AI Assisted Newsletter

I tried the Canva AI feature tool and tried to play around with it a couple of times. I have utilized Canva effectively before for graphics for the library, but had a hard time trying to navigate how to use this one to the best of my ability. First I typed in extremely specific prompts like what were included in the sample one, but tailored to my library and district (including meet the teacher, signing up for book club, when book club would be hosted, the twenty book challenge starting and what was expected to participate, and the book fair which we usually hold in February, as well as some planned collaborations with the ELA and History 8th grade classes, and the art classes). However, this seemed to overwhelm the AI, because it generated a cool looking image, but it wasn't editable, and it didn't have any of my information on there--the words on it were written in gibberish. So I went a more simple route and ended up typing in "library newsletter" and searching both images and graphics. This still didn't give me exactly what I was looking for, because it gave my images of library stacks or very simplistic graphics. I tried one more time, and edited the description to say "middle school library newsletter: and just for fun, changed the style option to doodle. It gave me again a small image or graphic that could be drawn with a pencil or pen, but all that still said Mersiter, and did not let me edit the image. I realized that I might have to do an AI generated newsletter through Google Gemini or Chat GPT, one of the other ones that were listed above and that I've heard my students mention before (so I had at least some familiarity), and just use the canva graphic that was created to put at the top, rather than using that as the basic set up for the entire newsletter.

The Gemini AI did a terrific job of creating a newsletter. It made the wording a lot more engaging than I feel like I could have done (I tend to get too wordy and lose some of the snap and quickness that a social media post might need) and very quickly. I was really happy with how it broke all of the different topics up, the same ones that I had given to the Canva AI. I am including the AI generated newsletter as a PDF below the rest of my response and discussion from my groupmates.

Discussion: One of my group member's input was that she had only used Chat GPT to help craft/reword lesson plans so far, but she usually takes the base idea that it gave her and tweak it to make it fit her needs. She agrees with my assessment above that no matter what you do with AI, you always have to read through it to ensure that it makes sense. While technology is a fantastic help and sounding board, it is no replacement for human observation and intent. Right before the end of the school year, her district rolled out a tentative school focused AI program. They were given deluxe access to the program for five days, then they were dropped down to the free access or basic level. If the teacher's individually wanted to return to the deluxe access they would have to purchase it on their own dime. While that software was okay, she still preferred ChatGPT. We both agree that it is fairly straightforward. She did suggest avoiding using JustDone AI website, because it is not how much it is advertised for, and seems to be more of a scam, and the AI feature is really awful.

Another of my group members commented that she hasn't used AI as far as she knew. She agreed that there are ways to use it for lesson planning, and that she plans to take advantage of it for next school year. She heard that MagicSchool was good, but doesn't have first hand experience, and admits that she has a lot to learn about AI capabilities.

To wrap up the discussion, I told my group members about when I went to TCEA in February, they were HEAVILY pushing teachers to use AI features to help grade, create more engaging/inviting lessons, and they offered SO many seminars on the best tools to use and how to implement them. It seems like this is the next wave of teaching that is changing so rapidly, and we have to at least be prepared to familiarize ourselves with it, even if we don't plan to use it. If we are unaware of the capabilities of AI we are going to miss out on learning opportunities.

Prompt: Make an interesting and engaging middle school (grades 6-8) library newsletter for parents and students to be posted over the summer. Include Meet the teacher, August 5th from 4:30-6:30 and that the library will be giving away free books at this event, signing up for book club where meetings will be held on Friday mornings at 7:50 with donuts and every member who comes to at least ten of the meetings during the school year will get a t-shirt at the end of the year, starting a twenty book challenge on August 26th--everyone who finishes the challenge will get to go on an end of the year field trip to Barnes and Noble and Second and Charles, the book fair that will be held from February 2-7 with a family night on the 2nd from 5-8, and collaborations with art, history, science and ELA classes throughout the year. Also add a note at the bottom that instructions for how to set up a Bookly or GoodReads account will be included on the library home page, and list contact information for Meghan Brewer, Mauriceville Middle School LibrarianAI Generated Newsletter from Google Gemini:Dive into Summer with the Mauriceville Middle School Library!Calling all bookworms, history buffs, science seekers, and future Picassos! The library is gearing up for an epic year, and we want YOU to be a part of it!Mark Your Calendars!• Meet the Teacher & Free Book Giveaway! Join us on August 5th from 4:30-6:30