AI, CS, & Digital Literacy

The countdown is on. The pencils are dull, the coffee mugs have been abandoned in questionable locations, and educators across our 5 county region are preparing to enter their well-earned summer era. 🪩

Before you fully transition into sunscreen, snacks, and pretending not to check your school email, I wanted to send you off with a few AI-in-education resources to toss into your summer beach bag. No pressure. No homework. Just a few things to explore when your teacher brain surfaces from the snorkel dive that is summer break.

Your “Wait, How Does This Actually Work?” Watch

Still wondering about the nuts and bolts of AI? Few people have explained it better — or with better drawings — than Henrik Kniberg. This video is a clear, visual, surprisingly fun introduction to how generative AI works and why it sometimes feels brilliant and sometimes confidently wrong. 🔗 Generative AI In a Nutshell

Your New Favorite Summer Tool Tutorial

Planning to finally play around with NotebookLM? This is a great time to explore it without the pressure of tomorrow’s lesson plan breathing down your neck. NotebookLM is an AI-powered research and thinking partner that can help educators and students work with sources, summarize materials, and support learning in a secure environment. Vera Cubero gives a master class on how it can be used in the classroom. (note: this is a few months old and some of the "coming soon" features she speaks of are now here! 🤯) 🔗 DeepDive: NotebookLM for Educators

Your Brainy Poolside Challenge

Looking for something to keep those teacher brain cells engaged this summer? Consider working through Google’s Gemini certification for educators. It’s a nice option if you want a structured way to build confidence with AI tools before the fall and be able to flex your Google credentials. 🔗 Google Educator Certification 🔗 Google AI Educator Series Your “Put This on the Calendar Before Summer Brain Takes Over” Opportunity

High school teachers looking for a free, structured way to bring AI literacy into the classroom may want to check out Day of AI’s Curriculum Deep-Dives. This virtual professional development program includes 8 live hours of summer learning, followed by fall community sessions. Teachers will explore classroom-ready AI curriculum, and no prior AI experience is required.

Summer options are July 28–29 or August 11–12, 2026, from 10:00 AM–3:00 PM ET, with a break from 12:00–1:00. Applications are due three weeks before the event, with acceptance notifications sent two weeks before.

🔗 Day of AI Curriculum Deep-Dives & Community of Practice

Your “Take It on a Walk” Podcast

Prefer your summer learning in a beach-based friendly form? ChatEDU is a great listen for educators trying to keep up with the fast-moving world of AI in education without adding another screen to their lives. Hosted by Matt Mervis and Dr. Liz Radday, the podcast explores how AI is shaping K–12, higher education, teacher preparation, leadership, work, and society — with plenty of practical ideas along the way.

🔗 ChatEDU: The AI & Education Podcast

Your Academic Integrity Deep Dive

If you work with secondary students and the phrase “AI and cheating” makes your eye twitch just a little, Tony Frontier’s ASCD webinar on supporting academic integrity when AI is everywhere is worth your time. Pair it with his book if you want to go deeper. 🔗 Supporting Academic Integrity When AI is Everywhere

Your “I Need Something Ready for Students” Resource

For classroom-ready AI literacy lessons, aiEDU and AI for Education are two of the leaders in this space I come back to again and again. Their educator resources include classroom materials, professional learning, and frameworks to help scaffold what students, teachers, and school leaders need in order to be “AI ready.” 🔗 aiEDU Classroom Resources 🔗 AI for Education

Your “Creative Ways to Bring this Into My Classroom” Pick

Stanford CRAFT is a great place to browse if you teach middle or high school, especially if you want to explore the more creative uses of AI. Their free, multidisciplinary AI literacy resources are designed to help students explore, understand, question, and critique AI. 🔗 CRAFT AI Literacy Resources

Your “What Is the State Saying?” Check-In

ODE has been continuing to update its generative AI resources for Oregon schools, including guidance for school and district leaders planning, implementing, and evaluating generative AI use in K–12 settings. This is a good one to bookmark and revisit as new guidance rolls out (v3.0 set to roll out at the end of June). 🔗 ODE GenAI Guidance

Your “Help, We Need a Policy Conversation” Bookmark

TeachAI’s AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit is a helpful resource for school and district teams thinking through responsible AI use. It is designed to support education systems as they develop guidance, build stakeholder understanding, and create thoughtful policies and procedures. I'm also including an excellent webinar highlighting how this work is happening in Bloomington, MN schools because we all love a good case study! 🔗 AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit 🔗 AI Leadership in Action: Building Bridges Between Students, Staff, and Systems

Your “Families Are Asking Questions Too” Resource

Common Sense Media and Day of AI have created family-facing AI literacy resources, including videos, conversation cards, and hands-on activities to help families talk about AI, privacy, fairness, and responsibility. This is a great one to keep in your back pocket for family nights, newsletters, or fall communication. 🔗 AI Literacy Toolkit for Families

Your Actual Summer Assignment

Rest.

Read something completely unrelated to education (and yes, YA is a 100% acceptable summer genre!)

Forget what day it is at least once.

And when you’re ready, maybe poke around one or two of these resources so that when AI shows back up in August — because it will — you feel a little more prepared, a little more curious, and a little less like you’re trying to build the plane while flying it.

Happy summer, Gorge educators. You’ve earned it. 👏