Reviews, field notes and practical guidance for teachers and school leaders working out where AI helps, and where it gets in the way.
I write about lesson planning, assessment, AI literacy and school policy. Each piece starts with a question I hear from educators, not a product brief.
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Six AI tools for fall conference prep, each matched to one job: report card language, the difficult email, playing back a student's own thinking, reaching families who cannot attend, evidence from student work, and the grade 11 and 12 conversation. With dated pricing, what each tool declares about student data, and a twelve-minute prep routine.
Six AI tools for band, choir, orchestra and general music, one per job: unit plans and rubrics, score study, listening checks, practice journals, concert programs and music history reading. With pricing and privacy claims checked on each vendor's own pages in September 2026, and the reason none of them was built for your subject.
Six AI tools for the jobs that fill an assistant principal's week, from duty rosters to the master schedule, sorted against the new DC and New York City rules that put discipline and teacher evaluation off-limits.
Six AI tools that fit a school SLP caseload, what each one costs as of September 2026, what each vendor actually declares about student data, and the four questions that decide whether a tool belongs anywhere near your caseload.
Six AI tools a substitute can use from a personal account on the morning they get the call, with dated pricing, what each one is not for, and why the student-data protections classroom teachers rely on do not follow you into the room.
Six AI tools for career and technical education, one per job: pathway units, career advising, AI literacy with no devices, oral competency checks, certification exam prep and employer email. With pricing and privacy claims checked on each vendor's own pages in September 2026, and the reason none of them was built for your subject.
Six AI tools that do the jobs gifted and talented teachers actually need, from pre-assessment to independent study, with dated pricing, the limitation of each one, and why AI has no business in identification decisions.
Six AI tools that draft a college recommendation letter, with pricing and vendor terms checked in September 2026, what each one does with the student information you paste in, and the four questions that decide which one you should use.
Six AI tools that carry the documentation load in Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention, with dated pricing, what each vendor actually documents about student data, and the one decision no tool should make for you.
Six AI tools that do a school librarian's job in 2026: source-grounded research lessons, a cited answer engine for the reference desk, AI literacy with no student device, displays, accessibility and levelled research packets. Each one comes with its age minimum, free tier and privacy statement checked on the vendor's site, plus a worked grade 10 lesson and what the NYC and LAUSD pauses on student AI change.
Which AI tools instructional coaches can use for coaching prep, AI literacy PD, feedback and debriefs, what each costs, what its privacy pages actually say, and four questions that keep coaching separate from evaluation.
OpenAI and Anthropic both moved their free teacher plans into district-managed workspaces in the last fortnight, and New York and DC told staff to use only approved tools. This comparison checks ChatGPT for Teachers, Claude for Teachers, Gemini for Education, Gemini Notebook and Copilot Chat against what a district actually signs: the data agreement, admin controls, student access and the price when the free period ends.
