Addressing Gaps in Practice with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Unless you are living under a rock, AI is all the rage right now, and rightfully so.  It can revolutionize various practices by addressing gaps in efficiency, accuracy, and decision-making. By analyzing vast amounts of data, AI algorithms can uncover patterns and trends that human analysts may miss, leading to more informed and effective strategies. For instance, in healthcare, AI-powered tools can analyze patient data to predict disease outbreaks, optimize treatment plans, and streamline administrative tasks. In finance, AI can detect fraudulent activities, automate trading, and provide personalized financial advice.

Furthermore, AI can enhance human capabilities by automating repetitive tasks and augmenting decision-making processes. By freeing up time and resources, professionals can focus on more complex and creative tasks. For example, AI can assist lawyers in legal research, helping them identify relevant case law and regulations more efficiently. In the creative industries, AI can generate ideas, design products, and compose music, inspiring human creativity and innovation. As AI advances, its potential to address gaps in practice and improve various industries is immense.

So, what does this mean for educators? In coaching work with leaders, my Aspire Change EDU team and I facilitate numerous coaching cycles over the course of a year. During these visits, we collect a great deal of qualitative and quantitative evidence to analyze as part of the feedback process. We then use questioning techniques, research, and evidence to identify gaps in practice. There is typically consensus around the same practices that represent opportunities for growth, such as:

• Hooks at the beginning of the lesson
• Scaffolding questions to bump up thinking
• Relevance 
• Closure (exit tickets) at the end
• Developing common formative assessments (CFA’s) to obtain usable data to personalized and use in PLC’s
• Use of data in the classrooms to group, regroup, and differentiate as well as for interventions
• Data analysis for PLC’s
• Rubric development (especially when using an arbitrary scoring guide)
• Unpacking standards into learning targets

These are just a few areas where, once identified, AI can help to address the gap in practice with instant suggestions. During a recent coaching visit a modeled how this could be done.  After visiting high school classrooms most of the day, I then debriefed with the leadership team. Questions were used to calibrate and flesh out growth opportunities.  In this case, it was determined that even though teachers had time and were expected to be implementing common formative assessments (CFA,s), we didn’t see evidence to support that this was happening.  We also identified the need to utilize lesson hooks at the beginning of the class and find ways to make the standards relevant.  It was at this point that I modeled how AI could be used.

Below are the three prompts that I entered into Google Gemini. The beauty of this was that I could build on each previous response and didn’t have to re-enter the standard. 

Prompt 1: Create a 3-problem scaffolded formative assessment (easy, moderate, challenging) for this standard: A-SSE.1.a: Interpret parts of an expression, such as terms, factors, and coefficients.

Easy: Identify the coefficient in the following expression:

• 5x + 2

Moderate: Consider the expression: 3x^2 - 7x + 4

• How many terms are in the expression?
• Identify the coefficient of the x^2 term.

Challenging: Given the expression: 2πr(r + h)

• What does the "2πr" represent in terms of a cylinder?
• How many factors are in the expression?

Prompt 2: Create a hook based on this standard to begin the lesson

"Imagine you're a detective, and you're given a mysterious code. To crack the code, you need to understand its hidden parts. Today, we're going to be detectives of algebra, breaking down expressions to uncover their secrets. We'll learn how to identify the clues, or the parts of an expression, that will help us solve algebraic puzzles."

Prompt 3: How can a teacher make this standard relevant for students

Real-World Connections:

• Geometry: Relate coefficients to dimensions in formulas like the area of a rectangle (A = lw) or the volume of a rectangular prism (V = lwh).
• Physics: Discuss how coefficients represent physical quantities in equations like force (F = ma) or kinetic energy (KE = 0.5mv^2).
• Finance: Explain how coefficients influence financial calculations, such as interest rates in compound interest formulas or tax rates in income tax calculations.

Engaging Activities:

• Expression Match-Up: Create cards with expressions and their corresponding parts (terms, factors, coefficients). Students can match the cards to reinforce understanding.
• Real-World Expression Creation: Have students write expressions to represent real-world scenarios, such as calculating the cost of a phone plan with a base fee and per-minute charge.
• Expression Building Game: Use blocks or tiles to represent different parts of an expression. Students can build expressions and identify their components.
• Error Analysis: Present students with incorrect interpretations of expressions and have them identify and correct the mistakes.

As you can see, AI can be an invaluable tool for teachers, administrators, and coaches if and only if used after the gaps in practice have been identified. It is not a substitute for teaching and leading but an on-demand support that can help save time and maximize your impact.