Your evenings back. That’s the update.
Teachers tell us the same thing in almost the same words: the teaching is the joy, and the prep is what eats the evenings. Melissa 2.0 is our answer. It is the biggest update we have ever shipped, and every piece of it exists to hand prep time back to you before the new school year starts.
The headline: an AI Presentation Generator that keeps you in control
Give Melissa a topic, or point her at a lesson you already planned, and she gets to work. But here is the part that matters:
She does not build anything until you approve it.
First, Melissa drafts an editable outline: a title and a one-line purpose for every slide. You can reorder slides, rewrite them, add or remove them, or simply tell her what to change in plain language. “Make the intro more hands-on. Add a slide comparing photosynthesis and respiration.” When the outline looks right, you approve it, and only then does she build the deck.
What you get is a real, usable file: a polished PowerPoint (.pptx) you can download, plus an in-app preview. It works whether your school runs Google Classroom or Microsoft, no special setup required. Melissa even marks the best spots for images and video, and there’s an optional one-click graphics polish for a more designed look.
Watch it work
45 to 60 second screen recording: topic to outline to approve to finished deck.
Already prepped a lesson in Melissa? Every session now has a “Create Presentation” button that pre-fills the deck from that lesson’s topic, grade level, objectives, and structure. Plan once, and the slides follow.
Why “you approve” is the whole idea
There is a lot of AI in education right now that generates first and asks questions never. Melissa works the other way around. She proposes, you approve. Nothing lands in front of your students that you did not sign off on. That is true for the new Presentation Generator, and it is true across the platform: you are the teacher, and Melissa is the assistant who drafts, organizes, and does the heavy lifting on your terms.
Also new in this release
A better first day
New to Melissa? A clear, actionable getting-started checklist now greets you up front and walks you from first class to first assignment: set up a class, add students, prepare a class, design an assignment. Every step links straight to the action, checks itself off as you go, and disappears once you’re set up. And if you’re ever stuck, Melissa is one click away.
Students can enroll themselves
Share a simple class code or link, and students join and set up their own profiles. That saves you the data entry, and it makes Melissa’s help more personal, because she knows who she is helping. Prefer a spreadsheet? The CSV importer now spells out exactly which columns to use and handles messy real-world files, including names with commas and Excel exports from other tools.
Smarter lesson and session prep
Set a start time and class length once, and every new session inherits them (still editable per session). And when you prepare a class, you now preview the full generated materials before saving: worksheets, handouts, and exit tickets in full, with a student and answer-key toggle, not just a list of titles.
Faster, sharper AI everywhere
Melissa now runs on a two-tier AI setup: the most capable model for lesson materials, presentations, and grading, and a fast model for real-time chat. Higher quality where it counts, snappier responses where you feel it.
Ready for the new school year
If you are already using Melissa, everything above is live in your account right now. Look for “Create Presentation” on any session, or start fresh under Presentations.
If you are new here: Melissa is an AI teaching assistant that helps you plan lessons, build materials, manage classes, and now create presentations, always with you in control. Back-to-school prep season is exactly what she was built for.
Questions? Just ask Melissa. She answers those too.