ItsTheMitchell

 Catching Up with The Squatter (Part 3) Finally, we’re caught up with Squatter 35: Hallomeme 2.0 — a Halloween special full of meme-based humor with real teaching hacks underneath. From Drake’s grading face-off to Surprised Pikachu discovering NotebookLM, every meme ties back to making AI + AVID work for teachers. This one might be the most fun to date — a reminder that sometimes the best PD fits on a bathroom wall and makes you laugh while you learn. 📄 Download Squatter 35 (PDF) Which meme in this issue nailed your exact teacher life experience?

 Catching Up with The Squatter (Part 2) Next in the catch-up series is Squatter 34: Return of the Squat . This one takes a movie-themed approach to Chromebook use in the classroom. It’s a lighthearted but practical look at how to keep Chromebooks from being the villain in your lesson — instead turning them into the supporting character that helps everything run smoothly. Think of it as your director’s cut for classroom tech management. 📄 Download Squatter 34 (PDF) If Chromebook use in your class was a movie genre, what would it be — comedy, action, or horror?

 Catching Up with The Squatter (Part 1) I’ll admit it — I’ve fallen a little behind posting Squatters here. They’ve still been popping up on campus, but not always making their way online. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be dropping one Squatter per week until we’re caught up. First up is Squatter 33: Prompt Engineering . This edition digs into the idea that AI is only as good as the questions we ask it. Better prompts = better outputs. Inside are teacher-friendly examples of how to craft prompts that save you time while still giving you usable results. 📄 Download Squatter 33 (PDF) What’s one classroom task you’d like to try writing a “perfect prompt” for?

 Keeping up on the rapid fire posting of squatters. Don't expect it to continue. I was WAY behind on posting. That being said, this Squatter asks the question what exactly is "cheating" when it comes to A.I.? It's not as black and white as you would think. Teachers need to consider this question on a continuum, rather than a yes or no. Check out Squatter 32 to see what I mean. Drop a comment and share your thoughts. Do you have experience with students trying to pass of AI generated work as their own? What do you do in your classes to encourage responsible use of AI... or do you just ban it and pretend it doesn't exist? As usual, click the image below for a full-sized PDF of Squatter 32.

Teaching... or life in general... can be hard. Sometimes you need to find inspiration to keep moving forward. As a musician, I often find my inspiration to hold it together (or go ahead and fall apart... that's okay sometimes too) in the lyrics of a song. With that in mind, Squatter 31 is all about song lyrics that can help you through it... whatever "it" is. There is a QR code to an Apple Music playlist at the bottom if you'd like to hear them all. Drop a comment and let me know your favorite song, or if you need help identifying one. I present to you, Squatter 31 - Musical Pep-Talk. As usual, click on the image below for a full resolution PDF of Squatter 31!

 The idea for Squatter 30 was given to me during a session I was presenting about graphic design. We were discussing where ideas and inspiration can come from, and someone suggested making a football rival themed Squatter. I thought it was a great idea, and this is the result. I give you Squatter 30 - Rivals! As usual, click the image below for a full resolution PDF of Squatter 30!

 Wow. Three Squatters behind. It really has been a while. I'll save the normal content, and just get to the Squatting. Squatter 29 - This is Hallomeme is all about staying vigilant against Phishing attacks. Another meme based Squatter, hopefully you catch on to some of the humor while learning important information. As usual, click on the link below for a full resolution PDF of Squatter 29.

 Welcome back, I’ve missed you. It’s been a minute. We’re getting back in the routine. It’s definitely time for a new Squatter. Common adoption of AI is hitting more and more areas of our daily lives. For teachers, these AI tools are becoming more powerful by the day. Want a tool that takes a grade level, lesson theme, and a passage of text, and uses that to generate learning targets and questions for export to your favorite platforms? You got it. Anyway, you’re not here for this… you’re here for Squatter 28. Here you go! As always, click for a full-sized, printable pdf.

 Squatter 20 - Mitchell Myths Sometimes, in a position with a vague list of responsibilities, you end up with your responsibilities expanding to all manner of things within your skillset. You also end up expanding your skillset to keep up with additional responsibilities. The more you expand the scope of things you take care of, the more people around you will assume the things you're doing are a part of your job. In fact, if they perceive those things you've added just to help out are among the main things you do, you may find yourself in the situation where you end up doing those side things more than the main things. Next thing you know, the side things have become the main things. Phew... that's a lot of things. That's exactly where you need to advocate for yourself. Create a plan to tame the things that feel out of control. Limit the times during the day they will be in control. Create a plan to adjust expectations of the people you work with. Once you've got t...

Let me tell you what... I'm excited about this vol.11 of The Squatter. I'm so excited that I'm rolling out this post a week early. The day I started looking for what to do in Squatter 11 was an odd day. You know. One of those days where things that aren't usually funny are really funny. I like those days. Anyway, I said to myself "Self, I want you to make a Squatter that is entirely Memes." I need everybody to understand that the intent here is amusement, while at the same time making a few points and offering suggestions. I'm not trying to call anyone out, or throw shade at anyone in particular. If you feel offended by any particular meme in Squatter 11, please contact me about it. We'll try to figure out why a meme that calls out people for always using "Reply All" would offend you. Be prepared for me to do my best Dr. Phil... Ahem... "So you've used reply all to try to let me know that a meme throwing shade at people who use reply...

 I know this blog is supposed to be all about tech, but we're living in unprecedented times. It can be hard right now to keep track of what's truly important. Let me tell you something right now. YOU. YOU ARE TRULY IMPORTANT. I was talking with someone earlier today. He mentioned a line from a movie that I'm sure I'll butcher. The idea is that the two most important days in your life are the day you're born, and the day you figure out why. That conversation reminded me of a particularly bad day in college. I was involved in a major car accident, but escaped with only minor injuries. Later, when I went to the junk yard to retrieve my personal belongings from the pile of scrap that used to be my car, I was astonished at what I saw. The damage was extensive. It was a mess all over... except around the driver's seat. Sure, there was broken glass and trim pieces lying in the seat. The remains of the torn seatbelt lay across the driver's seat bottom. But in this t...

By now you’ve seen the Squatter… and if you haven’t check it out here... ( Squatter 1 , Squatter 2 , Squatter 3 , Squatter 4 , Squatter 5 , Squatter 6 ) Anyway, the amazing graphic design work done on the Squatter is all done on Canva.com. Canva is a graphic design website. It is a “freemium” website, so some features are free, and others cost money. Have your students give it a try the next time you are having them create something. You’ll be surprised at the quality of work that can be achieved without previous expertise… just look at the Squatter. It’s all done for free on Canva.

This week, the Shake Up Learning podcast (if you're not subscribed, you should be) talked about something called Potty PD. It's basically little "nuggets" of professional development that can be easily picked up in a few minutes from your captive audience. Check out the current five issues of The Squatter  that have been produced thus far this year. The Squatter 1  - Keyboard Shortcuts The Squatter 2 - Google Tools The Squatter 3 - Google Jamboard The Squatter 4 - Extensions The Squatter 5 - App Smashing The Squatter 6 - Quickies - shhh... this one won't post in my building until February. Potty PD can be created using a variety of tools. My tool of choice is Canva. Canva's infographic templates offer conveniently sized layouts with color themes built in. At that point, it's just up to you to fill it with content. Topics covered this year have included keyboard shortcuts, Chrome Extensions, Google Jamboard lesson ideas, App-Smashing...