At a time where AI seems to be a roadblock to student thinking … what if it could actually SUPPORT student thinking instead?

In my new book, AI Literacy in Any Class, I share several strategies you can use to get students thinking (and KEEP them thinking). Bonus: They learn a little something about AI and how to handle their business with it along the way.

The best part? Lots of these activities are low-prep (or no-prep) and get students thinking — and learning a bit about AI literacy at the same time.

Check out AI Literacy in Any Class in paperback or Kindle ebook to learn more.

📚 New AI resources this week

1️⃣ Parents and Educators Warn NYC Students Could Be at Risk Under New AI Guidelines (via New York Post) — NYC’s new AI “stoplight system” is drawing backlash over student development, oversight, and ambiguity around acceptable classroom use.

2️⃣ Schools Are Urged to Embrace AI — and Ban Phones. Can They Resolve the Tension? (via Education Week) — A thoughtful look at the contradiction between encouraging AI use while simultaneously restricting student devices in schools.

3️⃣ Three Years Later: AI in Education Revisited (via Barefoot TEFL Teacher) — Reflects on how quickly AI adoption has accelerated in schools, noting that generative AI has shifted from experimentation to mainstream teacher workflow.

Last week’s poll: Which of the 4 C's can be augmented/enhanced best with AI?

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Communication (7)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Critical thinking (12)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Collaboration (4)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Creativity (8)

Communication: While I think that all of the 4 C's can be enhanced by AI, I feel there is a critical need to enhance communication with students and parents that AI could assist with so the communication is current and relevant to the student.

What’s a topic you’d like to see covered here? Hit REPLY to this email and let me know.

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🗳 Poll: Student AI literacy

Instructions:

📺 10 lessons on student AI literacy from Holly Clark’s webinar series

As educators, many of us are learning about the importance of being AI literate. What we understand about AI can impact the way we use it (and don’t use it) as well as how it informs its use in the classroom.

Of course, we aren’t the only ones who need AI literacy.

Our students need it, too … and desperately. Their world is increasingly filled with AI influence, and without some caution and understanding of their own, they could be exposed to impacts and dangers they don’t even know are there.

Some people think AI literacy is “doing homework with ChatGPT”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

AI literacy is about thinking — thinking about AI outputs, thinking about the influences on those outputs, thinking about how those AI outputs could influence others, etc.

When students strengthen their AI literacy, they strengthen their critical thinking, problem solving, discernment, judgment, and other crucial skills.

So, how do we do that? How does student AI literacy show up in a classroom … in a school … in a district?

Holly Clark, an author/speaker/AI edu strategist (and my co-host on the Digital Learning Podcast), recently facilitated a free five-part webinar series on this very topic.

You can watch the whole series here — or check out specific videos:

… and yes, on that last one, I was Holly’s guest!

In today’s email, I’ll run down some of the key moments from these webinars to get you thinking about the place of student AI literacy in schools.

I used some AI support to summarize the key points of these videos so you’d know where you can jump in and watch — and what we’re talking about (in case you don’t watch).

1. Embed AI literacy into the everyday. [13:00] We don't need a standalone "AI class" to prepare our students. Encourage teachers to use quick "by the way" moments—like pointing out AI hallucinations or weird image artifacts while teaching their normal content. It naturally weaves AI literacy into the school day without adding another massive thing to a teacher's already full plate.

2. Put human thinking first with "Be The Bot." [18:53] This is one of my absolute favorite zero-prep activities. Teachers ask a deep question, students brainstorm their answers first, and then the teacher runs the prompt through an AI chatbot on the big screen. Students instantly compare their human thinking to the machine's output. It sparks massive engagement and incredible critical thinking.

3. Adopt the ABC Rule: Always Be Critiquing. [28:58] If there’s one muscle we need to build in our students right now, it’s this one. Whenever AI generates something, we need to teach students to critique it from every angle. From its specific word choices to the massive societal implications of the technology, this shifts students from passive consumers to active, analytical evaluators.

4. Counterbalance the cheating conversation. [35:05] Right now, the AI narrative in many schools is dominated by fear and cheating. But if we don't actively show students the responsible and positive ways to use AI, the only narrative they’ll hear is from TikTok and their peers. Bringing responsible use into the light helps counterbalance the abuse and sets a much healthier culture.

5. Normalize AI as a professional thought partner. [38:26] We need to model what responsible AI use looks like in the real world. For example, I used AI to help write my recent book—but I didn't let it do the thinking for me. I used it to record my voice-dictated brain dumps and organize my thoughts. When admins and teachers model transparent use, it breaks down the stigma that "AI equals cheating."

Build an AI "Lesson Plan" Instead of an AI "Ban" [04:38] Many students are already using AI tools daily, yet they hide it from teachers because they fear punishment or assume educators don't understand the technology. We need to shift away from restrictive bans and unreliable AI detectors that create anxiety. The safest and most effective AI policy in the classroom isn't a ban—it's a structured lesson plan that teaches students how to critically evaluate, push back, and use AI as a thought partner rather than a shortcut.

Demand Triangulation to Develop Critical Thinking [12:47] The days of putting a simple prompt into ChatGPT and walking away with a finished lesson plan are over. We have to teach our staff (and by extension, our students) the power of triangulation. Don't just settle for the first output. Take the lesson plan you generated in ChatGPT and paste it into Claude, asking, "How can I make this better?" Then, take that output and ask Gemini, "What is this missing?" By cross-checking outputs across multiple AI models, we stop acting as passive consumers and start acting as critical directors of the technology.

Ditch the district-wide launch for a targeted pilot. [39:14] Going from zero to a massive, district-wide AI rollout is a recipe for overwhelmed teachers. Instead, start small and hyper-targeted. In Franklin Township, director of tech integration Nadine Gilkison started their AI journey by piloting chatbots specifically with the Special Education department. Why? Because those students genuinely needed instant, personalized support across multiple subjects when a teacher wasn't immediately available. By solving a real, immediate problem for a small group, they gathered incredibly powerful success stories directly from students. Once you have a few teachers actively winning with AI, that positive momentum makes the rest of the district rollout infinitely easier.

Decision makers, are you talking about your students or to them? [06:34] We often spend months in boardrooms drafting district AI policies, but we rarely ask the students—who are already using these tools every day—what they actually think. Alana, a Director of Technology, shares that the best hour an administrator can spend is simply having lunch with students to hear their unfiltered perspective on AI. Grounding your administrative decisions in actual student experience isn't just a feel-good move; it's a practical way to ensure your rollout meets their real-world needs.

The Shift from High-Stakes Homework to In-Class Interaction [00:22:15] For years, we've relied on high-stakes assignments done at home to prove student learning, but AI has essentially "broken" the traditional take-home essay. We need to help our teachers bring the "heavy lifting" of learning back into the classroom where they can see the thinking happen in real-time. Instead of a 2,000-word essay written in isolation, try encouraging staff to experiment with Socratic seminars, oral defenses, or collaborative mind-mapping sessions. This doesn't mean we stop writing; it means we stop grading the product of a student's late-night struggle with a screen and start valuing the process of their live interactions with their peers and mentors.