Diving into the World of AI

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The title of Rachelle Poth’s book, How to Teach AI, says it all: AI is here to stay, so as educators, we need to understand it and learn how to use it. She argues that “AI is a game changer for education. Its capabilities can transform learning experiences and the way that teachers provide instruction for their students” (p. 49). 

Poth is not alone in this argument. Do a quick search for "AI use in the classroom," and you'll find a never-ending list of resources, all overflowing with evidence of how AI can making teaching and learning easier. Informative videos, scholarly articles, and helpful lists of do's and don't's are just a few clicks away. Figure 1 shows how Education Week (2025) weighed in on the issue.


Figure 1



Despite the recent buzz, AI in the classroom is nothing new. Abrams (2025) points out that “AI has been used in classrooms for years, quietly powering learning management tools” (para. 2). However, within the last few years, AI has come to the forefront of many education conversations. Abrams (2025) explains that this is because “the recent democratization of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, and the rush to commercialize similar technologies across sectors, is providing new challenges and opportunities for students and educators alike” (para. 3).

 

As a high school English teacher, I must admit that I have been more focused on the challenges presented by AI than the opportunities. However, Poth (2024) states very clearly that educators need to “embrace the technology and test-drive some of the tools [themselves]” (p. 98). 


In an attempt to “embrace” AI, I decided to give it a go.

 

I appreciate Poth’s advice about how to get started. She suggests that teachers pause and thoughtfully consider how AI can be most useful to them and their students (Poth, 2024). She goes on to add that “[u]sing technology for technology’s sake or because it’s the latest hot trend is never the best path” (p. 68). In fact, throughout the book, Poth stresses the importance of using AI purposefully and safely, and I agree that this should be at the center of every AI-related conversation. 

 

After some consideration, I recognized that a great deal of my time is spent on creating engaging lessons for my students. Reading How to Teach AI made it clear that I could use AI to assist in the process. After identifying the areas of need, Poth (2024) argues that the best approach is to search for tools with helpful features. I did just that, trying out various tools and platforms recommended in How to Teach AI for the areas of exploration and lesson design. Let me walk you through how it went.


Dipping My Toes In

I decided to start with a unit that needed to be updated before the new school year begins. Composed of short stories, essays, and poems, the unit was fine, but several of the texts fell flat with my students last year. Education Week (2024) observes that “it’s easy to get comfortable teaching the same lesson plans year after year” (0:30). I did not want to reteach a unit that was only mediocre to begin with, and I recognized that with the help of AI, I can easily "reevaluate what [I'm] teaching and how” (Education Week, 2024, 0:38).

 

I was pleased with several of the texts in that were currently in the unit, but I wanted to replace two of the texts. Having taught English for 23 years, I have come across dozens of short stories and essays appropriate for my ninth graders. However, I couldn’t call to mind any that would fit in with the theme of this unit, which I was calling “Declaring Your Genius.” 

 

I used CoPilot to find new resources for my unit, and connected me to what I needed—with a little work. Poth (2024) is correct in that the “more specifically you can guide an AI-powered tool with your prompts, the more focused its responses will be to your needs” (p. 74). In my prompt, I included as many specifics as I could think of, including the following: the texts should relate to the theme of "intelligence," most students in the class read below grade level, the texts should be considered high-interest level, and the selection of authors should be diverse. 

 

CoPilot generated a list in seconds. Some of the suggestions were familiar, prompting a light head slap along with, Why didn’t I think of that? Other suggestions were new to me, and I quickly began searching them up and doing some light reading. Confident that I had found one or two that could be suitable additions to the unit, I prompted CoPilot to repeat the process and suggest several new options. Success! Within fifteen minutes, I was satisfied with the texts that would make up my first unit of the school year.


Wading in the Water

After updating the texts, I needed to create lessons for the new additions. In her book, Poth (2024) includes information about many AI tools that are available for educators. However, instead of feeling excited as I began to explore them, I was overwhelmed. I was glad to learn that even Poth (2024) admits that “[d]iving into the ocean of available AI-powered tools can feel daunting” (p. 68).

 

Educational psychologist Stephen Aguilar, PhD, an associate professor of education at the University of Southern California, sums up the current environment: “It’s sort of a gold rush right now for edtech companies to sell districts the right thing, without having any data to support their claims” (Abrams, 2025, para. 17). This can make it challenging for educators to find the right tool to assist them. Figure 2 demonstrates the abundance of AI tools available to educators.


Figure 2




After exploring several of the tools recommended, I considered one of the Educator Do’s suggested by Poth (2024): “Use AI programs as collaborative tools to brainstorm ideas, enhance creativity, and assist in the research process” (p. 138). While many of the AI tools provide downloadable handouts for use in the classroom, none of them felt just right to me. In addition, while I know that the use of AI is lauded as a clever way for teachers to free up time to have meaningful interactions with their students, I actually enjoy creating handouts that are tailored to my students' needs and preferences (Poth, 2024). I do not want to fully relinquish that task to AI tools.

 

For this reason, I went back to Copilot. Instead of asking for ready-made printables, I typed specific instructions into my prompt for lesson ideas. I supplied the title of each new text, relevant information about my students, a request for the ideas to adhere to teaching philosophies of reading specialist Kate Roberts, and one final note to incorporate cooperative learning strategies into the activities. 

 

Jackpot! 

Copilot stepped up to the task once again, providing plenty of ideas that I then sifted through and added to my plans.


Come On In, the Water Is Fine!

After employing some of the strategies recommended by Poth (2024), I’m more excited about the opportunities that AI is bringing to the world of education. There are many uses of AI that I’m not ready for yet, including using AI to generate handouts, write parent-teacher emails, and create assessments from scratch. 


However, I will definitely increase my use of AI for “generating new ideas for lesson plans and activities, . . . adapting materials for different age groups and neurodiverse learners, and getting a second opinion on how to improve existing materials” (Abrams, 2025, para. 15).

 

This school year you likely won’t find me in the deep end of the AI pool, but I’m looking forward to splashing around in the shallow end, exploring more ways to purposefully and safely implement AI in my day-to-day life as a teacher.



References

 

Abrams, Z. (2025, January 1). Classrooms are adapting to the use of artificial intelligence. Monitor on psychology. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2025/01/trends-classrooms-artificial-intelligence 

 

Education Week. (2024, January 16). Using AI in the classroom: Tips and tricks from two teachers  [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/Z0e4eYVb6Cc?si=PpyI4Aq4ZYaPpsls

 

Miller, M. (2023, November 13). AI tools for the classroom. Ditch That Textbook. https://ditchthattextbook.com/ai-tools/

 

Poth, R. D. (2024). How to teach AI: Weaving strategies and activities into any content area. International Society for Technology in Education. 

Comments

  1. BahrJuly 24, 2025 at 3:12 PM

    In AI for Educators, Miller (2023) states, ”as AI use becomes more widespread and mainstream, it will impact teaching and learning in many more ways (p. 74). I have already found myself trying to think of ways to restructure my back to school meetings with teachers to make them more engaging. I am thinking about using either a video and a presentation or potentially a Wakelet to cover professional development. I think the possibilities are endless. One resource I found that I would also like to utilize with my teachers is AI for Education - https://www.aiforeducation.io/.


    References
    AI for Education. (n.d.). AI for Education: Empowering educators to harness the power of AI. https://www.aiforeducation.io

    Miller, M. (2023). AI for educators. Dave Burgess Consulting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Malinda KayJuly 29, 2025 at 7:35 AM

    Jennifer, thank you for another thoughtful and honest blog post! I love how you’re diving into AI with purpose and reframing your approach. I’ve been teaching for 10 years, and I completely relate to how AI went from barely mentioned to suddenly the dominant conversation. Like you, I’ve realized that it doesn’t have to be something to fear because it’s really just another tool that can work alongside us!

    One tool that’s made a real difference for me in the diverse area I teach is Diffit, which I was so happy to see in the image you included in your post. It uses AI to create differentiated, standards-aligned content that support my English Learners, not just by helping them demonstrate content knowledge in multiple ways (like drawing!), but it actively builds their English language skills as they are doing so. For my newcomer students especially, it’s made my pretty complex U.S. history class, of which they have little foundation knowledge, more accessible. It even uses AI to scale texts to different reading levels, so if I have a 6th grader reading English on 1st Grade level, it will create standard-aligned activities on their reading ability AND in their first language (Diffit, 2025). AMAZING!

    Your post also echoes what Miller (2023) emphasized in my PLC book, AI for Educators. While AI can support instruction, it can’t replace the connection, care, and human presence teachers bring to the classroom. And as Fitria (2023) reminds us, the teacher’s role in shaping student growth and character remains irreplaceable. I admire how you're navigating these tools with discernment, and your students and your staff are lucky to have someone so grounded and forward-thinking leading the way.

    Wishing you a wonderful school year ahead, it’s been such a joy learning from your perspective as a secondary educator!

    References
    Diffit. (n.d.). Diffit. https://web.diffit.me/
    Fitria, T. N. (2023). The use of artificial intelligence in education: Can AI replace the teacher’s role? EPIGRAM (E-Journal), 20(2), 165–187. https://doi.org/10.32722/epi.v20i2.5711. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377081585_The_Use_of_Artificial_Intelligence_in_Education_AIED_Can_AI_Replace_the_Teacher’s_Role.
    .
    Miller, M. (2023). AI for educators. Dave Burgess Consulting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ally RogersJuly 30, 2025 at 7:16 PM

    I enjoyed reading your blog Jennifer, and I agree that using AI is a great way to increase engagement in the lessons. I enjoyed that you tried using AI to make a lesson more engaging. This process is something that every teacher has to think about each year, especially when you feel like the lesson is not keeping your students engaged. Using AI to come up with new ideas is something that I have not thought about doing. I have never been one to fully understand AI, but Abrams states that "{t}he teacher can spend less time adapting to the technology, so it feels more like an extension of her class" (Abrams, 2025). This means that it is okay to just add a little bit of technology at a time. Your lessons do not have to be fully technology based lessons.

    Reference
    Abrams, Zara. (2025, January 1). Classrooms are adapting to the use of artificial intelligence. American psychological association. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2025/01/trends-classrooms-artificial-intelligence

    ReplyDelete
  4. The LitLadyJuly 30, 2025 at 7:17 PM

    Jennifer, I appreciate how you acknowledge both the opportunities and the tension that comes with stepping into unfamiliar digital spaces. Your honesty about being overwhelmed and your willingness to explore really stood out to me. It reminded me of what Greenhow and Askari (2023) describe as AI literacy—not just knowing how to use AI tools, but learning how to navigate them with curiosity, care, and a critical lens. That’s exactly what you modeled here.
    I also loved the balance between personal reflection and practical application. Your use of Canva, MagicSchool, and ChatGPT to support instruction showed that you’re not just using AI because it’s popular—you’re using it because it supports your students’ learning and your own professional growth. That shift from consumption to intentional integration is where the real power is.

    Thank you for sharing such a grounded and hopeful perspective—it’s the kind of post that reminds us we don’t have to have it all figured out to begin. We just have to be open to learning.

    Reference
    Greenhow, C., & Askari, E. (2023). AI literacy in education: Navigating opportunities and challenges with critical curiosity. Educational Technology Research and Development, 71(4), 1321–1338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-023-10233-7

    ReplyDelete

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