AI has the potential to change both students and teachers

One of the largest teachers' unions in the United States Recently announced With funding from Microsoft, Openai and humanity, we are launching an artificial intelligence training hub for educators. The news shows that AI in schools is authentic. Aadhira already knows.

Adira will teach me this fall. At the end of last year, I saw her sitting in the hallway of my laptop. I asked her what she was doing.

“Homework in history. I use AI.”

I asked her teacher if she knew she was using AI.

“Kannan, the teacher knows nothing about this AI.”

Adira is not wrong. Like most new technologies, most students know more about AI than most adults. But early in the process where there is an opportunity, teachers like me can design AI experiences with students like AADHIRA and inform the development of projects like AI training hubs. Together we can create a new, better school experience for our students.

Over my 29-year career, I have seen education react to technology many times late. The internet, smartphones, social media and remote learning have been slower. AI is already part of Aadhira's life, but my school district is 80% without AI guidance and policy.

Amid this uncertainty, AI is the path of teacher leadership. By accepting AI in my teachings and determining its specific purpose, I can control how it accomplishes my purpose. It's about moving on to student scholarship journeys.

I know my classroom and content and can talk about how AI tools fit my teachings. My voice is needed. Because I teach students like Aadhira who use AI every day. What is working, or not, can affect AI decisions well.

Aadhira is right that teachers like me “don't know much about this AI,” but not only does AI create ways that help me to make her a scholar, but she can also use that expertise to guide how to look for all the students in our district. I can be an AI influencer in the classroom and beyond.

AI literacy can be a growth journey for my students and me. Aadhira will become my AI teacher. I'm planning on learning her hacking and shortcuts. She peers behind the curtains as she understands what she is using, and understands how AI can help her become an academic.

Adila can also learn from me.

For example, you can teach her how AI tools work on large datasets, how to recognize patterns, and how to build better AI prompts. Her language and processing skills grow as Aadhira learns the skills to develop accurate prompts to supply AI. Rather than “doing my homework in the American Revolution,” she can more specifically say, “I need help understanding the main causes of the American Revolution.”

Aadhira shows more accuracy in her commands, so she learns to get better control over the AI tools she is using – something she needs in the AI world. Using AI in this way helps her understand concepts, challenge her thinking, and support her in creating authentic works.

You can teach Aadhira how to effectively consume AI content. For example, what if she generates artifacts from AI about the causes of the American Revolution and then ranks them with rubrics she and I co-created? Aadhira thinks critically as an academic when evaluating AI's work and examines AI products rather than digesting them as unquestionable facts.

You can also learn about the AI user experience with Aadhira through conversations. These guide my leadership work and can add teacher and student voices to initiatives such as the AI guidance hub. Aadhira teaches me while I teach her, reflecting our shared AI learning journey.

Aadhira and I can pioneer the birth of a joint school setting driven by student and teacher voices. If AI can strengthen teacher leadership and develop transformative and valuable learning for students, it will forever transform schools into a space where teachers and learners have more voices, agencies and ultimately power.

Adira is heading my path in the fall. I'm ready to shape the way AI wants her to help her become an academic.