Making Graphic Novels with NotebookLM

Graphic novels have long been an excellent medium to engage students in reading. Some of the benefits of graphic novels include:

• Dual-Coding - Having both a visual representation and a text description provides students with two ways to consume, process, and recall the information being presented.
• Inference Skills - Students have to mentally bridge the gap between Panel A (a character reaching for a doorknob) and Panel B (the character standing in an open room), which encourages high-level cognitive participation in the reading process.
• Accessibility - The visuals help reduce cognitive load, allowing students to focus their mental energy on the text itself. Also the "chunked" nature of the text is often less overwhelming than a wall of words, helping them maintain stamina.
• Introductions - Graphic novels can also be the gateway for students to larger texts. Reading a graphic novel version of "Tuck Everlasting" may prompt a student to take the full novel for a spin.

As easy as graphic novels are to consume, creating them is a much more challenging task. Certainly the best graphic novels are going to be created by skilled and hard-working authors and illustrators, and I strongly encourage everyone to support them in this work.

However with new AI tools, educators and students now have free options to enter into this world and create basic, but good, graphic novels of their own. This is something I have been working on recently with Gemini and NotebookLM, and I am excited to share with you both the results that I have made and the tools and directions for you to do the same.

See below for all of the details. And as always feel free to share with others, and please share with me your creations, comments, questions, and suggestions.

New EduGems from December 2025

EduGems is my website where I share my favorite Gemini Gems for schools.

You can access, use, and copy any of the Gems at https://www.edugems.ai/

Each month I add new Gems to the site. See below for links to the 18 new Gems I added during the month of December 2025, along with a short description for each.

Feel free to share with others and please consider submitting your own Gems to the site.

What's New in Google - November/December 2025

Catch up on everything new in Google Workspace for Education from November/December 2025, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our December 2025 Google User Meeting, along with the meeting agenda with all the awesome resources and Google updates from the last few months. This includes lots of new Google updates and Google resources for your class.

The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:

• Connect Google-using educators
• Share the latest Google Workspace news and features
• Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
• Share best practices of how Google Workspace is being used within schools
• Ask questions and get answers

The video from the meeting is recorded and available for later viewing for those who cannot attend or connect live. See below to view the recorded video, agenda, and all the resources from the December 2025 meeting:

Learning Genie Webinar

I am excited to be presenting a webinar about a super-helpful AI-powered EdTech tool called Learning Genie!

Over the last year I have had a chance to learn a lot about this tool from some of my good EdTech friends including Jon Corippo and Toby Fischer. 

I then had the opportunity to speak with Gene Shi, the founder of the company (the "Gene" behind the Learning Genie) and explore the tool for myself.

If you are not familiar with Learning Genie - https://www.learning-genie.com - it is a tool which helps educators quickly develop a comprehensive and well-structured teaching unit. Here are some key features:

• 🧰 Create complete unit plans with all the needed resources (plans, slideshows, worksheets, assessments, more)
• 🏫 Works with any subject and any grade (PreK-12)
• 📍 Localizes curriculum to engage students in meaningful and relevant learning experiences
• 💰 Robust free version

To help you learn more about this powerful tool, I will be co-hosting a deep-dive webinar with Gene Shi:

• 🧞 Learning Genie Webinar
• 🗓️ Wednesday, January 21, 2026
• ⏰ 7pm ET / 6pm CT / 5pm MT / 4pm PT
• ▶️ The webinar will be live-streamed and also recorded for those who can't attend live
• ✅ Register at bit.ly/jan21genie or in this Google Form

I hope you will join me for this exciting webinar!

EdTech Links - Week of 12-8-2025

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links

📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup

🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

EdTech Links - Week of 12-1-2025

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links

📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup

🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Recorded Webinar - Dive into Snorkl for Student Learning

I recently recorded a webinar about one of my favorite AI tools for education - Snorkl. (Disclosure - Snorkl sponsored this webinar, but all opinions were my own.)

With Snorkl, students record their reasoning with a verbal and visual explanation, and then receive instant AI-powered feedback to drive deep and meaningful learning.

Here are the basics for how it works:

• ❓ You create a problem, question, or prompt for your students (any subject, any grade).
• 🎙️ Students record themselves solving the problem or answering the question while explaining their reasoning.
• ✒️ If needed the student can draw on the digital whiteboard while speaking.
• 💯 The AI then reviews the student's explanation based on the guidance you have provided.
• 💬 The AI then provides personalized feedback for the student (and you) on their work.

Having students record themselves to explain their understanding is an excellent way to truly assess what a student knows and can do, while helping to address academic integrity concerns. The challenge has always been how long it would take a teacher to watch the recordings for every one of their students. With Snorkl this is no longer a daunting task.

And all of this comes in a robust free version! To learn all about Snorkl, see below to watch my recorded 1-hour webinar and to access the resources from the session.