#250: What happens when you put creativity at the center of an AI-powered classroom? Joe and Kristen Merrill — teachers, authors, and the dynamic duo behind the InterACTIVE Class series — are here to show you.

In this session, Joe and Kristen take tried-and-true classroom strategies and give them a modern twist, blending emerging AI tools with the kind of meaningful, student-driven creation that meets every learner where they are. You'll walk away with real lessons pulled directly from their own classrooms — not theory, but practice you can use tomorrow.

They'll explore how to move students beyond passive consumption and into authentic creation using tools like Canva, Adobe Express, School AI, Book Creator, Snorkl, Padlet, and app smashing techniques that bring it all together.

🎨 Tools covered: Canva · Adobe Express · School AI · Book Creator · Snorkl · Padlet · App Smashing

📚 Get their new book: Creation in a World of AI → https://amzn.to/4aa5pOL

🏆 Want PD credit for this session? ALL ACCESS members earn a certificate for every Summer Learning Series session they complete — perfect for relicensure hours or your district's PD requirements.

👉 Join ALL ACCESS: https://member.shakeuplearning.com

📅 Register for the FREE Summer Learning Series: https://shakeuplearning.com/summer

The Summer Learning Series is a free professional development event for K-12 teachers, coaches, and leaders from Shake Up Learning. New sessions drop every Tuesday and Thursday all summer long.

#249: If you're spending hours building presentations, lesson materials, and classroom documents from scratch — there's a better way. In this episode, I'm walking you through Gamma, an AI-powered tool that creates beautiful, professional-looking presentations, handouts, and pages in minutes, not hours.

Whether you want to generate a lesson slideshow from a single prompt, or paste in your existing Google Doc and let Gamma design it for you, this tool is one of the most practical AI tools for teachers I've come across. I cover everything: Gamma's free vs. paid plan, how to write prompts that get great results, choosing slide settings, theming and editing, adding presenter notes, and all the ways you can share your finished slides with students and parents.

⭐ Try Gamma: https://shakeuplearning.com/gamma

In this episode:

• What Gamma is and why teachers need it
• Free vs. paid plan breakdown
• How to create AI-powered presentations from a prompt
• How to turn your existing content into a beautiful presentation
• Editing, theming, and presenter notes
• How to share and present your slides

➡️ 🌴 FREE Summer Learning Series

🔗 Access the full show notes and blog post here

📙 Uncommon Sense Teaching Book Study (starts June 3)

📒 Anxious Generation Book Study (self-paced, start anytime)

🎟️ GET CREDIT for listening to this episode: Join the ALL ACCESS Membership

🛍️ Shop Our Store

📺 Visit Shake Up Learning on YouTube

#248: Did you know your school Google account can now build AI agents — for free? In this episode, Kasey Bell breaks down Google Workspace Studio, Google's new no-code AI agent builder available to teachers on Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals. No coding required. No extra cost. Just smart automation powered by Gemini that runs in the background while you teach.

Kasey walks you through exactly who can access Google Workspace Studio, how to get your admin to turn it on, and five real teacher workflows you can automate right now — including email triage, permission slip tracking, anonymous peer review, meeting prep briefs, and end-of-year newsletter drafts.

Plus, get this week's AI Tip: how to use Gemini to write report card comments in seconds.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What Google Workspace Studio is and how it works
• Who has access (hint: it's your school account, not personal Gmail)
• How to build your first AI agent with no coding experience
• 5 AI agent ideas built specifically for teachers
• How to use Gemini to draft report card comments faster

🔗 Google Workspace Studio

➡️ 🌴 FREE Summer Learning Series

🔗 Access the full show notes and blog post here

📙 Uncommon Sense Teaching Book Study (starts June 3)

📒 Anxious Generation Book Study (self-paced, start anytime)

🎟️ GET CREDIT for listening to this episode: Join the ALL ACCESS Membership

🛍️ Shop Our Store

📺 Visit Shake Up Learning on YouTube

#247: Summer PD sounds great…until you waste your time on the wrong thing. In this episode, I'm sharing how to choose summer professional learning that is actually worth your time, energy, and attention. We'll talk about how to identify what you really need, what kinds of PD actually help teachers grow, and how to avoid the fluffy, forgettable stuff that won't make a difference in August.

I'm also sharing practical ways to build a smarter summer learning plan, plus resources that can help you go deeper—including book studies, AI training, bonus summer episodes, and more inside the Shake Up Learning All-Access Membership. And don't miss this week's AI Tip of the Week, where I'll show you how to use AI as your personal PD coach to create a personalized learning plan based on your role, experience, and biggest pain points.

🔗 Access the full show notes and blog post here

➡️ 🌴 FREE Summer Learning Series (registration opens 4/23/26)

📙 Uncommon Sense Teaching Book Study (starts June 3)

📒 Anxious Generation Book Study (self-paced, start anytime)

🎟️ GET CREDIT for listening to this episode: Join the ALL ACCESS Membership

🛍️ Shop Our Store

📺 Visit Shake Up Learning on YouTube

#246: After spring break and during testing season, classroom management can start to unravel. In this episode, Kasey Bell shares a practical late-spring survival plan to help teachers reset expectations, reinforce routines, support student behavior, simplify parent communication, and protect their own energy with the help of AI. You'll hear real classroom examples for elementary, middle, and high school, plus simple ways to use AI prompts for behavior intervention plans, transitions, reflection activities, parent emails, and more. If you're looking for classroom management strategies that save time and reduce stress, this episode will show you how to use AI in practical, teacher-friendly ways. Plus, Kasey highlights resources from her book, AI for Classroom Management, and the AI Prompt Cheat Sheet for Classroom Management.

🔗 Access the full show notes and blog post here

➡️ AI for Classroom Management (book and cheat sheet)

🤖 Gemini Storybook Gem

🎟️ GET CREDIT for listening to this episode: Join the ALL ACCESS Membership

🛍️ Shop Our Store

📺 Visit Shake Up Learning on YouTube

#245: Feeling buried by digital chaos, classroom clutter, and routines that just aren't working anymore? In this episode, I'm walking you through a realistic "teacher spring reset"—how to clean up your digital files (without getting lost in folders), declutter your classroom in small, doable chunks, and simplify the systems that keep creating mess in the first place. Plus, AI Tip of the Week featuring Claude to help you build a spring cleaning plan you'll actually follow.

🔗 Access the full show notes and blog post here

📒 Anxious Generation Book Study for Educators

🌸 Spring Organization Finds for Teachers (Amazon)

🌷 Spring Sale - ALL ACCESS for ONLY $12.50!

💥 FREE Gemini AI in Google Classroom Cheat Sheet for Teachers

🎟️ GET CREDIT for listening to this episode: Join the ALL ACCESS Membership

🛍️ Shop Our Store

📺 Visit Shake Up Learning on YouTube

#244: Choice boards can be a total game-changer for pre-test review—or a chaotic mess. In this episode, I'm sharing exactly what makes review choice boards work, what causes them to flop, and how to structure them so they boost test prep without creating extra stress.

Whether you teach elementary or secondary, I'll walk you through the five non-negotiable rules for using choice boards effectively, the most common mistakes to avoid, and three ready-to-steal board models: retrieval practice, spiral review, and test skills.

You'll leave with a clear plan for how to run choice boards in Google Classroom, manage submissions without headaches, and keep your students engaged and on track.

✅ We're not doing "extra." We're doing smarter, more targeted review.

✅ You'll get real talk, practical ideas, examples

🔗 Access the full show notes and blog post here

💥 FREE Gemini AI in Google Classroom Cheat Sheet for Teachers

➡️ NEW Course: Gemini AI in Google Classroom MASTER CLASS

🎟️ GET CREDIT for listening to this episode: Join the ALL ACCESS Membership

🛍️ Shop Our Store

📺 Visit Shake Up Learning on YouTube

#243: Are you a Google Classroom user curious about AI but unsure where to start? In this episode, Kasey Bell breaks down the new Gemini AI tools built directly into Google Workspace for Education—no extensions or extra accounts needed!

Discover how to:

• Access Gemini inside Google Classroom (and what your admin needs to turn on)
• Use powerful features like outline lesson plans, build a choice board, and the create an audio lesson tool
• Export AI-generated content into Google Docs, Forms, and Classroom with the Add to Class button
• Understand the difference between Gemini Gems and built-in tools—and how to use both effectively

Plus, get your FREE Gemini AI in Google Classroom Cheat Sheet for Teachers at shakeuplearning.com/gemini, and learn about the all-new Gemini AI in Google Classroom Masterclass to take your skills even further.

This episode is your teacher-friendly guide to using AI where it matters most—inside the tools you already know and love.

💥 FREE Gemini AI in Google Classroom Cheat Sheet for Teachers

➡️ NEW Course: Gemini AI in Google Classroom MASTER CLASS

🎟️ GET CREDIT for listening to this episode: Join the ALL ACCESS Membership

🔗 Access the full show notes and blog post here

🛍️ Shop Our Store

📺 Visit Shake Up Learning on YouTube

#242: Ready to ditch unrealistic goals and finally create habits that stick? In this powerful New Year episode of the Shake Up Learning Show, Kasey Bell unpacks one of the most transformative ideas from Atomic Habits by James Clear: why systems—not goals—lead to lasting success.

You'll discover how this mindset shift can impact your personal growth, your teaching practices, and even your students' learning. Plus, get a sneak peek at the upcoming All Access Book Study on Atomic Habits—starting January 7!

🎯 Learn how to:

• Build better habits as a busy teacher

• Apply the cue-craving-response-reward loop to your routines

• Support students in creating positive habits that last

• Use AI tools to automate and reinforce your new systems

👉 Sign up and join the book study at ShakeUpLearning.com/atomic

📝 Access the full show notes and blog post here

💥 FREE Fall & Winter AI Prompt Cheat Sheet for Teachers

🎟️ GET CREDIT: Join the ALL ACCESS Membership

🛍️ Shop Our Store

📺 Visit Shake Up Learning on YouTube

#241: Want to know which teaching tools and strategies made the biggest impact this year—and how to carry that momentum into 2026?

In this episode of The Shake Up Learning Show, Kasey Bell reveals the top 10 teacher resources of 2025—based on what educators downloaded, shared, and couldn't stop talking about!

You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at the most-loved:

• AI tools for teachers
• Classroom management strategies
• Time-saving checklists
• Back-to-school and end-of-the-school-year resources
• And even some powerful low-tech ideas

Whether you're wrapping up the semester or planning your 2026 classroom routines, these tried-and-true favorites will help you save time, reduce stress, and teach with confidence.

🔎 Perfect for teachers searching for:

• Best teaching tools 2025
• AI in education
• Free and paid resources for teachers
• End-of-semester classroom ideas
• Classroom management with AI

🎯 Grab all the links and resources at ShakeUpLearning.com/241

💥 Save 50% on ALL ACCESS (use code SANTA25)

Access the full show notes and blog post here

Visit Shake Up Learning on YouTube