Gemini

Welcome to the era of working smarter, not longer! Think of Gemini as the ultra-organized co-teacher you’ve always wanted—the one who never steals your favorite pen and actually enjoys doing the filing. Whether you're drowning in lesson plans or just trying to find that one specific email from three Tuesdays ago, this tool is your new digital sidekick. Let’s get you set up so you can spend less time staring at a blinking cursor and more time actually teaching (or, let’s be honest, finally drinking your coffee while it's still hot).

PARTS Framework (Prompting Cheat Sheet)

To get the best results, remember to play your PARTS! Think of it like giving directions to a very eager but literal substitute teacher:

Persona: Tell it who it is (e.g., "You are a hilarious 5th-grade science teacher").
Act: Tell it what to do (e.g., "Write a rap about photosynthesis").
Recipient: Who is this for? (e.g., "For students who love Minecraft").
Theme: What’s the vibe? (e.g., "Make it adventurous and high-energy").
Structure: How should it look? (e.g., "Keep it to 4 verses and a chorus"). Follow these steps, and you’ll get exactly what you need without the AI "hallucinating" a weird poem about mitochondria!

Gemini in Your Workspace

Did you know Gemini is basically hiding in plain sight? It’s tucked inside your Docs, Slides, and Gmail like a helpful little tech-gnome. Need to draft a formal letter to a parent that sounds professional but also "cool"? Just ask. Want a slide deck outline that doesn't look like it was designed in 1998? Gemini has your back. It’s like having a personal assistant who lives inside your computer, ready to polish your prose and prettify your presentations while you take all the credit. I won't tell if you won't! Check out the complete playlist of bite-sized tutorials here or enjoy some of my favorites below.

Prompt Writing

Deep Research

Guided Learning

Canvas & Code

Creative Visuals

Gemini in Classroom

Gemini in the Classroom

If grading feels like a never-ending mountain of paper, Gemini in Classroom is your personal ski lift. Imagine clicking a button and having a perfectly aligned rubric or a 10-question quiz appear out of thin air—magic, right? It can even help you differentiate assignments for different reading levels in seconds, which used to take a whole Sunday and three energy drinks. It’s the ultimate "Easy Button" for your curriculum, giving you more time to connect with your students and less time playing "Assessment Architect."

Creative Tools: Images, Video, & Infographics

Say goodbye to the "Copyright Cringe" of Googling images for your slides! With Gemini’s creative tools, you are the director and the artist. Need a picture of a cat wearing a toga to explain Roman history? Done. Want to turn your unit summary into a snappy recap video with a professional voiceover? Easy peasy. You don’t need a film degree or a paintbrush—just a fun idea and a few prompts. Your classroom visuals are about to get a major glow-up that will actually make the kids look up from their phones!

Canvas Creations & Vibe Coding

Ready to go from "I have a cool idea" to "I just built a custom app" in under five minutes? Welcome to Vibe Coding! Forget memorizing complex syntax or staring at scary lines of code; in 2026, if you can describe the "vibe" of what you want, Gemini can build it. Using Gemini Canvas, you and your students can collaborate with AI in a shared creative space to generate interactive games, custom calculators, or digital simulations just by talking. It’s like having a magic wand that turns your words into working software!

To get started, just open a new Canvas and describe your vision. Want a "neon-themed vocabulary matching game for 3rd graders" or a "retro-style physics simulator that shows how gravity works on Mars"? Just type it in! You can refine the look, add sound effects, or change the difficulty level by simply chatting with Gemini. It’s the ultimate way to empower students to become creators, not just consumers, of technology. Let’s stop searching for the perfect app and start "vibing" our own into existence! ✨🚀

Gems

Think of Gems as the "Elite Squad" of your teaching staff—except they live in your Gemini sidebar! Instead of typing the same complex instructions over and over, you can create a permanent, custom-built AI expert for any specific task. Need a "Socratic Tutor" that guides students without giving away the answers? Or perhaps a "Lesson Plan Architect" that knows exactly how to format your specific district’s rubrics? You just name your Gem, give it its "marching orders" once, and it’s ready to work for you forever. It’s like having a team of specialized assistants who are always on call, perfectly aligned with your teaching style, and ready to tackle the heavy lifting in seconds! Check out these Gems here:

Storybook Gem Tutorial
Eric Curts Edugems Page

Harlem Gems Site

As we continue with our work on AI, I'm creating custom Gems for needs around the Harlem district. Whether you are looking for lesson creation support, explicit instruction guidance, or specific professional task needs, there's Gems for everyone. Don't see a Gem you need, but have an idea for one? Just email me, and I'd be happy to build out one to help better support you in your role! Check out our growing website here.

Interactive Learning with Gemini Live

Ready to take the show on the road? Gemini Live turns your phone into a walking brainstorm session. You can literally talk to it while you’re walking to the cafeteria or use your camera to show it a finicky piece of lab equipment that’s acting up. It’s perfect for practicing languages or just venting about your lesson plan ideas to someone who will actually listen (and give helpful feedback!). It’s like a podcast that actually talks back to you, minus the annoying ads for mattresses.

🔒 A Note on Privacy (The "Vault" Section)

We know what you’re thinking: "Is a robot reading my diary?" Don't worry! Using Gemini through our school account is like putting your data in a high-tech fortress. Unlike the "public" versions of AI, our Education edition has a giant "Do Not Disturb" sign on it. Your prompts aren't used to train the model, and no humans are peeking at your lesson plans. Your data stays in our school domain, safe and sound—it’s like a digital Las Vegas: what happens in our Workspace, stays in our Workspace! However, we always want to make sure to avoid using personal information about students or ourselves in our prompts, just to be safe!🛡️✨

Gemini Trainings

In this course, you’ll learn about generative AI, which is a type of AI that creates new content, such as text, images, or other media. You’ll explore how to use Gemini to assist your teaching practice by saving time on everyday tasks, personalizing instruction to meet student needs, and enhancing lessons and activities in creative ways. Gemini makes use of conversational prompts; in other words, you ask it for something, and it responds to your request. Throughout this course, you’ll discover proven strategies for working with Gemini and practice using it to plan and update lessons, prepare instructional materials, manage behind-the-scenes administrative tasks, and lots more!

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