Essential Materials for New Instructors
In the ever-evolving world of education, incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) can be a game-changer. Here's an AI Starter Kit for Teachers, a collection of free resources, tools, courses, and tips designed to enhance lesson planning, engage students, and save time.
Designing Lessons with AI
Canva for Education
Canva for Education offers free AI-powered design tools to create lesson plans, quizzes, worksheets, presentations, and visually engaging activities. Its Magic Write™ AI assistant helps brainstorm ideas and generate or refine lesson content tailored to grade levels. It integrates with Learning Management Systems (LMS) for easy sharing and review.
Monsha’s AI Resources
Monsha’s AI resources provide free self-paced training courses for teachers new to AI. These include how to use ChatGPT for classroom images, rubrics, individualized education programs (IEPs), generating lesson plans, assessment questions, and creating presentations using AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot.
Eduaide.ai
Eduaide.ai features an AI assistant (Erasmus) to create custom educational games, graphic organizers, lesson plans, and assessments that meet diverse learner needs. Teachers can generate resources by inputting keywords or uploading documents, with easy export options for classroom use.
Code.org’s Artificial Intelligence Foundations
Code.org’s Artificial Intelligence Foundations offers a free, in-depth semester course on AI basics, programming, ethics, and applications geared toward K-12 STEM students. The curriculum includes teacher materials upon registration, suitable for educators seeking to build their AI knowledge from the ground up.
Notion AI
Notion AI supports organizing curriculum materials, brainstorming, and writing assistance, making lesson planning and educational content creation more efficient.
These resources combine practical AI applications with training and ready-to-use tools, making them ideal for teachers starting AI integration in education. They support lesson design, personalized learning, assessment, and content creation without requiring prior AI expertise.
Embracing the Digital Classroom
Google Classroom remains the most popular digital tool in education due to its cost, accessibility, ease of use, and flexibility. The AI Starter Kit for Teachers also provides resources for teachers to learn about and use digital tools such as Zoom, TikTok, Minecraft, Microsoft Teams, Flipgrid, and more.
In addition, the kit offers free lesson plans for implementing digital tools like Flip, Kahoot!, Wakelet, Boom Cards, TikTok, and others in the classroom. It provides troubleshooting tips for livestreaming a class, screencasting a lesson, creating a YouTube channel, teaching like an influencer, fixing webcam and microphone issues, printing from a computer, extending laptop battery charge for a full school day, using virtual reality (VR) to enhance lessons, teaching a VR lesson, setting up VR in schools for free, showing movies and videos in class, creating video lectures, hosting school webinars, using Zoom/video conferencing, creating a Roblox classroom, and more.
A Well-Rounded Education
The AI Starter Kit for Teachers also addresses other important aspects of teaching, such as best practices for trauma-informed teaching, growth mindset, leveraging technology to assess student learning, and eleven edtech tips for new teachers. It offers resources for teachers to learn about and support LGTBQ+ students, provides safe-viewing tips and education-focused channels to take advantage of YouTube’s free educational videos, and offers recommendations for the best desktop computers, laptops, tablets, laptop docking stations, webcams, ring lights, headphones, laptop cases, and hardware for teachers.
Lastly, the kit offers free virtual escape rooms that incorporate riddles, puzzles, math, literacy skills, and team-building opportunities. It also provides resources for teachers to learn about authentic exploratory research, microproductivity, and digital icebreakers to ease into the new school year.
With this AI Starter Kit for Teachers, educators can embark on a journey of continuous learning, embracing the latest tools and guidance for teaching with AI, while ensuring a well-rounded, engaging, and effective educational experience for their students.
- Canva for Education's AI-powered design tools allow teachers to create lesson plans, quizzes, and presentations that cater to different grade levels.
- Monsha's AI resources provide self-paced training courses for teachers to learn how to use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot for lesson planning and assessment.
- Eduaide.ai's AI assistant, Erasmus, creates custom educational games, graphic organizers, and assessments tailored to diverse learner needs.
- Code.org's Artificial Intelligence Foundations offers a free, comprehensive course on AI basics, programming, ethics, and applications for K-12 STEM students.
- Notion AI speeds up lesson planning and educational content creation by offering organizing, brainstorming, and writing assistance.
- Google Classroom, a popular digital tool in education, remains valuable due to its cost, accessibility, ease of use, and flexibility.
- The AI Starter Kit for Teachers offers resources for teachers to learn about and use various digital tools like Zoom, TikTok, Minecraft, Microsoft Teams, Flipgrid, and more.
- The kit provides free lesson plans for utilizing digital tools such as Flip, Kahoot!, Wakelet, Boom Cards, TikTok, and others, along with troubleshooting tips for teaching effectively in a virtual learning environment.
