In late 2022, when generative AI tools landed in students’ hands, classrooms changed almost overnight. Essays written by algorithms appeared in inboxes. Lesson plans suddenly felt outdated. And across the country, schools asked the same questions: How do we respond — and what comes next?
Some educators saw AI as a threat that enables cheating and undermines traditional teaching. Others viewed it as a transformative tool. But a growing number are charting a different path entirely: teaching students to work with AI critically and creatively while building essential literacy skills.
The challenge isn't just about introducing new technology. It's about reimagining what learning looks like when AI is part of the equation. How do teachers create assignments that can't be easily outsourced to generative AI tools? How do elementary students learn to question AI-generated content? And how do educators integrate these tools without losing sight of creativity, critical thinking and human connection?
Recently, EdSurge spoke with three educators who are tackling these questions head-on: Liz Voci, an instructional technology specialist at an elementary school; Pam Amendola, a high school English teacher who reimagined her Macbeth unit to include AI; and Brandie Wright, who teaches fifth and sixth graders at a microschool, integrating AI into lessons on sustainability.
EdSurge: What led you to integrate AI into your teaching?
Amendola: When OpenAI's ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November 2022, it upended education and sent teachers scrambling. Students were suddenly using AI to complete assignments. Many students thought, Why should I complete a worksheet when AI can do it for me? Why write a discussion post when AI can do it better and faster?
Our education system was built for an industrial age, but we now live in a technological age where tasks are completed rapidly. Learning at school should be a time of discovery, but education remains stuck in the past. We are in a place I call the in between. In this place, I discovered a need to educate students on AI literacy alongside the themes and structure of the English language.
I reimagined my Macbeth unit to integrate AI with traditional learning methods. I taught Acts I-III using time-tested approaches, building knowledge of both Shakespeare and AI into each act. In Act IV, students recreated their assigned scenes using generative AI to make an original movie. For Act V, they used block-based programming to have robots act out their scenes. My assessment had nothing to do with writing an essay, so it was uncheatable. I encouraged students to work with me to design the lesson so I could determine the best way to help them learn.
Voci: Last fall, I was in a literacy meeting with administrators and teachers where I heard concerns about the new science of reading materials not engaging students’ interest. While the books were highly accessible, students had no interest in reading them. This was my lightbulb moment. If we could use AI tools to develop engaging and accessible reading passages for students, we could also teach foundational AI literacy skills at the same time.
This is where The Perfect Book Project was born. Students work with teachers to develop their own perfect reading book that is both engaging and accessible, learning literary skills alongside how to work with and evaluate AI-generated content. In its pilot, I worked directly with teachers as students conceptualized, drafted, edited and published their books. I spent hundreds of hours creating prompts with content guardrails, accessibility constraints and research-based foundational literacy knowledge to guide students and teachers through the process.
Wright: I'm doing quite a bit of work around the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, teaching our explorers the impact of our actions not just on ourselves but also on others and the environment. I wanted to see them use AI to deepen their knowledge and serve as a thought partner as they develop solutions to issues like climate change.
I created a lesson called “Investigating Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in Our Spaces.” The explorers went on a sustainability scavenger hunt around campus to find examples of energy-efficient items and sustainable practices. They used AI tools to analyze their findings, interpret and evaluate AI responses for accuracy and potential bias, and reflect on how technology and human decisions work together to create sustainable solutions. The AI in this lesson wasn't about the tools they used, but more about how AI is viewed in the context of what they are learning.
What shifts in student learning did you observe?
Voci: One eye-opening moment was during my first lesson on hallucinations and bias with a third grade class. After introducing the concepts at a developmentally appropriate level, I had them reread their manuscripts through the lens of an AI hallucination and bias detective. It didn't take long for the first student to find the first hallucination. There was incorrect scoring in a football game. AI counted a touchdown as one point. One student's hand flew up; he was so excited to explain to me and the class how the model had incorrectly scored the game.
This discovery lit a fire under the rest of the class to begin looking more closely at every word of their text and not take it at face value. The class went on to find more hallucinations and discover some generalizations that did not represent their intentions.
Wright: I saw the explorers develop their critical thinking as they asked questions about how AI was used, how AI makes its decisions and whether this affects the environment. I truly appreciate that this age group holds onto their creativity and imagination. They don't want AI to do the creating for them. They still want to draw their own pictures and tell their own stories.
Amendola: It was uncomfortable for my honors students to try something new. They were out of their element and craved the structure of the rubric. I had to let go of traditional grading structures first before I could help them embrace the ambiguity. Their willingness to explore and make mistakes was wonderful. The collaboration helped create a sense of class community that resulted in learning a new skill.
What's your advice for educators hesitant to explore AI?
Amendola: Don't be afraid to try new things. Keep in mind that the greatest success first requires a change of mindset. Only then can you open the doors to what generative AI can do for your students.
Voci: Don't let the fear, weight and speed of AI advancement paralyze you. Find small, intentional steps that are grounded in human-centered values to move forward with your own knowledge, and then find ways to connect your new knowledge to support student learning. In this age of AI, we need to give our fellow educators the same resources, scaffolding and grace.
Wright: Jump in!
Join the movement at https://generationai.org to participate in our ongoing exploration of how we can harness AI’s potential to create more engaging and transformative learning experiences for all students.
