AI won’t take your job as a teacher. That was the first piece of good news in a session on AI tools for educators at the 2025 SREB Making Schools Work Conference in July. 

Artificial intelligence tools can’t replace the one-on-one human connection between student and teacher, said John Boyd, a Nationally Board-Certified educator in South Carolina who serves on his district’s AI policy committee. 

But it has a lot of time-saving advantages for teachers and can significantly reduce time for preparing lesson plans and handling administrative tasks. Boyd shared a list of 50 AI tools for educators and featured four in his presentation. 

• Canva for Education, for graphic design for presentations, worksheets and other classroom materials
• Claude, for brainstorming, summarizing research and creating educational content
• Google NotebookLM, to create a “mini large-language model” on a specific topic. Drawing on only the material a teacher uploads, students can get a 20-minute synopsis, review for a test, or use the audio feature to listen while they’re driving or riding, he said. 
• Khanmigo, for step-by-step tutoring on math and science

He encouraged educators to blend how they use AI tools, taking advantage of their individual strengths for best results. NotebookLM, for example, uses only the materials you give it, so it might not be the best choice for editing. In that case, take what you’ve created in Notebook to a large language model such as ChatGPT to refine it, he suggested. 

Benefits for Students and Teachers, and Some Cautions 

Saving time on lesson planning, presentations and routine tasks leaves more time to spend on teaching and interacting with students, Boyd said. And AI allows more tailored personalized learning. “Students can get a lesson on what they want to know,” he said.  

AI tools can speed up how teachers do their jobs, he said. But teachers should always review AI suggestions for accuracy and practice refining results with targeted prompts. 

It’s up to us to teach students to use AI ethically and responsibly.

AI can offer insights on analyzing student performance, Boyd said, but he advised a thoughtful approach. Give the AI tool a concrete rubric to grade by, for instance, and check to be sure you agree with AI feedback. Again, refined prompts are important, such as,  “Can you make this feedback more encouraging and focus more on grammar?” 

He cautioned attendees not to use any personally identifiable student information with AI tools. He also warned against using the current generation of AI checkers on student work.  

 ”AI is a tool students can use. It’s up to us to teach them to use it ethically and responsibly,” Boyd said.