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FRANKLIN SQUARE, N.Y. — Sixth graders studying ancient Greek vases in their John Street School classroom looked like students in almost any other social studies class in the country. Dressed in sweatpants and hoodies, they heard a short lesson on the use of vases and how they were decorated before breaking into small groups to brainstorm specific questions and complete worksheets.
But behind the scenes, preparation for the class was anything but typical for teachers Janice Donaghy and Jean D’Aurio. They had avoided the hours of preparation the lesson would normally have taken by using artificial intelligence to develop a plan including a summary of ancient Greek vases, exit questions and student activities.
“Classroom preparation takes anywhere from hours to seconds” when using AI, D’Aurio said. In the past, the two co-teachers had created lesson plans by going through the school’s literacy closet to sift through printed materials, browsing the Teachers Pay Teachers online marketplace, and exploring Instagram accounts or TikTok.
For this lesson, the two men consulted the county teaching guide, but also used Canva, a tool that automatically generated images of Greek vases. Teachers turned to Diffit, another AI application, to write a reading passage explaining the importance of vases in daily life in ancient Greece. Diffit also created alternative versions of the text so that it was suitable for children reading at different levels, wrote three multiple-choice questions to test comprehension, and invited students to draw pictures to show they understood the points keys to the lesson. Teachers added short-answer questions that students answered on Google Classroom, and concluded the multi-week lesson by asking students to paint a design on a real vase.
“This just scratches the surface of what (AI) has the potential to do,” said Jared Bloom, the superintendent of the Franklin Square School District, where both teachers work. “The promise is really to personalize learning, not just differentiate it, in a way that isn’t taxing or exhausting for teachers. This could revolutionize education within a year, as the tools become more and more sophisticated.
When ChatGPT was unveiled in late 2022, many teachers saw the large language model chatbot as a shortcut that students could use to complete – or cheat – their homework. While it’s not yet clear what impact the technology might have on schools, a growing number of teachers are using various AI applications to reduce the work they do outside of the classroom, from creating lessons to correcting homework and sending emails to parents.
Teachers spend an average of eight to 10 hours a week planning and carrying out administrative tasks, said Amanda Bickerstaff, CEO and co-founder of AI for Education, a company that advises districts on how to integrate artificial intelligence in their work. AI is a great way to increase efficiency and reduce that workload, she added.
In Franklin Square, a small K-6 neighborhood about 9 miles from John F. Kennedy Airport, the impetus to start using AI came from Bloom. Ahead of the current school year, he highlighted various ways teachers could integrate AI, from generating ideas for lesson plans to allowing students to use tools to improve their work . In one example, after students studied houses shaped like cats, they created their own designs. The teacher was then able to use AI tools to show the class what these buildings would look like if built.
D’Aurio said she and Donaghy were “technology enthusiasts” who were the first in their school to experiment with new technology, and she noticed that more and more teachers were joining in “little by little.” little “. They use various apps, including Diffit, which can create lesson plans based on a few prompts. For example, teachers can enter “ancient Greek vases” and a grade level, the app takes less than 20 seconds to return an adapted reading passage, summary, key vocabulary words and multiple choice, short answers and open questions. questions. These elements can be modified and quickly added to the activities that students need to complete.
Users can also ask the technology to adapt existing text for students reading at different levels. “In one class, we could go from CE2 reading level to level 10.th note,” Donaghy said.
Other companies help teachers create interactive slideshows, provide writing feedback, or generate images around various topics.
The inclusion class that the pair co-teach contains both general and special education students. Donaghy said AI tools can help him not only create materials that meet students’ individual learning plans, but also track their progress in various areas – a huge time saver because each student can have five or more individual goals.
The AI really helped when a new student from El Salvador showed up who only spoke Spanish, Donaghy said. The teachers used it to translate each lesson in class, allowing her to understand the assignments while working in Spanish and English.
Donaghy said it took some trial and error to figure out how to best craft the queries to get the desired result. But she encourages her peers to try the tools, telling them, “I know technology can be scary, but guys, it’s easy.” »
While acknowledging that most teachers in the small district have not yet used these tools, Bloom said 87 percent of them told him at the start of this school year that they were interested in trying them. “They are intrigued,” he added.
Bickerstaff said that about 84% of people who use a smartphone or computer interact with AI on a daily basis, often without realizing it.
Paige Chambers, librarian at John Street School, said she used AI while earning her master’s degree and was excited to see how it could help her at school. Chambers, who teaches media literacy and related courses to students at her library, said she uses AI tools to help her come up with lesson plan ideas. Because the results come so quickly, she added, it’s easy to change the prompts when they don’t return what she wants.
She uploaded YouTube videos on AI applications to get a summary of the content of the videos as well as the questions for students to answer. The tools can also break down a lesson plan into step-by-step instructions while providing sample projects for students to complete.
Because these tools can add to an existing lesson, Chambers said they can reinforce an idea she has by supplementing it with additional ideas.
Donaghy, D’Aurio and Chambers said they are aware that AI can sometimes hallucinate – make up facts – but reading what the program creates can help avoid this problem. To stop misinformation, Chambers said she specifically asks these tools to let her know if the app contains no information on a particular topic. This can prevent them from making up answers to their prompts.
One area where teachers have yet to use AI is grading student work. This would require teachers to upload student writing into AI tools, which could undermine the security of student information.
Bloom said he expects technology upgrades will eventually solve this dilemma by creating tools that prevent student work from being uploaded all over the Internet. “We’re not trying to take teachers out (of the grading process). We just want students to have support in the moment. It could be like having a tutor on your shoulder.
Donaghy said it would be a big help to have a tool to check whether one’s grade is accurate and fair and whether it meets a lesson’s assessment rubric.
“It’s an exciting time for education,” Chambers said. AI “is getting better every day. It’s a different world in just the six months I’ve been using it.
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