Teachers share free AI tools and classroom warnings

A new weekly round-up spotlights free AI tools educators can use in classrooms—from GemiBoard’s narrated diagram explanations to Google’s Splash Canvas for AI-generated artwork—while the discussion around AI in schools keeps circling back to one theme: protect

A classroom can change quickly when a new tool shows up on a teacher’s screen. This week. that shift is showing up in a growing list of “best new and free” artificial intelligence options—paired with equally strong reminders about who these tools are meant for. and how they can quietly reshape learning.

The weekly feature starts with GemiBoard, which creates narrated explanations with captions and uses diagrams to illustrate its points. The promise is straightforward: explain anything, visually. But the caveat lands just as quickly—its diagrams can be confusing. even while the example shared includes a diagram intended to support English Language Learners.

Next is Geobarta, built to generate bulleted-point news for a selected area. The tool is being added to a separate list of visually engaging news sites, signaling an audience that wants learning to feel current, not textbook-only.

Two more entries extend the idea of classroom-ready support. “Describe and Document AI Use” comes from Conestoga Online, while a post titled “The future of education technology after the arrival of ChatGPT” is credited to Kappan.

Then the conversation turns from tools to the people expected to use them. Larry Ferlazzo, posting in response to the larger debate, says he agrees AI—used carefully—can benefit ELL students. But he draws a boundary around expertise. saying he is not interested in hearing from people “who are not ELL teachers. or teachers at all. about how to do it.” The point isn’t anti-AI. It’s about who gets to define what “help” looks like.

That tension—innovation versus the risk of outsourcing thinking—also shows up in the replies shared alongside the discussion. One educator praises an oral-exams approach that uses an “oral exams profiled” format. writing that they had big dreams of running a larger learning celebration idea with 52 kids. but decided they were “in over my head. ” adding that a smaller class might make it possible later.

Another teacher recommendation comes with a blunt endorsement: the post is described as “amazing,” and others are urged to read it.

More directly, John Warner points to a reflection from mattdinan on how he “essentially delegitimized” using LLMs as a way to outsource student thinking and writing. Warner describes that approach as a model for working through values and building a course around them.

The list doesn’t stop at education-focused explainers and news summaries. It also names Splash Canvas, described as a Google tool for using AI to create artwork—another sign that AI access in schools is spreading beyond writing and into creative production.

Taken together. the week’s classroom AI additions and the arguments around them form a single. uneasy story: tools that can make learning faster and more engaging are arriving at the same time teachers are tightening their grip on what students should be doing—especially when the goal is language development or when the learning task is supposed to belong to the student. not the model.

artificial intelligence tools classroom AI education technology English Language Learners ELL AI-resistant assignments oral exams Splash Canvas GemiBoard Geobarta Conestoga Online Kappan ChatGPT