Ask a Tech Teacher

MAY 2, 2024

Is using AI in your essay writing unethical and a potential reason your teacher may debate your work’s authenticity? This is the same concern that has been posed about essay writing services and the people who use them. However, boundaries become murkier when it comes to AI and its role in writing essays.

Essay 182

Essay Ethics Plagiarism Writing 182

Catlin Tucker

FEBRUARY 10, 2015

Every English teacher has experienced the frustration of introducing a writing skill, like how to write a thesis statement, over and over again without it “sticking.” That said, I can only read so many essays in a year. Here’s how it works: Step 1: Write an essay prompt on the board.

Essay 420

Essay Writing English Language 420

eSchool News

JULY 22, 2020

Providing substantive comments on stacks of student essays, however, is highly time-consuming for busy teachers. As a result, teachers can be reluctant to assign many essays that require students to produce multiple drafts or provide extensive comments on early drafts of students’ writing.

Evaluation 265

Evaluation Writing Essay Teachers 265

Catlin Tucker

APRIL 25, 2017

I had one teacher ask me what I do when a student arrives at my teacher-led station and has not done the work required. That’s a great question, so I wanted to share my very simple strategy with my readers. This strategy is so simple but so effective! How are you using your class time?

Essay 420

Essay Students Assignments Feedback 420

Catlin Tucker

MAY 10, 2016

Then the teacher collects that work, takes it home, and grades it in isolation. Too often the time a teacher spends leaving comments and edits on student work is never used to improve those pieces. As they work, I have conferenced with each individual student to discuss their most recent argumentative essays.

Grades 420

Grades Essay Feedback Writing 420

Ask a Tech Teacher

JUNE 28, 2024

Essay writing is a crucial skill for academic and professional success because it teaches clear, logical, and persuasive communication. In this blog post, we’ll unlock the secrets to successful essay writing and share 10 proven tips to help you level up your writing game. What is Effective Essay Writing?

Essay 157

Essay Writing Plagiarism Communication 157

eSchool News

JULY 19, 2016

has partnered with Story2 , a company that teaches students to tell their stories out loud and write authentic admission essays, to use the Story2 EssayBuilder Plus platform to improve college access and readiness among its high school students. Perris Union School District in Riverside, Calif.,

Essay 158

Essay Writing Communication Skills 158

Ask a Tech Teacher

APRIL 29, 2024

From the three-paragraph essay to one that lives up to the purpose of essays is a big leap both scholastically and skills-wise. Here, we delve into practical tips and strategies to transform your writing from good to great, ensuring your essays are clear, compelling, and academically rigorous.

Essay 158

Essay Writing Skills Plagiarism 158

Catlin Tucker

MAY 9, 2019

Sometimes I didn’t even know what the format of the final exam would be…essay, multiple choice, or short answer. In a coaching session last month, I had a teacher ask me how to create a final exam that complements a standards-based approach to assessing students. My suggestion was to create a personalized final exam.

Exams 419

Exams Essay Fairness Coaching 419

Ask a Tech Teacher

AUGUST 24, 2023

Teaching Critical Thinking Through Essay Examples: Unlocking Minds We’re exploring a fun classroom adventure where teachers teach us to think carefully and write good essays using examples. We’ll see how these great teachers turn simple essays into smart thinking tools. Why Essays?

Critical Thinking 148

Critical Thinking Essay Teaching Exams 148

eSchool News

FEBRUARY 1, 2023

K-12 teachers report the highest burnout rate among all industries nationally, according to a June 2022 Gallup poll. There is an estimated teacher shortage of over 300,000. But what if every single teacher could have an AI assistant? Preparing lessons is one of the more time-consuming parts of a teacher’s job.

Teachers 278

Teachers Textbooks Multiple Choice Questions Essay 278

eSchool News

JUNE 28, 2024

Instead of forbidding generative AI tools, it’s critical that teachers show students how and when it’s appropriate to use AI in student writing. Instead of forbidding generative AI tools, it’s critical that teachers show students how and when it’s appropriate to use AI in student writing. It’s intimidating.

Writing 328

Writing Essay Plagiarism Assignments 328

Ask a Tech Teacher

MAY 18, 2023

Many students dread IB essays. Read how to draft an IB extended essay below Writing Strategies for an Extended Essay in the International Baccalaureate Program IB is a rigorous two-year project for personal and academic development. One of them is the extended essay. Hence, you need all the help you can get.

Essay 148

Essay Writing Plagiarism Evaluation 148

Catlin Tucker

DECEMBER 28, 2017

I encouraged teachers to stop taking grading home for two simple reasons: Grading in isolation robs us of the opportunity to have conversations with students as we assess their work and, ultimately, makes feedback one-sided and less effective. They want to know exactly how I have managed that as a high school English teacher.

Grades 420

Grades Blended Learning Essay Feedback 420

eSchool News

OCTOBER 19, 2017

When teachers used digital educational games in the classroom, students raised test scores by more than half a letter grade in only three weeks, according to a study from researchers at Vanderbilt University and partners at Legends of Learning , a research-driven educational game platform. Did you know that it’s Digital Citizenship Week?

Multiple Choice Questions 480

Multiple Choice Questions Teachers Essay Game-Based Learning 480

eSchool News

MAY 23, 2025

They are also designed so teachers across subject areas can include them as part of their courses and help high school students earn a Google Career Certificate for AI Essentials, which introduces AI and teaches the basics of using AI tools. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Learning 276

Learning Students High School High School 276

eSchool News

OCTOBER 13, 2023

Many primers on ChatGPT are available, but I want to focus on teachers’ and students’ concerns about using it in the classroom. It is well-documented and often repeated in teachers’ professional development that the right type of co-learning can deepen understanding and long-term knowledge gains.

Essay 337

Essay Plagiarism Assignments Learning 337

Edsurge

AUGUST 5, 2024

What if why you choose to become a teacher determines how successful you will be in the role? What if, similarly, we learned about the motivations of aspiring K-12 teachers, and used that to predict how effective they will be and how long they will stay in the classroom? Why, in spite of the headwinds, do they become teachers?

Motivation 209

Motivation Teachers Essay Language 209

Catlin Tucker

AUGUST 12, 2017

Instead of spending hours grading assignments designed to help students develop these skills, I limit my energy to providing feedback in class as they work and grading the actual assessments–exam, essay, performance task. For example, a student may return to a formal essay or lab report to improve it after I’ve formally assessed it.

Grades 419

Grades Essay Exams English 419

Ask a Tech Teacher

DECEMBER 18, 2023

Writing an essay paper like a pro needs specific critical skills. Keep reading to enhance your ability to curate a unique essay paper. We are talking about essay writing, which you find a daunting task. Writing an essay is mostly difficult for students as they need to rely on their research and writing abilities.

Essay 155

Essay Writing Skills Discussions 155

eSchool News

OCTOBER 10, 2022

As a former high school teacher and current content author for AP History and Social Sciences, I’ve learned several key strategies to help your students earn the AP scores they need to assist them in their academic careers—and retain the material that they have learned.

Exams 317

Exams Essay Testing History 317

Catlin Tucker

APRIL 17, 2017

I used my teacher-led station for synchronous editing. I also added static comments with questions, suggestions, and links to additional resources that might be useful. Groups of 8 students rotated through my teacher-led station in 20-minute intervals. I was able to support students throughout the entire process.

Grades 420

Grades Feedback Essay Blended Learning 420

eSchool News

DECEMBER 13, 2024

This seems to be the norm: AI as the mortal enemy of all classroom teachers. So to all the teachers out there: Resistance is futile. On the other extreme is its complete acceptance; basically, you enter the essay prompt into ChatGPT and ask it to write the paper for you. I think of this as absolute cognitive outsourcing.

Teachers 246

Teachers Writing Critical Thinking Feedback 246

eSchool News

AUGUST 9, 2024

While 89 percent of teachers reported in a recent survey that they believe generative AI will have an impact on teaching, recent reporting in the Wall Street Journal and The74 have rightly identified some of AI’s limitations in education, questioning the technology’s ability to serve as, for example, an effective tutor.

Teaching 325

Teaching Essay Teaching Methods Intelligence 325

Catlin Tucker

OCTOBER 5, 2021

When I work with teachers shifting to blended learning, I strive to establish the WHY driving our work together. I want teachers to understand the purpose and value of the shift to blended learning. In training sessions, I ask teachers to think about why they use this model. Blended learning is not a reaction to a moment.

Blended Learning 544

Blended Learning Metacognitive Skills Learning Motivation 544

Edsurge

JUNE 14, 2023

A perennial question as technology improves is the extent to which it will change—or replace— the work traditionally done by humans. Then again, we wondered, could an AI scoring and feedback system really help students as much as teachers could? Teachers have the ability to say, 'What were you trying to tell me?

Grades 186

Grades Essay Teachers Feedback 186

Catlin Tucker

AUGUST 23, 2024

This shift has led to the growing adoption of co-teaching models, where general and special education teachers collaborate to meet the diverse needs of their students. Teacher 1: Provides targeted instruction tailored to each group’s needs, abilities, and skill levels.

Teaching 395

Teaching Writing Essay Discussions 395

eSchool News

OCTOBER 28, 2024

As educational AI research tries to keep up with AI development, questions remain surrounding the impact of AI use on student motivation and overall learning. These questions are particularly significant for students of color, who consistently encounter more systemic barriers than their white peers ( Frausto et al.,

Motivation 332

Motivation Essay Learning Beliefs 332

eSchool News

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

In each of these cases, teachers evolved, adopting new strategies and tools to keep students learning. Many teachers already are rethinking assessments and assignments to shift the question from how students will use AI to cheat, to how students can learn to use AI responsibly. As AI matures, educators will need to do the same.

Plagiarism 331

Plagiarism Education Assignments Essay 331

eSchool News

DECEMBER 20, 2024

His essay, Money Cant Buy Happiness, included valuable reflections on emotional fulfillment and references to The Great Gatsby, yet his ideas were scattered and the language needed refinement. For example, students can prompt ChatGPT with Help me outline a persuasive essay on solar energy, and it will provide a structured outline.

English 299

English Writing Teaching Essay 299

Edsurge

JUNE 17, 2024

In a recent book exploring the influence of generative AI on teacher education, two researchers, Punya Mishra and Marie K. Heath posed a question that I can’t seem to shake. Mishra and Heath admit they don’t have the answer, but say they think it’s an important question for educators and scholars to consider. What is the cost?

Teachers 218

Teachers Essay Writing Culture 218

Edsurge

MAY 27, 2025

True leadership involves not only encouraging teachers to reconnect with their purpose but also ensuring that they are seen, heard and supported, writes Ryan Burns, an instructional coach and adjunct professor in Warwick, Rhode Island, and a 2024-2025 fellow of the EdSurge Voices of Change Writing Fellowship.

Education 120

Education Essay Culture Math 120

eSchool News

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

percent), and writing papers or essays (44.1 Teachers, already overburdened with bloated class sizes and punishing schedules, aren’t always around after school hours to answer their students’ questions. The most common stressors include homework (55.1 percent), studying for tests (48.8 Alarmingly, 72.6

Essay 285

Essay Ethics Schools Students 285

eSchool News

APRIL 11, 2023

A recent survey by study.com found that nearly 90 percent of students admitted to using OpenAI’s chatbot in some home-related capacity, and more than 25 percent of teachers have already caught a student cheating using the chatbot. This begs a two-fold question: why do students cheat in the first place, and why is it so easy to cheat?

Exams 292

Exams Essay Academic Integrity Education 292

eSchool News

JUNE 27, 2024

It’s possible to combine PBL and maker education across the curriculum–and during a must-see ISTELive 24 session , Nicholas Provenzano , a teacher, technology coordinator, and makerspace director at University Liggett School in Michigan, demonstrated just how to do it. We want that engagement,” Provenzano said.

Curriculum 300

Curriculum Failure Essay Art 300

eSchool News

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

AI’s rise in popularity has brought with it questions about ethics, skills students will need for workplace success, and how to balance negatives with positives when it comes to teaching with this new generative tool. Here are five insights around AI in education: What is the best AI tool for teachers? Now prove me wrong.”

Ethics 298

Ethics Education Internet Essay 298

eSchool News

APRIL 17, 2025

AI-powered writing assistants help students refine their essays and creative writing, offering suggestions that improve clarity and expression. When they integrate AI tools into the classroom, educators nurture creativity, making learning fun while also preparing students for a future where AI will be an essential part of creative industries.

Multiple Choice Questions 249

Multiple Choice Questions Quizzes Essay Art 249