Education

My thoughts on education trends and teaching tools, and strategies.

New Menu Link: What I Am Reading

Last month I led a session on artificial intelligence (AI) for administrators in our Rocky Mountain District. One request from that session was to share what I read about AI. I was also asked to share a few thoughts about what I read. To that end, I have created a new page and menu link…

Is This the Future of Browsing?

1993 was an important year in the history of the Internet. Before this year, the Internet was entirely text-based. I accessed the Internet through a dial-up modem through my phone line. There was already a lot of great content to discover. However, the process was not exciting. The interface was not graphical at all. Enter…

Who is Your School’s AI Leader?

Who is your school’s AI leader? I work with administrators and schools to navigate the changing education environment due to artificial intelligence (AI). Through this process, it is clear that many administrators and teachers feel overwhelmed. Some are even fearful. These emotions are powerful and real. This situation prompts a specific suggestion for schools. To…

AI and Administrative Support

This week I had the opportunity to work with administrators from my region. I was asked to provide opportunities and support for school leaders in leveraging artificial intelligence for their administrative tasks. I utilized AI to create list of tasks AI can support, and then curated the list. I also added strategies that I have…

Navigating AI: Sessions at LEA and RMD

I want to share with you about a session I will facilitate at both the Lutheran Education Association (LEA) Convocation in St. Louis (October 2-4) and the Rocky Mountain District Professional Church Workers Conference, in Breckenridge, CO (October 8-10). As you can see from the generated image, the stated goal of the session is to…

“See You at LEA”

“See You at LEA” is something I often say, especially as we head toward October. I know what LEA is, and many of my friends do as well, but others in Lutheran education may not. So here is a quick primer on this important phrase. First, LEA stands for the Lutheran Education Association, a longstanding…

Teaching Students to Debate: Principles for Respectful Political Engagement

My main role at my current school is as the Director of Lights Academy, an honors, project-based, personalized learning experience. But to free up time in a student’s schedule, we also embed Honors Government standards within the experience. As I work with students, I really want them to engage in debate effectively, given the contentious…

Preparing Students for Eternity: A Lesson from Hebrews 12:1-2

The 2025-2026 school year is here! If you follow this blog you have already noticed my preparations for the year in regard to the use of artificial intelligence (AI). There are plenty of other curricular and practical preparations that have been made as well. As a teacher in a Lutheran school, our campus ministry leaders…

AI Letter to My Students

Summer (at least for a teacher) is over. Students return to the building today with our New Student Orientation. Regular classes begin for me on Friday. That means that it time to transition from my summer study and reading to classroom application. I have a list of between 30 to 40 popular articles (I haven’t…

Embracing AI in Education: A Teacher’s Journey for 2025-2026

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…

“This is What I See” and AI

When I taught Theology classes for high school freshman, one of the things I learned quickly is to use the personal pronoun “I” during class discussions. If I were to say “we believe” about something, inevitably this would be challenged by students. “I don’t know if I believe this,” they might exclaim. And they were…

I Ask AI About Anything

Over the past month, I have come to rely on artificial intelligence (AI) for most of my queries and work, forgoing traditional search. As a result, I am getting better and quicker results for most of my needs (the service I am using most right now is the subscription version of ChatGPT). In particular, I…

AI in the Workplace

As an educator, especially as one who works with high school juniors and seniors, I have carefully watched the trends of how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in business and industry. My seniors, if they follow a traditional path, are less than five years away from entering the permanent workforce. Clearly, there have been…

AI Reading — January 2025

Here are some articles and other resources that I am reading about artificial intelligence (AI) and education this month. I provide some commentary, but some of the themes I will be expanding upon in future posts: What are you reading and learning about AI? I would love to hear your thoughts and have you share…

Suno AI Song Creation Activity and Leadership

If you are a regular reader of my posts, you know that I am attempting to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) tools and services for both personal learning and growth and to benefit my students’ learning. Consequently, I was intrigued when I first discovered Suno, a service the creates songs in a variety of different genres…

Advice For New Teachers

My wife and I are a part of a small group Bible study. Somehow the discussion moved from Acts 10 to my teaching experiences (I am not sure how that happened, but I went with the change!) I was asked about working with school parents today and whether they were challenging. Honestly and thankfully, at…

2025: A Year of Growth and Intention

What is the best way to reflect upon the past year and plan for the new year? Those are questions that I tackle this time of year. I have used a variety of approaches to this in the past — long lists, focusing on key words, etc. This year I am making a series of…

Essential AI Questions For Prospective College Students

My high school seniors have been on my mind a lot recently. As they prepare to select colleges and graduate from our school, I am wondering what life and work will be like five years from now when many of them graduate from universities. I expect the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) to be immense…

Resources from AI Sessions — Fall 2024

It has been a busy first semester for me. In addition to my normal duties at Lutheran High School, I have had the opportunity to share about AI and education at several conferences. One of my challenges is that I tend to obsess about who my audience will be and how I can best help/serve…

Educators and De-Mystifying AI

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to engage with Lutheran educators in many areas of the country this summer and fall on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI). When I led a session in Illinois last month, I was struck by a comment after the session from one of the participants: “I was…