December 2023

Can AI Help Me Win the Lottery?

by Michelle | Dec 31, 2023

Let’s take a look today at whether AI and ChatGPT can pick the winneing lottery numbers. Can AI pick the winning lottery numbers? In my last blog and vlog, I told you the crazy story of my office-mate taking an early and commanding lead in our office hockey pool. AI and ChatGPT can offer genuine help in winning a sports pool – at least until everyone else figures this out too. But can it pick the winning lottery numbers? It’s a good question.

The lottery relies on probability and is an actual mathematical process; one not influenced by outside forces. Those tumbling balls that are picked out ony by one for the lottery are not impacted by anything other than random selection. That’s different from athletes who are human, and are vulnerable to all the things that affect humans. Watch the video below for a more in-depth analysis of this topic!

Winning the Office Hockey Pool with ChatGPT

by Michelle | Dec 28, 2023

This one is awesome!! And, admittedly somewhat unexpected.

My office mate is winning our office hockey pool – by A LOT, and she is increasing the gap between herself and second place daily. I can’t wait to do an update to this after Christmas break!!

Check out the video below for the specifics, and then the next time you have an opportunity to participate in a sports pool, you’ll be ready to walk away with the pot of cash!

Students using ChatGPT to Cheat

by Michelle | Dec 26, 2023

We need to talk about this.

It’s on the minds of teachers everywhere. We know that artificial intelligence is not going away, and we know we need to find our way through this new reality. But to do that, we need to talk. We need to discuss how we are navigating this, we need to talk about what can work, and what doesn’t work.

With conversation comes synergy and new ideas.

I’m on social media. Let’s start this conversation. Watch the video below, and then let’s connect on Facebook, Instagram, or X (former Twitter) to bat some ideas around.

How to get Started in ChatGPT

by Michelle | Dec 18, 2023

Teaching is a busy lifestyle. Teachers are busy people.

So, if you havent’ had a chance yet to look at ChatGPT, the AI tool that has taken the world by storm, this video is for you. There’s nothing wrong with not having looked into it yet. But I will tell you that you are missing out on a very HELPFUL ASSISTANT by not checking it out.

I made this video for you. Winter break is upon us, and you might have a minute or two to check it out. But it can be kind of intimidating to hear people talking about AI; like you don’t want to come right out and ask “how do I even find ChatGPT?”

Well, you don’t need to ask the uncomfortable question! Just click on the video below where I help you find ChatGPT, sign up, and start using it!!

It’s going to be okay! And you’re going to be glad you watched this, and even more glad to have a bit of assistance from AI in managing the complexities of teaching in the twenty-first century!

Meet the Avatar: Exploring the World of AI Education

by Michelle | Dec 16, 2023

I was caught off-guard today. That rarely happens, and when it does, at my age, it’s pretty awesome. I had seen in a video an AI application called Hey Gen and the video avatar that was demonstrated in the video was pretty impressive. Now, this isn’t my first attempt to acquire an AI avatar, and in light of the fact that the one I paid $25 for a few short weeks ago had a third arm (we’ll talk about some of the challenges of AI image generation in another post), my expectations were not super high. What Hey Gen delivered for free blew me away. In fact, when I sent the demonstration video to my family, all conceded that had I not revealed that the video was AI, and was neither me, nor my voice, they were speechless.

What Teachers Should Fear about AI

by Michelle | Dec 16, 2023

Is artificial intelligence something we should be afraid of in K-12? It’s a good question, and there is certainly enough fear-mongering of all manner on the worldwide web that would suggest that we should fear…. something? What something?

I spent some time thinking about this question, and what I determined is that my biggest fear is that teachers will not start using these powerful tools right away to make their jobs easier, and to improve the efficiency of their classrooms.

I will be publishing ideas, tutorials and lessons for teachers to help get started with using these powerful tools, because with intentional use, there is nothing to fear!

Bellringers for Science 7

by Michelle | Dec 11, 2023

Interactions and Ecosystems Science 7 bellringers

I spent some time this weekend learning how to do the “bulk create” process within Canva for education. When learning a new skill, I prefer to create relevant content that can be used by teachers. So, for this learning process, I have created some “bellringers” for the Alberta science curriculum – grades 7, 8 and 9. To kick off the release of these bellringers, here is the link to my YouTube channel Interactions and Ecosystems Bellringers playlist. Over the coming days, many more videos will be uploaded, and playlists for other units and other grades will be forthcoming too!!

Google Lens is Transforming the Lives of Struggling Readers

by Michelle | Dec 7, 2023

In my generation, math teachers used to tell us “you’re not going to have a calculator with you every minute of the day when you’re an adult. It’s important to learn to do math without a calculator. While I’m sure there was a point to be made with that statement, the technological revolution of the past decades has made that statement entirely false. My laptop has a calculator, my iPhone has a calculator, and my iPad has a calculator. I literally have a calculator within reach every single day, almost every minute of the day!

And while it’s great that we have that kind of numeracy support in our day to day lives, it would sure be nice if we could have that same level of support for literacy as well, wouldn’t it?

Enter Google Lens.

It’s been available on Android devices for some time, but it’s been somewhat unknown on iOS devices, partly because it’s not called Google Lens on the Apple devices. It’s just called Google. Not Google Chrome, not Google Drive, not Google Keep. Just Google. TO have access to Google Lens on an iOS device, you’ll find the power in the Google App.

With this app installed on a phone, students whos struggle with reading will have access to test-to-speech support everywhere they go.

AND, it also offers translation tools as well. So for students who are new to our country, and who are learning the language, instantaneous translation is a possibility. Google does not yet have all languages available in this tool, but the number of languages is increasing all the time, making this a viable tool for language learners as well as readers.

Here’s a quick video to show you how to accomplish these tasks!

Chat GPT #QuickWins for Teachers

by Michelle | Dec 1, 2023

Let’s talk about some ideas for teachers to start using ChatGPT to save time. Teachers are busy people, and sometimes it feels like there’s always one more thing being added to the “to-do” list that teachers are expected to undertake. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some help? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have an assistant who could come up with new ideas and ways to refresh your projects, assessments, newsletters, report card comments, and other clerical duties? Well, please let me introduce you to ChatGPT. Your new idea-generating, text-writing virtual assistant. Here are some ideas to test out in ChatGPT. Enter one of these prompts, and watch how FAST it comes up with ideas for you. This is a game-changer.