As we prepare to return to school and with all of the announcements over the summer, what are the things we should do right away to prepare. Should we really enable all of the things or how can we slow down and test what really needs to happen to ensure the safety of our students and the educational value we want to offer?

Teacher and IT Director, Vicki Davis, gives an overview of the summer's hottest AI announcements and some tips that schools are using to keep kids safe and cover their bases when it comes to implementing this cascade of change in ways that protect learning and kids. As always, each school must make these decisions for themselves to keep kids safe as the responsibility is on each of us to do so but here are some tips that might make sense for you.

Show notes and links:

https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e908

I have three AI prompts I teach my students on the first day. Learn about why I do this and what the prompts are in this turbo tip episode!

See the three prompts in the show notes and see a copy of the presentation I use to teach students to prompt: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e907

Microsoft's Mike Tholfsen unveils game-changing AI breakthroughs for educators at ISTE 2025, including Copilot Chat for teens 13+, the revolutionary Teach module that creates standards-aligned lessons in minutes, and AI-powered study guides that transform how students learn. Discover how Learning Zone on Copilot+ PCs brings AI directly to your classroom without internet, plus exciting updates to Learning Accelerators and seamless LMS integration that puts powerful AI tools right where teachers need them.

Key takeaways:

• FREE Copilot Chat now available for students 13+ with enterprise data protection
• New Teach module creates lesson plans, rubrics, and assessments aligned to standards from 35 countries
• Study guides in Copilot Notebooks generate personalized quizzes and flashcards
• Learning Zone app enables offline AI lesson creation on Copilot+ PCs
• Unified LTI integration brings Microsoft's AI tools directly into Canvas, Schoology, and other LMS platforms

Perfect for K-12 teachers ready to save time and enhance learning with responsible AI.

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Full show notes: coolcatteacher.com/e906

@mtholfsen @coolcatteacher | #10MinuteTeacher #MicrosoftEDU #ISTELive #ASCDAnnual #AIinEducation

Sometimes it takes a wake-up call to transform from just being "a teacher" to being "THE teacher" who makes a difference. Math teacher and tech director Josh Korb shares three game-changing strategies from his book "Be the Cause" that you can implement immediately: Curiosity Corner spaces that spark student inquiry, energizing brain breaks using his "Jumping Jack Jam" technique, and Action Teams that tackle real-world problems through design thinking. These mastery learning strategies prove you don't need high energy or expensive tools—just intentional choices that put students in control of their learning.

See the show notes for definitions of teaching terms and links: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e905

Subscribe to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast and discover practical strategies that create lasting impact in your classroom!

Ready for a deep dive into the latest AI tools and education headlines? In this special extended news episode, Vicki Davis shares 15 cutting-edge AI tools including Gemini's new video parsing capabilities, Claude Opus 4's powerful features, and Perplexity Labs' research tools, plus 15 critical news stories every educator needs to know. From AI ethics and security warnings to practical classroom applications, this episode delivers real classroom tech use insights you can implement immediately.

Subscribe for weekly teacher-tested edtech tips and join the conversation at https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e904

I'm also including vocabulary and links at the show notes. This week's show includes the vocabulary:

• smishing
• vishing
• multimodal conversational AI
• deep fake
• rage-bait cinema
• LOTS (Living off Trusted Services) attack
• Passkeys
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

This vocabulary and links to resources are included to help educate you and to give you a resource that you can use with students about this particular topic.

As school got out, my son got married and I had quite a few speeches here in Georgia, so I ended up with 2-3 weeks of news/tool content to share, so I just put them together on my radio show this week and for you on this longer-than-normal episode.

I appreciate the grace while I'm in the summer months and recovering and I hope you take care of yourself and recover as well. We need the rest so we can be our best! And stay tuned next week for some amazing ISTE 2025 episodes - whether you're going or not, I want you to see the cool things happening!

As always, I want you to feel included, informed, and helped to keep up in practical ways as things are changing.

with Audrey Watters | Episode 903 | Tech Tool Tuesday

Are we racing toward an AI future without asking the right questions? Author and ed-tech critic Audrey Watters joins me to show teachers how to hit pause, get thoughtful, and keep classroom relationships at the center.

Did you know the same solution that powers my AI classroom also drives campus-wide emergency alerts and digital signage? See how Rise Vision can save your school thousands: RiseVision.com/10MinuteTeacher

• Why “human first” still beats the newest AI tool: Audrey explains how relationships drive real learning.

• Personalized learning myths busted: How algorithmic “solutions” can isolate students.

• Practical guardrails for AI: Three reflection questions every teacher should ask before hitting “assign.”

🔗 Show page: www.coolcatteacher.com/e903

Call to Action
🎧 Love the show? Head to RiseVision.com/10MinuteTeacher and see today’s sponsor in action—and don’t forget to subscribe & leave a quick review!

Looking for ideas to engage your students in conversation? In this week's quick news roundup, I give you stories about:

• The impact of overwork on the teacher's brain,
• An idea for an energy drink experiment for science teachers around the chemical "taurine"
• NASA and the tectonic plates of Venus
• YouTube's new "Peak Points" Advertising strategy as an AI article to discuss with students
• ChatGPT 4 going away? And how I teach students to test different models of AI and share their results
• How some people are installing local LLM's on their machines
• New AI guidance for teachers and common patterns I'm noting
• Google's AIME and the future of medical chat bots
• DuoLingo goes AI, and
• A Star-Wars themed personality test gone to the dark side?

Once a week, I work to share news articles and stories with you that I'm using. I want you to have quick ideas for turning headlines into a warm-up, debate, or story starter.

Show notes and links: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e902

Sponsor: Rise Vision

Do you want to know how I have students share their prompts and test various models of AI? I use my Rise Vision Board! When teaching AI, seeing how each student uniquely interacts with technology is essential. Rise Vision's screen sharing solution turned my aging display into a modern wireless hub without replacement costs. I can now securely moderate which student screens appear—perfect for AI demonstrations and collaborative learning. The Rise Vision system is incredibly user-friendly and costs just a fraction of new interactive displays. I'm saving my school money while enhancing our tech capabilities!

Visit Rise Vision to see how you can refresh rather than replace your classroom displays.

Link: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/risevision/