Carey Schools learning to teach with AI

CAREY — With artificial intelligence rapidly evolving, schools across the country are navigating how to use the technology in the classroom. Carey Exempted Village Schools is one of many Ohio school districts taking a proactive approach to understanding and implementing the technology — not to replace traditional teaching, but to enhance it. On Thursday morning, Carey teachers and staff gathered in the gymnasium to hear from Eric Curts, technology integrationist specialist at Stark Portage Area Computer Consortium. Leading a hands-on discussion, Curts demonstrated how many AI tools, ranging from language processing platforms to creative learning resources, can be meaningfully integrated into daily instruction. The district's push to implement AI is spearheaded by Principal Peter Cole and Director of Technology Brooks Spiess, who view the technology as a valuable tool for students and staff rather than a shortcut. "Our students are going to have AI in their jobs, whether it's embedded AI or they're using AI to do their tasks, it's here," Cole said. "As an educational institution, it's our job to at least give kids exposure to AI, teach them how to properly use it, and leverage its power so that they're more prepared for the real world outside these school doors." Rather than diving headfirst into endless AI apps and platforms, Cole and Spiess believe to successfully integrate the technology, you need to start with the educators. "If you're hesitant, go slow," Cole said. "Start with a few tools and let the teachers use them first. Then open it up to the kids." Spiess agreed that empowering learners starts with teachers. "Why wouldn't you give teachers access to this?" Spiess said. "They're professionals and they've been doing this for many years. At the very least, open up AI to the teachers and let them run with it. They will be able to give quality feedback on how it could be implemented or not implemented in their rooms." During Curts' presentation, teachers experimented with different prompts and ways to create various lesson plans. One demonstration highlighted Google Gemini's Gems, an AI feature allowing teachers to save prompts to be used at any time. One teacher discovered she could use it to let students ask questions to an AI version of Jean Louise "Scout" Finch from Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," allowing students to explore the perspectives of different characters through interpersonal conversation. While AI can offer a variety of new possibilities, both administrators acknowledged that introducing the technology comes with risks, especially when it relates to developing critical thinking skills, creativity and foundational knowledge. Spiess compared AI to a calculator — a useful and powerful tool, but only when used at the right learning stage. "You wouldn't give a first or second grader a calculator to solve simple math problems," Spiess said. "You introduce a calculator in fifth, sixth, or seventh grade, to help them solve more complex problems that they already know how to do, but you want to make the process faster. The same is true with AI; it's like the universal calculator. We need to make sure that when we give students access to it, they already know the material, we're just making it faster and more efficient." Teachers also face challenges when it comes to differentiating authentic work from AI-generated content. While platforms and software tools are designed to help detect AI, both Cole and Spiess believe strong teaching and student relationships are the best safeguards. "We've seen kids use AI for their homework and then struggle to get through a test because they haven't learned anything," Cole said. "The best teachers know their students' voices. If it doesn't seem like they wrote it, a lot of them will ask three or four pointed questions to the student to double check whether they can actually answer those questions and if they did the work themselves." Cole said once the final bell rings each day, nothing stops a child from using AI at home. "We have to accept the fact that we can't prevent them from accessing it at home on their own devices," he said. "We have to honor the fact that it's possible at all times and we may have to change how we do assessments and homework." To combat this issue, many educators are shifting the way they teach to a more classroom-based learning model. "A struggle for teachers is how to flip their classroom structures, where they're doing a lot more work in the classroom rather than lecturing and sending homework home," Cole said. Despite all the buzz surrounding AI, Cole and Spiess agree that at the center of education is human interaction. "There's beauty in the imperfection of a human," Cole said. "I think that's where we have to take a step back with AI, it cannot replace body language or how we make connections with one another. A computer can't do that." When it comes to the future of AI, Cole and Spiess agree the technology is changing too fast to make any assumptions. However, they hope to develop a clear framework on how to navigate its use in classrooms. "I have confidence that AI will never replace the teacher," Cole said. "I think the human element of having a mentor and someone who can have those human interactions with you is really important in the whole process of learning."