Summary:
Shawn and Troy talk about ISTE25. Dave teaches science to girls.
Jokes:
A boxer complains to his doctor about insomnia.
Doc Have you tried counting sheep?
Boxer Yes, but whenever I get to 9, I stand up
Beethoven wasn’t in the market to buy a house.
- He was just looking Für Elise.
Nothing embarrasses a psychic more than throwing them a surprise party.
If my name were Bill, I would go to the payroll department every payday and say “it’s time to pay your Bill”.
for those of you asking:
do ya know where my jokes come from?
- I get them from my dad-a-base…
Turns out when you’re asked who your favourite child is you’re expected to pick from your own.
- I know that now.
A dog gave birth to puppies on the road…
- A cop cited her for littering…
What’s the difference between a jeweller and a jailer?
- One sells watches while the other watches cells.
My air conditioner broke.
- I lost my cool.
Middle School Science Minute
by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
Teaching Science to Girls
I was recently reading the June 20, 2025 blog posting on the National Science Teachers Association website.
The blog was posted by Susan Deemer and the title of her blog post was “Why Teaching Science to Girls Now is More Important Than Ever.”
Susan said that the longer she teaches, the more she realizes that cultivating a scientific mindset is the most important thing that she can teach, particularly when teaching girls, as she has for most of her career. This is important for two reasons:
1. Scientific thinking can help eradicate self-defeating thought patterns and deconstruct stereotypes about girls and women perpetuated for generations.
2. A scientific mindset is critical as girls grow up to become consumers of products, news, and services, as well as citizens who effect change in their communities.
https://k12science.net/teaching-science-to-girls/
Reports from the Front Lines
- ISTE 2025
- Most recommended AIs were Claude, Chat GPT, You.ai, and Poe.com.
- HAIL: Humanize, Augment, Integrate, Leverage for your Lesson Design
- Wrappers or LLMs?
- Wrappers are making $$: School AI, Magic School, Brisk
- The AI Assist: Strategies for Integrating AI into the Very Human Act of Teaching
The Social Web
Eric Curts @ericcurts.bsky.social
Did you know that Quizizz is changing their name? I received this box from them with the new name inside. On June 24th I will open the box and reveal the new name! Stay tuned… @quizizz.bsky.social #BeyondtheZZZ #EduSky #EdTech . And here’s a rant by a teacher whose computer finally doesn’t autocorrect Quizizz and will now have to be retrained on the new name: https://youtu.be/-CK0MkdO1XY . The new name is Wayground. Got the t-shirt.
Eric Curts @ericcurts.bsky.social
If you attended #ISTELive (in person or virtual) and missed my session: 🧰 The AI Toolbox: Best AI Tools for Schools ▶️ You can watch the recording of the session on the ISTE site – conference.iste.org/2025/program…
If you attended #ISTELive keep the learning going by sharing your favorite resources, sessions, takeaways and more in our sharing document – http://bit.ly/iste25-share
Don’t miss out—level up your edtech experience with my specially curated ISTE 25 resources. Packed with valuable insights and ideas you can implement immediately! Grab your resources here: http://tinyurl.com/4rthmcve #ISTELive25 #ASCDAnnual
Strategies:
Using AI in the Classroom
Finding the right visual to explain a difficult concept is time consuming. Here’s a strategy for making your own quick image to use in class. First, open an AI that does graphics. Second, ask it to define the difficult concept using metaphors and similes. Ask it to be visual and verbose. Check the output for accuracy and then finish it off by asking it to create an image based on that description. Chat GPT has worked well for me on this.
Resources:
Book: The AI Assist by Nathan Lang-Raad
“We must recognize the value of human connection in teaching, ensuring that AI tools serve as supplements to—not replacements for—human teachers. This approach will help maintain a balance where AI enriches human interaction, creativity, and empathy in the classroom.”
AXIS: The Culture Translator
Peak Gaming
What it is: A difficult and cute cooperative climbing game called Peak has grown in popularity in the gaming space over the last few weeks.
Why it’s so popular: In Peak, the goal is to summit a mountain with up to three friends by solving puzzles, fighting off environmental hazards, and helping each other up. Failing any of these means you could fall, and lose minutes or even hours of progress. Peak combines two of the more modern genres in gaming: simple, open-ended co-op games (think Lethal Company and REPO) and punishing, challenge-based games (like Getting Over It and Jump King). Teens and social media algorithms appear to love the combination of friends on voice chat and the triumph and anguish of a challenge.
175 Writing Prompts to Spark Discussion and Reflection
Web Spotlight:
My students think it’s fine to cheat with AI. Maybe they’re onto something.
What is the real value of a humanities education?
Their real aim, as the philosopher Megan Fritts writes, is “the formation of human persons.”
…while the purpose of other departments is ultimately to create a product, a humanities education is meant to be different, because the student herself is the product.
Aristotle proposed back in Ancient Greece. He believed the real goal was not to impart knowledge, but to cultivate the virtues: honesty, justice, courage, and all the other character traits that make for a flourishing life.
your job is to focus on something else — something that will help them flourish in the long run, even if they don’t fully see the value in it now.
Your job is to be their Aristotle.
…knowing how to make good judgments when faced with the complex, dynamic situations life throws at you.
breakneck pace of technological innovation means they’re going to have to choose, again and again and again, how to make use of emerging technologies — and how not to. The best training they can get now is training in how to wisely make this type of choice.
using generative AI in the classroom threatens to short-circuit, because it removes something incredibly valuable: friction.
Encountering friction is how we give our cognitive muscles a workout. Taking it out of the picture makes things easier in the short term, but in the long term, it can lead to intellectual deskilling, where our cognitive muscles gradually become weaker for lack of use.
https://www.vox.com/advice/413189/ai-cheating-college-humanities-education-chatgpt
Random Thoughts . . .
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