November 4, 2026, 11:50 am
Connect, collaborate, create and share resources with like-minded colleagues about various subjects and topics of discussion. Explore a list of communities or create your own.
Communities
Discussions
We have a great book club coming up this Sunday!
Be sure to register: https://sharemylesson.com/webinars/aft-book-club-conversation-anand-gir…
What can the death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway tell us about public safety, mental health and belonging in America?
Join AFT President Randi Weingarten for a conversation with journalist and bestselling author Anand Giridharadas about his new book, Man in the Mirror: Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City.
Beginning with the 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway, Giridharadas looks beyond the headlines to tell a deeply reported story about the people involved and a city grappling with public safety, mental health, homelessness and care for one another.
Together, Weingarten and Giridharadas will discuss what this story reveals about how we see our neighbors and respond to people in crisis. For educators and others who serve their communities, it’s a chance to consider how we make room for complexity, empathy and thoughtful conversation when an event divides public opinion.
Be sure to register: https://sharemylesson.com/webinars/aft-book-club-conversation-anand-gir…
What can the death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway tell us about public safety, mental health and belonging in America?
Join AFT President Randi Weingarten for a conversation with journalist and bestselling author Anand Giridharadas about his new book, Man in the Mirror: Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City.
Beginning with the 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway, Giridharadas looks beyond the headlines to tell a deeply reported story about the people involved and a city grappling with public safety, mental health, homelessness and care for one another.
Together, Weingarten and Giridharadas will discuss what this story reveals about how we see our neighbors and respond to people in crisis. For educators and others who serve their communities, it’s a chance to consider how we make room for complexity, empathy and thoughtful conversation when an event divides public opinion.
November 4, 2026, 11:44 am
Can Teachers Create Their Own Interactive Learning Games Without Knowing How to Code?
What if a tricky concept from your next lesson could become a little interactive game?
Not an elaborate app. Just something your students could play, experiment with and learn from.
I’ve been exploring how accessible technology and AI-assisted development tools can help us turn everyday learning concepts into simple, playable activities, even without a background in coding.
While studying TEFL, I became interested in how English learners navigate different forms of the same word.
For example:
Power → Powerful → Powerfully → Empower
Instead of presenting these as another vocabulary exercise, I wondered whether learners could practise choosing the correct word form through a game.
That experiment became WORD FLEX, a browser-based vocabulary game I created without any previous game-development experience.
And it made me think about how teachers could use similar approaches in their own classrooms.
Here’s one way to start:
1. Choose one small learning objective. For example, identifying the correct form of a word in a sentence.
2. Turn it into a simple interaction. Could students choose, match, sort, arrange or experiment with something?
3. Use technology to build a prototype. AI-assisted coding tools can help turn a clearly described idea into a basic browser-based activity, even if you don’t write code yourself.
4. Test the learning, not just the game. Are the questions meaningful? Are the wrong answers plausible? Does the feedback help students understand their mistakes?
5. Refine it before classroom use. Check accuracy, accessibility, age suitability and whether the activity actually supports your learning objective.
The interesting part is that this approach isn’t limited to vocabulary.
A science concept could become a sorting challenge. A maths lesson could become a pattern game. A grammar exercise could become an interactive sentence-building activity.
Of course, technology doesn’t automatically make a lesson better. The learning objective and the teacher’s judgement still come first.
But I do think there’s something exciting about teachers being able to create learning resources around the specific concepts their students struggle with, rather than always having to search for something that already exists.
I wrote about my first experiment with this approach, including what worked, what didn’t and the research I discovered afterwards:
https://studion14.com/journal/word-flex-first-game
I’d love to ask fellow educators: If you could turn one concept from your classroom into a simple interactive game, what would it be?
I’d love to explore some of those ideas together!
What if a tricky concept from your next lesson could become a little interactive game?
Not an elaborate app. Just something your students could play, experiment with and learn from.
I’ve been exploring how accessible technology and AI-assisted development tools can help us turn everyday learning concepts into simple, playable activities, even without a background in coding.
While studying TEFL, I became interested in how English learners navigate different forms of the same word.
For example:
Power → Powerful → Powerfully → Empower
Instead of presenting these as another vocabulary exercise, I wondered whether learners could practise choosing the correct word form through a game.
That experiment became WORD FLEX, a browser-based vocabulary game I created without any previous game-development experience.
And it made me think about how teachers could use similar approaches in their own classrooms.
Here’s one way to start:
1. Choose one small learning objective. For example, identifying the correct form of a word in a sentence.
2. Turn it into a simple interaction. Could students choose, match, sort, arrange or experiment with something?
3. Use technology to build a prototype. AI-assisted coding tools can help turn a clearly described idea into a basic browser-based activity, even if you don’t write code yourself.
4. Test the learning, not just the game. Are the questions meaningful? Are the wrong answers plausible? Does the feedback help students understand their mistakes?
5. Refine it before classroom use. Check accuracy, accessibility, age suitability and whether the activity actually supports your learning objective.
The interesting part is that this approach isn’t limited to vocabulary.
A science concept could become a sorting challenge. A maths lesson could become a pattern game. A grammar exercise could become an interactive sentence-building activity.
Of course, technology doesn’t automatically make a lesson better. The learning objective and the teacher’s judgement still come first.
But I do think there’s something exciting about teachers being able to create learning resources around the specific concepts their students struggle with, rather than always having to search for something that already exists.
I wrote about my first experiment with this approach, including what worked, what didn’t and the research I discovered afterwards:
https://studion14.com/journal/word-flex-first-game
I’d love to ask fellow educators: If you could turn one concept from your classroom into a simple interactive game, what would it be?
I’d love to explore some of those ideas together!
October 29, 2026, 2:36 am
New to Communities?
Are you an expert, novice, or just interested in exploring a certain topic? Help Share My Lesson grow by creating a community to contribute your expertise, share resources, or find the solutions to the questions driving today’s challenges by working with like-minded community members.
Be sure to join us for November's AI Educator Brain webinar with Common Sense Education: AI Companions: Harmless Chatbot or Your Students' New Best Friend? November 17, 2026 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST
https://sharemylesson.com/webinars/ai-companions-harmless-chatbot-or-st…
Your students are talking to AI, and not just about homework. More than one in three kids who use AI have turned to it to talk about their feelings or personal problems, and more than four in 10 say no adult has ever talked with them about AI safety. So when a student mentions their AI "friend," or you overhear one, what do you say?
In this episode of the award-winning AI Educator Brain, Kelly Booz and Sari Beth Rosenberg, joined by Jennifer Ehehalt, Sr. Education Manager at Common Sense Education, take an honest look at AI companions and chatbots, and what they mean for the students in front of you. You'll leave with:
- A clear picture of what AI companions are, and why students are turning to them
- What we know, and don't yet know, about their effects on student mental health
- How AI "relationships" can shape students' friendships and expectations of real people
- Practical language for when a student brings it up: how to respond without shaming
For PreK–12 educators, support staff, and anyone who's AI-curious, AI-skeptical, or just trying to keep up with their students.