A Teacher's Guide to using AI in the Classroom

There are a lot of mixed feelings in education in regards to the use of AI. But its time for the conversation to move beyond "kids use it to cheat," and "it might replace teachers!" We need to move on towards discussing and finding ways to best implement it. Love it or hate it, AI is here and it's here to stay.

From the Teacher Lens
Approach with Caution
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The Cons - AI is still in its beginning stages and it is flawed. From the perspective of using it as a professional and through the lens of allowing students access to it considering the following.

1. AI Amplifies Bias - This absolutely must be considered when using AI and especially when allowing students to use it
2. AI is NOT perfect and at times gives inaccurate information
3. AI can be used as a tool to assist  with grading but should not be used as the grader. It is horribly inconsistent and often gives poor feedback.

The Pros-Overall, AI can be used as a tool to save time on tasks that can be automated to then move focus to student engagement, interaction, and building lessons that are both authentic and engaging to student learning.

Align to the Science of Reading
For many teaching professionals, the Science of Reading has created a strong shift in their teaching. A shift that requires materials that sometimes, at least in upper grades, are not engaging, not relevant, or simply non existence. AI provides teachers with a tool to quickly provide resources to use in the classroom.  Need a list of words that match the morpheme you are teaching? Done. ​

• Quick Tool to Create Engaging Passages - Specifically in upper grades, there is a large gap of materials that are age appropriate, engaging and incorporate skills taught in upper grade level foundational skills, morphology and vocabulary. Often, I ask students to help me write the AI prompt for the passage they will later read. In this case, if we are studying the morphemes, I can ask AI to write a passage about (insert whatever the kids dream up!) and incorporate the words. Kids then are excited to read the passage, interact with the vocabulary and dive into some comprehension work. This is easy to differentiate as well and to throw in some extra small group skill work. Do the kids need more work with writing dialogue? Perfect. Prompt AI to write a passage, it typicall will not include dialogue unless you ask, and then after reading, discussing, exploring vocabulary... have students add the dialogue themselves.
• Scaffolding and Differentiation - Never in my career have I had the time during the school year to quickly and easily obtain differentiated passages on the same topic based on lexile levels, or lists of vocabulary words that I may need to pre-teach before reading a novel or text. With AI, I am now able to quickly create resources to fit student need. For example, this year one of my groups who is far below grade level in reading is now engaged in the novel Wild Robot. Before we read a chapter, I have AI come up with a list of multi-syllable words that may be hard to decode. Using methods learned in their Orton Gillingham intervention, we work to syllable divide the words, define them, use them in sentences, and then read the chapter. This method has been HUGELY successful with my far below level readers and gives them a much deserved chance to engage in wonderful novels. When working on science or social studies, I am able to take a text, primary resource, or article and quickly level it to ensure all students have access to a passage based on their lexile to build background knowledge before presenting the true primary source or the scientific experiment.
• Exemplars and Non-exemplars - Often glaringly absent from writing curriculum is student exemplars and non-exemplars. AI allows room to quickly generate both for student discussion. An added benefit here is that often, AI produces an exemplar that students are still able to pick apart as something that is lesser than their ability which is AMAZING. Hurray for critical thinkers and critical consumers of text! 
• Quick tool to build Multiple Choice and Free Response Questions - This one is an obvious go to but teachers be warned, the questions are not always great and at times the answers are wrong. Regardless, it is still a huge time saver and can be used to create multiple choice aligned to vocabulary, depth of knowledge levels, or anything else you wish to prompt it to write. Even with time needed to check and revise, I have found this to be an immense time saver.
• Instant Feedback and Adjustments - Proceed with caution here. AI is very inconsistent and will sometimes give feedback that is spot on but often gives feedback that is completely off base.

From the Student Lens
Cons

1. The amplification of bias via AI is a real problem that needs to be addressed by teachers. Assigning students to engage with chatbots to chat with historical figures or characters from books can go sideways really quickly.  I would never recommend unleashing chatGPT, for example, to a bunch of 5th graders.
2. Opportunities to cheat and find easy ways out can and will lead to cognitive atrophy.
3. Without school specific AI platforms like MagicSchool, there is less ability for teachers to monitor student activity and more room for students to get off track, and/or venture into issues with bias, misinformation and possibly worse.

Explicitly Teach Critical Literacy and Being a Critical Consumer of Information
In today's world, we have to teach students how to be critical consumers of information, and why that is so crucial in today's world. This of course goes beyond just AI, but in its current state is especially critical to the use of AI by students. With a tool that is known to amplify bias, they must be taught to question what biases might be present and what perspective is truly being represented.

This again is crucial in any type of reading they do. Currently there are many reading curriculum on the market being adopted by districts for their supposed alignment to the science of reading but at the same time, the curriculum have been evaluated as being culturally destructive. Biases are present in most of the information we consume and we gave to proceed from a lens of teaching students how to critically analyze any information they are given.

Preventing Cognitive Atrophy
If used inappropriately without explicitly teaching how to use it as a tool to harness creativity and expression, students could easily develop what is known as cognitive atrophy. If we present it as something that will only help a kid spit out an essay without thought, we will be on quite the slippery slope.

However, if presented in ways that will help strengthen their cognitive muscles, we can ensure that we prevent over reliance on it. We can sure that students are using it to enhance the way they think about and see the world. If we stop and reflect, who wouldn't use a tool that could bust out a well written five paragraph essay in five seconds? We need to stop, reflect, and ensure our students are experiencing AI in ways that enhance their reading, writing, and critical thinking.

Re-frame Purpose of Assignments
​There are so many opportunities to simply have fun. In the past, I have had kids write songs to display their learning in content area (for example, a rap about Plate Tectonics) to be blunt, the level of skill this requires is immense and often too much for 4th grade. After years of teaching it became an option or an extension and not something I did whole group until... AI. Now the song can be created with prompting. Students still must use their knowledge in the prompt if they want the song to truly display their learning. The assignment then becomes a practice in building fluency for whoever needs it, continuing to practice and memorize the content, creativity, public speaking and enjoyment.

Enhance Writing
Students absolutely need to be good writers in order to properly prompt AI. A wonderful example activity is having students create a fictional animal. Students must use their descriptive writing skills to then prompt AI to generate a picture of their animal. This can and will lead to many revisions and often to the realization that AI is imperfect.

AI can also be used (with caution) to provide instant feedback to students. The issue here is you must explicitly teach how to analyze the advice as it may not always be valid.

Focus on Creativity, Expression and Communication
Students will be given so many chances to simply create. In situations where they are prompted to create their own business, they can now easily prompt AI to create their own logo. They will be able to use their voices to animate cartoons, write scripts that can be brought to life with background images they create with descriptive prompts... its an exciting world out there.

And I personally cannot wait to jump farther into it all.... with caution.