It’s Sunday morning and I’m the only one stirring in the house. I’m working through the inboxes, reading other people’s blogs, and letting my brain turn one thought into eleven ideas. Teachers know what I’m talking about.

I’m Ben. I’m a Technology Integration Specialist and I teach current and future teachers how to use technology at the college level. I’ve been in education for 25 years. I’ve seen a lot of digital tools promise to change everything. Some did. Most didn’t. A few are now very expensive paperweights in a district storage (physical or digital) closet.

Here’s what makes this place different: I’m still in the building. When I write about a tool, I’ve tried it with kids in a classroom. No vendor booth. No think tank. Just a teacher’s notebook.

What you’ll get:

The main feed is all Education: edtech, AI in the classroom, lesson ideas, and honest takes on what’s worth your time. If you subscribed, you’re already getting this one.

Then there are the sidequests. Because I’m a whole person, not just a teacher:

• This is BANANAS! Food, snacks, and questionable banana-adjacent culinary decisions.

• Poetry: Poems from the margins of a teacher’s notebook.

• Photography: What I see when I’m not edteching.

The sidequests are opt-in, so nobody gets a banana cream pie review they didn’t ask for. To choose your adventure, visit learnteachtech.substack.com/account and switch on whatever looks fun.

From the Archive

I’ve been writing since the Blogger days, and the whole back catalog moved here with me. Some of it has aged beautifully. Some of it mentions tools that no longer exist, which is its own kind of history lesson. Every so often I’ll dust off a favorite and share it as From the Archive.

Has the blog moved from Blogger to Weebly to Squarespace to Substack? Yep. And I regret nothing. Times change...

Why this matters to me

Technology in schools is only as good as what it does for the kid in the third row who’s quietly hoping nobody calls on them. That’s the lens for everything I write here. Not just what’s new. What helps.

So mix a hot chocolate, pull up a screen, and stay a while. And if you’re feelin’ it, leave a comment or two!

I’d go back. For sure. In fact, I’d love to enter this one in the This Is BANANAS! Tournament of Champions.

I called Cecil’s Deli ahead to see if I could get just a slice of the Banana Cream Pie and if they had any ready.

I felt the look on his face as he said: “It’s not a slice, it’s a one-person pie.” Like I was supposed to know this, having been to Cecil’s before, I have since learned that Cecil’s is fairly famous in “The Cities.” I apologize for not knowing.

Was it worth crossing the river from Minneapolis to St. Paul? Absolutely and I’d do it again.

Okay, individual pie…which I thought no problem; I can take this down…took half of it home.

The crust is crumbled graham cracker. But it isn’t packed down. It’s easy to grab a spoonful as you dig into the pie. Then there is a layer of banana cream pudding. On top, there is a generous mountain of whipped cream. Every spoonful got a nice layer of each and it was delicious.

My only minor criticism is a lack of actual banana in the pie. There were a few but not enough. And it might have just been mine but I also know that real bananas don’t last long in a pie.

Over all, it’s a winner and I’d go back.

Okay. Decent. Not great.

But I ate the whole box. Not all at once. It took about a month.

I like all these flavors.

Chocolate? ✅

Banana? ✅

Cream? ✅

Yellow Cake? ✅

But somehow, all together, they didn’t become my favorite combination.

I think it was the sponginess. I was expecting a crust-type middle. Or something crunchy.

I don’t think I’d buy it again but it was worth the sidequest.

Cheers!

Gelee Bananan.

I figured out “bananan” quickly. It means, shockingly, banana. After digging a bit farther, I learned it is from a few different languages spoken in West and Central Africa.

I should have dug further with the “gelee.” Or just have been smart about the language skills I have.

What does "gelee” mean? It means I wasn’t going to like this Sidequest Banana. I do not have a fondness for jelly candies. Ugh. So gross. The banana was alright but I could not get past the jelly. Gross. Oh, well. Win some, lose some. Language lesson learned.

THE HUNT WAS ON!!!

Several stores. Lots of sadness. No success.

Until Cub Foods!!! A whole end cap of “Twist Lick Vote” Oreos. What were the other flavors, you might ask? No idea.

I found the Banana Pudding. My Oreo Holy Grail. I bought two.

TOTALLY WORTH THE HUNT! And the sadness because these were DELICIOUS and DEVOURED.

‍ The cookie part is simply the golden Oreo base, which is a delicious start. The middle is the magic. Half was a whipped cream-ish flavor. The other half of the middle was banana. Perfect balance between the banana, the cream, and the crust.

I’ll be going back for more. This is tied for the best Banana Sidequest item in the past 6 months, including the MN State Fair.

It's What You Do When You're Teaching:  A Year-Long Journey of Interviewing.

Over the past year, I've applied for 9 positions. All of them were teacher roles focused on Technology Integration and Digital Learning. All of them supported teachers and were not direct classroom teaching; more professional development, coaching, modeling, and training.

Here's the breakdown of results:
• No Interview = 1
• Interviewed, not offered = 5
• Second interview, not offered = 1
• Position Offered = 2

I know full well that there are thousands of reasons that someone is not offered a position after an interview. Did I internalize this anyway? Absolutely. It was crushing.

I do need to acknowledge that some people are just innately awesome at interviews, selling themselves well simply by answering questions. 

That's not me; I'm good but not great. 

But that's not what this year-long journey actually taught me. This process reaffirmed what I believe 100% about teaching and learning.

What matters most is what you do when you are teaching. It's the planning, creating, relationships, and presenting. 

Both positions that I was offered required a 5-10 minute presentation. These interviews had a built-in 'can you teach' aspect that was missing from all the other ones.

Did I put a ton of effort into topic selection, planning, creating, and presenting? Absolutely! Do I believe that the presentation helped win the position offer? 100% 

Great teaching shines when things are actually presented and taught. I know this in my heart and see it play out in the classrooms of veteran teachers and brand-new teachers. I see it in graduate students when they share creations in class. I see it in 2nd semester teacher candidates when they teach in front of a group for the first time.

If I'm ever responsible for interviewing and hiring, I want to see the candidate present to the hiring committee. It's not about interview fluency. It's about teaching and telling a story that can't be told by answering questions only.

#K12 #Teaching #JobInterview #EdTe

Image: Google Gemini

The largest school districts in the country are banning student-facing AI tools. There's a divide among teachers about whether students should use AI, what for, and at what grade levels and content areas. Some districts are ambivalent and waiting. Some are actively embracing it. Some are using AI for everything.

Pipestone just posted the first school-based position I've seen built specifically around this: an AI Instructional Coach. Two days a week, coaching teachers on integrating a district-selected AI tool into instruction. It's not just here's a cool tool. It's about bias, accuracy, and all the other stuff we know we need to talk about with AI.

I've led AI training for teachers at the district and school level. I've taught AI at the undergrad and graduate levels. I've heard every argument for and against. I use AI constantly. Claude, Gemini, and Copilot are great thought partners for my introverted self.

I have so many questions about the model behind this role:

• Which tool did they land on, and did teachers have a say?
• What drove the decision to create a dedicated AI coach?
• Is there already widespread rogue AI use?
• What access do students have?
• Does this stay a part-time role, or does it grow?

I'm genuinely curious to learn how they got here. And I wonder if other districts are going to follow suit?

Pipestone is a bit far from my home base, but if anyone in my network is closer and this sounds like you, take a look.

Job Posting: https://lnkd.in/gwqRySg9

*Post edited with Claude.

#AIinEducation #EdTech #K12Education #InstructionalCoaching #TeachersOfLinkedIn

It’s almost too perfect. Here’s me restarting the blog and wanting to add a crazy That’s Bananas part to distract me from education for a bit this summer. And then, BAM! A new Minions movie! A new collab with Wendy’s.

BANANA FROSTY SWIRL!!!

Yep, too good to be true.

As excited as I was for this, it’s a one-time deal for me. It was good but I don’t need to go back.

The banana was delicious. My daughter accurately described it as banana pudding. She then said, “Ick,” and I replied, “Spot on and delicious.”

Thankfully, no one else at the table liked the banana and I got it all to myself.

For the record, I did get the chocolate frosty base and didn’t try the vanilla. I figured you can’t go wrong with chocolate banana. It was a solid evening treat and I’m happy with the experience but won’t be going back…unless someone twists my arm.

Also consumed that evening: Goomi's Glimey Lime by the daughter. Coming out of the fountain, it looked like a toxic sewer explosion that would need a radiation suit. As for the taste: Pretty much lime Sprite. The color was the highlight.

She didn't know who I was. I was new to the building and she needed to know who was walking her halls.

Fair.

That 5-minute conversation led to two meetings with her leadership team, three hours of all-staff professional development, and co-teaching, modeling, and coaching with several of her teachers.

One of those teachers didn't want to be there.

She sat in the back during PD. I couldn’t see her screen but I'm guessing it was grading. Or any of the hundred other things teachers have to do after school.

Lots of questions, though.

By the end of the session, she was recording herself. Over the next 3 weeks of coaching, her students were making bilingual books in Book Creator. Another class used Vocaroo to record family histories in English and their home language, then generated QR codes so anyone walking down the hallway could stop and listen.

A hallway. There we are back in the hallway.

I was recently asked to give a 5-minute presentation about successfully connecting with a reluctant teacher. I used this story. Somewhere around minute 10 (12?), I realized I wasn't just telling a story about one teacher. I was describing my entire philosophy for technology integration.

It starts with a person. Not a platform.

Technology Integration Philosophy

Y'ALL. Seriously, y’all.

Glazed donut. Sliced in half. Scoop of vanilla ice cream on the bottom. Layer in some banana pudding. I'm not even sure how they pulled that off. Put the top back on.

But wait. Throw the whole thing in a modified waffle iron.

A WAFFLE IRON.

Then, because apparently that wasn't enough: whipped cream and banana chips.

I'm not saying it's healthy or dietitian-approved in any way…BUT…SO GOOD.

The donut was fresh and warm from the waffle iron. The ice cream was cold and sweet. The banana chips added crunch. The pudding threw just enough banana flavor in. The whipped cream melted in my mouth.

My only disappointment was not grabbing a knife when I grabbed a fork. Would have been helpful. Or I could have just picked the whole thing up and eaten it like a sandwich. No shame.

We found Hot Scoops MN at the Stone Arch Bridge Festival last weekend. They have a calendar on their website. You can find them at TC Pride this weekend at Loring Park.

I've had an AI tab open in my browser for almost the entire year.

Sometimes it's on my school laptop. Sometimes my Chromebook. Often it's an app on my phone. Honestly, it's become as normal as opening a new tab to Google something, except the results are more helpful.

Here's the thing you should know about me: I'm an introvert.

I know. Strange for a teacher. But after a full day of middle schoolers (the energy, the noise, the constant needs), I don’t want to talk to anyone for a while. Sometimes that looks like sitting in the backyard with a book. Sometimes it's a long walk with a podcast. Sometimes it's just sitting in my car, breathing.

So when it's time to get work done or learn something new, AI is my go-to. Usually Claude or Gemini.

And here's why that matters for an introvert:

I have a subject matter expert for any subject available whenever I want one, and it never requires me to talk to a single human being.

That's not a small thing. That's a bit of a miracle.

Just since school let out, AI has helped me with more than I can put into a blog post. But here are the highlights:

Building my personal portfolio site (benknaus.com)

I wanted a site. I had no real plan, just an old site I hadn't touched in years. AI helped me figure out where to host it, what to include, what to cut, and when I had specific ideas about how things should look, it wrote HTML tailored exactly to my vision and matched my existing styles and tone.

Could I have figured out the code eventually? Probably. But "eventually" means hours or days, and AI got me there in seconds and minutes. And the introvert in me didn't have to talk to anyone.

Building this blog

You're reading it. AI helped me decide where to host it, which templates actually made sense for what I wanted, and how to move 337 posts out of Blogger without losing my mind. When I got stuck (more often than I'd like to admit), I'd take a screenshot, add a quick explanation, and get back step-by-step directions that were almost always exactly right. Hours saved. And not a single customer service chat.

These are just the big things. There have also been smaller moments: brainstorming summer learning ideas, planning some summer training, thinking through how to improve my teaching this coming school year.

AI is quietly becoming my first resource for just about everything.

I'm a teacher who loves learning. I'm also someone who needs quiet to do it. It turns out those two things are a perfect match for this particular moment in technology.

For this introvert, AI is my partner.

Sunset Beach, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

This was a treat.

We were in Vancouver for a wedding and staying just off the water. On whim, not knowing what was in store, we took a walk down to the beach. Not only was the sunset unbelievable, there were people everywhere. Coolers, volleyball, music, picnics, dogs. It was a vibe.

Image: Canva AI

It was a penalty shot coming from the best team in the Minneapolis city conference. I was on the line, studying the shooter, his plant foot, hips, eyes. Something told me the ball was coming low right. The whistle blew, the ball took off, and I dove right. I got my fingers on it and pushed it wide and out of bounds. Great save, if I do say so myself.

I've been making reads like that every day for the last 24 years. The soccer pitch turned into a classroom. Instead of opponents, it's students.

Studying students happens all the time. Standing on the goal has turned into standing at the door as they enter the classroom, reading their faces. It's sitting with them as they struggle over a new word and understanding the confusion. It's reading their writing and offering glows and grows in the most constructive way to build them up. It's helping them navigate being a young person and guiding them towards the right decisions.

How do you get to that point? Preparation, relationships, and routines. Setting the physical room up for success: layout, flow, seating, lighting, and so much more. Getting to know your students, where they're coming from, and what makes them tick. Making sure they know what to expect when they walk through the door, and that it's consistent every single day. That's how you make the diving save, not for yourself, but for them.

But being a keeper can be lonely. Back there all by yourself. Sure. But a keeper trying to do it alone isn't successful. Thankfully, schools are full of teammates. Maybe it's a grade level team, a content area team, a resource team, or maybe it's all of them. The goal is the same: making learning magical.

Teachers make saves every day. Multiple times a day. You can't be content with one save, even if it is pushing a penalty shot wide. You get up, pump your fist, look around, and get ready for the next shot.

Now, you might say, "Aren't keepers a little goofy?" Yep, the best keepers and teachers definitely are.

Image: Google Gemini

I’ve decided it’s time to really dig back into writing. I’ve missed it. Actually, I’ve got plenty of half-started thoughts, notes, poems, ideas and whatnot saved in Google Keep. This summer, I’m going to focus on publishing some things and moving things from my private Keep notes to a public space. For better or worse.

This summer is also going to be different for me. For the past 21 summers, I’ve been a stay-at-home dad with my kids. The whole summer was science museums, parks, pools, movies, playgrounds, and anything else kid-focused. This summer, Kid #1 is staying at college and working. Kid #2 is home but has a job that will keep her busy.

So, what’s a dad to do?

Writing? Hobbies? Sleeping in? Ha, I wish. Long walks? Reading books in the tree swing in the backyard with a mocktail in the sun. Hmm…that is oddly specific.

I hope you’ll join me for the ride…sorry…the motorcycle was many summers ago. It’s a metaphorical “ride” this summer. Oh, there’s your language arts lesson to kick off the summer.

Cheers!

A stage of grass in the field walked across.

Fist bumps given.

Hugs from specials given and tears shed.

After a final flurry, the hallway falls to silence.

The stuff left behind tossed, forgotten and gone.

Boxes packed, labeled for the big move.

Chairs stacked, weary of the transition.

Carts loaded, elevators summoned.

Repeatedly.

The truck, trailer, three times makes the journey.

A garage repurposed to a storage locker.

Parking spot lost for the summer.

Awaiting a new classroom home.

Awaiting a new classroom home.

From class to class;

Give them few more minutes,

Let them socialize,

Meander,

Build relationships,

Use the restroom,

Visit their locker,

Enjoy some introverted time alone in a quiet classroom.

A teenager's brain focused,

15 minutes at a time.

Hour long classes?

Make them shorter,

Less structured time,

More independence,

More doing,

More creating,

More showing their abilities.

Chairs and desks in rows,

Like an assembly line,

Putting widgets together.

No more.

Couches

And comfy chairs

And rolling, cushioned, desk chairs.

Sitting on the counter,

The table,

Laying on the floor.

Standing,

Moving around,

Being allowed to find what works that day.

There's no passing time,

For lunch.

Hurry up,

Wait,

Sit,

At your assigned table.

Scarf down a cold sandwich,

Feed your belly,

Get back to class.

This isn't the best.

Give them an hour,

Give them recess,

Give them hot, healthy, delicious food.

Let them slow down,

Let them socialize,

Let them run and be kids.

Let them play, relax, be alone.

A windowless school.

Humming fluorescent lights.

Dingy tile floors.

Trickling drinking fountains.

Graffitied lockers.

Drafty windows.

Stifling air,

No air conditioning,

Uncontrollable heat.

Dusty chalkboards.

Create new spaces,

LED lighting with dimmers.

Water filters with bottle fillers.

Carpeting.

Floor to ceiling windows,

Keeping the outside out.

Easy to erase whiteboards on the walls.

Filtered, conditioned air,

Hot and cold.

Spaces to encourage learning.

Bell to bell, no cell.

Preparing them for the real world.

That's not it.

A device in their hand.

Embrace their preference,

Let them use what they know,

They have options,

Use the best tool for the situation.

Old, white people,

Leading education,

The way it's always been done.

Not the best.

Not the most relevant.

Not rising to where kids are now.

Let's change.

Students are different.

The world is different.

Technology is different.

The old isn't acceptable.

We know better.

We need to do better.

Classrooms should lead it,

They are.

Schools should encourage,

Allow the new wave,

Ask the teachers.

Districts need to get on board,

Support the teachers.

Make it better.

Be the leaders our students need.

Hey Y'all!

Thanks for visiting the blog. I challenged myself during the month of July 2020 to do 2 things.

• Publish 30 things on this blog.

• Put my creativity (such that it is) out there for the world to see.

Why? Great question.

I used to (several years ago) write a lot. Mostly about teaching. I published often and found writing to be a great outlet for all the things in my head. Sometimes it was just random stuff. Sometimes it was thought-provoking. Either way, I enjoyed it. I felt better after writing. Things got out of my head. Being an introvert, I didn't want to sit and discuss all this stuff with anyone, I just needed to get it out.

Secondly, I love doing creative things but it all just sits. Showing it, good or bad, is a risk that I ask my students and my own kiddos to take and I thought I should do it too. This blog is a good way to put things into the world...just need to share the blog with everyone.

So.

I realized while cleaning up some digital stuff that I had this blog. I reworked it a bit. Changed the theme. Changed the style. Made a new logo. Added some categories to the stuff. Then started publishing.

I fell short of the 30 posts I was hoping for but came close. I think this post is 28.

The good part is that I published. Also, it's not just random writing. It's photos, poetry, beer, education, and some ramblings (more of that coming in August). The poetry is the biggest risk because it comes from the heart and putting your heart out there is, whoa. Especially because some of it was written years ago during some tough times. Photography is second because it's so subjective and I'm by no means and professional photographer.

Well, I hope you like the blog. Actually...yeah, I do.  But if you don't, I still love you and I'm still happy that it's all out there.

Cheers!

Image Credit: Snohomish County Government

I submitted this photo to the Mn State Fair Creative Activities Competition. It was the first time I've submitted any photo, well, anything really, to a competition. This is part of my taking chances/putting myself out there/just doing it month. It was nerve racking to just submit it. I went back and forth on which image to use, how to describe it, the artist statement, and pretty much anything that could be stressed over.  Clicking the final submit button was a challenge! I heard a few days ago that it wasn't selected. I still think it's a good photo and has the right edits. It would have been so amazing to have my photo in the gallery at the Fair. They can only take so many and I'm guessing there are thousands of submissions.  I'll do it again next year. I'll still take more photos. I might upgrade my equipment. I'll finish the online photo class I'm taking. I'll keep putting myself out there. Just like I tell students, don't give up. Keep doing!!!