MAKING IT EASIER TO BE A BETTER TEACHER

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Here’s our weekly roundup of interesting education stories from around the world. Click each link to dive deeper:

• The 4 ways you’ve been (unknowingly) distracting your students - at least according to this teacher.

• Literacy scores dropping? Maybe it’s because we never finish reading the whole book.

• Slower memory development may be linked with childhood neglect (according to this research).

TECH TALK

There are TOO many AI tools

AI is revolutionizing education, helping teachers with lesson planning, grading, and even generating creative content. 

But with so many different AI platforms available—ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and more—it’s overwhelming to figure out which one to use for each task.

Instead of jumping between multiple tools, is there a way to search them all at once and get the best response instantly?

The Solution: Sider

Sider is a Chrome extension that brings together multiple AI models into one convenient workspace. 

Instead of switching between different AI tools, Sider lets teachers ask multiple AI models at the same time, compare responses, and choose the best answer for their needs—all without leaving their browser. 

Here’s how it can streamline the AI tools that you’re already using:

• All-in-One Chatbot: Sider combines GPT-4o, Claude 3.5, Gemini 2.0, and other AI models into one easy-to-use chatbot. Teachers can ask a question and get responses from multiple AIs in one place and then select the one they like the best.

• AI-Powered Reading Assistance: Translate, summarize, or rewrite content instantly—perfect for quickly understanding research papers, adapting lesson plans, or modifying materials for different reading levels.

• Time-Saving Writing Tools: Need to draft an email, lesson plan, or discussion prompt? Sider generates clear and professional writing in seconds, reducing time spent on admin tasks.

• Text-to-Image AI Painter: Turn text descriptions into custom visuals to enhance presentations, worksheets, and lesson slides—without needing advanced design skills or other outside apps.

How About YOUR Classroom?

Integrating Sider into your lesson planning workflow can save time and improve productivity by providing instant, high-quality AI support wherever you browse.

Strategies

• AI-Powered Lesson Planning: Every time you’re using a popular AI tool, use this extension to see responses to your prompt from other sites - sometimes a combo is best!

• Streamlined Communication: Write parent newsletters, student feedback, or administrative emails with AI-powered clarity. You can even compare responses from different AIs to refine your message.

• Better Research & Resource Curation: Instead of scanning multiple sites for information, use Sider to quickly summarize articles, fact-check sources, and organize research in one place.

As teachers, we do need to say this first - always ensure that any AI tool complies with your school’s privacy policies before using it with district given resources, student information, and the like.

Sider starts as a free browser extension, with some premium options available starting at $10USD/month.

By consolidating multiple AI models into a single workspace, it removes the hassle of switching between platforms—helping educators work faster and smarter.

BRAINY BITS

The official secret to academic success?

Why do some students thrive while others struggle, even when given the same resources? 

A 2022 study explored this question across nearly three thousand high school students by analyzing how goal-setting, learning environments, and stakeholder involvement (i.e. how engaged parents and teachers are) impact academic success.

The Study: What makes students succeed?

Researchers analyzed 2,758 high school students using surveys and academic records in what’s called a cross-sectional design. 

Using these results, they examined how school environments, goal-setting habits, and parental/teacher involvement impact engagement and performance. Statistical modeling revealed which factors mattered most.

The Results:

• Learning Context Drives Engagement: Classroom environments and teaching strategies explained 59.5% of engagement differences.

• Goal-Setting Boosts Performance: Students with clear academic goals outperformed peers, with goal directness showing the strongest effect on grades.

• Stakeholders Matter—But Engagement Is Key: Parental, teacher, and peer support only helped when they made a direct effort to increase student engagement.

In Your Classroom:

We’ve all heard how important goal setting, our classroom environment, and parent involvement is. 

But studies like this show that if we only have the resources to hit one of these, the one that matters most is one we can all do - teaching students how to set and carry out a goal.

Here are your key takeaways from this study to enhance your classroom this week:

Strategies

• Make goal-setting part of learning: Encourage students to define objectives and track progress - bonus points if they can see you successfully using it in your own life/work as well.

• Focus on engagement strategies: Interactive lessons and student-centered teaching are crucial as we all know - find one creative way this week to engage even just one student.

• Build a support network: Teacher and parental involvement must foster student engagement, not just compliance - if your environment allows so, keep parents/guardians involved not just when students are misbehaving, but also when they’re succeeding.

Engagement and home involvement may be large pieces of the academic success pie (yum?), but studies like this show there’s a larger piece we can be after.

This week, make a targeted effort to help students set up - and follow through - with at least one goal. Start small, and explode from there!

REFERENCES

This week’s issue adapts information from the following sources:

Tech Talk:

Sider. (2025). Your AI Sidekick. Retrieved from https://sider.ai/extensions/chatgpt-sidebar-for-chrome-edge-safari

Brainy Bits:

Sattar T, Ullah MI and Ahmad B (2022) The Role of Stakeholders Participation, Goal Directness and Learning Context in Determining Student Academic Performance: Student Engagement as a Mediator. Front. Psychol. 13:875174. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.875174