Learning in Hand Issue 49

Issue 49 • Date December 15, 2025

Ditch Summit is a yearly online event hosted by Matt Miller. It's filled with pre-recorded sessions on all kinds of education and technology topics. This year’s summit runs December 15 through January 11, 2026, and it’s completely free to register.

One of the sessions you’ll see is an interview with Greg Bagby and me about vibe coding. Vibe coding is where you describe your app idea to an AI chatbot, let it generate the code, try out the preview, and then ask for tweaks. It’s a fun way for teachers to create custom bell ringers, practice activities, review games, brain breaks, and classroom management tools.

“Vibe Coding: It's Amazing What YOU Can Create with Greg Bagby and Tony Vincent” becomes available December 23rd.

If you’ve been reading the Learning in Hand newsletter, you’ve probably tried some of the apps I’ve vibe coded. In this issue, I’m sharing two more, along with my new Tony’s App Lab page.

Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit flyer showing 9 featured speakers

Colorfully Calm Creation 🧘

There are so many apps out there already that there’s rarely a need to reinvent the wheel by vibe coding my own. However, when an app doesn’t exist or an existing app doesn’t quite meet my needs, that’s when I turn to AI to code my own app.

I’ve always liked the idea behind the Pixel Thoughts app. It’s a 60 second meditation tool where you type in a stressful thought, and over the next minute the thought slowly shrinks and fades away while piano music plays.

The concept is great, but the affirming text in Pixel Thoughts focuses on the universe’s size and how our problems are mathematically insignificant. That language doesn’t land well with kids, so I set out to create a mindfulness app that would.

With Gemini’s help, I brainstormed a name and concept and ended up with Point of Hue, a play on point of view. You enter a thought you’d like to shrink, choose 60, 90, or 120 seconds, and watch the text gradually get smaller while colors change behind it. Instead of cosmic metaphors, the encouragement focuses on deep breathing, shifting perspective, and helping something that feels big feel a little more manageable.

When I taught 5th grade, I had a very competitive class. Students would return from recess or P.E. fired up about something that happened on the soccer field or basketball court, and it took a while to settle them back into learning. If I’d had Point of Hue back then, we could have taken a brief mindfulness moment to reset before moving on with our day.

AI Transparency Tool 🔍

Another exciting tool I’ve been loving is AI Trust You, a Google Docs add-on that gives students a structured way to document how they used AI in their assignments. It’s a smart idea created by Laguna Beach Public School District.

Teachers use the add-on to generate clear expectations by selecting from a list of allowed AI uses. Students then use the same add-on to create an “AI Truth and Trust Statement” that gets inserted directly into their Google Doc.

AI Trust You is great, but I found it didn’t meet all my needs. In Council Bluffs Community School District, I wanted a web-based option instead of a Docs add-on. I also needed to customize the list of ways AI might help on an assignment, and in CBCSD we use the term “AI Help Statement” so I wanted the tool to reflect our language.

To build a version that fit our workflow, I turned to Canva AI. After lots of iteration, I created Transparency Support. I even purchased the domain name and pointed it to a Canva-published site.

Transparency Support starts by asking whether you’re a teacher or a student. Teachers choose the ways AI may be used on an assignment, and the tool generates an AI Help Statement they can copy and paste into their directions. It clearly communicates what’s allowed.

Students select how they used AI, which tools were involved, and what they contributed on their own without AI’s help. After clicking Create Statement, they copy their AI Help Statement into their assignment to show exactly how AI supported their work.

Because Transparency Support is vibe coded, I can return to Canva anytime, request adjustments to the code, and publish updates.

Lab Launch 👨‍🔬

I’m happy to launch Tony’s App Lab. It’s a new page on my website where I share the apps I’ve vibe coded.

The apps are practical tools teachers can use right away, and I hope they also spark ideas for how vibe coding can support teaching and learning.

I’ve also started the Vibe Coding Educators Community on Facebook. I’d love for it to become a place where teachers share questions, wins, and lessons learned.

Summit Spotlight 🔦

I’m keynoting the Wayne RESA Maker-STEM Summit in Dearborn, MI on February 12, 2026! And wouldn’t you know it, my keynote is all about bringing ideas to life with AI.

Here’s the description for my presentation, called “Good Vibes Ahead.”

What if you could describe an idea and watch it come to life? That’s the magic of vibe coding, where an idea becomes code with the help of AI. It is a playful way for teachers and students to experiment, remix, and shape imagination into reality. Tony Vincent will guide us through the art of “vibe coding” where imagination meets innovation and code becomes a canvas for creativity. With divergent thinking and a spirit of persistence, creativity flows, and rough starts transform into polished creations. Celebrate the joy of making and see how today’s tools can turn sparks of imagination into creations worth sharing.

Download Flyer • Register to Attend

Poster Patrol 🎬

Two Truths & AI (love the name!) is a quick, interactive game from Common Sense Education that helps students sharpen their digital literacy skills. In a 60-second challenge, students look at movie posters and decide which ones are real and which were made by AI.

It works for grades K–12 and feels more like a game than a lesson, while quietly building skills around critical thinking and spotting AI-generated content.

To spot the AI-generated poster, students can look for:

Text that doesn’t make sense
Faces or body parts that seem off
Details that don’t belong
Something strange being included (or missing)

The Educator Guide includes practical ways to use the game in class, such as a bell ringer, whole-class activity, or station rotation. It also connects the game to digital literacy standards across multiple subjects and provides discussion questions and extension activities to reinforce the important skill of evaluating digital media.

Screenshot of three movie posters for Toy Story

Digital Delights for December 💻

There are lots of free digital activities you can use to close out the school year across a variety of platforms. These are easy ways to build community, invite creativity, and celebrate the season together.

FigJam

This FigJam file bundles multiple activities into one space. Students can warm up by shopping for a Secret Santa gift for Darth Vader, decorate a gift box, guess top-selling toys, create a Spotify Wrapped, and design a holiday card. Once you open it in FigJam, you can delete any activities you do not want and keep just the ones that fit your class.
There are also many more templates available from Figma Education Creators. While most are not holiday-specific, you will find plenty of interactive templates your students will enjoy.

Google Slides

The Reindeer Shapegrams Zipper is a short digital art activity where students recreate a reindeer using shapes. Optional twist: students can turn the nose red and add a glowing effect with a red drop shadow.
Build a Snowman in Google Slides is a classic from Eric Curts. The template includes slides filled with accessories that students can copy and add to their snowman.
Decorate a Holiday Tree is another Eric Curts favorite. Students use pre-made ornaments and decorations to design their own festive tree.

Canva

Canva’s templates include some fun student-ready activities if you know what to search for. Try keywords like Hanukkah activities, Christmas games, winter games, or holiday activities. You will see design templates mixed in, so a little scrolling is needed to find interactive options.
The Build a Snowman template includes an Elements Bank next to a blank snowman, making it easy for students to add a face, hat, nose, and buttons. Once students get started, show them how to search all of Canva’s elements to unlock even more creative options.

Wayground

Kyle Niemis created a collection of a dozen interactive winter activities for Wayground. Options include Name That Tune, This or That questions, decorating winter scenes, responding to dad jokes, answering holiday trivia, and learning about holiday traditions from around the world.

Magic School + Adobe Express

Coding

Grinch Hour of Code is a festive, block-based coding activity where students solve holiday-themed puzzles while learning core computer science skills through short, engaging challenges.
This holiday-themed MakeCode activity lets students code an interactive card or scene using simple block-based programming. It is an easy and creative way to practice coding skills while ending the season on a fun note.

Choice Board

Virtual Escape Rooms offers an interactive December Holidays Around the World board. It has a curated collection of engaging videos, kid-friendly articles, and hands-on activities all in one place. Use it as-is or make a copy and customize it for your students.

I know this time of year is busy, no matter how long your break is. If you have time to explore, Ditch Summit and past issues of Learning in Hand offer plenty of ideas and inspiration for education and technology. All 49 issues are available on one page. I’ll see you back in your inbox on January 7, 2026.

Smiles from Iowa,

P.S. A group is trying to revive the old Twitter brand at Twitter.new. Will it actually happen? Probably not. But it takes 10 seconds to reserve your handle, just in case it becomes reality.

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