This School Year - One Day at a Time

There’s a saying that floats through staff rooms and late-night lesson-planning sessions: “Just make it through the week.” But sometimes, even a week feels too long. The truth is, teaching is a calling that demands presence—not perfection. And the secret to staying grounded in the whirlwind of emails, behavior plans, changing curriculum, and extracurricular chaos? Taking it one day at a time.

Some mornings, the to-do list stretches longer than the school day. Grading, meetings, parent communication, differentiation… it can be paralyzing. But here’s the shift: zoom in. Focus on today. What’s one thing you can accomplish that will move the needle? What’s one student who needs a little extra encouragement? What’s one moment where you can pause and breathe between bells? These “small wins” build momentum—and sanity.

Give yourself permission to slow down. You don’t have to be the Pinterest-perfect teacher every day. Students remember how you made them feel, not how beautiful your anchor charts were. They need consistent, caring adults more than they need daily reinvention. By showing up with intention—even when you’re tired—you’re modeling resilience, grace, and presence.

And finally, believe in the power of the reset. Every day is a fresh page. Yesterday’s chaos doesn’t define today’s potential. Progress over perfection, always. When we give ourselves the same grace we offer our students, we rediscover our love for this work—and the people it’s for.

So take a breath, sip your coffee, and take it one day at a time. That’s more than enough. Have a great start to the school year and remember to take it one day at a time.

The Best AI Tools Teachers Should Be Using in 2025

Let’s be real: in 2025, AI isn’t just for coders in hoodies or sci-fi movie villains anymore — it’s for us, the teachers juggling lesson plans, grading marathons, and finding new ways to keep 2nd period from falling asleep after lunch.

The good news? AI isn’t here to replace teachers — it’s here to empower us. To give us time back, spark creativity, and maybe even make grading slightly less soul-sucking.

Here are the AI tools I think every teacher should have in their digital toolbox this year:

---

1. MagicSchool.ai – Your AI Teaching Assistant

Need a rubric in 30 seconds? A scaffolded lesson plan for your ELL students? A parent email that doesn’t sound like a robot wrote it? MagicSchool has your back.

It’s built by educators, for educators. It even has a “de-burnout” tool, which I’m pretty sure should come with a cape.

Use it for:
✔️ Lesson planning
✔️ Differentiation ideas
✔️ Email drafts and behavior reports
✔️ Sparknotes for teachers

---

2. Curipod – Interactive Lessons, Instantly

Imagine Pear Deck, Canva, and ChatGPT had a baby. That’s Curipod. You type in your topic (say, “supply and demand” or “Shakespearean insults”) and it creates interactive slides, polls, and drawing prompts your students can engage with live.

Use it for:
✔️ Bell ringers and exit tickets
✔️ Live student feedback
✔️ Low-prep, high-engagement activities

---

3. Diffit – The Differentiation Dream Tool

Got a killer article, but your students read at 3 different levels? Diffit automatically rewrites content at varying reading levels, adds glossaries, comprehension questions, and more. It’s like having your own personalized reading coach.

Use it for:
✔️ Special education and ELL accommodations
✔️ Content area reading
✔️ Current events in accessible formats

---

4. Eduaide.ai – AI for Curriculum Creators

This one’s perfect for us teachers who love designing meaningful lessons from scratch. Eduaide.ai helps you brainstorm activities, design projects, build rubrics, and even write essential questions that don’t make your brain hurt.

Use it for:
✔️ Project-based learning
✔️ Unit design
✔️ Assessment ideas

---

5. ChatGPT - Your Brainstorm Buddy

Whether you’re stuck planning a unit on entrepreneurship, writing a graduation speech, or figuring out how to explain compound interest to freshmen without them falling asleep — ChatGPT can help you think it through, write it out, and make it sound human.

Use it for:
✔️ Drafting documents
✔️ Creative brainstorming
✔️ Student feedback ideas
✔️ Personal reflection prompts

---

A Few Pro Tips for Using AI Like a Pro:

• Start small. Use one tool to solve one problem.
• Keep it human. AI can help you write it, but your voice, your instincts, and your connection with students matter most.
• Stay curious. The best teachers are lifelong learners — treat AI like a new strategy in your teaching playbook.

---

Final Bell: AI doesn’t make you any less of a teacher. It helps you be more of one — more creative, more present, and maybe even more rested. In a world that’s asking teachers to do more with less, these tools just might be the edge we’ve been waiting for.

So go ahead — explore, experiment, and don’t be afraid to ask your new robot friend for a hand.

3 Ways to Stay Sharp This Summer as an Educator

In May, most educators would tell you that they can't wait for summer break. Once it arrives, many choose to travel a lot, rest, recover, read, spend time with family, take up a hobby they enjoy, etc. For others, they work to stay busy or add other income. Hopefully, it is a time to recharge and refresh before the next school year arrives. It is no secret that the past two years in education have been some of the hardest and longest. I am sure this summer is feeling pretty sweet to many this year! 

For the past eleven years, I have had a love/hate relationship with summer. The time off and vacations are wonderful, but the idle time not producing at a job gets to me towards the middle and end of it. I find it hard to have the same discipline that I have during the school year due to being out of my routine and working off a different schedule. I am sure that if you are an educator, you can somewhat relate if you aren't working full time during the summer. So, the question then begs itself, how do we relax yet stay sharp at the same time? Here are three things I am doing this summer that have really helped deal with the change in routine that keep me sharp

1. Each night before bed, I create a daily plan for the next day. I write down the things I am going to accomplish and the times I am going to do them. Things that I like to schedule are exercise, meditation, reading, prayer, activities with my kids, and writing/reading. When we write down our plan for the day before, we are more likely to stick to it and it gives us a sense of purpose and accomplishment for each day. I even got a part-time job this summer helping my neighbor cut lawns 1-2 days a week which has been really good for me to keep busy. 

2. I have been trying to find 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week to challenge my brain in some way. Examples are playing chess, Tetris, Wordscapes, trivia, and completing puzzles that I bought a book for. Our brains need stimulated in challenging ways and these help me think and stay sharp throughout the week. 

3. Rediscover a passion/hobby that is relaxing to you. I like finding things on Facebook Marketplace for cheap and fixing them up. Some examples of things I have bought and fixed as a desk, lamp, nightstand, and chair. I also am getting back into writing both for the blog and weird joke ideas I have. Lastly, poetry helps me think and relax. 

I encourage you to use the remaining time left of the summer to get in shape for what the year will bring. Kids need and deserve our best. It is up to us how we take care of ourselves both mentally and physically. Have another tip for educators to stay sharp this summer? Please comment below!

Don't Let Summer Crush You!

Summertime is here for educators which brings much joy and happiness after a long and challenging school year. For some, it's a time to slow things down, relax, hang with friends, go on vacation, and reflect. Others take up unique jobs and accomplish things they weren't able to during the busy school year. So many options yet how many of us get caught in the "lazy trap?" We tell ourselves that we worked hard all year so we don't have to do anything "too strenuous" this summer. This sounds nice in theory and at the end of the year when we are tired, but summer can crush us as educators if we aren't meticulous about how we choose to grow as people and professionals during the sunny months. 

Now, I am not saying that you don't deserve to sleep in, go on vacations, play with your kids, etc. These are the fruits of our labor throughout the year. My point is that humans weren't meant to be stagnant and sit around for two and a half months. Happiness in our lives does not come from binging Netflix for three days, scrolling through social media non-stop, and floating at the pool for more than a week. It comes from the pain we endure, risks we take, and challenges we accomplish. Weird I know, but when we look back on our lives, it will be things we endured and accomplished that meant the most to us, not the things that require little mental and physical strain.

My challenge to you is this; DON'T GET CRUSHED BY SUMMER! Life is a balancing act. If the pendulum swings too far one way, it is not good for our health. Sit by the pool but read a challenging book. Watch Netflix but take-up a new hobby. Look at social media once a day but write during the times you would normally browse. Sleep in a little but meditate when your up. Go on vacation but stay-up with current best practices in your content area. Hang out with friends but always look for ways to build new relationships. Go shopping but learn a new skill.

So, when you look back on summer in September, hopefully, you have more to talk about when asked the question, "How was your summer?" other than "it was good, yours?" Always challenge the status quo and never stop innovating and growing.

Midway Teachers: Get Energized to Finish Strong!

Congratulations TEACHERS! You have made it through the first half of the 2013-2014 school year. Hopefully you had a lot of fun, grew as a person, and felt like you made a difference! As we reach this midway point, it can be tough to be as motivated as you were back in August to give your best for your students everyday. Sometimes you feel tired, unmotivated, feel in a rut, run out of creativity, etc. It happens to even the best! I wanted to share some ideas with you that will hopefully provide that motivation and energy to finish the year stronger than you started it. Below is a list things you can do right now to ENERGIZE your thoughts and CREATIVITY for the rest of the school year. Please feel free to add more and always remember why you teach and why you went into the profession. Your students will not remember what you taught them, but they will forever remember how you made them feel...

1. Take a period or two to observe other teachers in your building. I know time is precious as a teacher but it is refreshing to see what others are doing. Who knows, you may have some fun and learn something new you could use in your classroom? It doesn't matter if you have been teaching for 5 years or 20, you can always learn a new trick! 
   
2. Do something fun with the people you work with. As a teacher, especially in a larger district, it is hard to get out and really build relationships with other teachers. Get people together for a dinner one night, ask people to do a Mudd Run, take a trip somewhere. It is relaxing and enjoyable to do something fun with other people you work with! If not the people you work with, join an organization and meet new people that you can build a positive network around.
3. Join Twitter and get involved in a Twitter Chat for educators. Each week, there are over 100 different education chats happening on Twitter where professionals talk and discuss all topics in education. CLICK HERE for a list of all the chats, dates, and times. I am amazed at all the wonderful ideas that are shared and relationships that can be built!
   
4. Go to a conference OR take a class. As you read this, I am sure some of you are yelling at me. Conferences are a great way to meet new people, network, and learn. I am very much looking forward to presenting and attending the PETE & C conference in Hershey, PA in February. Secondly, taking classes can be tedious due to the amount of time we have in a day, but continuing to learn new things is rewarding. It inspires us to get better! Taking a class doesn't just have to be education related; it can be cooking, fitness, learning how to do something new, etc.
5. READ!!! It is easy to come home after work, eat dinner, and plop down on the couch and watch TV. The most successful people in this world read everyday. Feed your brain. It is just as important as taking care of your body. You are what you think and put into your mind! CLICK HERE for a list of the best education books to read. 
6. Call your students parents with positive phone calls. How many of us actually do this? Parents love it and you will feel good about doing it. I challenge you to call five parents a week with a positive phone call. It will make you feel great about what you do.
   
7.  EXERCISE!!! If you aren't exercising at least a 3-5 times a week, you are doing your students a disservice. That sounds unfair but the more you exercise, the more energy and creativity you will have to give to them and your family. I am not going to tell you what to do or how to do it, but as Nike's slogan states, "JUST DO IT."

Thank you for all you do. Teaching is a hard job but a job where you get to impact lives everyday. It is all in your attitude and outlook! Get better everyday and never rest until your good is better and your better is best...

-Rob Donatelli
@DTown_MrD

We All TEACH Business Skills

As a business & computer science teacher, I can't help but make the comparison that all teachers incorporate some business job or discipline into their teaching and classrooms. Our students will all hopefully graduate and have to work in some sort of business setting. Whether they are flipping burgers, selling tractors, managing a Target, saving lives, or working on Wall Street, they are going to take the skills we TEACH them and use them to hopefully better our society. Their are 5 business skills/jobs that I see teachers teaching, demonstrating and modeling for students daily:

1. Salesperson: As teachers, we are continually selling the value of our classes, why our content is important to know, and how it will help students when they are in the "real word." Sometimes I think we as teachers are more actors/actresses than anything else because we put on a show daily for our students. If the show isn't good, students won't buy our product.
 
2. Manager/Leader: Teachers not only manage how students learn but they plan, organize, direct, and motivate. Every successful manager needs to master these skills if they wish to be successful. Teaching is no different. If you can't manage your classroom, plan effectively, direct instruction, and execute a strategy efficiently, you can't be a great teacher. Managing a class is only one aspect though. Teachers are also leaders whether they view themselves as one or not. Leaders inspire others, they let people know they can be more than they ever thought they could, and they are willing to give away all the credit if it means helping the organization or someone else.
 
3. Entrepreneur: It doesn't matter what grade or subject you teach, you should be fostering entrepreneurship in your students daily! Do you allow them to explore, experiment, try new things and fail. Or do you come in and give it all to them? If we want our students to be truly great people when they leave our schools, we need to be incorporating teamwork, collaboration, problem-solving skills, analysis, and synthesis into our daily lessons. Make them dream big, tell them what is out there that can be theirs, and be the innovator your
 
4. Human Resources: Probably one of the most challenging aspects of teaching is trying to understanding every child, being their for him or her when they need you, listening, appreciating their thoughts and ideas, and giving them guidance and support when they don't think they need or want it. As teachers, we are the people students go to when they need advice. They trust in us to guide them in the right direction. Our focus in education should be children first and in human resources, they know that the most valuable commodity to a business is the people. So is true with a school district and its students!
 
5. Technology Facilitator: Many students who come to a K-12 school in today's society believe that they have to shut down from technology in school...why? If we as educators don't incorporate what the students live on when they are outside of our classroom, we will lose our clients. Everyday we should be using technology of some sort in the classroom. Technology should never completely drive instruction but it should be utilized as a "powerful" tool in which students can engage, collaborate, and access information like they never have before. Teachers, I challenge you everyday to learn about a new tool, use a new software, and ask questions. Failing is OK as long as you are pushing yourself to learn new tricks. Use technology or else they will!

If you have any other business skills you believe teachers teach students, please share in the comment section. Thanks!

-RD