AI Integration in Teaching Practices: Achieving Two Things at Once

We've all witnessed it: headlines detailing learning loss in the wake of the pandemic, from reports by Curriculum & Associates to Renaissance Learning. Both have highlighted significantly lower test scores, with students demonstrating reduced proficiency on their learning platforms since 2019. Similarly, The Nation's Report Card, also known as NAEP, has revealed declines in scores for both 9 and 13-year-olds in reading and mathematics. Whether we label it a crisis or a challenge, teachers face the daunting task of ensuring all students have access to grade-level standards while simultaneously closing gaps in skills and knowledge.

Regrettably, this is not a new challenge; it's something exacerbated by the pandemic and other cultural shifts. Strategies to contend with the difficulty of students arriving at grade level (I teach 5th grade) without all requisite skills and strategies are something I've had to deal with since I started teaching over 20 years ago. This year, thanks to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), I finally have a tool that allows me to close gaps while simultaneously working with grade-level outcomes. Let me explain how.

In the 4th grade standards, students are expected to explain the meaning of "simple" similes and metaphors. Even before the pandemic, not all students mastered this skill, and for many, without something like retrieval practice, the learning was often forgotten. In 5th grade, I extend the learning by having students interpret the meaning of the similes, this time in context and with grade-level text.

This highlights one of the fundamental paradoxes of teaching: in order to move forward, I have to go backwards. Enter ChatGPT and Gemini, large language models that I can use to generate instructional experiences incorporating content and expectations of my grade level while simultaneously teaching or reinforcing skills from previous grade levels.

For example, I asked ChatGPT to create a worksheet about the States of Matter, a 5th grade Next Generation Science Standard. In the worksheet, students construct similes about states of matter. So, my students might be working with a 4th grade reading standard, but they're doing it with 5th grade content. This creates an efficiency that mitigates some of the learning loss many have written about while also addressing a grade-level science goal.

Similarly, I had ChatGBT create a 5th grade Reader's text, falling within the 5th grade text complexity band, about figurative language — including similes. As students grow stronger in fluency, even reading with prosody, they are also learning about similes and their utility in writing. Again, this creates efficiency where my students can leverage the research of luminaries like Dr. Tim Rasinsky, Dr. Chase Young, and Dr. Jan Hasbrouck, and the importance of repeated readings — ultimately leading to prosody — while also learning more about a 4th grade language standard.

I have countless other examples of this approach, all of which are freely available on www.justtwoteachers.com My students have scripts covering topics such as the American Revolution, food webs, Shakespeare, Grimm’s fairy tales, the solar system, and common math algorithms. There are worksheets integrating comma usage with types of landforms, as well as experiences blending homophones with the history of the 13 colonies. Thanks to generative AI, I've put together Quiz-Quiz-Trade cards, a popular instructional move from Spencer Kagan, featuring common literary terms found on Smarter Balanced assessments.

McKinsey and Company have detailed how states are addressing learning loss, with most strategies involving doubling down on approaches from the past. These include creating state policies (e.g., requiring materials to align with the Science of Reading), implementing tutoring, summer school programs, and adopting new formative assessment software. However, the use of generative AI creates an efficiency previously unavailable to us. As we strive to maximize learning, states and districts would be wise to create experiences that, as Travis Kelce so charmingly quipped, "do two things at once."