AI for the Social Studies Classroom by Anthony DiSantis

Lesson Plan Format

adisantis — 2025-05-29 13:39:41 UTC

I'm going to use Google's Gemini for this although ChatGPT is similar, now that we have a Pro Gemini account, we're able to get a lot more out of it. We're going to start a new chat, label it, LESSON PLANS. We are going to create a database for this chat to be able to use, I've supplied below the resources that I use and I will tell you a few other of the prompts I've added.

Please add the NJSLS 2020 Social Studies Standards for Middle School/High School

https://www.nj.gov/education/standards/socst/docs/2020NJSLS-SS_by_Standard.pdf

Please add the Danielson Framework for Observations to the database.

Please include PBIS points as rewards during class.

We must include Small Group Instruction into our lessons, please include this into the plans.

Here is our template for what Lesson Plans should look like: (Add extra instructions if you wish.)

Content Standard Alignment:

Essential Question:

Lesson Objectives/Instructional Outcomes:

Differentiation According to Student Needs:

Instructional Materials/Resources:

Methods and Instructional Strategies

Anticipated Student Misconceptions (OPTIONAL)

Concept Prerequisites (OPTIONAL)

Introduction

Anticipatory Set:

Instructional Activities:

Wrap Up

Synthesis/Closure/

Assessment (Formative and/or Summative):

Tips and Tools

adisantis — 2025-05-29 14:28:12 UTC

These 2 are extremely similar. I'm partial to MagicSchool as I've been using it for 2 years. While I have found some tools that have replaced a couple of the tools in MagicSchool, I still use it a lot. My favorite tool is the Professional Email and Email Responder.

Real World Connections is also a really cool tool to show how we can connect the past to today and why what we're learning about the past affects the world in which we live today.

I would like you to please log in and select the Tool Recommendations. Put in a lesson you'd like to teach and see what it brings up.

StudyFetch is very much like MagicSchool but with a few less options. I would have skipped over this had it not been for the tool "Game Generator." Please TRY this out.

Example of Assignment

adisantis — 2025-05-29 14:37:39 UTC

This reading is from the textbook, I copied the text, but I also made the entire chapter a resource for completeness. One thing I didn't show you was that there is also an AI Chatbot Tutor that students can ask questions. It will not provide them the answers to the questions, but rather guide them in how to find the answer. Questions that are asked outside the assessment questions will be given background information and answered.

Suno!

adisantis — 2025-05-30 18:53:04 UTC

I'm on the free account, so I'd appreciate you using my referral so I can get some extra credits. This creates songs. You can have them create your lyrics for you, or you can create your own lyrics. It will then sing it in the style you want with the background music. You can get very specific with the instruments and beats and it will do all the work for you. I'm beginning to create "albums" for my units as a way to review for some students. This would not be for all students, but mine are starting to get into it.

You can, as an extension, provide them with the lyrics and have them take it to AI to break the lyrics down into their meanings and that may further enhance the learning from the songs too (or provide it to them.)

Canva

adisantis — 2025-05-30 18:56:13 UTC

While this is really cool for presentations, it's extremely customizable but it takes some getting used to. Google Slides is way easier to use, but the tools that come with Canva make it a much better tool. You can create your own AI images from text to use in and out of your presentations. I'm pretty sure this comes with the basic teacher/education account. Whereas on the private level, I think you're more limited in how many times you can use this tool. But this is definitely something to check out. Magic Media.

Goblin Tools

adisantis — 2025-06-02 13:02:00 UTC

This is incredible for projects and large assignments. Write down your project in the prompt and it will create a breakdown for you on how to complete it. I use this more in my personal life than school, but I can see this being very beneficial for students who tend to get overwhelmed.

Humy

adisantis — 2025-06-02 13:46:27 UTC

This is a Freemium resource. But, put the emphasis on Mium. There are only a few characters that you could chat with and I didn't find them to be as engaging as they should have been. While not having tried the premium version, I was rather disappointed in this one. I thought this would have been a really cool way for the class to interview a historical figure, but without more free options, I can't imagine using this in my classroom. You may have a different experience, the app is really neat, but I feel that it still needs more time to grow and you would probably be better off creating your own chatbot of the historical figure that you would like to use in a different program at this time.

Grouper

adisantis — 2025-06-02 13:48:26 UTC

This was really nice. It imports your Google Classroom, you can place restrictions on who cannot sit with who and it can randomize your groups into pairs and up to 5 people. It also allows you to choose the groups as well as assigning roles. While I don't believe this is something to be used every day, I find this to be a really cool tool that I will implement throughout the year.

MagicSchool

adisantis — 2025-06-02 13:51:48 UTC

This is overwhelming at first. There are a couple of things I would like you to try and you can feel free to go back and play with more tools, but these are my go to apps within the app.

Check out Professional Email and pretend to write an email to parent for the first week of school. Do not write out the entire email, instead, go over bullet points about what you want to go over and let AI do the rest. You may need to go back in an edit a bit, but it will do most of the job for you.

Next, go to Make it Relevant and type in the first topic that you're going to cover in class this year. See some of the ideas that it gives you to create more buy in from your students.

StudyFetch

adisantis — 2025-06-02 13:53:48 UTC

It has a lot of similar tools as MagicSchool but with one major difference, please go check out the Game Generator under Teacher Tools.

Also, go down under Student View and click on Explainers or Flashcards. This does have some really nice study tools connected to it.

Quizlet

adisantis — 2025-06-02 14:26:01 UTC

Study Guides, Flash cards, Games, and Practice Tests can be created. This is a popular one, but it wasn't my favorite because it didn't link to Google Classroom well enough for my liking. But it's a great program all around.

Quizizz

adisantis — 2025-06-02 14:26:56 UTC

This one I love. Not only does it easily to Google Classroom, it also easily connects with Brisk as well. Very similar to Quizlet.

QuestionWell

adisantis — 2025-06-02 16:15:15 UTC

I really like the questions that this presents and I can paste in my own materials so that it's exactly what I'm looking for. You can export these questions to different sites but it's not very intuitive. There are also some really cool tools that go with this app, but it's freemium and I believe the game changer stuff is locked behind a paywall. I'm not opposed to getting the Pro accounts, but there are other tools that can do nearly the same thing without paying for it.

Conker

adisantis — 2025-06-02 16:25:08 UTC

This was easy. It's almost too simplified though and maybe the pay version gets into a nicer interface, but this works well, just not nearly as engaging as others. I would work with Class Companion over this one, but this does create paper worksheets too.

Twee

adisantis — 2025-06-02 17:18:37 UTC

While this might be cool, I quickly ran through my options while trying things out and now I can no longer test the materials without paying for it. This could be really cool, but you'll find most of the tools provided here free elsewhere.

Tools

adisantis — 2025-06-02 17:21:02 UTC

There are a lot of previously discussed tools that can also be used here. StudyFetch, MagicSchool, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc. You just have to find which ones you like. I will generate the generic from MagicSchool and then edit the information in ChatGPT/Gemini to better fit my needs.

GoogleLM

adisantis — 2025-06-02 17:23:18 UTC

This is pretty awesome. Paste your curriculum guide in here and it will create Units for you and also break down into chunks for you. While this isn't great for individual lessons, the breakdown is extremely useful and I love how it caters to my specific needs in it.

Are there any tools that you've found on your own that were not listed here and work well? Please provide the link and a short description on how you use it.

adisantis — 2025-06-02 17:25:15 UTC

Curipod

adisantis — 2025-06-02 17:58:16 UTC

As someone that loves PearDeck, this tool is incredibly neat as it will create the slidedeck for you. However, this is also a Freemium site and it does not allow for too much input and editing other than basic details. I can only imagine how neat the full version of this is though.

Prezi

adisantis — 2025-10-28 14:27:54 UTC

Today's presentation was created with AI for you to see what it has to offer. Could I imagine doing this every day for my students? Nope, but for lessons that I want to stand out from the rest, yeah, I would definitely look into using this again.

SchoolAI

adisantis — 2025-10-28 15:55:52 UTC

This features a lot of different personalized chatbots for students to interact with. I have played around with it and I can't tell you what the back end looks like, but it was neat to have meaningful conversations on topics. I could see this as a cool tool to really bring home topics for students.

EduAide

adisantis — 2025-10-28 17:33:26 UTC

This AI feature is really cool, but it's been locked behind a Freemium wall. While you are still able to use it, the Premium account is where you will get the most of this one. But, that's like almost all of them. If this makes your life easier, go for it, if it doesn't, there are many tools out there that you can utilize to try and pull the same information out.

Brisk

adisantis — 2025-11-04 16:54:06 UTC

This is an app that you can add to your Google Chrome that can take webpages and .pdf's and can create worksheets and other content directly from it.

Monica

adisantis — 2025-11-04 16:55:09 UTC

Another Extension that is similar to Brisk but I enjoy this one a little more.

PopAI

adisantis — 2025-11-05 14:15:08 UTC

I haven't explored this one enough to give a ton of feedback on, but this is supposed to be great for presentations and posters. If you're looking into creating visuals, this is one you may want to check out. AI is a lot about finding what works best for you and is easy and fluid enough.

SlidesGo

adisantis — 2025-11-05 14:17:02 UTC

Again, another one that I haven't fully explored, but even creating the themes and backgrounds for a Google Slide/PowerPoint is extremely valuable because there are many tools that can fill this content if you don't like the content created or it doesn't give you enough.

QuillBot

adisantis — 2025-11-05 14:20:01 UTC

There are a bunch of AI graders, but most of Freemium. If you're working with a lot writing, one of these may be for you. I personally use our Gemini Pro to help me grade. (I don't rely on the grading though, I use it as a base and then go back through on my own and check to see whether I agree with it. I have noticed a bunch of inconsistencies when you're bulk grading as compared to grading individual assignments.

EdPuzzle

adisantis — 2025-11-05 14:24:39 UTC

You can take videos and add questions throughout the video. I like the concept of this one but there are a lot of tools that I don't get around to this one. But what a great thing to be able to use for a day out of work.

Ditch That Textbook - Other tools to check out.

adisantis — 2025-11-05 14:29:50 UTC

There are more than 30 now. I've used a few of these in here that I haven't added to this. Ideogram has been used to help me create some logos for a side hustle, and I looked into Antimatter Sorcerer, but it didn't feel fluid enough, but the ideas behind it I think could be great. It just takes more comfortability than I had time for to really enjoy and make proper use of it.