As time progresses and artificial intelligence advances, students are not the only ones that are learning about AI and its many uses. At Grayslake Central High School, teachers are also being taught about how to utilize AI in the classroom and how to harness its full potential. On specific Wednesdays throughout the year, GCHS staff have educational meetings during the late start schedule while students sleep in. In more recent years, time has been carved out during these times to discuss AI and how to use it in a classroom setting. From writing emails to helping create study questions, AI can be a helpful tool for teachers. “By engaging with it, by using it, by understanding the ethical implications of it as well, we can help make students better critical thinkers,” said Grayslake Central instructional technology coach and English teacher Victoria Lobb.

“I’ve worked with multiple teachers on creating review bots, like a Gemini Gem, that has access to all of the skills you need to review, so it can just be quizzing you and quizzing you and quizzing you. I’ve been training teachers to help train students on how to use those kinds of things, not to replace critical thinking, but to reinforce certain skills and concepts, and then constantly connecting things in our brains too,” said Lobb.

While it is no secret that students may use AI from time to time in school, using AI to do schoolwork is typically considered “academic dishonesty,” and is treated akin to cheating on an assignment. However, some teachers think that as AI advances and becomes a larger part of our daily lives, students should be encouraged to use AI to help them in their work. “In Personal Finance, I encourage students to use AI to create resumes. […] It’s a tool that’s available, and I don’t want to hold students back from using that tool, except when it’s used inappropriately,” said personal finance teacher Tony Bussone. “In creating a resume, you have to give the AI the information. So I think it’s a valid and viable tool for creating resumes,” he said.

While students may be encouraged to experiment with AI materials to assist them in their work, it can be difficult to discern between when a student is using AI to help them and when a student is using AI to do their work for them. While a student using AI to check an essay for spelling mistakes is likely harmless, a student using AI to write the essay for them is another story. “I don’t want AI to do critical thinking for students,” said Bussone. “But when it’s used more as a tool, just like a carpenter would use a tool, I don’t want to ask my students not to use a very powerful tool.”

“I tend to use turnitin.com, and sometimes it’ll flag things as AI-generated, but I never assume it’s one hundred percent accurate. I always ask the student,” said government teacher Glen Roeck. “I’ll set up a meeting with the student, and then say, ‘Hey, turnitin.com flagged this as AI generated, can we talk about this?’ […] Sometimes it’s a false positive report, and other times students will just admit, ‘Hey, I was running out of time, or I did use AI, or I had some kind of misunderstanding.’ So depending on the circumstance, we may have a conversation about it,” Roeck said.

While AI can be very useful in many contexts, it is important to not only recognize its limits, but also acknowledge the continued necessity for one’s own effort. “There is a very human component to teaching, and I don’t think we are being encouraged to leave that very human part of teaching aside at all,” said Lobb. “I think AI is very much presented as an option, and we want to make sure that we have teachers who are up to date with where education and technology are at.”