January 5, 2026

I'll be sharing more Gemini Gems with you in the spring newsletters!

Recently, Google's Gemini has stepped up its game in the AI world! Gemini's AI has improved its output and is now integrated into the staff's Google Suite. Let's learn a little about it!

Do I have an account already?

Yes! Gemini comes along with all the other amazing tools in our Google for Education Suite! You may have noticed some pop-up banners when inside or Google Suite platforms recently! At this time, only HEB ISD adults have access to Gemini!

Where can I find Gemini?

Anywhere you have access to your waffle! Just be sure you are logged into your HEB ISD Google account on your device, find your waffle, click on it, and select the Gemini icon!

But Charity...what waffle are you talking about?!? 🧇 I'm referring to the 9 dots that can be found in any of the main apps of our Google Suite, such as Google Drive, your email, and the Google.com screen. Shown below.

Getting to Gemini.mov

What could I use Gemini for?

Let's let Gemini tell you! See what it told me below.

🚀 Gemini: Your AI Teaching Assistant (Built into Google!)

Gemini is an intelligent partner available to all staff through your Google district account. It's designed to help you save time on administrative tasks and spark creativity in your lessons, so you can focus on what you do best: teaching!

⏱️ Save Time on Planning and Prep

Draft Lesson Plans & Unit Outlines: Quickly generate a first draft of a lesson plan, complete with learning objectives, activities, and pacing, based on a topic and grade level.
Create Quizzes and Assessments: Ask Gemini to generate multiple-choice questions, exit tickets, or even practice problems based on your content.
Design Rubrics: Instantly create a detailed scoring rubric for a project or essay by simply describing the assignment.
Generate Differentiated Content: Take a complex reading passage and ask Gemini to re-level the text for a lower reading ability or translate it for an English Language Learner.
Brainstorm Creative Ideas: Get fresh ideas for lesson "hooks," hands-on activities, or real-world examples to make a concept stick.

✉️ Streamline Communication and Admin

Draft Emails: Ask Gemini to write a professional email to a parent, a colleague, or a letter of recommendation in seconds.
Summarize Documents: Get a quick overview of long email threads, research papers, or meeting notes right in Gmail or Google Docs.
Draft Substitute Plans: Generate meaningful, self-contained activities to keep students engaged when you need a sub.
Create Class Newsletters: Quickly generate a draft of a newsletter to share updates and celebrate student success with families.

✨ Enhance Resources and Instruction

Develop Vocabulary Lists: Generate a list of grade-appropriate vocabulary words, definitions, and example sentences for a unit of study.
Find Analogies and Explanations: Ask Gemini to explain a difficult concept in simple terms or provide a helpful analogy (e.g., "Explain photosynthesis to a 5th grader using a sports analogy").
Create Project-Based Learning (PBL): Turn a traditional unit into an authentic, student-driven project with clear steps and evaluation criteria.
Generate Images for Slides (if licensed): Bring your presentations to life by quickly creating original images and designs using simple text descriptions in Google Slides.

What can this do for me that ChatGPT Edu can't do?

We are super lucky to have two wonderful AI tools at our disposal! Both are valuable and can be used to help streamline your instructional planning, communications, and more. Both platforms do essentially the same thing. One thing we have with Gemini that is not currently available on our ChatGPT Edu account is the ability to generate images.
Tell Gemini what you want to see, and it will generate it for you! See some recent generations of me below.

A SILENT game of teamwork and knowledge!!

This idea came from a teacher I follow on TikTok named Hannah | Loud Teacher (@hannah.unverified)! It's a great idea for a review or "we do" activity!

What you will need:

Set of cards with answers, steps, vocabulary words, etc. for each team.
Slides or other content to show on the board that has corresponding questions, equations, maps, graphs, tables, charts, diagrams, etc.

Click here to view it if it fails to load

Flash Pass.mov

**Pro tip: Let AI generate the cards! Give Gemini a try!**

How to Play:

Divide your room into two teams
Have them line up from the front to the back facing the board.
Give the student at the very back a stack of cards.
- The cards should have preloaded answers, steps to a process, vocabulary words, etc
- Both groups get the same number of cards
- Shuffle them before handing them to the next class.
On the board, you'll show a question, equation to solve, map to read, graph, table, chart, diagram, etc that goes along with the answer/process cards.
Ask the person in the back to pick the card they think is correct and pass it forward. No talking to anyone.
Each student in the line looks at the card when they get it to decide if it is correct. No talking to anyone.
If the student doesn't believe it's correct, they silently pass it back to the back.
The card can then be replaced or passed back up if there has been a mistake made by the people in the line.
The first group to get the correct card to the front wins!
Shuffle the order of students. The person in the back moves to the front. Everyone else takes a step backward.
Then, there is a new student in the very back who chooses the answer each time.
Repeat until all of your questions are answered.

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