OP-ED: I’m retiring from teaching, but not before I learn how to use AI

My teaching career has spanned seven grade levels, three decades, and two continents. I’ve taught through the passage of No Child Left Behind, the shift to the Common Core, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, I am ready for retirement. 

But first, I have one more thing to check off my teaching bucket list. I want to master the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in my classroom. 

I watched from my Bronx classroom as New York City Public Schools banned ChatGPT, the most popularly known form of AI, then rescinded the decision four months later, before finally launching its Artificial Intelligence Policy Lab in October 2023, just 10 months after prohibiting the technology. 

Despite the chaos of what the district itself called a “knee-jerk” reaction, I think the chancellor and I are on the same page about AI: Regardless of our hesitance about its use in the classroom, the technology isn’t going anywhere. It’s time to dedicate capacity to harnessing its potential in a responsible and effective way, rather than to building barriers to its misuse.

Voices from the Classroom 2024, a nationally representative survey of 1,000 teachers, plus an additional oversample of 300 teachers of color, tells us that educators across the country feel similarly: 82% of teachers believe AI could help support their instruction and capacity and 14% of teachers — and 51% of teachers of color — would go as far as to say it has the potential to transform teaching and learning. But nearly half of teachers who say it could support their capacity simultaneously report concerns about its use, and almost two-thirds of all teachers say they need more training in how to leverage the technology in the classroom. 

This tells us that most teachers live in a place no one seems to want to talk about: the middle. Teachers know AI has a place in the K–12 classroom, but they simultaneously harbor worries about it being abused. They want to see it implemented, but not in a haphazard way. A student’s likelihood of being taught by a teacher taking advantage of the technology should not be random. 

I share these concerns. I worry that students who are not native speakers of English or students with significant reading challenges will become dependent on the technology and never achieve deep comprehension of the English language. I worry that some teachers will rely too heavily on its ability to plan their lessons and, in the process, lose the unique spirit that makes them passionate educators. I worry it will be used to further sequester students from underserved backgrounds — either by denying them access or overusing it in their education. I worry it will be implemented without close attention paid to the tenets that make its use effective, and those that don’t. I worry that New York City Public Schools will spend millions on it and then move onto the next fad before fully implementing AI. 

But here is the reality: These worries will manifest whether we ignore AI’s capabilities and allow it to be applied randomly and without training, or we harness its potential to transform the way teachers teach and students learn. These worries will not dissipate if we ignore AI, because students — and teachers — will reach for it either way. 

If we’re going to do it, let’s do it right. Let’s establish protocols for AI’s use based on the emerging evidence on what works. Let’s embed it into curricular materials and professional learning and teacher preparation programs. Let’s do this intentionally, in a way that eases teachers’ very valid concerns. And let’s not just use already developed AI tools like ChatGPT in the classroom: Let’s create new tools that address the multitude of challenges that educators have faced for decades. 

I’ve been to more than 20 training sessions about the use of AI — all of which, it’s worth noting, I opted to join, rather than being required. I joke with my colleagues that it’s because I’m nosy — I don’t want to be left behind, even in my final years of teaching. But really, I think I don’t want to leave to chance the possibility that my students will benefit from every tool at a teacher’s disposal. It shouldn’t be accidental that my eighth graders were assigned to my class in the final year before my retirement, and so missed out on the opportunity to benefit from the newest our ever-evolving world has to offer. I will not let that happen. 

Maybe June 2025 will mark my — I’m not afraid to say it — well-deserved retirement. I’m more sure, though, that it will mark my mastery of artificial intelligence as a tool to transform teaching and learning. My students deserve nothing less.

Valerie Green-Thomas is an instructional coach and peer collaborative teacher leader in the South Bronx, with more than 39 years of teaching experience.