Sevanne Luke, Teacher - Vista Middle School, Region North Board District 6
Generative AI, in simple terms, is a form of artificial intelligence that can generate content such as text, images, or even music, without human intervention. One specific AI tool that has become an integral part of my lesson planning is magicschool.ai, which is an AI that has already been optimized for teachers. I use it to create lesson plans that adhere to state content standards and ELD standards (my classes are majority emergent bilingual students) in a matter of seconds. Additionally, I use perplexity.ai to create rubrics for assessments that are easy for students to understand. Generative AI can be a game-changer in the way we teach and learn.
One of the most remarkable aspects of Generative AI is its capacity to personalize learning experiences. Students are unique, and their needs and learning styles vary. With Generative AI, we can create tailored lesson plans, quizzes, and study materials that are differentiated to individual strengths and provide necessary support. Magicschool.ai can translate a text into a student’s primary language and can convert it to a reading level of choice. The more details you provide in the prompt to the AI, the more effective the generated content can be at meeting your teaching goals. This ensures that any given text can be accessed by every student.
The time saved allows teachers to spend more time planning and implementing more creative and engaging lessons for the students, diving into more advanced depths of knowledge beyond basic memorization and regurgitation of facts. I am lucky to work at a school with a team who share the same values, including my principal Ms. Damonte, who encourages high quality instruction in every way, and my instructional coach Mr. McConville, who introduced me to District resources for AI. For example, in the time it would take me to find and upload a traditional reading introducing Julius Caesar, I was able to create the materials for a customized and engaging introduction. Students were asked to read and dissect a letter that was personally “written” by Julius Caesar to them, documenting an overview of his life and accomplishments. It was generated by chatGPT in a few seconds, and it was easy for me to proofread it and check for accuracy and alignment to the standards. The students loved that Caesar had seemingly written something specifically for Mrs. Luke’s class. I then used this activity created by AI to branch out into other more traditional scaffolds to support their learning with a KWL chart. Though I do not have students directly using generative AI in the classroom, it has done wonders for engagement and relevance. Once generative AI technology becomes more reliably accurate, I would like to expand its presence in my classroom through direct student usage. One idea I have been toying with is to assign students a historical figure to be their penpal. Generative AI allows for the creativity of the teacher to shine through without being limited by time burdens.
That being said, AI is not a fully hands-off process in its current form. It is necessary to check generated content for accuracy and appropriateness. Sometimes adjustments need to be made. It’s also important to note that any provided lesson plans can and should be adapted to be more personalized and more in tune with one’s own specific teaching style and the needs of students. Despite these limits, this technology enables us to meet students where they are and help them progress, fostering a deeper understanding of the subjects they are studying. Generative AI allows educators to broaden their teaching far beyond any single textbook to teach standards in new and exciting ways that are sustainable for teachers and easily personalized to the learning needs of every student.