AI in Action for Educators

Welcome

Welcome to Lesson 9: Best Practices for Using AI in Lesson Planning.
Today we’re going to look at how AI can support your teaching while keeping your work safe, accurate, and ethical. Think of this lesson as your quick guide to using AI as an effective classroom tool.

Why Best Practices Matter

Using AI effectively is more than just asking for help. It’s about making sure what you get back is accurate, age-appropriate, aligned to your curriculum, and safe for your students.
When you follow best practices, AI becomes a real co-pilot — helping you save time and spark ideas — instead of adding confusion or risk.

Review & Refine

Let’s start with something essential: always review AI-generated content.
Check for accuracy, check for bias, and check that the language and examples are right for your students.
And remember — AI is a tool. It provides suggestions, not the final product. Your professional judgment is always the deciding factor for what goes into your classroom.

Customize the Output

Any AI output should be treated as a starting point. Personalize it. Adjust it to your teaching style, your grade level, and the needs of your learners.
Maybe you tweak a lesson to make it more hands-on, or more visual, or more accessible for struggling readers — or more challenging for advanced learners.
You’re the expert. AI just helps you get to the first draft faster.

Use AI as a Co-Pilot

Think of AI as your planning co-pilot. It can help you brainstorm, organize, summarize, or generate options, but it doesn’t replace your judgment and it doesn’t make instructional decisions.
AI handles the repetitive work so you can focus on what really matters — building relationships, giving feedback, and teaching.

Protect Student Privacy

Always, always protect student information.
Don’t input names, emails, grades, or IEP or medical details — ever.
Follow your district’s privacy policies, and treat AI like a planning tool, not a student-record system.
If it’s personally identifiable, it shouldn’t go into ChatGPT.

Maintain Ethical Use

Model responsible use for your students. Communicate with them about when and how you use AI. Encourage them to think critically about the content AI generates — what’s accurate, what needs checking, and what doesn’t sound quite right.
Your modeling is what builds their digital literacy.

ChatGPT Privacy for Educators

Teachers often ask about privacy, so let’s clarify a few things.
Anything you type into ChatGPT is private to your account. Other users cannot see your prompts or your conversations.
ChatGPT also does not automatically remember staff, student, or school information. It only remembers what you intentionally save to memory.
And nothing you write is publicly searchable or published.
Still — that doesn’t make it foolproof. Avoid entering personally identifiable information. Treat AI like a co-planning tool, not a student-data system.

On the next part of this slide:
ChatGPT stores only what you ask it to remember.
ChatGPT does not store outside records, district data, or student information unless you type it in.

And what can other users see?
They can see only what you choose to share — like shared links or collaborative spaces.
They cannot see your private chats or your saved memory.
Your account is private unless you make it public.

FERPA-Safe Practices

Next, let’s talk FERPA.
Always review AI output before sharing anything. Remove or pseudonymize sensitive details.
Use sample data or general language for demonstrations — AI can help you with planning without ever naming a student.”

(transition)
“On the next slide you’ll see examples of FERPA-safe and FERPA-risky inputs.
The rule of thumb is simple: describe the student — don’t identify the student.

Think Before You Type Checklist

Here’s a quick mental checklist:
Ask yourself, ‘Does this contain student identifiers?
If yes — remove them or replace them with general descriptors.
Check your school or district’s privacy policies.
And keep your prompts general, age-appropriate, and focused on instructional planning.

Quick Prompt Starters

Here are a few safe and effective prompt starters:
Differentiate this for a student who…
Create a choice board option for…
Add real-world connections through…
Turn this into a group project with roles…

These prompts help you get useful ideas while staying within privacy guidelines.

Teacher Challenge

Here’s your challenge for today:
Bring a past lesson you’ve taught and ask AI, ‘Make this more engaging for my students.’
Choose one idea that you could implement tomorrow. Start small — just test one improvement — and see how it supports your planning.

Closing

AI doesn’t replace your teaching — it elevates your planning time.
It helps you spend more energy on what matters most: your students’ learning and growth.
Thanks for joining me in Lesson 9.

Our next lesson will give you some guidelines for talking with students of all ages about artificial intelligence. Until then - have a great week!