🤖 Using AI to unlock cross-curricular learning

💻 NEW PD SERIES: Capture and hold student attention

You know what’s tougher than ever right now? Capturing — and holding — students’ attention.

The good news? We’re not helpless.

This fall, I’m teaming up with RocketPD for a brand-new five-session cohort called:

Tech Like a Pirate: How to Create a Buzzworthy Classroom That Captures Students’ Attention — and Holds It.

We’ll talk about attention, relevance, and motivation — and how to connect your instruction with the digital world your students actually live in.

This isn’t about gimmicks or tech for tech’s sake. It’s about using platforms, tools, and strategies with purpose.

📅 Starts November 5, 2025
💡 Five live virtual sessions + access to recordings
🎟️ Discounts available for teams of 5+

Hope you’ll join me — or pass this along to someone on your team who’s ready to rethink student engagement.

PS: Let me know if you’ve got questions — just hit reply and ask!

📚 New AI resources this week

1️⃣ One-Third of Teens Are as ‘Satisfied’ Talking to a Chatbot as a Real Person (via EdWeek): Students are testing the boundaries of AI acting as a human being.

2️⃣ How ChatGPT and other AI tools are changing the teaching profession (via Associated Press): By freeing up their time, many say the technology has made them better at their jobs.

3️⃣ The AI cheating panic is missing the point (via The Washington Post): Gen Z knows using a chatbot to write a whole essay is wrong. But what are they supposed to use it for?

📢 Your voice: AI for admin efficiency

Last week’s poll: How are you using AI for efficiency in your admin work?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Drafting emails (22)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Writing letters / newsletters (6)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Analyzing data (11)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Brainstorming ideas (16)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Other ... (8)

Other: While I started with more objective things like this, I have really, really enjoyed my Gem for Daily Self Reflection. It helps guide my thinking not only for the next morning, but also bigger picture items (and no, I am not perfect in finding time "Daily"). — John Moran

Other: I use AI for everything! Drafting emails, writing newsletters, brainstorming ideas for said newsletters, analyzing student AI usage data, and more. Our school has started implementing an AI literacy program, so I am really trying to be a model of how AI can simplify daily tasks for our teachers. — N. Berg

Brainstorming ideas: I sometimes get blank page syndrome and will use MagicSchool or ChatGPT to give me an outline or what it "thinks" I should talk about in the situation. Editing and adding (and reformatting) is much easier for me in some situations where a large scale of work is called for. — Lindsey Bolin

Drafting emails: I usually write the emails first and then use AI to enhance them with some criteria such, "make this more concise" or "make this more friendly". — E. Pierson

Drafting emails: There are many times when my brain knows what I want to say, but I can't put it into words. It also helps me turn what I know in technology terms into teacher terms. — Sam S.

What would you like to read in AI for Admins?

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

Have you done anything you’d like to share with the AI for Admins community? Hit REPLY and let me know.

Would you like to write a guest post to support and equip AI for Admins readers? Hit REPLY and let me know.

🗳 Poll: Making “cross-curricular” possible

Instructions:

1. Please vote on this week’s poll. It just takes a click!

2. Optional: Explain your vote / provide context / add details in a comment afterward.

3. Optional: Include your name in your comment so I can credit you if I use your response. (I’ll try to pull names from email addresses. If you don’t want me to do that, please say so.)

🔓 Unlocking cross-curricular learning (that felt impossible before)

“Let’s do a cross curricular unit!”

If you’re a teacher in the room with someone who says this, there are some distinct responses to this statement …

• If you’re the teacher hearing it: “That sounds like a lot of work. What would it even look like? I’m skeptical.”

• If you’re the teacher suggesting it: “I have an idea of what it would look like and I (emphasis on “I”) think it sounds like fun.”

• If you’re a principal suggesting it: “I like the idea of these teachers doing this. I’m not totally sure what it’ll look like, but if I push them to brainstorm on it, I’m sure it’ll work out just fine.”

I’m looking at all three of those bullet points and thinking … “This is on a crash course for something underwhelming.”

The idea of cross-curricular lessons, units, and projects has a ton of potential!

• It encourages transfer — a student’s ability to take new learning and apply it to new and novel situations.

• It opens up possibilities for lessons, units, and projects that would likely never happen inside an individual classroom by itself.

• It helps students to see how new skills, concepts, and content through a different perspective.

• It can be fun!

The problem: For this to really, really work, you need cooperating teachers who …

• both see the vision of how it could work …

• both think the benefits are worth the time and effort …

• and both are bought in to collaborating and pushing it over the finish line — together.

Two of the benefits of today’s AI large language models (LLMs) are their ability to brainstorm creatively AND to create a set of steps to reach an end goal.

Bottom line: This may be the innovation we’ve been waiting for to unlock these cross-curricular endeavors.

First: What’s this transfer thing? Why is it important?

Transfer of learning refers to students’ ability to apply what they've learned in one context to new, unfamiliar contexts. It’s a way for them to show deep, enduring understanding that’s hard to recreate in a one-off lesson in a single class.

In transfer of learning, students connect the core concepts of what they’re learning to other content areas AND beyond the classroom.

For example, investigating ecosystems in science might lead to:

• analyzing community systems in social studies

• using persuasive writing in English to advocate for environmental policies

• investigating how governments have created laws to protect ecosystems over time

Research shows that cross‑curricular learning increases the likelihood transfer (aka “learning that transfers”). It also gives students some agency and independence in their learning — and makes learning feel relevant to them.

More info about transfer:

• Transfer of learning (Wikipedia) (yes I linked to Wikipedia, don’t look at me like that 😉)

• The Research Underpinnings of Learning That Transfers (LTT)

• Promoting learning transfer in science through a complexity approach and computational modeling (Instructional Science) 

Step-by-step process for cross-curricular work

Let’s look at an example (middle school science) of how this might work …

Step 1: Start with standards or outcomes.

Cross-curricular projects often get stuck because teachers don’t know where to begin. Start with the learning goals. Then, AI can then suggest the tricky part — identifying where content in different subjects overlap.

In this example, we’re looking at an individual teacher (science) who is looking for a natural fit for a cross-curricular unit.

This might change a bit if you have pre-determined teachers or pre-determined subject areas. It already narrows the focus a bit.

• Prompt example: “Here are my grade 7 science standards for an ecosystems unit. Suggest meaningful ways these might connect to social studies, math, or English language arts.”

• What you’ll get: A list of potential bridges (e.g., ecosystems + data analysis in math, ecosystems + persuasive essays in ELA, ecosystems + human geography in social studies).

Step 2: Generate project ideas.

Once you have settled on where subject areas and classes overlap, ask AI for concrete project formats.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the benefits of today’s AI LLMs: they’re great at brainstorming long lists. A collaborative brainstorming session between colleagues with AI can generate some options that work for everyone.

One thing to consider: At some point, if the teachers can’t find common ground on a lesson, unit, or project, sometimes it’s not a bad idea to scrap the plan and try something cross-curricular another time. No need to force something that isn’t a good fit.

• Prompt example: “Suggest 5 project ideas that integrate [science unit on ecosystems] with [ELA persuasive writing standards]. Vary the project types (presentations, debates, multimedia, etc.).”

• What you’ll get: Projects like “design a persuasive campaign to protect an endangered species or debate the environmental impact of building a new highway through a forest.”

Step 3: Get structures and timelines.

Big ideas are great, but teachers need to know how it fits in class time. AI can break a project into manageable steps.

Sometimes, this is the hard part for teachers. (I know it has been for me!) A big idea can be exciting at first. But when it comes time to get started — or keep going! — it can feel overwhelming.

• Prompt example: “Take this project idea about endangered species and create a two-week plan with daily activities, checkpoints, and a final product.”

• What you’ll get: A draft timeline with suggested mini-lessons, work days, and checkpoints (e.g., research day, drafting day, peer review).

• Note: These are suggested timelines! Teachers can use these as much or as little as they’d like. Like anything AI generates, it’s a rough draft to use as you see fit.

Step 4: Anticipate transfer opportunities.

Here’s the key that we’re all reaching for: transfer of learning … learning that transfers. How does this leads to deeper learning? How can we see connections that we wouldn’t otherwise? If we’re going to do cross-curricular work, it’s most worthwhile when we see those unique perspectives.

• Prompt example: “Show me how this project will help students see connections between both curricular areas in new, interesting, creative, and meaningful contexts. Give me specific examples that might show up in this project.”

• What you’ll get: Clear connections like: students will practice persuasive writing in authentic advocacy campaigns, similar to how nonprofits communicate to the public.

Step 5: Build supports and scaffolds.

Now that we have supported the teachers, let’s support the students. In many schools, this isn’t the kind of work that they’re used to seeing. These big interdisciplinary projects will have some unique challenges — and we know that self efficacy (the student’s “I can do this!” belief) is important. AI can help teachers see how they can build in support to make the project feel doable to students.

• Prompt example: “Create a rubric for this project with categories for content, collaboration, creativity, and communication. Provide tiered supports for students who need extra help with research or writing.”

• What you’ll get: Draft rubrics, differentiated scaffolds (sentence starters, research templates, etc.), and even parent communication letters.

Step 6: Refine and adapt.

This is where the human teacher (or teaching team) is super important. Humans still have the final word! AI gives you a rough sketch. But the human teacher brings the context, the creativity, the professional judgment — and the face-to-face experience with that particular class of students.

• Pro tip: Teachers can co-edit an AI draft together. Prompt together. Gather ideas together. Organize them together. This way, it doesn’t feel like student group projects can feel — one or two students do all the work (and the others don’t feel ownership).

Another example of AI unlocking solid learning

This isn’t an AI cheerleader post. (Hopefully you weren’t feeling it that way as you were reading it.)

Instead, it’s just another example of how it can help fill in the gaps — and create stepping stones — to help teachers do important work … work that they might not have felt able to do … work they might have felt unqualified to do …

… but really important, potentially game-changing work nonetheless.