Issue 15 • October 2, 2024

I’ve been helping teachers prompt Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot. Gemini can generate both text responses and images. However, a couple of times Gemini responded to a request to generate images saying that it could not do that. I replied, “Yes you can. I believe in you!” Surprisingly, after encouragement, Gemini proceeded to generate the requested pictures. It seems persistence might pay off when chatting with Gemini. Now I’ll persist with this week’s newsletter…

Prompted Portrayals 👤

As a teacher, it's fun to include cartoon versions of me to capture attention, highlight important information, and inject humor into lessons and resources.

An AI image generator develops images based on the description you enter as the prompt. To create a likeness, you'll have to describe your appearance in the prompt. I might describe myself like this:

“Middle-aged white man with short brown hair and hazel eyes wearing a teal blazer over a black shirt.”

The output might end up resembling me, but I left out many details. The AI has to guess what I didn’t explicitly describe, resulting in output that loosely resembles me.

The image below was generated with Microsoft Designer using the prompt above.

Claude:

“A man with short dark hair styled in a spiky, slightly messy look. He appears to be in his 40s or early 50s with a youthful appearance. He has a wide, bright smile showing white teeth. The man is wearing a teal blue blazer over a black shirt. He has fair skin and is clean-shaven.”

Microsoft Copilot:

“A man with short, dark hair styled in a modern fashion, possibly with some hair product to give it texture and hold. The man is wearing a teal blue blazer over a black shirt.”

ChatGPT:

“The man has a friendly, open smile with straight white teeth. His hair is short, spiked, and a medium brown color with subtle highlights. His skin tone is light with a healthy, warm glow. He has hazel eyes, and his face is clean-shaven, with a sharp, defined jawline and slightly prominent cheekbones. His eyebrows are neatly groomed, and his nose is straight and proportional to his face. He is wearing a teal blazer over a black shirt.”

You can see that each chatbot gave me varying levels of detail. Of course, I can edit before I put my description to use in an image generator. I can also ask for more or less detail. However, I don’t want the description to be too long, otherwise, it won’t fit within the character limit of an image generator.

I decided to go with ChatGPT’s description of myself and used it to prompt Microsoft Designer, Adobe Firefly, and Ideogram to create cartoon versions of me in different poses with different facial expressions. The output is below.

I am fairly happy with the generated cartoons. I’m keeping ChatGPT’s description of me in a note for handy copying and pasting when I need it.

Additionally, I can keep the description but change the prompt from cartoon to Barbie doll, Lego mini figure, Funko Pop, Muppet, comic book hero, or any medium or style. The images below were generated with Microsoft Designer.

Presentation Power-up 🪄

Import a Google Slides presentation into Canva and continue editing it with Canva's tools, elements, and styles.

From your Canva Projects screen, click Add New → Import from App → Google Drive.

Alternatively, you could download Google Slides as PPTX and upload the file to Canva.

Why would you want to do this? Perhaps you want to add Canva elements, animations, and text effects to an existing presentation. Maybe you want to turn the presentation into a video.  Best of all, you can present the slides using Magic Shortcuts, allowing you to overlay a timer, blur the screen, close curtains, drop a mic, and more.

Seasonal Selections 🍂

Andrew Roush writes about autumn-themed choice boards on the TCEA blog. He also explains why teachers should offer choice boards and links to articles about creating your own.

Andrew links to Shannon McClintock Miller’s October choice board. She also has a Halloween choice board. These have activities that are suitable for students in grades 2-5. Additionally, there’s a link to Tonya Nugent’s Halloween choice board that you can copy and edit in Google Docs.

Sensory Sites 💻

Sensory brain breaks are especially helpful when students seem overstimulated. Short sensory activities can improve focus, reduce anxiety, and promote self-regulation.

Here are five interactive websites that engage the senses:

1. Rocks → Peacefully stack rocks while listening to the ocean.

2. 3D Pottery → Sculpt your own historical pot using virtual clay spinning on a virtual potter’s wheel.

3. SandBox→ Drag your mouse in the sand.

4. Blob Opera → Move blobs up and down to sing different pitches.

5. Sand Saga → Play with elements like sand, water, and fire to create different effects in a physics-based world. You can experiment freely or take on challenges.

Quick Key Commands 📺

• Spacebar → Play/pause

• F → Go full screen

• M → Mute/unmute

• 0 (Zero) → Go to the start of the video

• Up arrow → Raise volume 5%

• Down arrow → Decrease volume 5%

• Right arrow → Skip ahead 5 seconds

• Left arrow → Go back 5 seconds

• L → Leap forward 10 seconds

• J → Jump back 10 seconds

• C → Show/hide captions

Unfortunately, many of these shortcuts do not work when presenting a YouTube video in Google Slides.

Apple Watch Charger

I recently purchased a Portable Charger for Apple Watch. This handy power bank can recharge my watch 2-3 times on a single charge. What's great is it costs less than buying an Apple Watch charging cable — and unlike a cable, it has a battery. For teachers looking for a travel charger or one to keep at school, I definitely recommend this little device.

I love hearing from readers! Have you ever outsmarted an AI? Maybe you have a hack, tip, or story to share. Tell me about it in a reply to this email.

Smiles from Iowa,

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