Stories: Teaching With AI
Stories From the Classroom
See How Teachers Are Using AI
Guidance for the Use of AI in the K-12 Classroom covers four pillars of leveraging AI in education: Designing demanding tasks, streamlining planning and administrative tasks, personalizing student learning, and fostering ethical, informed use by students.
This page showcases teachers who are putting these principles into action. Their stories illustrate these concepts and give educators ideas for using AI in their own classrooms.
AI in Career Pathway Programs: Ethan Hodge and David Thornton
Creating Ethical and Effective AI Users
A student turned in an
assignment, but teacher Ethan Hodge thought it may be fully
AI-generated. In Hodge’s classroom, AI usage is encouraged so
long as it is done with intentionality and purpose. Its job is to
assist, but not to take over.
Hodge felt like, in this case, the student let AI be the lead project manager. However, instead of accusing the student, he spoke with him.
Laying the Groundwork for AI With Elementary Students: Allatesha Cain
Creating Ethical and Effective AI Users
A group of upper elementary students huddled together to create a flyer for their school Read-a-Thon. They decided to use Canva’s AI image designer to showcase their school mascot reading a book.
Down the hall, younger students were learning skills like coding that will help them as they move into their higher grades.
What do all of these students have in common?
Sculpting Creativity With AI: Daniel Dorsch
Reduce Administrative Work
“Today, we’re starting an
informational text on the history of Nintendo,” English teacher
Daniel Dorsch said to his class.
Informational texts weren’t always his sixth-grader’s favorite thing to do, but he noticed a lot of interest from at least six of his students.
Why?
He had found a way to bring the lesson to life through relating it to his students’ interests. He couldn’t have done this on his own. Nintendo wasn’t necessarily his interest, and even if it was, it can be time consuming to create a new lesson plan.
How AI Can Safely, Ethically and Transformatively Personalize Learning: Jeff Kilner
Personalize Student Learning
IT Specialist Jeff Kilner hosted a professional development session for the teachers at his school. PD can be hit or miss for many teachers, so Kilner knew he needed to keep his session focused on the needs of his audience:
He wasn’t there to give them more work or add to their already filled schedules. He was there to save them time.
Kilner knows that teachers may not always be happy to learn a new IT skill. However, he encourages them to try AI anyway.
Bringing History Alive With AI: Brian Casto
Design Cognitively Demanding Tasks
History teacher Brian Casto started
his journey with AI with a pressing need.
A student who was out with the flu for five days missed about 40 years of history and needed to make up a significant amount of work. Castro needed a way for the student to demonstrate understanding of the material and quickly catch up to the class.
Partnering With AI to Create Dynamic Assignments: Katie Wright
Using AI for Cognitively Demanding Tasks
Katie Wright knew that AI can save her time, but she also knew lessons created by AI will not be very useful if she lets AI completely do it for her.
This is a partnership, and AI is just her assistant.
To accomplish this, she started by asking for ideas on a lesson she wants to try. When she got a vague answer, but with a kernel of something good there, she began refining her prompt.
Wright shared her goals and outlines for the lesson, working with her tool to turn this into something she can use.
Using AI to Personalize Learning: Larisa Black
Using AI to Personalize Student Learning
Larisa Black was facing an issue that plagues many teachers: How could she keep up with all of her administrative tasks, personalize lessons to various students and still find time for creative lessons?
While some teachers shied away from using AI in their classrooms, Black realized that in this new technology, she might be able to find a solution to balancing her many demands by embracing these tools instead.
Using AI to Gamify Protein Electrophoresis: David Garcia
Reduce Administrative Work
Biology teacher David Garcia had an
idea for a card game to get his students thinking about a complex
biology system, but like many teachers, he didn’t have the time
to make the game himself.
Instead, he turned to his assistant, stated what he was looking for from the game, and had the assistant build it for him based off Garcia’s ideas and knowledge.
Later, when he tested the game with the class, he gave his students the chance to say what they liked and didn’t like about the game.
