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How to Make a Mini Zine using Canva
Some of the best projects come from the simplest materials. A single sheet of folded A4 paper turns into an 8-page mini book. It’s called a zine and you can fill it with any idea! What Is a Zine? A zine (pronounced “zeen“) is a small, self-published, often DIY, book. Zines are versatile They’re small, but they can hold a lot! For teachers: For hobbyists: These are some that I made for my toddler! Building One in Canva (Two Ways) In the full video, I walk through building a zine template in Canva from scratch. Use a landscape A4 template with print bleed included and custom guides set to 4…
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How to Use NotebookLM as Your Personal Teaching Assistant (2026 Guide)
This post is a companion to the YouTube video — watch it here for the full walkthrough. Teaching means keeping a dozen mental tabs open at once: Are my resources current? Are students getting enough retrieval practice? Is my unit aligned with the latest syllabus? Google’s free AI tool NotebookLM can take a lot of that cognitive load off your plate — and in the video above, I show you exactly how to set it up as a teaching assistant for any unit, project, or class. Here’s a quick-reference summary if you want the highlights before (or after) you watch. Getting Started NotebookLM doesn’t train Google’s AI on your uploaded…
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Build an AI Rubric Feedback Tool in Minutes with Gemini & NotebookLM
Imagine building a custom AI mini app in minutes! An app that can grade reports and generate clear, visual feedback in seconds. It sounds futuristic, but it’s completely possible using Google’s NotebookLM and Gemini. In this demo, I create an automated rubric feedback tool where a student or teacher can paste in a report, have it checked against a marking rubric, and instantly receive structured feedback. The feedback includes a visual rubric breakdown, a total mark, and can even be downloaded as an image. This tool is especially useful for draft writing. Students can get fast feedback, revise their work, and resubmit with a clearer understanding of expectations. Teachers can…
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Create Infographics & Slide Decks Using Your Own Sources (NotebookLM New Features)
Google’s NotebookLM has recently released two new features that make turning information into visuals incredibly easy. You can now generate infographics and slide decks with a single click. Best of all, it’s completely free and requires no design skills. If you’re short on time, this tool is for you. What sets NotebookLM apart from other AI tools is that it’s grounded in the sources you upload—such as PDFs, YouTube videos, or websites and your personal data is not used to train the AI model. This means you can confidently use it without worrying about your content being stored or reused. 1. Create Infographics One of the newest features is infographic…
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How to Create a Digital Scrapbook Journal in Canva | Animated Instagram Carousel
Feeling crafty but not sure what to make? Learn how to create a digital scrapbook or junk journal in Canva with this simple, beginner-friendly guide — complete with template and theme ideas for your next creative project. In this post, I’ll walk you through how to make your own digital scrapbook or junk journal using Canva. You can just start creating or build with a theme in mind. 🌸 Scrapbook Theme Ideas Need a little inspiration? Try these: 💻 Step 1: Start Your Canva Project Open a new project in Canva. I like to use a custom size of 2160 x 1350 px, which equals two portrait pages side by…
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10 Ways Teachers Can Use Google’s NotebookLM
Google is living in the future with NotebookLM, a free AI-powered learning tool that can act as your personal teaching assistant. NotebookLM lets you generate resources, summaries, quizzes, and even podcasts — all grounded in the materials you upload (not random sources from the internet)! Most importantly, Google has a clear privacy policy and states “NotebookLM does not use your personal data, including your source uploads, queries, and the responses from the model for training.” This makes the tool great for teachers! Here are 10 ways to use NotebookLM to plan smarter: NotebookLM is still evolving, but it’s already changing how educators plan and teach. It’s grounded in your sources,…
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Pixel Art Activity Using Canva Code: Is It Better Than Google Sheets?
Canva’s new AI code generator just made creating interactive pixel art activities way easier. In this post, we’re diving deep into Canva Code vs Google Sheets for pixel art — breaking down how each works, which is better for your classroom or content, and which one saves you the most time. 🧩 What Is a Pixel Art Activity? A pixel art activity is an educational game where students solve problems (usually math or logic) to reveal a hidden image on a grid. Each correct answer unlocks part of the picture — turning ordinary practice into a mini visual reward. 📊 Google Sheets: The Classic Pixel Art Method Traditionally, these activities…
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5 Canva Code Games You Can Build (EASY Prompting)
Canva’s new Code feature is a total game-changer for teachers and anyone who want to build interactive games—no coding skills needed! I’ve tested it out and created 5 different educational games to see what works (and what doesn’t). In this post, I’ll break down each game, my exact prompts, and tips to help you save time. Whether you’re making a quick activity or an ambitious end of topic/term game, Canva Code can bring your lesson idea to life. YouTube Video tutorial: I Built 5 Interactive Canva Code Games (What Worked + What Didn’t) 👉 Grab your FREE PDF Guide Canva Code – Create Interactive Games Inside this resource, you’ll get:…
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Canva Code for Educators: Build Your Own Classroom Apps with No Coding!
Hey teachers! 👋 If you’ve ever dreamed of making your own digital classroom games or interactive activities without needing to know code… Canva just made that possible. In my latest YouTube video, I try out Canva Code, a brand new tool that lets you create simple apps using just text prompts. No coding skills? No problem. You can build interactive experiences like sorting activities, games, simulations and more right inside Canva. It is currently being rolled out across the globe, stay tuned here. I even created a digital version of a Taboo-style word guess game I normally prep with printed flashcards. It used to take forever—now it’s all digital, fast…
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5 High Impact Teaching Strategies | Visible Learning
Teachers use many teaching methods to support learning in a classroom. But which strategies are going to have the most influence in maximising student acheivement? John Hattie, in his Visible Learning research looks at thousands of meta-analyses involving millions of students to ascertain what is not just supporting learning but accelerating it! Here, we’ll countdown 5 high impact teaching strategies & methodologies that you can use in your classroom to accelerate student achievement beyond what is expected in a typical classroom. Teaching Strategy #5: Jigsaw Method The Jigsaw method is a cooperative learning method, where students are first split into their Home Groups with each student studying a different sub-topic…
