#AIinEducation Week 3

Hello Everyone,

Using AI isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about giving teachers back what they came into the profession for, time to connect with kids, time to inspire, time to help every learner grow.

Teacher burnout has never been higher. Record resignations, escalating behaviour issues, and mounting admin have stripped teaching of its joy. But AI can shift that. Not by replacing teachers, but by removing the grind and returning them to the heart of education, supporting students as individuals.

With AI, kids can take agency over their learning, exploring any subject, progressing at their own pace, making choices, being creative, without judgement or the narrow lens of constant marking. This isn’t about more tech for tech’s sake. It’s about re-humanising classrooms.

I want to build a movement of educators who are curious, experimental, and ready to try real-world applications of AI. People who want to continuously improve, test new ideas and create classrooms where kids and teachers actually enjoy their time together.

This week we explore Blob Opera, a joyful AI tool that lets kids play with pitch, harmony, consonance, and dissonance. It’s fun, hands-on, and opens the door to understanding music while sparking creativity and laughter. Who Doesn’t love a BLOB?

Enough of the chat, check out the Amazing Tools & Absolutely Splendid ideas I have to share with you today, in the spirit of

EASIER, MORE PRODUCTIVE
& A WHOLE LOT MORE FUN!

Hope this helped you feel a bit more caught up (and less overwhelmed).

PS
Virtual Teacher is.......... FREE FOREVER

• Mind Candy - mental treats, light, fun or entertaining things for the brain.

• #AIinEducation - Week 3 The Blob Opera

• RADIO Interview Listen this Wednesday. Cheryl will be interviewing me.
  on AI in Primary Schools: Brave, Curious Kids and the Tools to Get Them Started.

• SCOTCH COLLEGE Adelaide Generative AI Guidelines Clear simple and to the point

• TO DO LIST : Make sure you do!

• VT YouTube: An Oldie, Rube Goldberg Contraption

Let's create a ripple effect of learning, sharing, and growing together. Pass any good ideas on to colleagues, and encourage them to subscribe to VirtualTeacher for more.

"Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence." Unknown

Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skilful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.
Willa A. Foster
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A teacher affects eternity; a teacher can never tell where the influence stops.
Henry B. Adams

Week three’s lesson plan is Blob Opera, a playful yet surprisingly powerful way to explore music, harmony and creativity with AI.

Students begin by moving the colourful blobs up and down, experimenting with pitch and vowel shapes to create melodies and harmonies. Along the way, they discover how musicians use both consonance (pleasant sounds) and dissonance (tense sounds) to make music more interesting.

• Students explore how combining pitches creates harmony.

• A quick listening example helps them hear consonance and dissonance in real music, sparking discussion about why both matter.

• They recognise that while Blob Opera always produces smooth harmonies, this reveals something important about AI’s training and limitations.

The lesson moves from free play into performance mode. Students collaborate in pairs to design short Blob Opera pieces and then perform them for the class. Audience members practice being active, respectful listeners and share what they enjoyed in each performance.

To deepen the experience, students present a short artist statement—“What did I want to express with my melody?” They also use flow writing to reflect on how AI supported their creativity and how their peers’ performances inspired them.

Blob Opera gives kids the confidence to experiment without fear of being wrong. They take risks, shape sound, and share their music proudly. The room fills with curiosity, joy and laughter, turning a simple AI experiment into a memorable performance.

Download Week Three, Blob Opera it’s FREE
Here’s the Link to the Webpage where new links to lessons will be added.

Don’t keep this to yourself, good ideas are better shared.
Know a teacher who’d love this? Pass it on!”

Education - changing people through teaching - often happens during rich, very rich, enthusiastic conversation! Listen this Wednesday. Cheryl will be interviewing me.
The Topic is AI in Primary Schools:
Brave, Curious Kids and the Tools to Get Them Started.
Tune in at 8.30am this Wednesday to hear it live or listen later. Here’s the link.

I love this, it provides a clear guideline, finally, for teachers in the use of AI in Education right from Reception through to Year 6. Simple language, easy to follow, easy to implement. This type of clear guidance is just what teachers need in the AI space. Well done Scotch College, they are willing to share in the best spirit of professional collaboration and teacher-to-teacher generosity … so here is the download link. I hope it inspires others to be as clear and precise with their guidelines. Thanks to Dr Nick Jackson and his exceptional team.

SAY WHAT YOU SEE is a playful and instructive experiment. Its goal is to teach users how to craft precise and effective image prompts for AI generation by challenging them to describe images they see and then comparing the AI-generated results to the original.

Every kid in China is now required to learn AI Beijing just made AI education mandatory in all primary and secondary schools. Starting September 1, 2025. It’s part of China’s push to build AI skills from a young age and stay ahead globally. The goal is to get kids comfortable with AI early, so they grow up ready for jobs in a world where AI is everywhere.

At Scotch College Junior School, Adelaide, staff use AI to differentiate tasks, scaffold writing, and support every learner. The key? Curiosity, collaboration & experimentation.

RubeGoldberg Contraption - have some fun with it. Lots of simple machines.

I love to hear from you. Leave a comment or just say hi by sending an email to cathy@virtualteacher.com.au If you’re having fun, your students will too.

This Newsletter is not free, despite the misleading advertising above.
The Fee is now due. Each week you must help one colleague on the Internet who has less knowledge than you. HELP THAT PERSON even if you have to visit their classroom or do a little research and get back to them. Trust me, this will help a lot of people get their computer classrooms running better. OK I'm trusting you!!!

The opinions expressed here are purely those of the editor, Cathy Brown. All other small print clauses apply. Such as: Use at your own risk. Nothing in life is guaranteed.
If it doesn't work for you, me send an email and I'll try to figure it out.

Editor: Cathy Brown cathy@virtualteacher.com.au

Before you go I have a question for you:
Would you be interested in learning more about AI and how to integrate into your teaching? Would you like more information about inservice and training?
No need to decide just yet, just email me if you'd like to start the ball rolling. cathy@virtualteacher.com.au or check out the VT AI Consultancy Page.