In the past few years, there has been a significant rise in the use of AI both online and within the classroom space. Today, teachers have a variety of online tools at their fingertips that they can utilize to assist in a multitude of tasks. There is one specific ai tool that I have briefly come across called “MagicSchool.ai” that can assist teachers with “60+AI tools to help educators with lesson planning, differentiation, assessment, communication, and more.” according to their website. MagicSchool.ai is in the business of assisting teachers with reducing their heavy workload and freeing up time to work with both students and families.

Unfortunately, going through all 60+ tools that this program provides is not an option, but I will highlight some of the tools that I find helpful as a full-time classroom teacher.

1. Report Card Comment Generator – Writing report card comments is one of the most tedious and time-consuming jobs that I have done as a teacher. I used this tool when writing report card comments for the first time in my career. I did not fully rely on the generator to create a comment to add to my student’s report card, but I found it great because it gave me ideas and pointed me in the direction I needed to go. I did not want to use the generator fully, as I believe it is my duty as an educator to provide personalized comments to my students and their families about how they are doing in school.
2. Lesson Plan Generator – The lesson plan generator is another tool that I have used similar to the report card comment generator. When I have a curricular outcome I need to meet and am out of ideas for an engaging lesson plan I will plug all my information into this generator and it will spit out an option for me to use. I don’t always use what the generator creates, but it is a great first step when like me, sometimes you hit a block and are just out of ideas! The 5 E Model Lesson Plan Generator is also a great option when creating science lessons!
3. Clear Directions Generator – In grade 1 you must provide your students with the most simple and explicit instructions as you can. This tool is great for simplifying your directions, or even plugging your directions into the generator just to see if you have simplified them enough!

Not only does MagicSchool.ai have tools for everyday use, it also has options such as a text leveller, text translator, a UDL choice board generator, etc. which makes this online program a great option for personalizing content in the classroom but also differentiating the content that you are teaching your students as every student is at a different level and learns differently than one another. This program takes the guesswork out of finding tools to support students who need more academic support as well as our EAL learners who need additional support.

Though this program does provide quite a variety of tools for educators, I think that ai still needs to be used in moderation and for specific tasks only. There is ultimately an ethical challenge here if teachers were using ai to perform their job duties and expectations entirely. Technically, it is up to the educator to determine where their boundaries lie and when it is appropriate to use ai to support them with their job. My perspective is that ai is a great tool, and one that I think teachers can use to assist them in curating lessons, assessment materials, or even ideas. However, I believe there to be a sanctity of putting thought and care into creating lessons and experiences for my students that ai may take away from if it is used in excess. All online ai tools need to be used appropriately, responsibly, and most importantly, with moderation on behalf of the teacher.