Mr. Toomey

I’m planning a weekly quiz with unlimited retakes—but not to make things easier. It’s designed to make cheating a path to learning.

Each version is timed, randomized, and delivered in a secure browser. Every retake reshuffles the questions and answers, so uploading it to ChatGPT won’t help. The fastest path is still the most honest one: understanding the material.

It’s not about catching students. It’s about designing a system that redirects shortcuts into effort, and effort into mastery.

Let’s see how it plays out.

What if your weekly quiz could review old material, assess current skills, and preview what’s next—and students actually wanted to retake it?

That’s what I’m building:
✔️ 10 recall questions
✔️ 10 current unit questions
✔️ 5 preview questions

Students can retake it anytime between Monday and Friday. It’s auto-graded, low-stakes, and grounded in MBE research: retrieval practice, spaced repetition, and a clear path to mastery.

It’s not about catching students off guard. It’s about giving them a roadmap.

Trying to spiral review, lower test anxiety, and build long-term learning habits? This might be one way to do it.

Are you using weekly quizzes or something similar? What’s working for you?

Thinking of ditching the screen next year?
I’m moving to a paper-first classroom this fall.

Students will still complete two weekly skill assignments online (Quill.org and Formative), but everything else—from note-taking to essays—will happen on paper.

Not because I’m anti-tech. Because I’m prioritizing mastery, revision, and real skill-building.

Curious who else is thinking the same.

Teachers:
What would your paper-based setup look like?
What’s holding you back from making the switch?

We need to stop treating AI like it’s just another way to cheat.

If your first instinct is to ban it, you’re not alone. But what if there’s a better way?
In Cheating Lessons, James Lang explains that academic dishonesty is often a symptom, not the problem. That same idea applies to AI use in the classroom.

Instead of cracking down, what if we focused on why students turn to AI and helped them see when it actually gets in the way of learning?

How are you talking to your students about AI?
Share your strategies, policies, or questions in the comments. Let’s learn from each other.

How often do you contact parents?
Last year, I meant to send a welcome letter. Never happened.

This year, I’m trying again—plus a quarterly newsletter written by students.
Updates. Buy-in. Connection.

Ever tried something like this?
Would it work in your class?

🧠 How should teachers respond to the latest MIT study on essay writing + AI?
Will it shift how you teach writing? Or are you sticking to your current approach?

Let’s talk about it! Drop your thoughts in the comments. 👇
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This book belongs in every teacher’s summer stack.
🧠 How We Learn by Benedict Carey changed how I talk to students about learning.

It’s not just about teaching better—it’s about helping kids understand how memory works, why forgetting is normal, and how real learning sticks.

If you’re planning for fall, start here.

📝 Still grading by hand? Let me put you on to ZipGrade. It’s like having a personal scantron machine in your pocket.

✅ Scan with your phone
✅ Accepts double answers
✅ Fix your key without rescanning

It’s one of my top teacher essentials for grading smarter, not harder.

What other time-saving tools should I know about?

We know what plagiarism looks like. We know what cheating looks like.

But AI? That line isn’t always clear—and that’s the problem.

Teachers need classroom AI policies. If you haven’t set your boundaries yet, I’ve got free templates to help.

📌 Link in bio.