Imagine, for a moment, you are a student.

You just got home after a full-day at school. You took the bus to an away game, played and watched another game, took the bus back. Your parent is out, so you are helping younger siblings get dinner and ready for bed.

It’s late, you are tired, and remember all the homework you still have to do.

Your phone is dinging with messages and Snapchat notifications.

Your friend reminds you that you don’t really need to do all 30 math questions for homework, you can just pop open Photomath and jot down the work and answers.

What do you do?

Ultimately, we want kids to learn by acquiring foundational knowledge and developing key skills that will help them in the present and the future as they grow older. The knowledge and skills they develop in K-12, Vocational, and Higher Ed situations should lead to transfer in both work and life.

There seems to be a lot of arguing in the K-12 space about the best ways to build this foundational knowledge and skill set.

Some may be upset by the back-and-forth, but it shows me that folks care. They want what is best for kids, and believe strongly in their practices, strategies, and methods.

If you are like me (and most of the teachers and schools I’ve been working with all summer long around Artificial Intelligence), you probably fall somewhere in between.

You realize:

a) This is the world we live in and AI is not going away.

b) There are going to be times when your students should use this technology for learning purposes.

c) There are going to be times when your students should NOT use this technology for learning purposes.

How do we navigate this reality?

In my last article I shared 10 different AI-resistant practices you can use in the classroom. But, only focusing on AI-resistant activities, leaves many learning experiences out of the classroom.

There are plenty of times we’ll want students to be using AI at some part of the assignment or task. See my previous post about The Traffic Light Strategy for some examples.

We need activities and learning experiences that are compatible with an AI world, and make sense now that students, and adults, have access to these AI tools.

I want to dive a bit deeper into what it looks like to have A.I.-Resistant activities and assessments (and why).

This post will share 10 practices that support A.I.-Resistant learning, and in my follow up article later this week, I’ll be sharing 10 practices that support A.I.-Compatible learning.

Both are needed in our world, so let’s dig in!

When John Spencer and I wrote Empower, one core idea was at the heart of the book.

Our job is not to prepare kids for "something". Our job is to help students prepare themselves for "anything".

We believe every child deserves to own their learning (as do adults). Educators can empower student ownership of life-long learning.

This is the reason we educate students. It is for their benefit.

When I see folks fighting online about what is the “best” way to teach students, I see a lot of adults who care about our kids and their education.

Sure, there are a variety of opinions, supporting research, and debates that may take place — but ultimately, through it all, there is the hope that we can do better for our kids, and help them be successful in and out of school.

That hope gets me excited and fired up about the future of learning.

But, it does not make it any easier.

Chances are — if you are like many of the schools, districts, and organizations I’m working with around the country — you are planning an end-of-the-year workshop that includes Artificial Intelligence as a topic.

This is no longer “new” to anyone because we all know it exists (in and outside education). It is, however, “new” to all of us as an emerging technology that can be used in positive, and negative ways.

End of the year PD is an opportunity to reflect, share, and hopefully get excited for what’s coming next year. Too often, it is none of those things, and more often then not it is not engaging or at least fun!

If you are doing this work, I’ve got five structures for you below that bring the energy, fun and hopefully a ton of learning and excitement. Check them out below!

You’ve probably heard someone say, “Everything needs to change in education! Overhaul the entire system!”

Maybe you’ve heard that sentiment from many people over the years. I know I have. It irks me for many reasons, but maybe the biggest reason is: As a teacher, or school leader, I never had any ability to “overhaul” the system even if I wanted to.

I could make changes, and innovate inside the box. But, changing everything was never an option.

An overwhelming majority of the teachers I’ve worked with want to do what is best for kids. Schools, as institutions are set up with the mission to help students learn, grow, and be prepared for life as an adults. Parents, too, want what is best for their kids.

If there were a big Venn Diagram, the middle would be: We want what is best for kids.

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak at the Learning and the Brain Conference in NY. I’ve been at multiple LATB conferences and they always bring a great and diverse group of educators together from K-12, Higher-Ed, and other institutions.

The hot topic this year was (you guessed it) Artificial Intelligence. In one of my presentations, I brought up a topic of learning in a post-AI world.

When we think about the future of learning we have to include artificial intelligence, in the same way we have to include the internet, computers, etc.

There are two paths that a lot of people are talking about, and we discussed them in depth during my session.

One is going AI-resistant. And the other is AI-compatible.

First, let me say that apathy is a big problem. It is something I'm seeing while working in classrooms with students, something that teachers I'm working with are talking about, and even though apathy has always been an issue...it feels like it may be different right now.

If you are working in schools or at the university level, you’ve been no doubt dealing with it as well. There are countless studies, articles, and editorials on the issues of apathy but not many solutions are in place.

In this article, I go deep into some of the reasons for the rise in apathy, and how we can combat it in the classroom.

In a recent workshop I was leading, a teacher asked a simple but important question: “What should I do if I want to help my students use and navigate ChatGPT, but I can’t because of the age restrictions?”

My answer: “There are way better (and safer) ways to get your started with artificial intelligence then ChatGPT.”

Even if your students are older then 13, there are a few other tools I like to get started with before jumping in to ChatGPT.

For teachers, same thing applies. ChatGPT (especially Plus) is extremely powerful and helpful for many aspects of teaching, creating, etc. Yet, there are a few other tools I would use first, as an easy way to use these tools with purpose.

While the disruptions to the status quo may be what many are talking about in reference to A.I. in education, my biggest hope as a parent and leader is that we can thrive in a world filled with artificial intelligence.

This technology will not only be a part of our experience as learners, it will be a driving force in our lives just as the internet, computers, and television were as they burst onto the scene in their “hinge of history” moment.

As we wrote in Empower, “Our job is not to prepare kids for something, it is to help kids learn to prepare themselves for anything.”

Here are five steps to make this happen in a world of artificial intelligence.