Brisk Teaching and Gemini are two of her district’s most commonly used AI tools. Here’s how she helps teachers use them:
- The Chrome extension Brisk Teaching and Google’s AI feature Gemini can generate quick and accurate translations for students who may not be proficient in English. Not only are these translation tools helpful to teachers, but they also help newcomer students to feel welcomed and more engaged in the classroom, Bacon said.
- Brisk Teaching also allows teachers to input an article and receive a grade-level appropriate version of the same article in a Google Doc. It can also translate the article into different languages. According to Bacon, this allows teachers to be flexible and topical with lesson plans.
Bacon likes to remind other educators that, ultimately, they hold the expertise, not AI. AI is just another tool to help set up a framework for a lesson plan or activity, she said. It is the responsibility of the teacher to modify what AI has generated and to determine how to use that content in the classroom.
According to Bacon, the International Society for Technology Educators (ISTE) offers support like free monthly webinars for all teachers looking to learn more about edtech tools. The Connect app, a collaboration between ISTE and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), features forums by topic where teachers can communicate with each other.
‘Small but mighty’ ways to use your time effectively
The amount of choices teachers make about instruction in a single day can feel exhausting, especially for new teachers. Plotinsky suggests “embracing less to accomplish more” as a way to prevent decision fatigue. “If [teaching] is something you’re truly passionate about doing and you want to have longevity in the profession, it means making some choices about what you need to do versus what you want to do,” she said.
- Don’t overplan. While new teachers might want to feel prepared by mapping out lesson plans months in advance, Plotinsky said that doesn’t accommodate the moment-to-moment changes that are inevitable in a classroom. Instead, she recommended that new teachers have an overarching idea of lesson plans mapped out a few weeks in advance, and that new teachers are ready to adjust their plans along the way.
- Talk less. One of the most transformative lessons that Plotinsky learned as a new teacher was “learning when to be quiet,” she said. She encouraged teachers to think about ways and places they can condense their active teaching to allow students “to show us what they know and how they’re approaching content.” For example, by reevaluating what she was giving students during the first 20 to 40 minutes of class, Plotinsky recognized that some students knew more than others about a topic before beginning a lesson. Using activators to draw out the knowledge that students already hold on a subject can even the playing field. Students can also contribute to developing activator questions and activities, which can save time during lesson planning for teachers.
- Stack your habits. According to Plotinsky, habit stacking, the practice of “layering habits on top of one another, one at a time, to produce enduring results,” can help to increase brevity in the classroom. Plotinsky likes to use going to the gym for the first time as an example of habit stacking. First you have to drive to the gym, once you’ve parked, you’re more likely to go inside, and once you’re inside, you’re more likely to workout. Setting a goal to make a bigger change can’t be done all at once, “you have to break it into component parts,” she said. “For new teachers, it’s establishing routines and structures that are tenable for them, because if they don’t do that early and often, they are going to feel that sense of panic that just never stops.” Plotinsky recommended establishing designated methods for things like grading papers, and check-ins with students, as well as establishing designated time for yourself.
- Get student feedback. Teaching consists of a lot of guesswork and intuitive thinking, said Plotinsky. That’s why asking for and listening to student voices can and save a lot of time. Asking students open-ended questions or having them ask the teacher open ended questions about class or a specific lesson can be a good formative assessment. It doesn’t need to happen daily, but when teaching new lessons, it helps to understand what your students do and don’t know, Plotinsky said. She encouraged teachers to be explicit with students about what they are doing and learning and why. However, she warned against asking yes or no questions and about underdelivering on student feedback. “Don’t ask if you don’t want to know,” she said. Implementing student feedback “should be a very authentic process or kids will lose interest really quickly.”