Classrooms of the Future: Coaching Teachers in AI Technology Integration

Purpose & objective

Purpose: The purpose of our presentation is to equip educators with practical strategies for coaching teachers in the effective integration of AI technology into the classroom, addressing the educational challenge of harnessing AI's potential for enhanced learning outcomes.

We hope that participants leave with the following outcomes:

1. Tailored Coaching Techniques: Participants will learn how to customize coaching methods to address individual teacher needs and preferences when implementing AI technology. We will share examples of how we've coached Colorado Academy teachers in the use of AI in the classroom.

2. Curriculum Integration: Participants will gain insights into seamlessly incorporating AI-powered tools into existing curricula, aligning with specific educational objectives. We will show several examples of AI tools that have been used in the CA upper school with students as well as some tools that are appropriate for younger students (without them needing to sign up).

3. Student Engagement: Attendees will explore innovative approaches to captivate student interest and foster active participation through AI-enhanced lessons. In particular, we will talk about how AI is not just a flashy new toy to be used in the classroom but how it can be used to meaningfully engage students.

4. Data-Driven Decision-Making: Participants will understand how to utilize AI-generated insights to inform teaching practices and empower educators to make data-backed instructional adjustments. Both coaches and teachers can use AI to better understand their classroom, and we'll show examples of how this has been done at CA.

Outline

1. Introduction (5 minutes)
- Welcome and brief overview of the session. Introduction of Meghan and Laura and our roles at CA as Director of Educational Technology and Technology Specialist and Coach.

2. Setting the Stage: Edtech Coaching + AI Policy at CA (10 minutes)
- Brief introduction to edtech coaching at Colorado Academy, including how we approach working with teachers generally with technology
- Highlight the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI and the timeline of how that worked at CA
- Introduce the AI policy for teachers and students at CA, which puts much of the decision-making around AI use in the classroom in the teachers' hands. (we do NOT see AI as purely an issue of academic integrity that needs to be managed)

3. How are AI and Edtech Coaching Connected? (5 minutes)
- Briefly explain the two buckets where we see edtech coaching and AI intersect: Curriculum Integration (how AI is being used in the classroom with students) and Teacher Support (how teachers can use AI to support their practice - brainstorming, organizational strategies, lesson planning, etc.)

4. Examples from each bucket at CA (15 min)
4a. Curriculum Integration
- Show multiple examples of how AI is being used at different grade levels at Colorado Academy
- How did we coach teachers in this area?
4b. Teacher Support
- Show examples of how teachers are using AI for their own lesson planning, workflows, etc. How did we coach teachers in this area?
Examples for this section will be taken from the most recent use cases at CA, so specific examples will be determined in the Spring.

5. Interactive Activity: Choose Your Own Adventure (15 min)`
Participants will work individually or in small groups to choose one of these areas to discuss how they might use the AI tools or coaching strategies in their own practice.

6. Wrap-Up: Where do you go from here? (10 min)`
- Q+ A with examples from the activity to hear how participants will use these tools or ideas in their own schools.

Supporting research

While research is still being completed in this area, there are many articles supporting the consideration of adding AI into classroom learning environments:

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/should-schools-ban-or-integrate-generative-ai-in-the-classroom/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/technology/how-schools-can-survive-and-maybe-even-thrive-with-ai-this-fall.html

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www2.ed.gov/documents/ai-report/ai-report.pdf