THE PREP PERIOD

Quick tips, tools & tricks you can take to the classroom on Monday

5-Week Series on Prompting | This week's tip comes from ​AI for Education​

Week 2: SMART Goal Generation

Welcome to week 2 of our 5-week series on prompting for students! Today we're talking SMART Goals. While this particular tip from AI for Education is geared toward writing your own SMART goals as a teacher, it can be easily reframed for sharing the same skill with your students. Introducing students to the concept of SMART goals is a great way to guide them in setting goals in school and in life.

SMART goals take students from "I want to get better at math" to "I will practice two-digit multiplication for 10 minutes four times a week and score 80% or higher on the Friday quiz by the end of the month." And a chatbot is a great way to help them practice the structure, iterate on the results, and master the skill as second nature.

LOUNGE READS

The AI headlines that matter for your classroom

This week, the biggest story is the teachers unions stepping forward with a detailed AI and screen-time proposal that is drawing attention nationally. Districts everywhere are working out what AI in schools looks like in practice, and researchers are raising questions about whether teaching kids to use AI tools is crowding out the deeper thinking skills students need.

Education Week

​Teachers Union AI Plan Calls for Big Tech Tax, Screen Bans in Elementary Schools​

The AFT's new AI proposal takes a strong and cautionary stance on child-facing AI, calling for elementary screen bans and a tax on Big Tech to fund schools.

"There’s a lot of children-facing AI that has been sold to school districts for the last several years... I am not calling for a ban on AI or a bonfire of Chromebooks. I am calling for the tech industry to not have this overwhelming influence that basically stops legislatures from doing what they need to do, to protect society and to protect our children."

eSchool News

​How AI helps teachers spend less time on assessments and more time on impactful instruction​

How AI use has proven useful and even meaningful in real classrooms.

"Once teachers became more comfortable analyzing and applying the data, they began inviting students into the process. AI capabilities allow educators and students to review assessments side-by-side and uncover why questions were incorrectly answered, whether errors stemmed from a careless mistake, misread direction, or a gap in understanding that required additional instruction. This reflection helped students develop greater self-awareness and take a more active role in their learning."

Forbes

​We're Teaching Kids to Use AI, But Are We Teaching Them to Think?​

A direct challenge to schools: AI tool access may be outpacing students' critical thinking development.

"AI is not like going from a chalkboard to a whiteboard or from cursive to typing... It’s fundamentally different, and we don’t yet understand its long-term impact."

SARAH'S PICK

eSchool News

​How AI helps teachers spend less time on assessments and more time on impactful instruction​

A district shares how students benefit when AI empowers them to work with teachers on analyzing their data.

I love an education story that tackles real, relatable problems. While data analysis isn't the sexiest topic under the very exciting umbrella of AI possibilities, as teachers we know all too well how time-consuming (and important) it is.

This Illinois district knew the data they had was powerful and they were spending hours exporting, sorting, and analyzing it manually before every team meeting.

Oh my gosh do I feel that pain. As a first-grade teacher, every two weeks, I would compile my students bi-weekly DRA fluency and comprehension scores into a spreadsheet. I would sort by score types and color code the rows to represent specific skills for specific groups of students. I was able to plan small group instruction in an extremely targeted way by meticulously harnessing this data... but I had to sacrifice my Sunday night.

So when I first tried my hand at app-building, with a whole world of possibilities at my fingertips, it's no wonder I chose to make a student grouping tool that took test data and turned it into skill-based groups! (You can read more about that here and you can use the Small Group Maker tool for free - always - at aldeya.ai/small-group-maker.)

While it's certainly possible for districts to build tools with folks like me in-house, this district went with an existing AI tool focused specifically on student data. What I find so exciting about this approach isn't just the time saved but the fact that it's being reallocated to actual instructional conversation... with students! Research shows students are empowered to take greater ownership over their learning when they have access to to use their own data (some great resources on that here).

Teachers and students are discussing each other's results and asking, "what did you do differently that worked?" That kind of professional learning has, until now, been rare and hard to make work. Even better, AI didn't replace those conversations, in this case, it helped make room for them.

— Sarah

A NOTE BEFORE YOU GO...

I'm glad you're here! If something resonated this week, hit reply and tell me. If you know a fellow educator who would find this useful, forward it their way. The village grows when educators share with other educators.

Never hesitate to send me an email if you're looking for some human-forward, AI thought partnership!