BLAST 2025

Creativity in the Age of AI: Removing the Barriers to Entry in High-Quality Storytelling and Production' will focus on using AI tools as a 'creation assistant' to help student ideas come to life the way they envision them, regardless of their artistic ability or creative starting point. Through the creation of a custom, manga-style comic by the end of the session, participants will learn how AI tools can enhance and build on our students' own creativity in writing and art. Complex storytelling and worldbuilding as a hobby has been on the rise with a recent revival and mainstream adoption in the popularity of fantasy media, anime/manga, and role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. This session will focus on creating and using custom AI agents with conversational prompting to act as a creative assistant to lead students through the storytelling and fantasy world design process.

Creativity in the Age of AI session 2: A continuation of session 1, this time focusing on art and style in image generation. Session can be taken stand alone or as part of the series.  A participant taking all 3 sessions will leave with a multimedia project showing how AI can foster and enhance creativity and storytelling in students. 

Creativity in the Age of AI session 3: A continuation of session 2, this time focusing on video production. Session can be taken stand alone or as part of the series.  A participant taking all 3 sessions will leave with a multimedia project showing how AI can foster and enhance creativity and storytelling in students. 

Looking for a new way to jazz up your presentations? Adobe Express allows you to easily turn your voice into animated characters, making storytelling and presentations more engaging. Plus, you'll learn how to create stunning videos with no prior experience needed. Best of all, you'll gain skills that your students can use to demonstrate their understanding of concepts and as a formative assessment tool.  Perfect for elementary teachers, but equally valuable for higher grades, this session promises to be both fun and enlightening. Don't miss out on this chance to enhance your teaching toolkit and engage your students like never before! 

The Adobe Express Suite has a ton of powerful generative AI tools built into this free multi platform application. For example, the new “Text to Template” tool uses the power of the Adobe stock library to generate beautiful graphics with editable text and graphic layers. This session will demonstrate how to use these tools and ways to integrate them into your curriculum.

It feels harder than ever to get students to read these days - social media, cell phones, omnipresent technology, loss of student attention and stamina.  What if we could change our approach to reading to re-center reading for pleasure and reading by building engagement and background knowledge?  And what if technology could become a tool that we leverage in the process rather than an obstacle or impediment?  What if kids started to want to read again?  Wouldn't that be a joy and a relief for them and for us?

 Looking to strengthen your communication with families—but not sure where to start? This practical session is designed for school staff who want to make their messages clearer, more consistent, and more inclusive. We’ll cover: 
   •  ✍️ Tips for writing messages that are easy to read and parent-friendly 
   •  🕒 Simple strategies for choosing the right time to communicate 
   •  🧠 A quick look at how AI tools can support your writing process 
   •  ♿ Ways to improve accessibility and reach more families 
   •  🎨 A walkthrough of district branding resources and how to use them well 
 
 Whether you write daily updates or occasional reminders, you’ll leave with a few new ideas and tools you can apply right away—without adding to your to-do list.