Download the free companion resource (no email required): Digital Citizenship Is Everyone's Job, Episode 16 Companion

Digital citizenship is not just the tech teacher's job. It's everyone's job, and this week is Digital Citizenship Week.

In this episode, I share why my son's first experience with the internet in 4th or 5th grade is the reason I care so much about this topic, why I only see each class about 22 times a year, and what you can do in five minutes to be one of the places kids hear it. We also talk about what to teach (including how to tell what's real and what's AI-generated) and where to find free lessons, most of which aren't mine.

Looking for everything in one place?

• Digital Citizenship MEGA Bundle, Grades 3-5 (12 internet safety resources: games, flipbooks, an escape room, poster projects, and more) on Teachers Pay Teachers

My free resource

• FREE Digital Citizenship Resource Guide, K-5 (22 videos, 5 games, 5 eBooks, 6 lessons and projects). This one is a free email signup.

More from me (Teachers Pay Teachers)

• Internet Safety Early Finisher Digital Choice Board, Grades 6-12
• Digital Citizenship Computer Lab Warm-Ups (10-minute bell ringers): 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th
• All my warm-ups

Free lessons and resources from other organizations

• Common Sense Education: Digital Citizenship Week activities for every grade level
• Common Sense Education: K-12 Digital Literacy and Well-Being Curriculum (free)
• Common Sense Education: AI literacy lessons, K-12 (most 20 minutes or less)
• PBS NewsHour Classroom: Recognizing AI-generated content, grades 6-12
• Google Be Internet Awesome and Interland
• NetSmartz from NCMEC, including Into the Cloud
• ConnectSafely parent guides
• AAP Family Media Plan

Stay in touch

• Get one practical, time-saving idea each week: thattechsavvyteacher.com/newsletter

A quick note on email: the companion PDF does not ask for your email. Some of the resources linked inside it might, like my free guide above.

If this episode helped, follow the show and pass it along to a teacher who thinks this isn't their job.

The Time-Saving Teacher: From Scattered to Strategic

Read the companion guide (PDF) for screenshots, a checklist, and every video link from this episode.

If you've never made a video, or video has always felt like too much work, Google Vids is a good place to start. This week I tried three ways to turn something I'd already made into a video: a Slides presentation, a PDF, and the script from one of my podcast episodes. I share what worked, what I'd change, and one thing I couldn't do.

This is the third episode in our AI series. You are the professional, and you drive. AI is there for the days you're out of time or out of ideas. This episode is about you making a video for your students to watch, not about students working with AI.

What we cover

• How to find Google Vids and why the AI options depend on your organization's settings
• Slides to video, and why you should check the narration before you create the video
• Docs to video, and what I thought of the AI-generated images
• Turning a podcast script into a video
• The one thing I missed: recording my own voiceover
• My checklist before students watch

Key takeaways

1. If you've never made a video, start with something you already have, or start with a prompt.
2. Check the narration and the voice before you create the video, because the AI doesn't know your students' grade level.
3. Treat what it makes as a first draft. It's a good start, and you finish it.

Videos from this episode

• Internet Safety Rules, made from a Slides presentation (version 1, version 2)
• A professional development PDF turned into a video
• A podcast episode script turned into a video (Episode 5)

Videos I've made in Google Vids

• Browser Buttons (AI voice)
• What Is Inside a Computer (AI voice)
• Computer Parts for Kids (my own voiceover)
• Tech Savvy Teaching (my own voiceover)

Free resources

• Google Docs and Google Slides Mini Tutorials for Students: 32 short videos in one place
• Join my newsletter for a weekly email with practical ways to save time

If this episode helped, please follow the show and pass it along to a teacher friend.

This is the second episode in our AI series, and it starts with something worth saying plainly. You are the professional in the room, not AI.

When a student isn't getting something, the usual move is to ask AI to explain it younger. That works, but it only changes the vocabulary, not the delivery. In this episode I walk through a second move, changing the format entirely, and a third, getting AI to help you find the actual misconception behind a mistake instead of just handing you another generic explanation.

I also ran a real example using my Claude free teacher account, not live, a third grade water cycle passage and jingle, and I show you exactly how I caught and fixed a problem in it by asking one more question afterward.

Grab the full companion resource, all five prompts and the whole AI conversation here.

If you found this helpful, join the newsletter here: https://thattechsavvyteacher.com/newsletter

Tools mentioned: MagicSchool AI, SchoolAI

Grab the free companion guide with copy-paste AI prompts and step-by-step directions. .

In this episode, I walk through exactly how I use AI to compare my curriculum against my state standards, find the gaps, and combine old and new material when I switch textbooks or grade levels.

Sign up free:

• Claude for Teachers
• ChatGPT for Teachers

I was sick in bed Tuesday through Friday last week, and in the middle of it, I'm also downsizing into an apartment. Two things that would normally wreck a teacher's schedule. But I never once worried about what was happening in my classroom.

In this episode, I walk through why that was possible: a classroom website I built once, five years ago, that my students already know how to navigate on their own. I share exactly how it's set up for K through 2 and 3rd through 5th, and why updating it now just means swapping a link, not rebuilding anything.

I also talk about why I'm not afraid of AI replacing my thinking, just teaching me the how, and why it's worth jotting down your own system idea now, even if you don't have time to build it until a break.

Key Takeaways:

A system built once can carry you through the chaos life throws at you

You don't need to know how to build something to start dreaming about what you want the outcome to look like

AI can teach you the how instead of thinking for you

Start small: write the idea down now, build it when you have the time

Resources mentioned:

Free companion guide

Google Sites Made Simple (build your own classroom website)

See my site in action.

This week I'm sharing the system that replaced my old unfinished work folder, the one that lived in each student's desk and disappeared the second I looked away.

Instead, I used plain binder pocket dividers mounted right under the board at the front of my room, one pocket per student. Every day's morning work went in as part of the routine, absent students' missed papers went straight into their pocket instead of getting set aside, and anything left unfinished landed there too. I could see the whole room's status at a glance, no digging, no asking, no guessing.

Key takeaways:

• Give absent and unfinished work one visible place, and you take the guesswork out of it for both you and your students
• It doesn't have to be pockets. It has to be something you can actually see, every day, without extra effort
• If you don't have a self-contained classroom, use this as a brainstorming prompt. Talking with other teachers or seeing how someone else's room is set up doesn't mean copying it, it just gets your own thinking moving

Grab the full companion breakdown in the free PDF, and if you want more support building systems like this one, Teacher Systems Lab GPT is built for exactly that.

This episode comes with a free companion guide, grab it here: Free Companion Guide⁠

Margin doesn't start when you get to school. It starts the moment your eyes open. In this episode, I walk through two habits that protect your mental energy from the first few minutes of your day, and the systems that make sure your future self is never scrambling to catch up. This isn't just for new teachers or for making it to October, it's a good habit for life, for anybody.

Grab the free Google Doc templates for teachers.

Get more tips like this every week.

Grab the free "Who, What, When, Where" guide linked in the show notes. A children's pastor taught Alison this simple rule decades ago, and it still works: lead with who it's for, what to do, when, and where, and people actually read what you send instead of setting it aside for later.

Free Resource

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