor). For minors’ sexual images, either real or AI-generated, use:

For other help, you can reach out to:

AI Safety Lessons You Can Use Tomorrow 

Open with a short, calm mini-lesson: “Three Red Flags Before You Upload,” followed by two anonymized scenarios. Give students a decision check—Would I post this if my principal and family were in the room? Does this include someone else’s identity without consent? How would I feel if a post like this about me was uploaded? Then have them rewrite a risky prompt into a safe, consent-respecting version. Close by revisiting your campus norms (ask first, anonymize always, never forward harm, report immediately). Keep in mind that safety instruction works best when it is steady, routine, and judgment-free. Pair boundaries with empathy; remind students that mistakes can be fixed, and help is available.

An Important Call to Action

Talk with others in your grade level, department, or campus about what you can do to help students remain safe while using AI tools. Consider scheduling a meeting with parents to share this information with them. AI safety for grades 7-12 isn’t just a good idea. It’s vital to the safety of our teenage students.

2 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
TCEA Convention & ExpositionTCEA News

Save the Date for TCEA 2026: Registration opens Sept. 18!

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

The 2026 TCEA Convention & Exposition is headed back to San Antonio on Jan. 31–Feb. 4, 2026. And while registration doesn’t open for another week or so, you can kickstart your planning today by saving the date and starting your district approval process so you’re ready when registration opens on Sept. 18.

This year’s event will be my 43rd TCEA convention (yes, I really am that old!), and I’m still as excited as I was for the first one. Why? Because I’ve made life-long friends here. I’ve found colleagues who challenge me and support my professional growth. And I’ve learned things I genuinely needed—but wouldn’t have learned anywhere else. The ideas matter, but it’s the people who help you tailor those ideas to your context. That’s the TCEA difference: we’re all about the people.

What’s in This “Educational Technology Conference” for Me?

I know “educational technology conference” can sound a lot like “shiny tools that just add more to my plate,” but that’s not what this is. TCEA’s convention program is built around evidence-based teaching first, followed by the tools that make those practices doable at scale. This year, you’ll find sessions that help with three challenges I hear about constantly from educators: 

  • Reaching reluctant or disengaged students with strategies you can use immediately
  • Tackling burnout and retention through workload-smart routines and community
  • Sharpening coaching moves so support actually sticks in classrooms

And yes, you’ll discover great tools along the way, but always in service of the strategy.

You can also earn a microcredential by focusing on a pre-curated learning path. Choose one of six tracks (from Educational Leadership to Digital Creation to Instructional Coaching and more) and attend six hours of tagged sessions during the week to leave with a competency-based digital badge—free with registration. It’s a clean way to document growth while you’re stacking CPE hours.

700+ Sessions. 400+ Vendors. A Once-in-a-Lifetime Event.

With more than 700 different learning experiences available, it may be hard to choose. So, here’s a tip: pick one strand for depth and a second for breadth. And, if you want the microcredential, align your choices to its tagged sessions. That will ensure that you walk away with tangible ideas to put into action.

Your registration also includes a free lifetime TCEA membership, which gives you ongoing access to our blog, member newsletter, and weekly webinars (live and recorded). No other conference or event offers this. When registration opens on Sept. 18, you can review badge options and pricing details on the site and make the best choice for your needs. (Pro tip: Housing links are available after you register.)

Ready to Register?

Here’s what you can do to get started today:
1) Save the date: Mark your calendars for Sept. 18, 2025, and then again for Jan. 31–Feb. 4, 2026.
2) Start your approval process: Now’s the time to talk with your administrators about attending!
3) Register early to save: On Sept. 18, visit convention.tcea.org/register and officially save your spot at TCEA 2026! Badge prices increase on Nov. 8, so be sure to register early to get our best price.

Then, you’re ready for a week of discovery and and brilliance that tackles your real problems, honors your time, and sends you home energized with practical strategies, a microcredential (or two!), and a plan to keep growing.

I can’t wait to see you there!

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Back to SchoolClassroom Activities

The Perfect Back-to-School Resource: First Five

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Those first few weeks of school are critical in forming student/teacher relationships and setting the stage for the rest of the year. How to do that best is the big question. Going over the rules and reading the student handbook won’t cut it. And teachers definitely don’t have time to come up with creative and connecting activities on their own. That’s where First Five comes in.

First Five from EdTomorrow offers teachers free, ready-to-use daily activities designed to spark fun and build connections in the first five minutes of class. Each day offers a different activity that focuses on learning more about others, self-care, care for others, and the development of character:

  • Meme
  • Check-in question
  • Way to greet your students at the door
  • Quick Connection question to get students thinking and discussing
  • Mindfulness exercise
  • Quote of the day
  • Positivity activity
  • Age-appropriate video
  • Brain game

Question Set for Secondary on August 11, 2025

Select which one/ones you think will work best for your students that day. They are designed to work with a projected screen or on a whiteboard, but you can also download them to use in your LMS.

Mindfulness Moment

First Five is available for grades PK–1, 2–5, 6–12, and in Spanish. You can register (free) to get a daily email with the activities (arrives at 6:00 a.m. Central each morning) and access to their extensive database with hundreds of engaging activities to choose from. They also have a great blog with features like “What’s the Best Way to Use the First Five?”

This is a truly great resource for busy educators. Register for your free account today to get help connecting with your students!

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Uncategorized

How Is Your Staff, Really?

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

I think that all of us in education can admit that we’ve been through a couple of tough years lately. Lack of funding, sub shortages, more pressure to increase test scores, uncertainty about the future – it all adds up to higher stress levels for teachers and administrators. 

As your staff and team members get ready to return to the boiling pot, it’s important to check in regularly and see how they are really doing. A full-team question at the start of each meeting can be a great way to accomplish that. Here are a few good ways for them to vent and share and become better able to surmount the year’s challenges.

Setting Up Your Check-Ins for Success

To ensure that a check-in allows for optimum results, follow these guidelines:

  • Set a positive tone. Kick things off with lighthearted questions, making the meeting a friendly space for team talks and camaraderie. If a staff member heads in a more negative direction to vent, that’s okay. But always start with a positive assumption.
  • Be inclusive. The check-in should be one that is applicable to all team members. If you know, for example, that one of your staff doesn’t celebrate a particular holiday, don’t do a check-in on that topic. Craft your questions to embrace diverse perspectives and backgrounds so everyone feels part of the chat.
  • Keep it casual. This isn’t an interview. Set a laid-back vibe by keeping questions informal, encouraging team members to share without feeling pressured. If they don’t want to share, that’s okay.
  • Respect everyone’s privacy. Keep it light, stay away from super personal stuff, and respect everyone’s boundaries; nobody wants awkward vibes during check-ins.
  • Encourage honesty.One they feel comfortable sharing with each other, encourage them to tell it like it is! Build trust by getting your team to spill the beans on what’s really going on, even if it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
  • Allow opt outs. Let folks skip a question if they don’t feel like sharing that day. No pressure or judgment is allowed.
  • Celebrate achievements. Wrap up your check-ins with a little victory dance. Shout out the wins, big or small, and keep the positive energy flowing into the rest of the meeting.

Check-In Ideas

A good way to start with check-ins is the basic “how are you feeling” kind. But you can make these more fun by using a scale and some pictures. There are tons of these available on the web. Check out the ones below:

Show the image and ask people to share with a partner which one they are most feeling like right now and why.

Once people are comfortable sharing how they’re feeling, you can move on to a more powerful check-in. My favorite one is by Daresay. They have a set of random questions that you can scroll through until you find one you like. Or you can sort them by the “mood” you want to create: caring, daring, laid back, or work focused. If it’s early in the year and everyone doesn’t know everyone else, start with the laid-back ones. 

Other laid-back questions include:

  • What is your go-to comfort food? (This can lead to the sharing of recipes and a possible plan for a pot-luck lunch.)
  • What animal did you wake up as this morning?
  • Which emoji best describes your mood right now?
  • Would you like to be famous? In what way?

Show them the question and allow for about 30 seconds for quiet thinking time. Then ask them to pair up with someone else and share their answers. Make sure you allow enough time for both people to share fully. Then regroup and ask if anyone wants to share. If some do, that’s great. If no one does, that’s also fine.

Over time and as more serious issues come up at school, you need to use more serious check-in questions. This may mean that their responses need to be private. A word cloud generator can be a good tool for this. I recommend something like Slido (although Mentimeter and Poll Everywhere are also good). Slido is an online platform that facilitates interaction during presentations, meetings, and events. As the host, you can gather feedback, ask questions, and conduct polls. And it integrates with tools like PowerPoint and Google Slides, as well as communication platforms like Zoom.  The Basic plan is free and includes up to 100 participants and three polls per Slido.

Wrapping Up

Whatever kind of prompt you want to use, a regular check-in at a staff or department meeting is important. As a leader, it provides incredible feedback about where everyone is and can even be viewed as a type of formative assessment before you move on with the agenda. Using the resources mentioned above, you may even be able to brighten the day for your hard-working educators and give them an opportunity to smile.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Social-Emotional Learning

Digital Activities to Help You Relax and Chill

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Now that the summer’s here, it’s the perfect time to try out some new websites. The ones below are just fun – no educational or redeeming value whatsoever! But they will help you to relax, de-stress, and come back ready for another strong school year. Enjoy!

Cat Bounce – Click your mouse anywhere and cats will begin bouncing around the screen. Some cats are bouncier than others, so that means more force = more bounce. Use a gentler touch if you’re losing cats. Don’t like the background color? Resize or reload to change it. Remember: more force = more bounce. Please don’t bounce too hard; it makes the cats cry.

WindowSwap – I love this one and use it often as a quick break. It allows you to open a window anywhere in the world. The windows are pulled randomly, which means you can click again to see somewhere different. 

Pixel Thoughts – This is a 60-second meditation activity that will help you shrink something that is causing stress in your life. Type in what is worrying you and then listen to the soothing music as it shrinks away.

En – If you’re trying to remember a book title that you want to read, try this AI app. Just add what you can remember about the book in the search screen and it will find it for you. It will also recommend other books similar to the one you are looking for.

Mental Floss – This site features pop culture information, trivia, quizzes, and more and is sure to distract you from everything else. (Did you know, for example, that the scent women find most arousing is Good & Plenty candy mixed with cucumber, at least according to a study by the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation?)

This Is Sand – Release your inner artist as you paint with different colors of sand. Very relaxing! 

Radio Garden – Listen to radio stations from around the world. Just select a location from the satellite map and start listening.

Fridge Poem – Express your feelings as you drag refrigerator magnets to make beautiful poetry. Pinch or drag to zoom in to see all of the possible tiles. 

Future Letter – While slightly more serious than some of these other websites, Future Letter is still fun. You write a letter to be emailed back to you in the future, from six months to one year to five years or even 10 years out. It’s a good way to remind yourself of how amazing you are now!

Stellarium – This information-packed website offers you a view of the night sky from wherever you are. Click on different stars and orbiting objects to learn more about the universe.

My Retro TVs– Be warned: this site can keep you distracted for days as you relive the nostalgia of the past decades through virtual TVs. Select your decade (1950s through 2000s) and then turn on the TV. Change the channel to see different shows, movies, commercials, and music.

Do you have other fun websites you go to for relaxation? Please share them in the comments below!

1 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Newer Posts
Older Posts