It’s 8 PM on a Sunday in late July. My sister, a 7th-grade ELA teacher, is staring at a blank Google Doc labeled “Unit 1: Identity.” She has three reading levels to plan for, a stack of IEP accommodations to incorporate, and an inbox full of nervous parent emails she hasn’t answered yet. School starts in two weeks.
Last year, this exact moment meant a pot of coffee and a 4-hour grind. This year? She opened three browser tabs — MagicSchool, Diffit, and Brisk — and asked me, the “AI guy in the family,” to help her figure out which one actually saves time versus just looking shiny in a demo.
She tested them all through July, and I watched over her shoulder. Here’s what we found — the honest, no-hype version that respects how little margin teachers have.
Spoiler: none of these tools are magic. But together? They can turn that Sunday-night panic into a manageable evening.
TL;DR — If You Read Nothing Else
- MagicSchool is the all-in-one teacher toolkit. Best for lesson plans, rubrics, and IEP supports. Freemium with a solid Plus tier (~$12.99/mo).
- Diffit is the differentiation specialist. Paste any text, get it rewritten for three reading levels with questions. Generous free tier.
- Brisk lives inside your browser and Google Docs. Great for feedback, slide decks, and quizzes. Chrome extension, free base tier.
- ChatGPT / Claude are the generalists. More flexible but need good prompts. Free tiers available (with limits).
- Khanmigo (Khan Academy’s AI tutor) deserves a nod for student-facing tutoring, but won’t be our focus here.
My recommendation: pair Diffit for differentiation with either MagicSchool or Brisk depending on whether you want lesson generation (MagicSchool) or in-document workflow (Brisk).
MagicSchool AI — The Teacher’s Swiss Army Knife
MagicSchool was built by a former teacher, and you can feel it. The interface doesn’t ask you to figure out prompt engineering. It asks: “What grade? What standard? How long?” and spits out a lesson plan.
What it does well:
- Lesson plans with standards alignment (Common Core, NGSS, state-specific)
- Rubric generator — set criteria levels, get a table you can copy straight into Google Classroom
- IEP accommodation suggestions (careful: these are suggestions, not replacements for professional judgment)
- Email drafts — including the delicate ones: “Your child is failing,” “behavior concerns,” “can we schedule a conference”
- Multiple-choice and open-ended quiz generators
My sister’s test: She needed a 5-day mini-unit on argumentative writing for her on-level 7th graders. MagicSchool generated it in 11 minutes — daily objectives, vocabulary lists, a prompt, and a rubric. She spent another 30 minutes tweaking it (adding her own text set, adjusting the rubric weighting), but the skeleton was solid.
Where it falls short: The activities can be generic. “Think-Pair-Share with a partner” appears a lot. The comprehension questions sometimes miss the nuance of a text. And the IEP suggestions are broad — they’re a starting point, not a finished accommodation plan.
Pricing: Free tier (limited generations per day), Plus around $12.99/month. School and district plans available.
Diffit — The Differentiation Champion
Differentiation is the hardest part of teaching, and it’s where most AI tools fall apart. Diffit was built specifically to solve this problem: take any text and adapt it for different reading levels while keeping the core content intact.
What it does well:
- Paste a URL or text, get versions at 3rd-grade through 12th-grade reading levels
- Automatically generates comprehension questions (multiple choice, short answer, open-ended) for each version
- Vocabulary lists extracted from each leveled version
- Summarization tools for students who need the gist
- Export directly to Google Docs, Google Forms, or PDF
My sister’s test: She grabbed a Newsela article about the history of hip-hop (lexile around 1100L). Diffit produced three versions: one at ~800L for her struggling readers, one at ~1000L for her on-level kids, and one at ~1200L for her advanced students — each with its own question set. Total time: 6 minutes. Manually, this would have taken her 2-3 hours.
Where it falls short: The leveled versions sometimes simplify too aggressively, stripping out vocabulary students should be learning. And Diffit is laser-focused on differentiation — if you want lesson plans, rubrics, or slide decks, you’ll need another tool alongside it.
Pricing: Free tier is genuinely generous (a decent number of generations per month). Paid tiers for schools at roughly $100/year for individual teachers.
Brisk Teaching — The Invisible Assistant
Brisk is a Chrome extension that works inside Google Docs, Google Classroom, and other tools you already use. That’s its superpower: you don’t go to Brisk, Brisk comes to you.
What it does well:
- Feedback generator: highlight a student’s paragraph, click Brisk, get a constructive feedback comment you can tweak before posting
- Slide deck creator: paste text or a URL, get a Google Slides outline
- Quiz generator from any text or webpage
- Level it: one-click reading level adjustment inside Google Docs
- Writing feedback: analysis of a student’s writing (structure, evidence, conventions) with suggestions
My sister’s test: She had 22 personal narrative drafts from her incoming students (a diagnostic writing assignment). Normally she spends roughly 10 minutes per essay — that’s almost 4 hours of grading. Using Brisk’s feedback generator, she got constructive comments for each student in about 3 minutes per essay, then spent another 3 minutes personalizing. Total: about 2 hours, half her usual time.
The killer feature: it lives in your Google Docs sidebar. You don’t context-switch. That matters more than any flashy dashboard.
Where it falls short: Brisk’s lesson plan generation isn’t as robust as MagicSchool’s. It’s a feedback and in-document tool first. And because it’s a Chrome extension, it only works in Chrome. If your district forces Edge or Safari, check compatibility.
Pricing: Free tier with core features. Brisk Premium for unlimited use (roughly $10/month). School plans available.
ChatGPT and Claude — The Generalists (With the Right Prompts)
You don’t need a specialized tool for everything. ChatGPT and Claude are incredibly capable for teacher tasks — you just need to be specific about your constraints.
The advantage: they’re free (or cheap), always improving, and work for everything from lesson plans to parent emails to poetry analysis.
The disadvantage: no teacher-specific interface, no standards alignment baked in, and you need to know how to prompt well. Garbage in, garbage out.
Khanmigo (Honorable Mention)
Khanmigo from Khan Academy is the best student-facing AI tutor we’ve seen. It doesn’t give answers — it asks Socratic questions and guides students. That makes it a genuine teaching tool rather than a cheating machine. It’s worth knowing about, but it’s more of a classroom companion than a lesson-planning tool. Different tool for a different job.
Comparison Table
| Tool | Price | Best Use Case | Works Inside Your Workflow? | Learning Curve |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MagicSchool | Free + Plus ~$12.99/mo | Lesson plans, rubrics, IEP supports | Web app — manage in their dashboard | Low — built for teachers |
| Diffit | Free + Premium ~$100/yr | Differentiation: leveling texts & questions | Web app + Google Docs export | Very low — paste text, get levels |
| Brisk Teaching | Free + Premium ~$10/mo | Feedback, slide decks, in-doc quizzes | Chrome extension inside Google Docs | Very low — sidebar button |
| ChatGPT / Claude | Free + Plus ~$20/mo | Flexible: prompts for any task | Standalone chat (no Google integration) | Medium — need good prompt skills |
| Khanmigo | ~$44/yr (donation-based) | Student-facing AI tutoring | Standalone web app for students | Low — guides students |
3 Copy-Paste Prompts for ChatGPT / Claude
If you’re using a generalist AI tool, these prompts will get you better results than typing “make me a lesson plan.”
Prompt 1: Lesson Plan Generator With Constraints
You are an experienced middle school teacher creating a [subject, grade] lesson plan. Topic: [topic] Duration: [minutes] Standards: [optional standard IDs] Student needs: I have [number] students, including [number] with IEPs/504 plans, and reading levels ranging from [low] to [high]. Format: Create a table with columns for Time | Activity | Teacher Role | Student Role | Differentiation Notes. Include: a hook to start, one collaborative activity, an individual practice task, and an exit ticket question. Avoid: generic activities — make them specific to this topic.
Prompt 2: Reading-Level Rewriter
Rewrite the following text for a [grade/reading level] audience. - Keep the key facts, vocabulary, and structure intact. - Shorten sentences. Replace difficult words with simpler alternatives. - Maintain a respectful tone — don't talk down to the reader. - Output the rewritten version followed by a list of 5 vocabulary words with student-friendly definitions. Original text: [paste your text here]
Prompt 3: Constructive Feedback Generator
Generate constructive feedback for a middle school student's [essay / lab report / project]. Focus on: 1. One specific strength (be detailed — mention what they did well) 2. One specific area for growth (be actionable — tell them exactly what to revise and how) 3. One encouraging closing sentence The tone should be supportive but honest. No vague praise like "good job." Assume the student is capable and wants to improve. Student work: [paste work here]
The Honest Section: Where AI Lesson Content Falls Flat
Let’s be real — AI-generated lesson content has limits, and pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone.
Generic activities. AI defaults to “Think-Pair-Share,” “jigsaw reading,” and “turn and talk” because those are the most common patterns in its training data. Those aren’t bad activities, but if every lesson uses them, students get bored. Swap in your own ideas.
Teacher judgment is irreplaceable. AI doesn’t know your students. It doesn’t know that Jamal struggles with timed writing but shines in discussions. It doesn’t know that your 3rd period needs a calm start because they come straight from a chaotic lunch. You have to adapt everything AI gives you.
Facts need checking. My sister caught MagicSchool writing that a historical figure “invented” something they actually popularized. Another time, Diffit’s summary of a science article got the cause-and-effect relationship backward. Always verify — especially for science and history content.
The AI-detection dilemma. If you’re using AI to write lesson plans, your students are using AI to write essays. The conversation has shifted: the best approach isn’t to police AI use but to design assignments that reward process over product. Ask for drafts, reflections, and annotations. Grade the thinking, not just the final paragraph.
Student Data Privacy — What Teachers Need to Know
This is the part nobody wants to talk about, but it matters.
- Don’t paste student names, ID numbers, or identifiable records into ChatGPT, Claude, or any general-purpose AI. FERPA considers student education records protected data, and uploading them to a consumer AI tool may violate your district’s data policies.
- MagicSchool, Diffit, and Brisk all claim FERPA compliance in their school plans. Always check with your district’s IT department before using a new tool with student data.
- If you’re using a free tier, assume your data could be used for model training. Paid school plans typically have better data protection guarantees.
- A good rule of thumb: use anonymized student examples. “A student struggling with thesis statements” instead of “Maria Gomez needs help with her thesis.”
The Verdict: Which Tool for Which Teacher?
New teacher (year 1-3):
Start with MagicSchool Plus. The lesson plan generator and rubric maker will save you the most time when you’re building everything from scratch. Add Diffit (free tier) for differentiation.
Veteran skeptic:
Start with Brisk (free tier). It’s the least disruptive — you already work in Google Docs. Use it for feedback and slide decks. See if it earns its place before paying for anything.
Special-ed or differentiation-heavy classroom:
Diffit Premium is your first download. Leveling texts for multiple reading levels is your biggest time sink, and Diffit handles it better than any other tool. Pair with MagicSchool for IEP documentation support.
$0 budget:
Diffit’s free tier + ChatGPT’s free tier + the three prompts above. You lose some convenience (no Google integration, no standards alignment) but gain serious capability. Brisk’s free tier is also solid for in-document feedback.
My sister ended up subscribing to MagicSchool Plus and using Diffit’s free tier. The combo covered lesson planning, differentiation, and rubric creation. She skipped Brisk because the one thing she really needed — better lesson plan generation — wasn’t its strength, and MagicSchool handled that.
But here’s the thing: your mileage will vary. Your teaching style, your subject, your students, your tolerance for learning new tools — all of it matters. The best AI tool is the one you’ll actually use. Try the free tiers first. Give each tool one real afternoon. The one that doesn’t feel like a chore? That’s your answer.
Now go enjoy the rest of your summer. You’ve got two weeks. And this year, you won’t spend all of them lesson planning.