Artificial intelligence is here. Nearly 90 percent of American teenagers use AI tools for schoolwork, and a growing number of teachers use AI for lesson prep.
In the Miami Unified School District, it’s 67 percent, according to Superintendent Dr. Richard Ramos.
“If we want our kids to do well in the future, they have to know the tools that will get them there,” he said to the government officials, business owners, educators, law enforcement, administrators and social workers that attended the Business Partner Cafe at Miami Jr. Sr. High on Dec. 1.
By 2030, 92 million jobs will be lost, but 170 million new jobs will be created. More importantly, over a billion jobs will require new skill sets.
Ramos kicked off a community-wide discussion about AI in the educational sphere with optimism and urgency.
“If students know how to work with AI fluently and effectively, they will be better prepared,” he said, calling it a “societal imperative” that schools learn how to use AI technology as a tool in teaching, learning and administration.
Students spoke. They saw the potential for AI to be a great equalizer in access to education. They spoke to the benefits of personalized learning, based on interests and aptitudes, and the ability to rewrite content at an individual’s proficiency level.
“Everyone learns differently,” said sophomore spokesperson Andrew Brown.“AI is like having 100 teachers for each student.”
Concerns were brought up as well, including misformation, the need to be careful, energy and water costs, and the loss of original thought.
The meeting barely scratched the surface of its ambitious agenda, but the key messages about AI readiness and the need for partnerships came through.
“The time has come for all the divisions to come down and for us to work together and do what is best for the children of our community,” Ramos said. “If the schools are performing, so is our town.”
Rural Schools in Position to Lead
“Rural schools have incredible strengths and assets that position them to be leaders with AI,” says LeeAnn Lindsey, Ed.D, Director of Ed Tech & Innovation at NAU's Arizona Institute for Education and the Economy.
Rural educators adapt technology creatively, solve problems with limited resources, and build on relationships. Smaller districts have more agility and can make changes faster than larger districts with more decision-makers.
ChatGPT launched in November, 2022 and overwhelmed the education sector. While students and teachers are adopting the technology, school districts are behind in developing policy and professional training for AI use.
Rural AI Schools of Excellence (RAISE), a pilot program offered by Leading Educators, aiEDU, Collegiate Edu-Nation, and Arizona Institute for Education and the Economy AIEE, aims to help administrators and teachers catapult rural schools to the cutting edge of AI literacy.
To that end, educators from Miami, Holbrook, Wickenburg and rural Texas convened at the Helios Education Campus in Phoenix for the RAISE.
6th Grade Teacher with Initiative
Jennifer Montoya teaches sixth grade across all curricula, and “absolutely” uses AI for lesson planning, citing the 19-part matrix she is required to produce.
“They’re your ideas,” she says. “AI is putting them in a format.”
Ms. Montoya was one of five Miami educators, including Ramos, who participated in the RAISE conference, where they learned how to use AI as an administrative and instructional tool, and focused as a team on AI policy issues.
Ms. Montoya took the training a step further and began to teach her class how to use AI effectively.
“It’s a skill they have to know,” she says. “We’re going to learn together.”
The assignment was a five-paragraph expository essay. At the start of the school year, a lot of students couldn’t write a paragraph. Montoya instructed them step-by-step.
Students used AI to generate a list of sources and assess their credibility. They learned how to ask AI the right questions and narrow searches. They got examples of outlines and introductory paragraphs. Montoya taught them to use their own words. If they copy directly, quote the source.
“Even though it's not perfect, and there is still work, we had 100 percent participation in this assignment,” Montoya said.
Her students also showed substantial improvement on the standardized writing test. At her request, they spoke about AI at the Business Partner Cafe.
“I feel more competent to do my work. It helped me by giving me more words,” said Ashley. “You don’t have to be scared to use it.”
“It kept me more organized with my work and gave me more resources,” added classmate Mason. “It was fun because I was learning something new.”
Next up for Montoya’s sixth grade class?
Accidental Inventions — a cross-curricular project that challenges students to imagine an invention, write a claim, defend it, present it Shark Tank style, create a 3-D model, and determine the material requirements to make it.
“This is just the beginning,” Ms. Montoya said, sharing insights from the conference. “It’s going to be messy. We can’t be afraid of it being messy.”
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