Teachers as instructional decision makers in our AI world

The onslaught of AI into middle school classrooms causes concerns for middle-level educators who focus on student relationships and developing YAs as thinkers and decision-makers. Participants will be challenged to identify AI as compared to human made products leading to discussion about differences, similarities, and the potential loss of thinking and originality on the part of students and teachers as they are expected to quickly embrace this new product. They will collaboratively rethink and examine how AI can be used effectively and productively, rejecting viewing teachers as consumers who simply import and use AI. Participants will reimagine what AI means in developing higher-level thinking of students and re-design frameworks, such as Bloom’s taxonomy, in light of this new world. The human uniqueness that teachers bring to the enterprise of learning and how to assure that teachers are not replaced with AI the future will also be discussed