It is time for me to ramp up for the 2025-2026 school year. I have invested a great deal of time this summer learning about artificial intelligence (AI) and analyzing its place in education. Through this process, there is one activity to which I have committed for the coming year as much as possible, and that is testing my lessons, projects, and activities with AI.

As I enter my 38th year of teaching, it is easy to become complacent. Many projects and activities have worked well with my students for many years. But does that mean they are the best activities for my new group of students? Or, because the lessons have been reasonably successful in past years, does that mean that this is the best I can do for my students?

That is where AI enters the picture. I plan to share my lessons and projects with AI for feedback throughout this year. In addition, I have the opportunity to tailor my leadership of students to match their capabilities in new ways. Does that mean I blindly accept the AI results and immediately implement those ideas? Of course not. But it does mean that I will challenge myself to continue to grow and improve in my chosen profession, even as I am much closer to retirement now than when I started in education. I plan to use ChatGPT Pro as my primary chatbot, although there may be times when I use other available tools.

Feel free to follow these posts as I share some of the results throughout the year. I want this to be a helpful learning experience for anyone in education. God’s blessings to all teachers as you prepare for a new school year.