Tupper Lake CSD

5 ways to boost AI literacy right now by Matt Miller

Whether you get our Teacher AI Literacy Level 1 Certification or not, here are some steps you can take right now to boost your own AI literacy so you can support your students.

1. Use “by the way” lessons.

I did this in my own high school classroom. I would be teaching a normal lesson when I would see an opening for a quick conversation about AI.

I would say, “Oh, by the way, did you know …” and jump into a quick nugget of wisdom about how AI works or something important they needed to know.

Example: “Here’s an image I generated with AI. Oh, by the way, did you know that it can be hard to identify AI-generated images — but if you look closely, sometimes you can find little oddities that help you know what’s real and what’s not?”

I would call these “by the way” lessons.

I didn’t write them into my lesson plans. They would take 30 seconds, a minute, maybe two minutes.

But they’re powerful. If you’re aware of AI basics and can spot a place to insert a quick conversations, those conversations add up.

And over time, they give your students a pretty practical education on how real people are using AI in real ways.

2. Educate yourself on AI basics.

Artificial intelligence can feel like science fiction — like unexplainable magic that’s only endowed to the few.

Here’s the secret …

The more that you understand it, the less it feels like unexplainable magic.

Learning just a little bit at a time eventually adds up.

Here are some resources to get you started from Code.org …

• How Chatbots and Large Language Models Work by Code.org

• Demystifying AI for Educators by Code.org

• Really, this whole AI 101 for Teachers series by Code.org is good

3. Simply use (or at least try) AI tools yourself.

If you’re like me and you know that students will have great advantages by understanding AI in the future, here’s one of the easiest and most powerful things you can do.

Use AI tools. Or at least try them.

I’m not saying depend on them. You don’t even have to like them.

But if you try them out — see how they work — then you’re better positioned to help students.

You can tell them what you liked (and didn’t) from the experience …

… because you actually have some experience.

4. Explore educational AI tools to see if they fit.

AI is a booming business in the education / edtech world right now.

It doesn’t mean that every AI tools is helpful or useful for students and teachers.

But some of them are pretty good — when used in a place that makes sense in a lesson.

And some of them are actually helpful for teachers — saving us time for what matters most.

Here’s our list of 40 AI tools for the classroom. If you haven’t already, check some of them out.

5. Talk about the balance between AI and human.

You don’t have to fully understand AI to talk about getting the balance right.

Honestly, the human/AI balancing act will be one that your students will struggle with their entire lives.

A good place to start is simply to ask them …

When should you use AI in your work? When shouldn’t you?

(… or if you don’t want to get into AI yet … When should/shouldn’t you use technology in your work?)

I created this infographic about the different ways AI could support writing an essay as a starting point for conversations about AI overreach — and how to get the balance right.

You can get a downloadable PDF of it here.