January 2026

Password Change Season
It's that time of year again! Even though it's annoying and you'll have to retrain your brain to type correctly, changing your password regularly keeps your stuff safe. It's a habit that we want students to internalize and take with them after they leave here, as almost all our important information lives somewhere digitally. 

• For K-1 teachers, students will continue using their QR codes.

• For 2nd grade teachers, students will transition from QR codes to typed passwords. You are the first to teach your students how to do this, so thank you for being password pioneers! Here is the instructions sheet to follow for the password change process. Your students will have the option to use QR codes through the end of the school year, but this is a good time of year to begin this process and help them practice, with the backup option of using a QR code. As always, I am happy to schedule time to come to your class and help your students through the password change process :) 

• For 3rd and 4th grade teachers, your students will use the same password change process as 2nd grade students. 

• For 5th through 12th grade teachers, your students will change their passwords on their own. That process will be advertised by the tech team. The window for that password changing process will open up February 2nd, but you will hear about it before then. 

AI Principles, Beliefs, Policy

Did you know that Churchville developed an AI statement of principles and beliefs?  It is meant to clarify how our district views AI. It is not policy but advocates for AI use that promotes learning and thinking, rather than replacing it. The board also adopted an official AI policy in May of 2025. My biggest takeaway from this policy is that teachers are permitted to use AI in the classroom as they see fit but are ultimately responsible for the information they use to instruct students. Be the human in the loop! 

Professional Development

February will be a busy month for training! I am offering full-day in-person training on Magic School (AI) February 24th and February 25th. In addition, I am offering full-day in-person training on Canva  February 5th and February 12th that anyone can sign up for. Please note that these trainings are not two day trainings- I am offering two days to accommodate those who may have scheduling conflicts with one particular day. You can chose between February 24th OR February 25th, and February 5th OR February 12th.
The big trends for professional development this year continue to center around AI. On January 27th I will be hosting a full day PD for a handful of 7th and 8th grade teachers, per their request. If you'd like to organize a day of training for your team or PLC, let me know! We can make something work.
Self-paced PD options continue to be limited as I revise the existing trainings. I am hoping to make a revised version of Canva self-paced training available soon (it's hard because they update their platform all the time). This may mean that, even if you've taken the Canva self-paced training in the past, you may want to take it again. The more recent self-paced trainings continue to be available: Magic School, Magic School for Students, and Clipchamp. 

Churchville Edtech Quiz

I am working on a professional development that is meant to introduce teachers to the wide variety of instructional technology tools we have here at Churchville, kind of like a menu tasting. Part of that training includes a fun Gimkit quiz I put together with questions about some of the more versatile tools. Check out and see how you do! How well do you know Churchville's tools? 

Resource highlight: Gimkit

I know that different teachers have strong preferences about their gamified quiz tools, whether it be Blooket (blocked), Wayground (formerly Quizizz), Kahoot, or Gimkit. In a perfect world, you'd have full access to everything to pick and choose from as you see fit. Unfortunately, variables like cost and data privacy impose limits on us. Churchville pays for one gamified quiz tool: Gimkit. Luckily, Gimkit provides all kinds of different options to host games, so there is still plenty of variety to partake. Even better, Gimkit offers Gimkit Creative, which allows students to build their own game maps, and invites them to become game designers, and in the process learn systems thinking and computational thinking. I have developed a ton of materials to help you learn Gimkit, so if you're interested in learning more, check out this page!