Teaching in the Age of AI

Episode SummaryIn this episode, I explore teaching in the age of AI through the lens of teacher sustainability. I use AI regularly to brainstorm, organize ideas, develop pacing guides, build starting points for assessments and practice, think through differentiation, and adapt materials. It can save significant time, but I don't believe that makes teachers less important. I think it makes professional judgment even more important.I look at several ways AI can help teachers, including providing better starting points, supporting differentiation, organizing information, and identifying patterns in student data. But AI output is not professional judgment. Teachers still have to ask whether something is accurate, developmentally appropriate, aligned to curriculum, useful for their actual students, and worth using at all.I also discuss the danger of allowing AI to replace the thinking students and teachers need to develop. AI should be a thinking partner, not a replacement for thinking. Schools need thoughtful policies around privacy, academic integrity, accuracy, environmental concerns, and appropriate use, but responding to AI with fear alone won't prepare students or teachers for the world they're entering.Ultimately, I believe AI could make teaching more sustainable if we use it to reduce lower-value work and protect the time it saves. The goal shouldn't be making teachers produce more. It should be giving teachers greater capacity for the deeply human work technology cannot replace: relationships, judgment, empathy, creativity, leadership, trust, and helping young people believe in what they can become.Show NotesHow I currently use AI as an educatorAI as a starting point rather than a finished productDifferentiation and material adaptationFinding patterns in student dataWhy professional judgment still mattersAI as a thinking partner, not a replacement for thinkingProtecting the time AI saves teachersWhy human teaching matters even moreKey TakeawaysAI can save teachers time by giving them better starting points.AI-generated work still requires professional judgment and verification.Teachers need enough expertise to recognize when AI output is weak or wrong.AI should support student thinking rather than replace it.Schools need thoughtful AI policies instead of fear or blind enthusiasm.Efficiency should not automatically become permission to increase teacher workload.The more technology advances, the more valuable the human parts of teaching become.