From Resistance to Renaissance: Reframing AI in Professional Development Sessions for Secondary English Language Arts Classrooms

Hi Folks,

Last summer, I was asked to lead an all-day professional learning session at Central Intermediate Unit 10 in State College, PA. I presented that day to a group of superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of curriculum, and building leaders on artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Claude. 

My session’s goal was straightforward: give attendees the necessary knowledge and understanding to craft AI use policies for their school districts, buildings, departments, and classrooms. As the topic itself—educational AI academic policies—is brand new, the day included many great questions and even better conversations.

All in all, it was a busy, productive, thought-provoking day. I love to present at IUs in general, and that day was no exception.

Earlier this month, I was asked to lead another professional development session at an Intermediate Unit. This time, it was for classroom educators: middle and high school ELA teachers at Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21. My session was designed to help these educators to shift their takes on AI from “obstacle” to “opportunity.”

… Of course, that’s what most AI + pedagogy sessions are about these days, aren’t they?

You know how it goes: some consultant comes in and tells you to drink the Kool-Aid, to use this platform, to leverage that tool, to like and subscribe, blah blah blah…

My approach is different. I begin with validation.

As a longtime AP Language & Composition teacher, school district administrator, published education researcher on the topic of AI, I begin by validating educators’ resistance to AI-inclusive classrooms. 

More often than not, teachers’ skepticism is well-founded. It’s also rooted in both empirical and theoretical understanding; it’s a wariness derived from valid concerns about academic integrity, the seismically shifting nature of student learning, and a quaking foundation underneath the very purpose of what we center within the instructional process. Further: all of that skepticism is to say nothing of the decades of professional development sessions falsely promising classroom teachers that adding [insert: edtech tool du jour] will “revolutionize” teaching. Yet, here we are: assigning essays on The American Dream and The Great Gatsby, dissecting Atticus’s closing remarks during the Tom Robinson trial, linking the Salem Witch Trials to McCarthyism, and more.

At the same time, uncritically validating the entirety of either school district administrators’ and teachers’ resistance to AI risks missing the crucial point: 

AI isn't just another tool to restrict. AI requires a fundamental shift in how knowledge is accessed, applied, evaluated, oriented, and assessed in the modern classroom.

Ever-time-constrained educators reading this post might worry that a “fundamental shift” sounds awfully laborious and clunky.

Well, let me put that to rest. During my most session for CLIU21, I emphasized several clear, easy-to-implement principles for teaching in the AI era:

1. Raise the Bar: Now that students have powerful tools at their disposal, we should challenge them to build more sophisticated products. The goal is not “to prevent AI use,” but “to elevate what students can accomplish with it.”

2. Expand Traditional Parameters: Instead of focusing solely on “accuracy” or “adherence to instructions,” as measures of excellence, we need to evaluate students' ingenuity, efficiency, and creativity in solving problems.

3. Be Explicit and Honest: Teachers should clearly communicate which technologies are permitted for specific tasks and be realistic about time expectations. This transparency builds trust and helps students develop better judgment about when and how to use AI tools. Without candor here, we risk turning school into a disingenuous academic pantomime.

4. Real World Connections Are Not a “Bonus” Anymore: Every assignment—yes, EVERY assignment—should have a clear answer to "why are we doing this?" The answer should increasingly reflect the AI-integrated world our students will enter after graduation. We cannot prepare students to enter the world that we inhabited. We must educate students to enter the world that awaits them.

   
   

To turn these concepts into action, I made sure that teachers could take back real, applicable understandings and tools right back to their classrooms for tomorrow’s lessons.

This brings me to the next way that I differentiate myself from other AI/Education presenters:

I make sure to both cover and distinguish the big picture, conceptual changes that take time to implement from ready-to-go, executable strategies that will work right now. 

After all, even teachers cannot reinvent themselves overnight. 

Some changes take time, and that’s both normal and okay. 

Want to book me for an in-person or Zoom PD session? Contact me here.

- Dr. Cristofer Slotoroff

February 24th, 2025