Surprise! 🥳 The LindyHoc Newsletter has a new look, but don't worry, the same great content.

This glow-up pairs with another one in the LindyHoc community: a brand new website! You'll find everything you love but with an improved UX (in tech speak: user experience, meaning it’s easier than ever to find what you need). It's so new we're still in the QA phase, so be gentle. You are the first to hear about it! If you find any errors or broken links, hit reply and let me know.

Doors are opening everywhere in EdTech this month. Let's walk through them together:

🧩 Solution Unlocked: Conquer AI Slop in Student Work with the Assessment Puzzle Toolkit

🔑 The Golden Key: Win $30,000 with the Presidential AI Challenge

✊ The Door We've Been Knocking On: ChatGPT for Teachers Is Finally Here

🧠 Open Invitations: Learning Opportunities This Winter

🧩 Solution Unlocked: Conquer AI Slop with the Assessment Puzzle Toolkit

You assigned an essay. A student turned it in. It's polished, grammatically perfect. And you know in your gut they didn't write it. Worse? They didn't learn anything.

You're not alone—teachers everywhere are tired of getting AI-polished student work that shows nothing about real learning. In fact, it now has a pop culture term: AI slop.

That's why I created The Assessment Puzzle Toolkit: your key to unlocking authentic learning that students can't fake.

Hot off the presses, this 20-page resource helps educators design copy-paste-proof assessments and includes:

✅ The Assessment Puzzle Framework: A simple rule that makes authentic learning impossible to copy-paste

✅ See It In Action: Before-and-after assessment examples

✅ 25 Copy-Paste-Proof Assessment Ideas: For every subject, K-12

✅ The Tools You Need: School-friendly tool options

✅ And more!

If you know an educator who would benefit, send them the website below to download their own free copy.

🔑 The Golden Key: Want to Win $30,000 for Your AI in Education Work?

The Presidential AI Challenge opens the door to winning up to $30,000 for the educator track. But the guidebook is 19 pages... I waded through it so you don't have to.

Here's the make it 💯 talk: that AI tool you built to make feedback faster? That creative lesson teaching kids to spot bias in AI outputs? That counts. This challenge isn't just for "techies." It's doable for every teacher doing practical things with AI in real classrooms.

In this guide, I break down the details of track 3 for educator entries: who can enter, what to submit, key deadlines, and entry ideas you could start this week. The submission deadline is January 20, 2026, which means you have plenty of time to enter. Let's get you that money!

Would a version of this guide for youth tracks 1 and 2 be helpful? Hit reply and let me know.

✊ The Door We've Been Knocking On: Finally! ChatGPT for Teachers is Here

If you follow my work, you know I have been knocking on this door for a while: teachers need access to flagship AI models (not watered-down, limited versions), so they can understand what's possible with this technology. Well, this week, that door finally swung wide open.

A few days before ChatGPT’s third anniversary, OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teachers. It’s free through June 2027 for verified U.S. K–12 educators.

Here's what makes this a game-changer:

• Unlimited access to the flagship model (currently GPT 5.1): what you'd normally pay $20/month for is now free for schools. This is what I've been advocating for: educators can't guide students on AI use if they're stuck with limited versions.
• Compliance: OpenAI notes that ChatGPT for Teachers is FERPA compliant. Data entered into the models isn't used to train future models, everything's encrypted, and district admins get full control. In non-tech terms: educators can use ChatGPT for Teachers without data privacy and other compliance concerns. Compliance has always been a hurdle to ChatGPT use in schools. Of course, your school's tech staff should always review for national, state, and local requirements.

I am still digging into the details since this is brand new, but so far, here are the need-to knows:

• Who's eligible: Any verified K-12 teacher, staff, administrator, or district leader at an accredited U.S. school. (From what I can tell so far, this does not seem to be for students)
• How to get it: Head to chatgpt.com/k12-verification and verify your status using your school email. I highly recommend sharing this with your school technology department, so they can approve and then setup a district-wide workspace. Then, teachers can be added to the district workspace.
• District controls and administrative oversight: This is huge. Admins can now manage workspaces, set role-based access controls, claim domains, and configure SSO.
• What's included: It appears this includes most of what you get with a $20/month ChatGPT Plus subscription: unlimited messages with the flagship model, web search, file uploads, image generation, and connectors to Google Drive and Microsoft 365. Plus, access to a library of teacher-tested prompts from educators already using it.

I'll be digging deeper into ChatGPT for Teachers over the coming weeks and sharing what I learn on my social channels.

🧠 Open Invitations: Learning Opportunities

• For Varsity Tutors members: Log into your portal and you will find my session "Parent-Powered AI: Digital Safety, Tools & Tutors…Oh My!"
• ​FETC 2026: I am presenting many, many sessions at the FETC conference this January in Orlando. Use my code FETC26SPEAKER to get 10% off registration.
• ​NCCE 2026: Join me in Seattle this February!

🚪 Keep walking through those doors. More opening soon!

Lindy Hockenbary K–12 EdTech Advisor she/her 406-853-2661 ​lindyhoc.com​