Dear Techies,
The blank page is the enemy
It's 9pm on a Sunday. You have three lessons to plan before tomorrow and a blank document open in front of you.
The thinking isn't the hard part. Getting started is.
Here's something that changes that, and you can try it tonight.
One prompt. Under a minute. Full lesson plan draft.
Open ChatGPT, Gemini, or Microsoft Copilot — whichever you have access to. Type something like this:
Create a 45-minute lesson plan for Year 8 students on the causes of World War One. Include a starter activity, a main task, and an exit ticket. The class has mixed ability learners.
Hit enter. In under ten seconds you have a complete draft — objectives, structure, timing, and a way to check understanding at the end.
Is it perfect? No. You'll read it and immediately know what needs changing. But you're no longer starting from nothing. You're editing a draft. And editing is always faster than writing from scratch.
That's the shift. Not AI replacing your planning but AI removing the part of planning that doesn't need you.
The same principle works across your whole week
Lesson planning is just one place this applies. This same approach: describe what you need, get a draft, make it yours; it works for quiz creation, content differentiation, parent communications, and report comments too.
Teachers who've built this into their routine report saving between two and five hours every week. Not by changing how they teach. Just by changing how they start.
This week we're going deeper — one video per day
We've just launched a free six-part video series specifically for teachers. No jargon. No technical background required. Each video focuses on one use case and runs under five minutes.
Here's what's dropping each day this week:
Today (Thursday): Why AI Matters for Teachers Now
The foundation for everything that follows. What AI actually is in a teaching context, what it can and can't do, and why now is the right time to start paying attention.
Friday: Lesson Planning in Minutes
A live demo of the prompt above, plus how to use AI for discussion questions, starter activities, and alternative explanations all in the same session.
Saturday: Build Quizzes and Assessments in Minutes
Every quiz format you need in seconds, plus the misconception prompt — a technique that generates questions targeting exactly where your students go wrong.
Sunday: Differentiation and Inclusion Made Easier
How to instantly produce simplified, standard, and extended versions of any resource, plus alternative explanations for additional needs.
Monday: Take the Pain Out of Admin and Communication Parent emails, report comments, meeting summaries, drafted in seconds so your evenings stop disappearing into tasks that don't need your expertise.
Tuesday: What to Watch Out For
The most important video in the series. Why AI gets things wrong, why student data must never go into public AI tools, and how to teach your students to use AI critically. Watch this one before you use anything else from the series.
Start with today's video
You will go from totally overwhelmed by AI to actually using it in your planning. We hope that this series changes how you work.
👉 Watch Video 1 now: https://youtu.be/OSocMOphnoA
📥 Know a teacher who needs this? Forward this email. The whole series is completely free.
See you tomorrow
A new video drops every day this week. Subscribe to the channel so you don't miss one.
Stay Savvy,
The Tech Savvy Starts Here Team
P.S. Tuesday's video — What to Watch Out For — is the one most teachers skip and shouldn't. Whatever you take from this series, watch that one before you use any of it in your classroom.
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🧠 Keep learning. | 💬 Keep questioning. | 💥 Keep growing.
