Any Thoughtful, Informed Response to AI = Better Than a Mindless One

Dear colleague,

Last Friday's “Let's Talk AI” workshop was a real treat. You can access the recording and chat log right here, still at pay-what-you-want pricing. Thank you for supporting my work in this way.

Before I discuss one of my chief takeaways and a follow-up opportunity, let me quickly plug the Secondary Educator Summit I'm doing in Wisconsin Dells this August. Right now enrollment is low, and it's at risk of being cancelled. So allow me to give you some reasons to come:

• 1) We get to meet and spend a day thinking and learning together about student motivation.
• 2) Did you hear that student motivation part!? I've spent the better part of my career studying this topic and have now seen multiple schools undertake multi-year implementation processes — I've got stuff to share!
• 3) Wisconsin Dells is a beautiful area to squeeze in one last family vacay before school starts. You can learn more and register here for the August 13 event in Wisconsin.

All right — plug over. 😇

As I was reflecting on the “Let's Talk AI” workshop over the weekend, the main statement I began the workshop with is, we didn't pick the change. With that said, I shared three use cases I explored and learned a lot from this year:

1. The AI Literacy Kickoff lesson I taught, which involved an AI-generated article of the week and a frank discussion with students
2. A one-week experiment during my writing bootcamp in which I used Claude to score and give feedback on three sets of student essays (I know, it sounds crazy)
3. A few experiments with using Claude to analyze class sets of provisional writing (see Pyramid of Writing Priorities and Ch. 6 of These 6 Things) to pull out insights, concerning comments, and patterns)

(I walk through each of these during much of the talk, which again you can access here at pay-what-you-want pricing. Thank you for supporting my work!)

But here is where I basically landed: at this point in the journey, I can respect any teacher or school response to AI so long as it is thoughtful.

When I say thoughtful, I mean:

• Knowledgable about the state of the technology today, how it works, what it's capable of, what its drawbacks are
• Knowledgable about how learning (growth toward mastery) and motivation work
• Aware and serious about the unique position we have as educators to shape student long-term flourishing amidst these technological changes

That said, wherever you fall on the spectrum — zero-AI, mixed-AI, all-AI — I think your students will be better off for having you as a teacher in the years to come. It's about thoughtful engagement with not just the technology but also it's ramifications for learning, motivation, and long-term flourishing. The more people like this we can get in front of our students in the years to come, the better.

If you'd like, check out the recording for more.

Teaching right beside you,

DSJR