Before Module 2 asks you to start generating lesson materials, get the basic accounts in place. You don’t need anything paid to follow along with this course. The free tiers of the major tools are enough to do everything in the lessons ahead. (Module 5 covers the full toolkit in depth, including where a paid plan is actually worth it and where it isn’t.)
What to set up now:
- ChatGPT (chat.openai.com). Create a free account. This is the tool most of the walkthroughs in this course will use by default, simply because it’s the one most teachers already have some familiarity with.
- Claude (claude.ai). Also free to start. You’ll see this one used in Module 5 for longer documents and more detailed feedback drafting, where it tends to hold context better over a long rubric or a full unit plan.
- A place to keep what you generate. A simple folder in Google Drive or OneDrive is enough. You don’t need anything fancy. You’ll start building a personal prompt library from Module 2 onward, and it helps to have a home for it from day one instead of scrambling to organize it later.
That’s genuinely all you need for now. One more thing worth doing before you move on: think about which class or which level you’d want to use for the Module 8 practicum later in the course. You don’t have to decide today, but keeping it in the back of your mind will make the lessons ahead land more concretely, since you’ll be picturing real students instead of hypothetical ones.