youtube-nocookie.com and open.spotify.com, or use the options below.This week on TechCheck for grades 6–8: a Reuters feature finds teachers replacing take-home essays with oral exams, month-long in-class essays and paper-notebook days; Quincy High School junior Brooklyn Averill built a bilingual AI agent that books appointments for a real cleaning business and is a finalist for a regional award announced Tuesday; Hack Club's teen-only jame gam drew 232 games in 72 hours with no prizes for winning and no generative AI art; Roblox's quarterly letter says more than 80% of its 13-17 players worldwide have done an age check while daily users fell 9% from a year ago; and Microsoft is retiring text-message login codes for school and work accounts on February 1, 2027 in favor of passkeys. Systems-thinking- and debate-ready. IN THIS EPISODE
A reusable 6–8 worksheet and a copy-your-own Google Form. Same template every week, so students learn the routine once.
5 quick polls, a story-of-the-week vote, and a 4-question quiz. Students give just a first name and last initial, which only their teacher sees. Answers count toward your class on the grade-band leaderboard. Open until November 8.
Middle School Innovators
Apple and Spotify carry the full show; use the feed URL for a Grades 6–8-only subscription.
8 min 📺 🎧 This week on TechCheck for grades 6–8: Clover School District in South Carolina paused student access to most AI tools b…
8 min 📺 🎧 This week on TechCheck for grades 6–8: Frederick County, Maryland's school board voted 6-1 to ban student generative AI …