A free AI course built specifically for teachers (and it actually adapts to you 👀).

Most AI training talks at you. This one starts by listening. It asks what you teach, how familiar you are with AI, and what genuinely worries you about it in the classroom. Then it builds a learning path around your answers. Your subject. Your comfort level. Your concerns. No two teachers get the same course, because no two teachers are starting from the same place.

It's completely free, platform-agnostic, and over 8,500 educators have already taken it. When you finish, you earn a certificate automatically (no hoops, no fees). Just proof that you showed up for your own growth. 😎

📚 New AI resources this week

1️⃣ AI’s Memory Capabilities Have Implications for K-12 (via Government Technology) — As AI tools get better at remembering users across conversations, they may become more useful for personalized learning—but also create new privacy and governance questions.

2️⃣ How K–12 Districts Are Boosting Student Literacy With Technology (via EdTech Magazine) — Looks at districts using AI-powered reading tools to analyze student performance, provide practice, and give teachers more actionable information.

3️⃣ Can Schools Trust AI to Translate for Non-English-Speaking Parents? (via Education Week) — AI translation can dramatically improve communication with multilingual families, but districts are also confronting issues of accuracy, cultural context, student privacy, and when human translators are still essential.

This week, the Ditch That Textbook community has been busy! Jump into any of these discussion threads to see what others are posting — and share your thoughts!

POST TO THE COMMUNITY: If you have something to share … or a question to ask … or something you’re trying to figure out, please go to the #TeacherLife channel in the DTT community and click the yellow “New Post” button!

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🗳 Poll: Navigating the fringe opinions

Seems like the loudest voices these days are on the “no tech” / “never tech” side OR on the “all tech” / “always tech” side.

I think those of us that spend significant time in schools — especially classrooms — aren’t on the fringes like that.

Lots of us are in what I call “the sensible middle.” I talked about that on the Educast 3000 podcast recently. (Read more below.)

Would love to hear your thoughts on this — in the discussion below!

🤖 Why the “sensible middle” is important with tech and AI

I was a guest on the EduCast 3000 podcast recently with Ryan Lufkin and guest co-host Jody Sailor.

We covered a lot of ground! We talked about how Ditch That Textbook started … what it's like teaching high school Spanish (every day) again … the promises and perils of AI.

But somewhere in the middle, I went on a bit of a rant.

Here's what I said:

"I feel like the ones of us that are in schools on a regular basis, we live in the sensible middle, where we go, if it'll help me, I'll use it. But if it doesn't, I won't. But it's all of those angry, loud … sorry, I've gotten way off track here. But those angry, loud voices are all on the outside, on the edges."

I apologized for going on a tangent in the moment. But looking back, I guess going on that tangent was the whole point.

A few minutes earlier, I was talking about the struggle of lots of schools and districts these days:

"It's easy to point a finger at somebody and say, 'Why aren't you using this and keeping up with the times?' And then also turn around and say, 'Why in the world are you using this stuff when it's so harmful and so dangerous?'"

As a school leader, you've probably heard both of these! (Sometimes in the same meeting — or even from the same person.)

These statements are from the edges …

The "just go back to paper and textbooks" crowd is getting louder and louder. I asked Ryan and Jody … do you remember what instruction was like when it was just textbooks? We decided that some folks are looking at this through optimistic, rose-colored glasses.

But if you work in schools day by day, you probbaly live in the sensible middle. If it'll help me, I'll use it. If it doesn't, I won't.

The problem, though, is that the middle doesn’t get clicks and views. It doesn’t goose the social media algorithms and get in front of everyone.

But the more educators (and school leaders) I talk to, I realize there are LOTS of us in the sensible middle.

Here are a few more moments that speak to that “sensible middle” …

Jody made a point I hadn't heard framed quite this way:

Jody: "Typically when I was in a classroom, I got the technology first. I got to get comfortable with it. I got to introduce it to my students. And AI is a whole different ballgame, where some of our students had it before our educators."

Me: "And it's such different technology than we're used to. … If you ask an AI model the same question 10 times, you might get 10 different answers."

Think about the playbook most tech rollouts. Pilot it with a few teachers. Train everybody. Teachers get comfortable. Then it goes to students. (Same playbook we’re still using in most cases, which is fine.)

That playbook makes two assumptions:

With AI, neither is true.

As we know, students aren't waiting for our rollout. Lots of them are already using it — on their phones for a homework due the next day.

Plus, the tool itself is unpredictable. A demo that looks amazing in a PD session might give a teacher something totally different the next morning.

So what does that mean for leaders?

We can't wait become “experts” first. Teachers have to learn alongside students. By nature, that might mean they’re “behind” — or “alongside them.” But when we’re all using this incredibly versatile technology in our own different ways, then “behind” isn’t really as big of a deal. It isn’t a competition.

I told Ryan and Jody about a presentation I did to parents in an Indianapolis-area school district. They had surveyed parents about their AI views and opinions beforehand. The results didn’t talk about data centers or the shifting workforce.

Me: "A lot of them, in a variety of different words, said, 'We're afraid it's going to make our kids stupid.'"

"All of us here have seen examples of how if it's used in the right way, then it certainly can. But will we use it that way? Will kids use it that way if it's left up to them?"

We see it with our own two eyes in classrooms and with students. Kids will ask AI before they even think about the question … especially when they're playing the game of school. If the goal is to collect points, get the grade and move on, and AI is the easiest way to collect the points, some kids will take it. I've had to push back on it myself.

I think we want parents in the sensible middle with us. If so, we need to talk with them about:

3. Time is the barrier everyone names. Comfort is the one we don't.

When Jody asked what holds teachers back, I started with the answer everybody gives. Time. But I think there’s a layer deeper than that …

Me: "We have so many leaders that will take professional development time and pack it full of a whole bunch of presentations about stuff. Which is funny that I'm saying that, because that's how I make my living."

"I used to work across the hall from a teacher that had three years' worth of photocopies already made on his shelves. … Time is the easy one that everybody talks about. But I think comfort is one of them that we don't talk about as much."

Now, to be fair … comfort isn't laziness. That teacher had built something that worked for him. Plenty of comfortable teachers get good results. And when you've already planned 180 days of instruction, a new tool that doesn't fit the plan feels like a burden, not a gift.

Look at it this way …

Time is a structural problem. You control it. Protect planning time. Stop filling prep periods with obligations. Give teachers time to actually try something.

Comfort is a cultural problem. Time doesn’t fix it. If comfort is the real barrier, more time just means more time to do the same thing.

So, how do you deal with comfort? There are lots of ways, but here’s one that I’ve seen work: trying something low-risk. If it doesn’t go well, nothing is lost. (Especially if they’ve seen colleagues try it, too.)

I loved this little exchange with Ryan because people don’t always think about it …

Ryan: "What's one concrete, no-permission-needed thing they could try in the classroom?"

Me: "Ask our students. Talk to them and say, 'Hey, what do you think about this? Is this working? Is there a different way that we could do this?'"

On AI specifically, though, how you ask matters a lot.

I like to start wide and narrow down — especially when we’re talking about the ethical, responsible ways of using AI. I write about this in my book, AI Literacy in Any Class.

Why that order?

Me: "If you jump straight to 'How are we going to use this in Spanish class?' immediately they're going to go, well, my answer is going to dictate how I'm going to be allowed to use it or not use it. And so they do a little self-preservation."

Start broad, and students have put a lot on the record before it gets personal. Then you can tie their classroom norms back to what they already said they believe.

Me: “Whenever you co-create those, it's not something that's enforced by the teacher or the school. It's something that they came up with together."

At the very end, Jody asked what I'd want every educator to understand about the next decade. I got a little philosophical about what's uniquely human in teaching (the relationships, the experience, everything that happens in the hallway and the lunchroom) and then wrapped up like this:

"The ground is shifting under our feet so quickly right now. We've really got to keep our compass pointed north. I just threw a whole bunch of analogies together there at the end. I hope you knew what I was saying."

The sensible middle.

Want the whole conversation? (Including my embarrassing story about assigning more homework to a class that was already sick of me.) 😂