AI: Educator's Tools and Uses in the Classroom
This past week, I attended the NJAIS Innovation and Collaboration Conference. This was my fourth time attending the conference and I learn so many new, valuable, and innovative tools from it each year. The NJAIS PD and Tech Committees do a fantastic job putting this conference together and finding amazing keynote speakers and presenters.
I also enjoyed presenting about Seesaw with my good friend and colleague, Darcy Petrie, and presenting “Tech Tips in Three Minutes” at the Rapid Fire Session at the end of the first day. To check out the latter, please check out the video here on my YouTube channel.
AI Adventures in LS
The session that spoke to me the most was titled, “AI Adventures in LS” presented by Kim Connolly, the Associate Director of Technology Innovation at the Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child. Kim did a wonderful job explaining the many facets of AI tools and how educators can benefit from them. The three tools that I took away from her session can help educators and save them a lot of time and energy.
MagicSchool.ai is an innovative AI-powered platform designed specifically to assist teachers in a myriad of tasks related to lesson planning, assessment writing, and communication. This AI tool can assist you in a variety of ways. I began testing many of the tools and I felt that this one site could save me a lot of time as it does a lot of the research quickly and then I can adapt it to my curriculum, assessments, lessons, writings, etc. Here are some of the tools that I immediately liked:
Rubric Generator - Have AI write a rubric for an assignment you are creating for your class in a table format.
Uses: When I tried this, I felt it was very close to what I would write as a rubric for me or my students to use. This will save me a lot of time.
Lesson Plan Generator - Generate a lesson plan for a topic or objective you’re teaching.
Uses: For novice teachers, use this to assist you in writing lesson plans. For more advanced teachers, use this to make an idea come to life when you might be hitting writer’s block.
Syllabus Generator - Generate a syllabus based on information provided about your class for the school year.
Uses: During numerous summers, I teach graduate courses and have to create a syllabus from scratch. Using this generator is like when I used to ask my colleagues if I could borrow their syllabus from past classes that they have taught as an example.
Academic Content Creator - Generate original academic content for your classes customized to the topic and criteria of your choice.
Uses: If you have to write an overview of your program, this tool did a very good job. I tweaked it a bit, but I was surprised at how well it generated the overview. I also liked that it ended with “Please note that any inappropriate language, suggestions, or content will not be generated as it is not suitable for a school setting.”
Text Summarizer Tool - Take any text and summarize it at whatever length you choose.
Uses: When you are asked to write a summary or to bullet items, this tool will help you greatly with it.
Team Builder/Ice Breaker - Create a team builder / Ice Breaker for virtual or in-person meetings.
Uses: The popular meme about the chart paper has been making its rounds. Use this tool to find other ways to team build.
E-Mail Responder Tool - Generate a customized professional e-mail communication in response to an email that you received.
Uses: We all have that email we need to write but are not sure how to word it. Use this to get you started.
EOY Student Comments - Generate a narrative end-of-year comment for a student in your advisory.
Uses: This tool could assist you in getting started with the EOY progress reports, especially if you have 100+ reports to write.
Colleague Song Generator - Write a song to celebrate a colleague to the tune of the song of your choice!
Uses: How many times have we read the question from a music educator on a PD Network asking about a song for their retiring colleague? Here is a viable option, especially if you are like Elton John and are part of the duo that writes the music (and Bernie Taupin writes the lyrics).
There are many more and the tools are geared to education.
Input some reading, and the AI will write Essential Questions, Learning Objectives, and aligned multiple-choice questions, which you can then export to your favorite tool.
This AI tool will generate educational content for:
Planning
Information Objects
Independent Practice
Cooperative Learning
Questions
I liked experimenting with this for unit planning, discussion prompts, and gamification. For the latter, when I gave it prompts, it created games for my students.
I did not appreciate that if the subject you teach was not science, social studies, mathematics, and language arts, then your subject was labeled as an enrichment. Hopefully, they will change that.
Here is an example of such game:
Title: Musical Trashcan Toss Game: 3rd Grade Note Name Review for the Treble Clef Staff
Objective: To reinforce note name recognition on the treble clef staff through an engaging and competitive game.
Materials Needed:
Trashcan
Small objects to toss (e.g., bean bags, soft balls)
Whiteboard or a set of flashcards with note names
Game Setup:
Divide students into teams of 2-4.
Place the trashcan at the center of the playing area.
Assign a starting line a suitable distance away from the trashcan.
Each team should have an equal number of objects to toss.
Game Rules:
One team goes at a time, taking turns until all teams have had a chance.
Each team member will have one chance to toss their object into the trashcan.
The team earns points based on the difficulty of the review question answered correctly:
Easy question: 1 point
Medium question: 2 points
Hard question: 3 points
If a team answers a question incorrectly or fails to throw their object into the trashcan, they do not earn any points.
The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Review Questions (choose 20 from the list or create your own):
What is the note name of the first line on the treble clef staff?
What is the note name of the third line on the treble clef staff?
Identify the note name on the second space of the treble clef staff.
Name the note that is two lines below the treble clef staff.
What is the note name of the first space above the treble clef staff?
Identify the note name on the top line of the treble clef staff.
Name the note that is one space below the treble clef staff.
What is the note name of the fourth line on the treble clef staff?
Identify the note name on the second line of the treble clef staff.
Name the note that is one line below the treble clef staff.
What is the note name of the second space above the treble clef staff?
Identify the note name on the third line of the treble clef staff.
Name the note that is one space above the treble clef staff.
What is the note name of the fifth line on the treble clef staff?
Identify the note name on the first line of the treble clef staff.
Name the note that is two spaces below the treble clef staff.
What is the note name of the first space below the treble clef staff?
Identify the note name on the fourth line of the treble clef staff.
Name the note that is two lines above the treble clef staff.
What is the note name of the second line below the treble clef staff?
Note: Feel free to adjust the difficulty level of the questions based on your student's abilities and learning objectives.
Bonus: Curriculum Maps, Instruction, and Units
Kim also gave amazing resources for educators of any subject to peruse and develop ideas on how to teach and include AI in their classrooms. Some resources are included in the description and my blog post.
Level up from ChatGPT and try out some of these education-based AI tools today!