Teach with expert insights on AI, curated by your trusty Teacher’s AIde

Good morning, and welcome back to Teacher's AIed, where we get pumped for winter break as an opportunity to re-work lesson plans, strategies, bulletin boards, and classroom decorations! Next week, we’ll unveil a premium resource to help you prepare for a fresh start in 2024.

Consider This: More Inclusive Education with AI

In an interview with EdWeek, Josh Clark, head of the Landmark School, discusses AI's potential to aid dyslexic students. In the piece, This School Leader Believes AI Could Transform Education for Students With Dyslexia, Clark highlights his deeply personal approach, which aims to celebrate the strengths of dyslexic learners and reduce the stigma around their challenges. The article underscores the need for inclusive AI systems that consider diverse learning needs.

As we frequently marvel at Teacher’s AIde, the possibilities for AI in K12 education are endless! Leveraging AI as a tool to make learning more equitable for all students, including those with learning differences is one such opportunity. Imagine the transformative power these shifts can have — not only on education — but also on individual students’ lives.

With the second half of the school year on our minds, how can we effectively use AI tools to promote accessibility and equity in education, especially for students with learning differences such as dyslexia?

Listen and Learn: AI’s Power with Responsibility

Every few months, I re-listen to The Ezra Klein Show episode, “‘If All Models Are Wrong,’ Why Do We Give Them So Much Power?” I frequently come back to this podcast episode because while I get excited about the strengths and opportunities AI presents our society, it is important to ground myself in its challenges and the ways in which we need to hold it and its creators accountable. Each time I listen, I gain a new perspective and new understanding of what we need to continue to monitor as we integrate AI technologies into our daily lives and work.

The podcast episode explores the ethical challenges of AI. It discusses how AI can sometimes mirror societal biases, like gender or racial biases, mainly because these biases exist in the data AI learns from. These considerations become crucial for educators to understand as AI becomes more relevant in teaching tools.

The critical question for us as educators is: how can we use AI in a way that is fair and helps all students without unintentionally creating more inequality?

Teach Yourself: DIY GPTs

We are pumped about custom GPTs. Last month OpenAI announced that “you can create custom versions of ChatGPT that combine instructions, extra knowledge, and any combination of skills.”

Custom GPTs can be tailored for tasks like assessing student writing, quickly grading responses, or reinforcing complex class concepts. Creating a GPT specifically for these purposes allows you to streamline the grading process, provide consistent and personalized feedback, and offer unique learning aids. This technology has so much potential in integrating AI into education, transforming our interactions with students' work, and delivering customized learning experiences for every child. A true Teacher’s AIde!

Our friends at AutomatED wrote an in-depth guide on GPTs and how to create one for yourself (their focus is on in-class activities, but the lesson generalizes). We’ll be playing with custom GPTs at Teacher’s AIde, reporting back, and sharing some examples with premium subscribers!

That’s all we’ve got for you today! But before you leave us, do you know someone who’d love to learn more about inclusive teaching with AI or how to create a custom GPT?

Share the gift of Teacher’s AIde with a friend, colleague, principal, or loved one!

Class dismissed!

Lewis & Kourtney