Back to School Series | Episode 6: How Teachers Can Use AI Without Losing the Human Side of Teaching

AI arrived in classrooms faster than any guidance for using it. Most educators are being handed the tools without being handed a framework, and the result is a lot of quiet uncertainty about what counts as appropriate use, what counts as cheating, and what is worth protecting regardless.This conversation offers a way through. Dr. Ilana Nankin is joined by Khushali Narechania, Director of Learning at aiEDU, a former high school math teacher who spent a decade developing educators before moving into the AI and education space. Together they work through what these tools actually are, where they genuinely help inside a teacher's week, and which parts of teaching and learning should stay untouched.Educators will come away with practical entry points that require no technical background, a working understanding of why AI produces what it produces, and clearer language for talking about all of it with students.Building context, thinking with AI rather than handing your thinking over, considering impact — these are the three skills at the heart of Breathe for Change's AI, Teaching, and Learning course. This conversation is where they start.Best MomentsA student flagged for fully AI-generated writing, and the five-minute assignment that revealed what actually happenedThe elementary classroom where AI wrote the skits and students did all the acting, reading, and revisingWhy AI is a prediction machine, not an answer machine - and what changes for teachers once that clicksWhy oral arguments and in-class presentations are coming back as assessmentWhy productive struggle has to stay protected, even when a tool could remove itWhat You'll LearnWhere to start with AI if you've never used it, without putting student data anywhere near a toolHow to give AI enough context that the output is worth editing instead of rewritingHow to design assignments so the skill you're assessing is the skill actually being demonstratedHow to build AI expectations with students as classroom culture rather than enforcementWhich parts of your week need a person, and which can take an assistWhat to hold onto as the tools keep changingEpisode Highlights00:00 - Opening: Preparing Students for AI-Driven Careers01:16 - Guest Welcome: Khushali02:54 - The Current Landscape of AI Policy in Education08:43 - Core Opportunities and Risks of AI in the Classroom11:31 - Shifting Educator Mindsets from Resistance to Empowerment15:22 - Demystifying the Technology: Math and Probability vs. Fact-Giver20:08 - The 3 Meta Skills: Context Building, Thinking with AI, & Impact27:01 - Practical AI Use Cases for Teacher Efficiency & Differentiation33:06 - Adapting AI Strategies for Elementary vs. Secondary Students36:50 - Rethinking Student Assessment & Academic Integrity47:32 - Real-World Examples of Successful Classroom AI Integration52:18 - Simple First Steps for Educators Dabbling in AI58:00 - The Future of Education & School as a Human Convening Space1:02:37 - Closing Thoughts & Breathe for Change Course Preview#Education #TeacherWellness #ClassroomManagement #SocialEmotionalLearning #AIinEducation #FutureOfLearning #BreatheForChange