January 27, 2025 • 45 mins
Practical Insights on AI, Equity, and Education with Stacy Kratochvil
In this episode of My EdTech Life, I sit down with Stacy Kratochvil to share actionable insights into using AI in education. Stacy discusses her journey from teaching PE and dance to becoming a leader in AI education and how her work is making a direct impact in classrooms.
You’ll learn about Stacy’s professional growth through the Krause Center for Innovation and her experience launching an AI fellowship program to help educators like you develop a balanced, ethical approach to AI. We focus on practical ways you can embed AI into your teaching while addressing key challenges like bias, environmental impact, and equitable access.
We also discuss how AI can align with equity and anti-racism goals in education. Stacey shares specific strategies for integrating AI into your existing curriculum to make lessons more engaging, inclusive, and effective.
💡 Key Takeaways for You:
- How to get started with AI tools in your classroom or district.
- Simple ways to address ethical considerations in teaching with AI.
- Strategies to foster critical thinking and empathy in your students.
- Steps to align AI use with equity and inclusion goals.
📌 Resources and Links:
- Connect with Stacy: www.linkedin.com/in/stacykratochvil/
- Discover more episodes: www.myedtech.life/
💬 Enjoy the episode? Like, comment, and subscribe to stay updated on the latest in EdTech!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Fonz (00:30):
Hello everybody and welcome to another great episode
of my EdTech Life.
Thank you so much for joiningme on this wonderful day and,
wherever it is that you arejoining us from around the world
, thank you, as always, formaking us part of your day.
We appreciate all the likes,shares, the follows and all of
your support.
Thank you, guys, as always fromthe bottom of my heart, and I
(00:51):
am so excited today becausetoday I do have a returning
guest.
Stacy was on the show onepisode 297 when we did an
interview with the humanintelligence movement.
But then I reached out to Stacybecause she does some fantastic
work and she's sharing a lot offantastic resources and just
her experience and her thoughtson AI in education a lot on
(01:15):
LinkedIn.
So if you're not following herthere, make sure that you do
follow her on LinkedIn and, ofcourse, all that info will
definitely be posted in the shownotes.
But I would love to welcome tothe show Stacy.
Stacy, how are you?
It's great to see you again.
Stacy (01:30):
I'm great Thank you for having me back on the show, so
fun.
Fonz (01:33):
Oh, definitely, I'm really excited about today's
conversation, and as I am forevery conversation, but again,
just to have you back, you know,we did have an amazing
conversation with the humanintelligence movement panel and
it was just wonderful.
A lot of information there.
And then, you know, slowly Ijust said you know what?
(01:53):
Let me just kind of startbringing in some guests like
one-on-ones and so on, Causesometimes with a whole group we
really don't get to share thescope of the work and thought
process and so on.
So, like I said, I'm probablygoing to be reaching out to a
lot of those ladies too for soloepisodes and things of that
sort for follow-up.
But I'm glad that I was able toget you on the show today and
(02:14):
I'm really excited for ouraudience here of my EdTech Life
to get to know you a little more, connect with you and just
really hear you out and hearyour experiences, your insight
and all the great shares.
Before we dive into thewonderful conversation, I would
just love for you to introduceyourself to our audience and
give us a little bit of contextabout your work in the education
(02:37):
space.
Stacy (02:38):
Awesome.
So my name is Stacy Kratochvil.
There's a weird CH thrown inthere but it's silent.
I'm in the San Francisco BayArea in California and this is
my 18th year of teaching.
I started out teaching PE anddance and have transitioned to
dance I'm sorry transitioned outof dance into more of PE and
(03:03):
instructional coaching andreally diving into the ed tech
world.
About five years ago Actually,right when COVID hit was like
February, before schools closedin March was when I said I would
be the instructional technologycoordinator and so that kind of
was like learned by fire hose,like the whirlwind that came
(03:25):
with distance teaching andfiguring out all of that.
But I loved it.
Not that I loved anything aboutthat whole scenario, but the
learning I really loved andsupporting other teachers was
super fun and engaging for me.
So I've kind of leaned intothat role a little bit more.
Fun and engaging for me, soI've kind of leaned into that
(03:48):
role a little bit more.
I ended up the following yeargoing to get an ed tech
specialist certificate from theKrause Center for Innovation and
that connection with the KCIended up connecting me with a
lot of really awesome peoplethat continue to lead me on
these different paths andconnect me with so many
(04:09):
interesting people to learn from.
It's funny, actually.
Just last spring I was at a KCIworkshop and I was listening to
Dr Saba Kidwai, who's also onLinkedIn If you don't follow her
, go follow her as well and shejust totally inspired me and we
connected right away.
(04:30):
The next day after her workshopI was like messaging her like
wow, that was so impactful.
I agreed with everything youwere saying.
It made me have all these bigideas about what I need to do
for my district.
And then she was like helpingme and got me into her AI boot
camp, which was amazing andtransformative in itself.
And then she led me to LinkedIn.
(04:52):
I wasn't even on LinkedIn atthat point this was just last
spring and once I joined onLinkedIn, I started connecting
with everybody under the sunthat is there talking about
everything technology that islike enjoyable for me right now.
I got connected with the humanintelligence movement, started
following you I already was alistener of your podcast, but
(05:13):
now I get to see your posts andit's just been such a fun
whirlwind.
And actually it's funny becauseat my school site, I'm at a
high school.
At my school site, I'm at ahigh school.
At my school site it was a TOSAposition, so teaching part-time,
and then I had two releaseperiods to do technology and
(05:34):
then it went to one releaseperiod to support teachers with
their ed tech and this schoolyear it went to zero periods to
support teachers and it's allasynchronous, like email tech
support, and it's so funny thatthat has been dwindling at the
same time that, like AIconversations are escalating and
like my love for ed tech hasbeen growing steadily this
(05:55):
entire time.
So it's kind of this weird,weird balancing act of like
what's gonna happen next?
But I have seen AI kind oflaunch me into more leadership
opportunities and trying to findways to like kind of bring ed
tech back into the focus and notjust something that like, oh no
, all the teachers taught online, they all know what they're
(06:17):
doing, they don't need youanymore kind of attitude.
Fonz (06:20):
So yeah, no, that was kind of a whirlwind.
So, yeah, no, that was kind of awhirlwind.
Yes, no, and what a whirlwindit was.
And very similar to you in thatsituation, I had just received
my master's in educationaltechnology, in October, actually
, I graduated in.
Well, I finished my courseworkin October and then we had our
(06:40):
graduation December 12th andthen, of course, a couple of
months after that, it was likeyou're completely online and I
was like, all right, let's go,I'm built for this, this is what
I've been working for thiswhole time.
But it was very much like yousaid, that whirlwind, or it was
like drinking from the firehydrant, where it was just like
everything was going on at once,but it was an amazing
(07:02):
experience.
Like I said, I definitely not,you know, maybe in that learning
aspect, obviously I don't likethe circumstances and why we got
locked down and of course,there was a lot of stuff that
was happening there, but again,you know, it was just everybody
flipped the switch and nowyou're online and let's.
Tech is now part of your worldon the day to day, and so I what
(07:23):
I do love is just because ofall of that is just where we're
headed now.
And then, obviously, the leadersthat stepped up, such as
yourself, like you mentioned theexperience that you had, and
now you know getting to see youon LinkedIn, too as well, and
you know amazing posts, amazingexperiences and just to be able
to learn from one another as weall navigate this space, and so
(07:50):
I want to talk to you a littlebit about that.
You know as well as you knowgetting in deeper as far as your
coaching, too, as well, because, like you mentioned, I'm very
curious too, because now yousaid you know it's mainly
asynchronous and just a lot ofemails and just how you're
managing that.
You know, because, I mean, herein my district, it's like
really hands on, so I'm justcurious about that.
So maybe let's start with that.
You know how has that been foryou now in as far as having to
(08:11):
support teachers in that way, asopposed to going in helping
them out one on one or a groupsetting, because this is the
first time I hear of like kindof asynchronous coaching hear of
like kind of asynchronouscoaching.
Stacy (08:31):
Yeah, it isn't really coaching at all.
The innovation and the coachingthat was happening kind of on
its own before isn't somethingthat was necessarily built into
the role and maybe it was inpart, but because it's all after
school hours and we do get astipend for that work Like we're
getting paid but there's notime to do it.
So are you really able to goand help teachers during the
school day when they're there?
(08:52):
And the answer is no.
I'm not able to actually go andshow anyone how to do anything
or even be a thought partner.
So, yeah, there isn't any ofthat happening through this role
.
I think there are stillinnovations obviously happening
People are working with theirdepartments and PLCs and talking
amongst colleagues but thereisn't like a structural,
(09:14):
systematic way that we'resupporting teachers in
innovation right now, which Ireally struggle with with,
because those of us that lovetechnology, we love talking
about possibilities, we loveinnovating, we love being in the
future and thinking about whatcould be, and we have a lot of
ideas for helping people withthat and kind of grappling with
(09:36):
AI too.
So I think one of the ways thatI was kind of dealing with my
own frustrations about the lackof like systematic ways to
innovate, was thinking about howcan I create something
additional that is not part ofthis role, but something else to
help people learn about andunderstand artificial
(09:58):
intelligence.
So actually, this was after myamazing connection with Saba
Kidwai, when I had this idea oflike, oh, I need to start a
fellowship program or some kindof educational experience that
teachers can sign up for I knowit's not everyone, it's just
those that are opting in but yougot to start somewhere, right?
(10:18):
So I spent the summer kind ofdreaming about it and getting my
plans kind of loosely puttogether.
Kind of dreaming about it andgetting my plans kind of loosely
put together.
And when we came back to schoolin August, I pitched it with a
colleague who works at thedistrict office he's the
director of our technologypeople and the two of us
together said, hey, can we runthis fellowship program and pay
(10:41):
teachers who sign up to learnabout AI for their time doing
these workshops that are allgoing to be asynchronous?
So they said yes, which waskind of crazy because I was like
this is kind of a lot of moneythat we were asking for.
And they said yes because theystill believed in innovating and
(11:02):
wanted teachers to have thisopportunity, so hit the ground
running with that, startedbuilding out a basically a six
week series of stuff.
It was like a course, an onlinecourse that I built in Canvas I
had built out weekly modules wasrecording videos, demonstrating
things and giving people abalanced view of AIs.
(11:26):
It was primarily focused onbuilding a critical mindset,
getting teachers to think aboutnot only how they might use the
tools, but then how they canhelp their students figure out
how to use and not use AI andhow it fits into their life as
well.
So that was like that was mybig project.
(11:48):
That happened in fall.
We had, I think, 50 teacherssign up like right away across
our district.
We have six high schools in ourdistrict and it was just
amazing to see like thatimmediately people were like
apply, apply, apply.
So we ended up seeing somepeople go through it.
Fonz (12:08):
You know, and that's great and we'll get into a little bit
more about that.
As far as you know the coachingand and I want to know a little
bit more about your teacher'sreaction, like you know, going
into it and then where they're,where they finished during that
coursework, because you know nowthat we're touching on that
coaching aspect like myself herein my district I do wear many
(12:28):
hats, but also it's have findingtime to go and work with
teachers and go and talking tothem and and explaining and
things of that sort, that sort,and walking them through a lot
of what is out there too as well, because definitely, with as
much as there is, it almostseems like there's a new tool
coming out every week.
Of course, teachers get reallyexcited about those things and
(12:48):
which, you know, it's okay thatthey do because it's just in our
nature.
You know, especially if you'reone of those speedboats that
wants to dive in.
You know, especially if you'reone of those speedboats that
(13:20):
wants to dive in.
And then your experience withthe overall experience that
you've had now with thefellowship, and it's going to
give me a worksheet what wassome of the thought process
there from?
Stacy (13:24):
the teachers.
I think I saw some really greatquestions and comments that
people put on their initialapplication and I was like, oh,
I really want to make sure thatI'm capturing all the things
that they want to learn about inthe course, so I embedded as
much of that in there aspossible and so I think people
did come out like feeling likethey had learned a lot.
(13:45):
I think one of the biggestnuggets was when we got to
ethical considerations for AIand all of the ethical things
that come with it.
I think that it isn't somethingthat was really being
highlighted and talked aboutanywhere else, right?
Because if you're just ateacher going through teaching
(14:05):
every day and you're likehearing about AI, you're
thinking about academicintegrity, you're thinking about
, you know, worrying aboutstudents over-relying the tools,
but you're not necessarilythinking about, like the other
stuff, the bias and you know,the environmental impact or any
(14:26):
of those other things Likethey're not really top of mind
for the day-to-day teacher.
That was really enlighteningfor people and challenging to
them to think about.
How are you going to teach yourstudents about the ethics of AI
?
And we did get to like theacademic integrity piece and
like thinking through policiesand actually, every week of our
(14:49):
fellowship program there werediscussion boards.
So everyone was kind ofcollaborating and like sharing
the things they were thinkingabout, which was awesome, and so
people were sharing like thethings they were thinking about,
which was awesome.
And so people were sharing likedifferent policies they were
trying to put together andthings they were experimenting
with.
But then the next question waslike how do you involve students
in this?
How do you get students to bethinking about how they're going
(15:11):
to interact with AI in theirown personal lives?
So it really was challengingpeople to think beyond, like
tomorrow, and like the biggerimpacts of AI, and I really
loved hearing they were thinkingnot just about like what's
happening right now in theclassroom, what they need to
prevent or encourage that.
(15:32):
They were thinking about howare students going to live with
a world full of AI everywhereand just what is the impact of
AI in general for all of us.
So that is a nice switch to seethe conversation go from like
small to really big.
Fonz (15:48):
That is great Just to hear about that, especially because,
again, many times we can getvery wowed by the tool and
obviously sometimes we thinklike, okay, in my content, how
can I use this to expeditesomething or a menial task?
Or if I need to createsomething, what can I use to
make it faster, quicker,prettier and things of that sort
(16:10):
, just so I can go ahead andjust continue with the
curriculum.
But again, like that transitionof going from that to the
larger implications, nowthinking outside of just the
curriculum, but again, like thattransition of going from that
to the larger implications, nowthinking outside of just the
classroom.
I think that's fantastic,because one of the things that
you mentioned that I want totouch on too is the ethical
considerations, theenvironmental impact.
A lot of that kind of gets lostin the wayside because it's all
(16:33):
about like just the flash, youknow, the ribbons, the glitter
of the tool.
There needs to be that finebalance, you know, for both, and
as much as a lot of people are,you know, very cautious or
they're all in, you know thereneeds to be that.
At least have that discourseand talking about OK, what's the
good, what's the bad?
(16:54):
How can we kind of just meet inthe middle and obviously making
sure that we're using itresponsibly.
And I think that's for me one ofthe biggest things is just
really, with a lot of the tools,it's just the age limit, a lot
of the tools, it's just the cost.
And her husband and she comesfrom a 2000 student district.
I come from like about a 10,000school district student school
(17:24):
district and for a lot for usit's like we're getting priced
out.
You know of a lot of these thepopular apps Our neighboring
school districts may be able toafford it, but we can't.
Popular apps Our neighboringschool districts may be able to
afford it, but we can't.
And so where does that leaveour students?
Even within the school district?
Some discrepancies from northside, south side and so on.
(17:44):
So just trying to balance allof that and making sure that
we're able to get equitableaccess to internet for our
students, but also just fortools, and to be able to learn
more and be able to experiencethat a little bit more, has been
a little difficult.
But I do love the fact that youget to have those conversations
also with the data privacy side, which is definitely something
(18:08):
huge, and you know that'swonderful, and so is this
something that is ongoing, ordid you just do kind of like
that first cohort and thenthere'll be another cohort that
follow it next year, right?
Stacy (18:19):
yeah, we, we just did the first cohort.
It was like October throughearly December, six weeks splits
, all in for six weeks and we'retaking a break and I think
there are conversationshappening about doing another
round of this in the spring.
I think before we even startedin the fall we were talking
about doing another round ofthis in the spring.
I think before we even startedin the fall we were talking
(18:40):
about doing another round in thespring because there were
people that decided they wereinterested after we had closed
the applications and things.
So, yeah, I hope that we do itagain.
I've got everything alreadykind of built out.
I know what I'm doing.
I might change a few thingsaround in the lineup of the
order of things and all that,but it was really remarkable to
(19:01):
hear how teachers received thecontent.
I'm just thinking back how youwere talking about access and
students getting into the tools.
I think one of the things thatI thought right away when I
first was learning about ChatGPTand experimenting myself, I was
I need to get my kids intothese tools right away so that
they're experienced and readyfor the workforce.
(19:22):
And you know, you hear allthese scary things like you need
to be getting your kids in thetools.
The more I learned and the moreI, the more I realized that's
not necessarily what thestudents need right now.
For me, I think they need tolearn what AI is and how it
works, and they need to be ableto evaluate its output and
(19:45):
analyze AI and be reallycritical of AI.
But I don't think theynecessarily need to get into the
tools right away.
So if you're at a school thatdoesn't have access to the tools
, that's not a barrier for youto teach your students.
You can still get them tounderstand how AI works and you
can still give them AI generatedcontent to evaluate and have
(20:09):
them compare this humangenerated text versus AI
generated, or have them lookingat AI generated images and
talking about bias.
And when we're talking about AIbias, we can't not talk about
our own bias, right?
It's not just out of thin airfrom technology.
It started with humans and it'sbeing perpetuated through the
(20:33):
technology.
So we don't have to put thoseconversations on hold just
because we don't have access forthe students to immediately
interact.
They can still be learning allof those other prerequisites
before they get there and evenif they're using tech, you know
they may be using AI in the appson their phones, so it's still
super important for us to teachthem to understand and evaluate.
(20:56):
Yeah.
Fonz (20:56):
And I think, like you said , you hit the nail on the head
too as well on that aspect, andthen so my question to you is
you know, with those tips inplace you mentioned, you know
helping our students even thoughthey may have access or no
access to the tools how is itthat, maybe through coaching
your teachers, they havepossibly given opportunity to
(21:19):
students to be able to learnthis?
Because right now I don't knowif this is just in Texas, but
Texas, from January to aboutApril, late April, what we call
is like star testing season.
It's like all hands on deck,and that's really that's our
focus, 1000%, and so everythingelse probably falls by the
wayside.
I was talking yesterday toAmori, and it just seems like,
(21:41):
you know, in Texas there'salways kind of like that spring
lull where nothing happensbecause it's all state testing
and state testing focus, andthen everything gets kind of
picked up and start talkingabout it again, maybe in the
late fall, but January on it'slike hands off.
I want to ask you, though, whatkind of opportunities have your
teachers been able to give thestudents like as far as
(22:03):
discussions are concerned,because I'm sure that there's a
lot of coaches out there likevery similar to you that are
also, you know, like how can Iintroduce this a little bit more
with my teachers and make surethat it starts getting to the
students?
What are some ideas, or aremaybe things that you have done
you out?
Stacy (22:20):
For sure.
I think focusing on those humanintelligence skills is
something you could do withoutAI.
Giving students things thatchallenge their critical
thinking, having them debate,having them to just show empathy
, reading things that arehelping them develop their
(22:40):
empathy, or having conversations, collaborating, collaborative
projects, creativity those areall things AI is not doing for
them.
It's not going to replacedeveloping those things that are
uniquely human, is going tohelp them even before they get
to using AI for school or forwork or anything else.
(23:01):
I have ninth grade students andmy particular class has not
been very ready to interact withAI yet.
So I have been trying to do alot of the creativity,
collaboration, all of thosethings.
But I just today was talking toa teacher who went through the
AI fellowship program in thefall and she was telling me this
(23:24):
story about her senior studentsin 12th grade who did like a
fishbowl talk, where studentsare, you know, talking in the
middle and the outside'sobserving.
She did nothing to lead, butshe had given them an article
about AI that the students hadread.
They were leading.
The entire conversation Wentinto all the topics about, you
(23:47):
know, should there be guardrails?
She said.
They use all the terminologyfrom the article.
Should there be guardrails, youknow?
Should we be using it in school?
Who is responsible formonitoring student use of AI,
like they went on, are likeready to just dive in and talk
about it, that they will do theconversating, conversating the
talking themselves and lead,lead the way.
(24:20):
And there doesn't need to be awhole lot of teacher input or
even preparation for that.
Just give them some resourcesand they will have their own
conversation about what theythink about AI and that's super
empowering and building theirstudent agency in the class as
well.
I thought that was just areally awesome example of a
student handing, or a teacherhanding it over to her students
(24:43):
and letting them go throughthose ethical conversations
amongst themselves.
Fonz (24:48):
I absolutely love that, too, because one of the things
that I love that I alwaysmentioned is I wish there was
more discourse in classrooms,but this I mean just to be able
to have a whole classparticipate.
You've got your listening group, you've got your speakers, the
research that went into it, thegroundwork they put in, and just
to be able to have them expressthemselves and get their ideas
(25:11):
out and their thought process.
I think that that is fantasticand it was getting my creative
juices flowing too and justtaking down mental notes, and I
know, as I listened to theepisode again, I know I'll be
writing some of this stuff down.
I loved it because it was verylow tech empowering students to
talk about the or have theseconversations, learning where
they stand and giving themagency and amplifying their
(25:33):
voice.
I think that's fantastic, andit goes in with those human
intelligence qualities that wedo talk about, because those are
definitely going to be veryimportant as the tech continues
to evolve.
You definitely want to be readywith those critical thinking
skills to make sure that youdon't take any output as gospel
and just say, oh, it must betrue, because this is the output
(25:55):
that I got, and then you'reputting it out to whomever it is
that you're giving that outputto, so things of that sort, and
I think that's fantastic.
I really love that idea.
So I'm glad to see how yourteachers having this experience,
getting the information andmaking those connections from
just not just using the tool andhow to use the tool to create
(26:18):
something and do it effectively,but to go beyond that and just
say, okay, like this is thebigger picture and we're diving
in deeper and it goes beyond thetool.
Now you're going into learningmore about this type of
technology that is out there andI think that's fantastic and
the more aware they are, thebetter decisions they'll make
and, of course, the better usesof this technology that they'll
(26:41):
have because they'll know and orhave those experiences too.
So I want to ask you and maybethis might be a tougher question
, I know we talked a little bitabout that barrier, you know
with the teachers which isreally getting them to think
outside of just the classroomand going beyond the tool.
But and it doesn't have to bethis is not just for your
district, but this is justasking you overall, with what
(27:03):
you've seen, with yourinvolvement, connections on
LinkedIn, human intelligencemovement and the work you're
doing and putting out there, andmaybe just also through your
experience, what would you saysome of the biggest barriers of
entry, or what are some of thebiggest barriers right now for
teachers as far as AI isconcerned, you know, in
(27:25):
education.
Stacy (27:27):
I think sometimes we think we need to know all the
ins and outs of something beforewe use it, like they think they
(27:50):
need to like be shown how to doanyway, or what's different
about what this chatbot justtold me versus what I already
know as a professional?
And there is just one littletext box that you're typing in,
but at the same time, you haveto have a plan for what you want
to see and you have to ask theright question in order to see
(28:11):
something that is actually ofvalue to you.
It's super easy, but at thesame time, it is something that
you should be really intentionalabout.
So I think teachers are kind ofhesitant and waiting to like
know how to get in and use itthe right way, even though there
isn't really too many wrongways other than just maybe
clicking a button and gettingsomething that's not very useful
(28:33):
.
But one of the things that wasthe driving theme for our
fellowship program was tying itto equity and anti-racism.
Our school district has done afantastic job of really
educating teachers about theirselves right.
We've done a lot of work aboutequity and making our classes
(28:55):
more humanizing, and I'm verythankful for all of that
internal work that I've beenable to undergo through other
trainings that we've beenoffered, I knew that that was
something that the leaders ofour school district really cared
about, and with talking aboutAI and how we can use it to not
just reproduce the same old andthinking about doing education
(29:17):
better and different, I knewthat I had to attach to the
dreams of being more anti-racistand more humanizing.
The whole fellowship programhas revolved around the question
how might we use AI to becomemore humanizing teachers, which
is kind of funny to think about.
You're using a machine tobecome more human, but that's
(29:39):
just something we should explore.
It ended up being really awesometo tie the entire program to
that driving question.
Every week, even though I had adifferent AI topic about how
generative AI, we were talkingabout student agency and using
(30:16):
the tools to redo curriculum ormake things more engaging,
relevant and meaningful content,and how we can use AI to bring
more of our students' interestsand all of that to the classroom
, intentionally prompting thechatbots to build more moments
for equity into the classes thatyou're teaching.
I feel like that's been likeequally transformative.
(30:38):
Along with getting the likecritical lens that I wanted
everyone to get, they're alsobuilding their equity lens and
using AI to become moreequitable.
Fonz (30:50):
You know one thing that I love there to become more
equitable.
You know, one thing that I lovethere, which I thought was
fantastic, is the intentionalityof being able to connect your
fellowship and the courseworkthat's there, but you're
connecting it to the frameworkthat your district is using for
curriculum and just reallybringing those two worlds
together.
If it's siloed, you know thefellowship I mean it will be
(31:13):
effective.
But when you make thatconnection to your district as a
whole, it's very intentionaland in line with the mission and
vision of the district.
I think that that is afantastic idea and I think for
you know, for administrators oranybody else that might be
listening to this show, I meanhere's a great way to be able to
(31:35):
learn the technology, learn andgo in deep, but also tie it to
the mission and vision of theschool district, using some of
those outputs and skills thatthe teachers already have and
sprinkling them on to what youknow they are already doing
great, but as a whole,continuing to grow.
(31:57):
I had never thought about thatStacy, and this is fantastic.
So thank you for this greatshare.
Stacy (32:03):
You come in and there's all these pressing initiatives
and then no one has room for AIon top of those other
initiatives, like it's not thatpressing that people are like
we're going to stop talkingabout equity and anti-racism so
that we can talk aboutartificial intelligence.
That was not going to happen.
But you put them together andpeople start to realize like we
can do more equitable thingsthrough our use of AI,
(32:27):
intentionally.
So showing people how to createcustom chatbots and upload all
those documents and be able totell your chatbot like these are
the values that I care about.
These are the things I'm tryingto do in my class.
What am I missing?
What could I still dodifferently?
How can I change my gradingpractices to be more equitable?
(32:48):
Those are conversations that welove having with other teachers
and other human beings to likelearn from each other, but
there's not always somebodyright there, but AI is always
right there 24 seven, even inyour PLC meeting or department
meeting.
At the same time, pull up yourchat bot, load up all your
documents, tell it what you'reworking on and get some ideas or
(33:12):
direction or something to helpyou do more of the things that
you're already doing well.
Fonz (33:19):
That is great.
I love it.
Well, Stacy, it's beenwonderful getting to chat with
you and just getting to learnmore about the fabulous work
that you're doing, leaving thisconversation right now, like you
know, just really inspired andjust by what you have shared,
because you've shared things Ihaven't thought about and you
know, and even though I read alot of posts but there's just
(33:39):
too much being able to talk toyou now the source of these
posts and to hear from you it'sjust amazing the opportunities
that there are, you know, andobviously all with, with caution
, thoughtful process, but I lovejust the way that you brought
those two worlds together andlike this connection between the
fellowship, the mission andvision of the district to make
(34:01):
it just something that there's alot of connection there,
involvement, there's buy-in andit just falls in line and I
think that's fantastic.
I'm really loving it and rightnow I'm just like processing it
and just like, wow, this isgreat.
Stacy (34:15):
I can work from struggling to get AI off the
ground.
Attach it to what you'realready doing.
I promise that is the key togetting these conversations
started.
Fonz (34:26):
Well, Stacy, I'm going to ask you before we go into the
next three questions.
You know yourself as a coachand being able to facilitate,
you know, these types of coursesfor your teachers, or just
really giving them information.
What might be two actionablesteps for somebody in your role
or a coaching role wanting toimplement this?
(34:49):
Or talk a little bit more aboutAI?
What might be two tips lowbarrier to entry to be able to
get this information out toteachers.
Stacy (34:59):
All right, attach it to things you're already doing
that's number one and then startmodeling how you're using it to
do more of the good things thatyou're doing.
Right?
I think a lot of the time wetalk about AI like being magic
and sparkles, and then also wetalk about reimagining the
(35:20):
entire education system.
But what are like the smallthings that you can do to like
take baby steps and not leapinto a complete transformation
of the entire education system?
Like show people that there arebaby steps, start leading
little workshops duringlunchtime, or like lead
(35:41):
something after school, invitepeople to see and start showing
them where they can make thoseconnections.
I think that is like a reallygood entry point for this.
Fonz (35:52):
That is wonderful.
Thank you so much for thosegreat tips.
Tip number one definitely, Ithink that's going to be the
best one.
Like you said, attach it tosomething that already is
intentional or meaningful withinthe district and just that way
it gets out there.
Tip number two, also just babysteps, one step at a time.
Keep it simple and streamlined,but keep moving forward.
(36:12):
I love it.
Well, Stacy, before we wrap up,you know, as always, we've got
our last three questions, sohopefully you know we can get
some great answers from you.
I'm very curious to hear aboutquestion number one, what your
answer is for that.
And, as you know, everysuperhero has a point, a pain
point or a weakness, somethingthat just causes them just to
(36:34):
weaken a bit that the villainstry to use, and for Superman,
kryptonite was something thatweakened him.
So I want to ask you, in thecurrent state of education, what
would you say is your currentedu kryptonite?
Stacy (36:47):
Oh man, current edu kryptonite.
That's a tough one.
I'm feeling so juiced thesedays.
I'm so energized by so manythings.
Man, I think one of my painpoints right now is the lack of
balance between hype andskepticism.
(37:11):
I think we need to all be rightin the middle.
We can't be like AI will doeverything for us, or like don't
touch it with a 10-foot pole,like it's got to be that we see
both sides of the spectrum andthat we know when AI is helpful
and when it's not, what isbetter left to a human and what
(37:32):
is okay to like bring in ourmachines.
I think that's it.
Fonz (37:38):
I love that.
That is a great answer.
Wonderful answer, All right.
Question number two If youcould have a billboard with
anything on it, what would it beand why?
Stacy (37:51):
It would have to have some truth because I tell you, I
live near San Francisco.
The last time I was drivingthrough the city it was
billboard after billboard of AIhype and like not even true
hypness.
It was like things that werenot even.
It was like what was one that Isaw.
(38:16):
It didn't say do this with AI,it was like AI will do this for
you, type of messaging.
And I was like, no, that is notwhat we need people to think
about AI doing it for them.
It needs to be a collaborationwith AI that you are doing
things together and alwayscentering the human being.
So I think if I were to have myown billboard right in the
middle of all those with badmessaging, it would have to be
(38:40):
some really powerful, balancedmessage or anti-AI message or
some reminder for people to likequestion what they're seeing,
just to kind of counterbalancethat narrative that you just go
onto an AI tool and it's goingto solve all your problems and
do things for you, or that it'sgoing to do it better than you.
(39:00):
That's not true.
Fonz (39:03):
There you go.
I like that so great balance,because you're absolutely right.
I know I think I've seen onsocial media some posts that are
out there.
I mean, I don't get to see themhere in my area, but it'll say
something like you know why hirehumans, hire like a virtual bot
or hire this, and I'm like, ohmy gosh, like this is ridiculous
, you know.
So it's just like you saidfinding that balance and that
(39:24):
human touch.
We still need that human touch,that human approach.
I love that, all right.
Stacy (39:33):
So here we go, some kind of like very humanizing.
Fonz (39:34):
Don't forget the people there you go.
I love that.
All right.
Last question If you had theopportunity to trade places with
one person for a day, who wouldit be, and why?
Stacy (39:48):
Last time I was on your podcast I said I would trade
places with one of my childrenand I think I definitely would
enjoy trading places with mychildren for a day, just to like
have life a little bit easierfor a day.
But I also would be interestedin swapping roles with someone
(40:09):
who travels and gets to doexciting things for a day, just
because I get to do a lot of funthings at school and for my
district and it's reallyexciting.
But I'm not.
I'm a mom of three.
I'm not traveling, I'm notleaving the area, going anywhere
exciting.
But I see Saba Kidwai and hersidekick, sophie going to all
(40:33):
these other places and it looksreally fun and exciting to
travel and get to present aboutAI and talk to educators.
So I think it'd be fun for aday to be in their shoes and tag
along for the ride.
Fonz (40:46):
I would say you can be Saba, and I don't mind being
Sophie.
They'll be their hype girl yeahwe'll trade places with them for
a day.
I wouldn't mind being Sophie,they'll be there hyped, they're
all like, yeah, we'll tradeplaces with them for a day.
I wouldn't mind that at all.
Well, I mean, Stacy, thank youso much for today.
Thank you for this wonderfulconversation, just your
enthusiasm and just yourknowledge and passion for
education as a whole, you know,and just being able to help
educators navigate this spaceand it's been two years, there's
(41:13):
been a lot of things happeningand just to have leaders like
you, you know, that are puttingout great content on LinkedIn,
that are encouraging others,that always have just some
wonderful words and just greatstrategies, I mean I'm just
thank you so much again foreverything that you put out, you
know, because it is veryvaluable and for us like myself
in in this role and for othercoaches that are in that role
(41:33):
too, just to hear from voiceslike yours, the human
intelligence movement and allour other connections on
LinkedIn.
It has been a wonderfullearning experience and journey.
So thank you for all of yourshares today I really appreciate
it and for all our audiencemembers.
Please make sure that you doconnect with Stacy.
Everything, all the information, will be on the show notes, but
definitely follow her onLinkedIn.
(41:54):
She puts out some amazingthings there as well and just
definitely connect her there.
She's so great.
I'm pretty sure that if youmessage her, she'll definitely
help you out or answer anyquestions or, if not, lead you
to somebody that can help alsoas well.
She definitely has a greatnetwork.
I can definitely assure you ofthat.
So thank you, Stacy, and all ouraudience members, thank you, as
always, for making my EdTechLife part of your day.
(42:16):
Please make sure you visit ourwebsite at myedtechlife, where
you can check out this amazingepisode and the other 308
wonderful episodes where, Iguarantee you, you will find a
little knowledge nugget that youcan sprinkle onto what you are
already doing.
Great.
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(42:38):
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(43:00):
follow us on all socials at myed tech life.
So again, friends, thank you asalways, from the bottom of my
(43:32):
heart, and until next time,don't forget, stay techie.
Thank you.
Hello everybody and welcome to another great episode
of my EdTech Life.
Thank you so much for joiningme on this wonderful day and,
wherever it is that you arejoining us from around the world
, thank you, as always, formaking us part of your day.
We appreciate all the likes,shares, the follows and all of
your support.
Thank you, guys, as always fromthe bottom of my heart, and I
(00:51):
am so excited today becausetoday I do have a returning
guest.
Stacy was on the show onepisode 297 when we did an
interview with the humanintelligence movement.
But then I reached out to Stacybecause she does some fantastic
work and she's sharing a lot offantastic resources and just
her experience and her thoughtson AI in education a lot on
(01:15):
LinkedIn.
So if you're not following herthere, make sure that you do
follow her on LinkedIn and, ofcourse, all that info will
definitely be posted in the shownotes.
But I would love to welcome tothe show Stacy.
Stacy, how are you?
It's great to see you again.
Stacy (01:30):
I'm great Thank you for having me back on the show, so
fun.
Fonz (01:33):
Oh, definitely, I'm really excited about today's
conversation, and as I am forevery conversation, but again,
just to have you back, you know,we did have an amazing
conversation with the humanintelligence movement panel and
it was just wonderful.
A lot of information there.
And then, you know, slowly Ijust said you know what?
(01:53):
Let me just kind of startbringing in some guests like
one-on-ones and so on, Causesometimes with a whole group we
really don't get to share thescope of the work and thought
process and so on.
So, like I said, I'm probablygoing to be reaching out to a
lot of those ladies too for soloepisodes and things of that
sort for follow-up.
But I'm glad that I was able toget you on the show today and
(02:14):
I'm really excited for ouraudience here of my EdTech Life
to get to know you a little more, connect with you and just
really hear you out and hearyour experiences, your insight
and all the great shares.
Before we dive into thewonderful conversation, I would
just love for you to introduceyourself to our audience and
give us a little bit of contextabout your work in the education
(02:37):
space.
Stacy (02:38):
Awesome.
So my name is Stacy Kratochvil.
There's a weird CH thrown inthere but it's silent.
I'm in the San Francisco BayArea in California and this is
my 18th year of teaching.
I started out teaching PE anddance and have transitioned to
dance I'm sorry transitioned outof dance into more of PE and
(03:03):
instructional coaching andreally diving into the ed tech
world.
About five years ago Actually,right when COVID hit was like
February, before schools closedin March was when I said I would
be the instructional technologycoordinator and so that kind of
was like learned by fire hose,like the whirlwind that came
(03:25):
with distance teaching andfiguring out all of that.
But I loved it.
Not that I loved anything aboutthat whole scenario, but the
learning I really loved andsupporting other teachers was
super fun and engaging for me.
So I've kind of leaned intothat role a little bit more.
Fun and engaging for me, soI've kind of leaned into that
(03:48):
role a little bit more.
I ended up the following yeargoing to get an ed tech
specialist certificate from theKrause Center for Innovation and
that connection with the KCIended up connecting me with a
lot of really awesome peoplethat continue to lead me on
these different paths andconnect me with so many
(04:09):
interesting people to learn from.
It's funny, actually.
Just last spring I was at a KCIworkshop and I was listening to
Dr Saba Kidwai, who's also onLinkedIn If you don't follow her
, go follow her as well and shejust totally inspired me and we
connected right away.
(04:30):
The next day after her workshopI was like messaging her like
wow, that was so impactful.
I agreed with everything youwere saying.
It made me have all these bigideas about what I need to do
for my district.
And then she was like helpingme and got me into her AI boot
camp, which was amazing andtransformative in itself.
And then she led me to LinkedIn.
(04:52):
I wasn't even on LinkedIn atthat point this was just last
spring and once I joined onLinkedIn, I started connecting
with everybody under the sunthat is there talking about
everything technology that islike enjoyable for me right now.
I got connected with the humanintelligence movement, started
following you I already was alistener of your podcast, but
(05:13):
now I get to see your posts andit's just been such a fun
whirlwind.
And actually it's funny becauseat my school site, I'm at a
high school.
At my school site, I'm at ahigh school.
At my school site it was a TOSAposition, so teaching part-time,
and then I had two releaseperiods to do technology and
(05:34):
then it went to one releaseperiod to support teachers with
their ed tech and this schoolyear it went to zero periods to
support teachers and it's allasynchronous, like email tech
support, and it's so funny thatthat has been dwindling at the
same time that, like AIconversations are escalating and
like my love for ed tech hasbeen growing steadily this
(05:55):
entire time.
So it's kind of this weird,weird balancing act of like
what's gonna happen next?
But I have seen AI kind oflaunch me into more leadership
opportunities and trying to findways to like kind of bring ed
tech back into the focus and notjust something that like, oh no
, all the teachers taught online, they all know what they're
(06:17):
doing, they don't need youanymore kind of attitude.
Fonz (06:20):
So yeah, no, that was kind of a whirlwind.
So, yeah, no, that was kind of awhirlwind.
Yes, no, and what a whirlwindit was.
And very similar to you in thatsituation, I had just received
my master's in educationaltechnology, in October, actually
, I graduated in.
Well, I finished my courseworkin October and then we had our
(06:40):
graduation December 12th andthen, of course, a couple of
months after that, it was likeyou're completely online and I
was like, all right, let's go,I'm built for this, this is what
I've been working for thiswhole time.
But it was very much like yousaid, that whirlwind, or it was
like drinking from the firehydrant, where it was just like
everything was going on at once,but it was an amazing
(07:02):
experience.
Like I said, I definitely not,you know, maybe in that learning
aspect, obviously I don't likethe circumstances and why we got
locked down and of course,there was a lot of stuff that
was happening there, but again,you know, it was just everybody
flipped the switch and nowyou're online and let's.
Tech is now part of your worldon the day to day, and so I what
(07:23):
I do love is just because ofall of that is just where we're
headed now.
And then, obviously, the leadersthat stepped up, such as
yourself, like you mentioned theexperience that you had, and
now you know getting to see youon LinkedIn, too as well, and
you know amazing posts, amazingexperiences and just to be able
to learn from one another as weall navigate this space, and so
(07:50):
I want to talk to you a littlebit about that.
You know as well as you knowgetting in deeper as far as your
coaching, too, as well, because, like you mentioned, I'm very
curious too, because now yousaid you know it's mainly
asynchronous and just a lot ofemails and just how you're
managing that.
You know, because, I mean, herein my district, it's like
really hands on, so I'm justcurious about that.
So maybe let's start with that.
You know how has that been foryou now in as far as having to
(08:11):
support teachers in that way, asopposed to going in helping
them out one on one or a groupsetting, because this is the
first time I hear of like kindof asynchronous coaching hear of
like kind of asynchronouscoaching.
Stacy (08:31):
Yeah, it isn't really coaching at all.
The innovation and the coachingthat was happening kind of on
its own before isn't somethingthat was necessarily built into
the role and maybe it was inpart, but because it's all after
school hours and we do get astipend for that work Like we're
getting paid but there's notime to do it.
So are you really able to goand help teachers during the
school day when they're there?
(08:52):
And the answer is no.
I'm not able to actually go andshow anyone how to do anything
or even be a thought partner.
So, yeah, there isn't any ofthat happening through this role
.
I think there are stillinnovations obviously happening
People are working with theirdepartments and PLCs and talking
amongst colleagues but thereisn't like a structural,
(09:14):
systematic way that we'resupporting teachers in
innovation right now, which Ireally struggle with with,
because those of us that lovetechnology, we love talking
about possibilities, we loveinnovating, we love being in the
future and thinking about whatcould be, and we have a lot of
ideas for helping people withthat and kind of grappling with
(09:36):
AI too.
So I think one of the ways thatI was kind of dealing with my
own frustrations about the lackof like systematic ways to
innovate, was thinking about howcan I create something
additional that is not part ofthis role, but something else to
help people learn about andunderstand artificial
(09:58):
intelligence.
So actually, this was after myamazing connection with Saba
Kidwai, when I had this idea oflike, oh, I need to start a
fellowship program or some kindof educational experience that
teachers can sign up for I knowit's not everyone, it's just
those that are opting in but yougot to start somewhere, right?
(10:18):
So I spent the summer kind ofdreaming about it and getting my
plans kind of loosely puttogether.
Kind of dreaming about it andgetting my plans kind of loosely
put together.
And when we came back to schoolin August, I pitched it with a
colleague who works at thedistrict office he's the
director of our technologypeople and the two of us
together said, hey, can we runthis fellowship program and pay
(10:41):
teachers who sign up to learnabout AI for their time doing
these workshops that are allgoing to be asynchronous?
So they said yes, which waskind of crazy because I was like
this is kind of a lot of moneythat we were asking for.
And they said yes because theystill believed in innovating and
(11:02):
wanted teachers to have thisopportunity, so hit the ground
running with that, startedbuilding out a basically a six
week series of stuff.
It was like a course, an onlinecourse that I built in Canvas I
had built out weekly modules wasrecording videos, demonstrating
things and giving people abalanced view of AIs.
(11:26):
It was primarily focused onbuilding a critical mindset,
getting teachers to think aboutnot only how they might use the
tools, but then how they canhelp their students figure out
how to use and not use AI andhow it fits into their life as
well.
So that was like that was mybig project.
(11:48):
That happened in fall.
We had, I think, 50 teacherssign up like right away across
our district.
We have six high schools in ourdistrict and it was just
amazing to see like thatimmediately people were like
apply, apply, apply.
So we ended up seeing somepeople go through it.
Fonz (12:08):
You know, and that's great and we'll get into a little bit
more about that.
As far as you know the coachingand and I want to know a little
bit more about your teacher'sreaction, like you know, going
into it and then where they're,where they finished during that
coursework, because you know nowthat we're touching on that
coaching aspect like myself herein my district I do wear many
(12:28):
hats, but also it's have findingtime to go and work with
teachers and go and talking tothem and and explaining and
things of that sort, that sort,and walking them through a lot
of what is out there too as well, because definitely, with as
much as there is, it almostseems like there's a new tool
coming out every week.
Of course, teachers get reallyexcited about those things and
(12:48):
which, you know, it's okay thatthey do because it's just in our
nature.
You know, especially if you'reone of those speedboats that
wants to dive in.
You know, especially if you'reone of those speedboats that
(13:20):
wants to dive in.
And then your experience withthe overall experience that
you've had now with thefellowship, and it's going to
give me a worksheet what wassome of the thought process
there from?
Stacy (13:24):
the teachers.
I think I saw some really greatquestions and comments that
people put on their initialapplication and I was like, oh,
I really want to make sure thatI'm capturing all the things
that they want to learn about inthe course, so I embedded as
much of that in there aspossible and so I think people
did come out like feeling likethey had learned a lot.
(13:45):
I think one of the biggestnuggets was when we got to
ethical considerations for AIand all of the ethical things
that come with it.
I think that it isn't somethingthat was really being
highlighted and talked aboutanywhere else, right?
Because if you're just ateacher going through teaching
(14:05):
every day and you're likehearing about AI, you're
thinking about academicintegrity, you're thinking about
, you know, worrying aboutstudents over-relying the tools,
but you're not necessarilythinking about, like the other
stuff, the bias and you know,the environmental impact or any
(14:26):
of those other things Likethey're not really top of mind
for the day-to-day teacher.
That was really enlighteningfor people and challenging to
them to think about.
How are you going to teach yourstudents about the ethics of AI
?
And we did get to like theacademic integrity piece and
like thinking through policiesand actually, every week of our
(14:49):
fellowship program there werediscussion boards.
So everyone was kind ofcollaborating and like sharing
the things they were thinkingabout, which was awesome, and so
people were sharing like thethings they were thinking about,
which was awesome.
And so people were sharing likedifferent policies they were
trying to put together andthings they were experimenting
with.
But then the next question waslike how do you involve students
in this?
How do you get students to bethinking about how they're going
(15:11):
to interact with AI in theirown personal lives?
So it really was challengingpeople to think beyond, like
tomorrow, and like the biggerimpacts of AI, and I really
loved hearing they were thinkingnot just about like what's
happening right now in theclassroom, what they need to
prevent or encourage that.
(15:32):
They were thinking about howare students going to live with
a world full of AI everywhereand just what is the impact of
AI in general for all of us.
So that is a nice switch to seethe conversation go from like
small to really big.
Fonz (15:48):
That is great Just to hear about that, especially because,
again, many times we can getvery wowed by the tool and
obviously sometimes we thinklike, okay, in my content, how
can I use this to expeditesomething or a menial task?
Or if I need to createsomething, what can I use to
make it faster, quicker,prettier and things of that sort
(16:10):
, just so I can go ahead andjust continue with the
curriculum.
But again, like that transitionof going from that to the
larger implications, nowthinking outside of just the
curriculum, but again, like thattransition of going from that
to the larger implications, nowthinking outside of just the
classroom.
I think that's fantastic,because one of the things that
you mentioned that I want totouch on too is the ethical
considerations, theenvironmental impact.
A lot of that kind of gets lostin the wayside because it's all
(16:33):
about like just the flash, youknow, the ribbons, the glitter
of the tool.
There needs to be that finebalance, you know, for both, and
as much as a lot of people are,you know, very cautious or
they're all in, you know thereneeds to be that.
At least have that discourseand talking about OK, what's the
good, what's the bad?
(16:54):
How can we kind of just meet inthe middle and obviously making
sure that we're using itresponsibly.
And I think that's for me one ofthe biggest things is just
really, with a lot of the tools,it's just the age limit, a lot
of the tools, it's just the cost.
And her husband and she comesfrom a 2000 student district.
I come from like about a 10,000school district student school
(17:24):
district and for a lot for usit's like we're getting priced
out.
You know of a lot of these thepopular apps Our neighboring
school districts may be able toafford it, but we can't.
Popular apps Our neighboringschool districts may be able to
afford it, but we can't.
And so where does that leaveour students?
Even within the school district?
Some discrepancies from northside, south side and so on.
(17:44):
So just trying to balance allof that and making sure that
we're able to get equitableaccess to internet for our
students, but also just fortools, and to be able to learn
more and be able to experiencethat a little bit more, has been
a little difficult.
But I do love the fact that youget to have those conversations
also with the data privacy side, which is definitely something
(18:08):
huge, and you know that'swonderful, and so is this
something that is ongoing, ordid you just do kind of like
that first cohort and thenthere'll be another cohort that
follow it next year, right?
Stacy (18:19):
yeah, we, we just did the first cohort.
It was like October throughearly December, six weeks splits
, all in for six weeks and we'retaking a break and I think
there are conversationshappening about doing another
round of this in the spring.
I think before we even startedin the fall we were talking
about doing another round ofthis in the spring.
I think before we even startedin the fall we were talking
(18:40):
about doing another round in thespring because there were
people that decided they wereinterested after we had closed
the applications and things.
So, yeah, I hope that we do itagain.
I've got everything alreadykind of built out.
I know what I'm doing.
I might change a few thingsaround in the lineup of the
order of things and all that,but it was really remarkable to
(19:01):
hear how teachers received thecontent.
I'm just thinking back how youwere talking about access and
students getting into the tools.
I think one of the things thatI thought right away when I
first was learning about ChatGPTand experimenting myself, I was
I need to get my kids intothese tools right away so that
they're experienced and readyfor the workforce.
(19:22):
And you know, you hear allthese scary things like you need
to be getting your kids in thetools.
The more I learned and the moreI, the more I realized that's
not necessarily what thestudents need right now.
For me, I think they need tolearn what AI is and how it
works, and they need to be ableto evaluate its output and
(19:45):
analyze AI and be reallycritical of AI.
But I don't think theynecessarily need to get into the
tools right away.
So if you're at a school thatdoesn't have access to the tools
, that's not a barrier for youto teach your students.
You can still get them tounderstand how AI works and you
can still give them AI generatedcontent to evaluate and have
(20:09):
them compare this humangenerated text versus AI
generated, or have them lookingat AI generated images and
talking about bias.
And when we're talking about AIbias, we can't not talk about
our own bias, right?
It's not just out of thin airfrom technology.
It started with humans and it'sbeing perpetuated through the
(20:33):
technology.
So we don't have to put thoseconversations on hold just
because we don't have access forthe students to immediately
interact.
They can still be learning allof those other prerequisites
before they get there and evenif they're using tech, you know
they may be using AI in the appson their phones, so it's still
super important for us to teachthem to understand and evaluate.
(20:56):
Yeah.
Fonz (20:56):
And I think, like you said , you hit the nail on the head
too as well on that aspect, andthen so my question to you is
you know, with those tips inplace you mentioned, you know
helping our students even thoughthey may have access or no
access to the tools how is itthat, maybe through coaching
your teachers, they havepossibly given opportunity to
(21:19):
students to be able to learnthis?
Because right now I don't knowif this is just in Texas, but
Texas, from January to aboutApril, late April, what we call
is like star testing season.
It's like all hands on deck,and that's really that's our
focus, 1000%, and so everythingelse probably falls by the
wayside.
I was talking yesterday toAmori, and it just seems like,
(21:41):
you know, in Texas there'salways kind of like that spring
lull where nothing happensbecause it's all state testing
and state testing focus, andthen everything gets kind of
picked up and start talkingabout it again, maybe in the
late fall, but January on it'slike hands off.
I want to ask you, though, whatkind of opportunities have your
teachers been able to give thestudents like as far as
(22:03):
discussions are concerned,because I'm sure that there's a
lot of coaches out there likevery similar to you that are
also, you know, like how can Iintroduce this a little bit more
with my teachers and make surethat it starts getting to the
students?
What are some ideas, or aremaybe things that you have done
you out?
Stacy (22:20):
For sure.
I think focusing on those humanintelligence skills is
something you could do withoutAI.
Giving students things thatchallenge their critical
thinking, having them debate,having them to just show empathy
, reading things that arehelping them develop their
(22:40):
empathy, or having conversations, collaborating, collaborative
projects, creativity those areall things AI is not doing for
them.
It's not going to replacedeveloping those things that are
uniquely human, is going tohelp them even before they get
to using AI for school or forwork or anything else.
(23:01):
I have ninth grade students andmy particular class has not
been very ready to interact withAI yet.
So I have been trying to do alot of the creativity,
collaboration, all of thosethings.
But I just today was talking toa teacher who went through the
AI fellowship program in thefall and she was telling me this
(23:24):
story about her senior studentsin 12th grade who did like a
fishbowl talk, where studentsare, you know, talking in the
middle and the outside'sobserving.
She did nothing to lead, butshe had given them an article
about AI that the students hadread.
They were leading.
The entire conversation Wentinto all the topics about, you
(23:47):
know, should there be guardrails?
She said.
They use all the terminologyfrom the article.
Should there be guardrails, youknow?
Should we be using it in school?
Who is responsible formonitoring student use of AI,
like they went on, are likeready to just dive in and talk
about it, that they will do theconversating, conversating the
talking themselves and lead,lead the way.
(24:20):
And there doesn't need to be awhole lot of teacher input or
even preparation for that.
Just give them some resourcesand they will have their own
conversation about what theythink about AI and that's super
empowering and building theirstudent agency in the class as
well.
I thought that was just areally awesome example of a
student handing, or a teacherhanding it over to her students
(24:43):
and letting them go throughthose ethical conversations
amongst themselves.
Fonz (24:48):
I absolutely love that, too, because one of the things
that I love that I alwaysmentioned is I wish there was
more discourse in classrooms,but this I mean just to be able
to have a whole classparticipate.
You've got your listening group, you've got your speakers, the
research that went into it, thegroundwork they put in, and just
to be able to have them expressthemselves and get their ideas
(25:11):
out and their thought process.
I think that that is fantasticand it was getting my creative
juices flowing too and justtaking down mental notes, and I
know, as I listened to theepisode again, I know I'll be
writing some of this stuff down.
I loved it because it was verylow tech empowering students to
talk about the or have theseconversations, learning where
they stand and giving themagency and amplifying their
(25:33):
voice.
I think that's fantastic, andit goes in with those human
intelligence qualities that wedo talk about, because those are
definitely going to be veryimportant as the tech continues
to evolve.
You definitely want to be readywith those critical thinking
skills to make sure that youdon't take any output as gospel
and just say, oh, it must betrue, because this is the output
(25:55):
that I got, and then you'reputting it out to whomever it is
that you're giving that outputto, so things of that sort, and
I think that's fantastic.
I really love that idea.
So I'm glad to see how yourteachers having this experience,
getting the information andmaking those connections from
just not just using the tool andhow to use the tool to create
(26:18):
something and do it effectively,but to go beyond that and just
say, okay, like this is thebigger picture and we're diving
in deeper and it goes beyond thetool.
Now you're going into learningmore about this type of
technology that is out there andI think that's fantastic and
the more aware they are, thebetter decisions they'll make
and, of course, the better usesof this technology that they'll
(26:41):
have because they'll know and orhave those experiences too.
So I want to ask you and maybethis might be a tougher question
, I know we talked a little bitabout that barrier, you know
with the teachers which isreally getting them to think
outside of just the classroomand going beyond the tool.
But and it doesn't have to bethis is not just for your
district, but this is justasking you overall, with what
(27:03):
you've seen, with yourinvolvement, connections on
LinkedIn, human intelligencemovement and the work you're
doing and putting out there, andmaybe just also through your
experience, what would you saysome of the biggest barriers of
entry, or what are some of thebiggest barriers right now for
teachers as far as AI isconcerned, you know, in
(27:25):
education.
Stacy (27:27):
I think sometimes we think we need to know all the
ins and outs of something beforewe use it, like they think they
(27:50):
need to like be shown how to doanyway, or what's different
about what this chatbot justtold me versus what I already
know as a professional?
And there is just one littletext box that you're typing in,
but at the same time, you haveto have a plan for what you want
to see and you have to ask theright question in order to see
(28:11):
something that is actually ofvalue to you.
It's super easy, but at thesame time, it is something that
you should be really intentionalabout.
So I think teachers are kind ofhesitant and waiting to like
know how to get in and use itthe right way, even though there
isn't really too many wrongways other than just maybe
clicking a button and gettingsomething that's not very useful
(28:33):
.
But one of the things that wasthe driving theme for our
fellowship program was tying itto equity and anti-racism.
Our school district has done afantastic job of really
educating teachers about theirselves right.
We've done a lot of work aboutequity and making our classes
(28:55):
more humanizing, and I'm verythankful for all of that
internal work that I've beenable to undergo through other
trainings that we've beenoffered, I knew that that was
something that the leaders ofour school district really cared
about, and with talking aboutAI and how we can use it to not
just reproduce the same old andthinking about doing education
(29:17):
better and different, I knewthat I had to attach to the
dreams of being more anti-racistand more humanizing.
The whole fellowship programhas revolved around the question
how might we use AI to becomemore humanizing teachers, which
is kind of funny to think about.
You're using a machine tobecome more human, but that's
(29:39):
just something we should explore.
It ended up being really awesometo tie the entire program to
that driving question.
Every week, even though I had adifferent AI topic about how
generative AI, we were talkingabout student agency and using
(30:16):
the tools to redo curriculum ormake things more engaging,
relevant and meaningful content,and how we can use AI to bring
more of our students' interestsand all of that to the classroom
, intentionally prompting thechatbots to build more moments
for equity into the classes thatyou're teaching.
I feel like that's been likeequally transformative.
(30:38):
Along with getting the likecritical lens that I wanted
everyone to get, they're alsobuilding their equity lens and
using AI to become moreequitable.
Fonz (30:50):
You know one thing that I love there to become more
equitable.
You know, one thing that I lovethere, which I thought was
fantastic, is the intentionalityof being able to connect your
fellowship and the courseworkthat's there, but you're
connecting it to the frameworkthat your district is using for
curriculum and just reallybringing those two worlds
together.
If it's siloed, you know thefellowship I mean it will be
(31:13):
effective.
But when you make thatconnection to your district as a
whole, it's very intentionaland in line with the mission and
vision of the district.
I think that that is afantastic idea and I think for
you know, for administrators oranybody else that might be
listening to this show, I meanhere's a great way to be able to
(31:35):
learn the technology, learn andgo in deep, but also tie it to
the mission and vision of theschool district, using some of
those outputs and skills thatthe teachers already have and
sprinkling them on to what youknow they are already doing
great, but as a whole,continuing to grow.
(31:57):
I had never thought about thatStacy, and this is fantastic.
So thank you for this greatshare.
Stacy (32:03):
You come in and there's all these pressing initiatives
and then no one has room for AIon top of those other
initiatives, like it's not thatpressing that people are like
we're going to stop talkingabout equity and anti-racism so
that we can talk aboutartificial intelligence.
That was not going to happen.
But you put them together andpeople start to realize like we
can do more equitable thingsthrough our use of AI,
(32:27):
intentionally.
So showing people how to createcustom chatbots and upload all
those documents and be able totell your chatbot like these are
the values that I care about.
These are the things I'm tryingto do in my class.
What am I missing?
What could I still dodifferently?
How can I change my gradingpractices to be more equitable?
(32:48):
Those are conversations that welove having with other teachers
and other human beings to likelearn from each other, but
there's not always somebodyright there, but AI is always
right there 24 seven, even inyour PLC meeting or department
meeting.
At the same time, pull up yourchat bot, load up all your
documents, tell it what you'reworking on and get some ideas or
(33:12):
direction or something to helpyou do more of the things that
you're already doing well.
Fonz (33:19):
That is great.
I love it.
Well, Stacy, it's beenwonderful getting to chat with
you and just getting to learnmore about the fabulous work
that you're doing, leaving thisconversation right now, like you
know, just really inspired andjust by what you have shared,
because you've shared things Ihaven't thought about and you
know, and even though I read alot of posts but there's just
(33:39):
too much being able to talk toyou now the source of these
posts and to hear from you it'sjust amazing the opportunities
that there are, you know, andobviously all with, with caution
, thoughtful process, but I lovejust the way that you brought
those two worlds together andlike this connection between the
fellowship, the mission andvision of the district to make
(34:01):
it just something that there's alot of connection there,
involvement, there's buy-in andit just falls in line and I
think that's fantastic.
I'm really loving it and rightnow I'm just like processing it
and just like, wow, this isgreat.
Stacy (34:15):
I can work from struggling to get AI off the
ground.
Attach it to what you'realready doing.
I promise that is the key togetting these conversations
started.
Fonz (34:26):
Well, Stacy, I'm going to ask you before we go into the
next three questions.
You know yourself as a coachand being able to facilitate,
you know, these types of coursesfor your teachers, or just
really giving them information.
What might be two actionablesteps for somebody in your role
or a coaching role wanting toimplement this?
(34:49):
Or talk a little bit more aboutAI?
What might be two tips lowbarrier to entry to be able to
get this information out toteachers.
Stacy (34:59):
All right, attach it to things you're already doing
that's number one and then startmodeling how you're using it to
do more of the good things thatyou're doing.
Right?
I think a lot of the time wetalk about AI like being magic
and sparkles, and then also wetalk about reimagining the
(35:20):
entire education system.
But what are like the smallthings that you can do to like
take baby steps and not leapinto a complete transformation
of the entire education system?
Like show people that there arebaby steps, start leading
little workshops duringlunchtime, or like lead
(35:41):
something after school, invitepeople to see and start showing
them where they can make thoseconnections.
I think that is like a reallygood entry point for this.
Fonz (35:52):
That is wonderful.
Thank you so much for thosegreat tips.
Tip number one definitely, Ithink that's going to be the
best one.
Like you said, attach it tosomething that already is
intentional or meaningful withinthe district and just that way
it gets out there.
Tip number two, also just babysteps, one step at a time.
Keep it simple and streamlined,but keep moving forward.
(36:12):
I love it.
Well, Stacy, before we wrap up,you know, as always, we've got
our last three questions, sohopefully you know we can get
some great answers from you.
I'm very curious to hear aboutquestion number one, what your
answer is for that.
And, as you know, everysuperhero has a point, a pain
point or a weakness, somethingthat just causes them just to
(36:34):
weaken a bit that the villainstry to use, and for Superman,
kryptonite was something thatweakened him.
So I want to ask you, in thecurrent state of education, what
would you say is your currentedu kryptonite?
Stacy (36:47):
Oh man, current edu kryptonite.
That's a tough one.
I'm feeling so juiced thesedays.
I'm so energized by so manythings.
Man, I think one of my painpoints right now is the lack of
balance between hype andskepticism.
(37:11):
I think we need to all be rightin the middle.
We can't be like AI will doeverything for us, or like don't
touch it with a 10-foot pole,like it's got to be that we see
both sides of the spectrum andthat we know when AI is helpful
and when it's not, what isbetter left to a human and what
(37:32):
is okay to like bring in ourmachines.
I think that's it.
Fonz (37:38):
I love that.
That is a great answer.
Wonderful answer, All right.
Question number two If youcould have a billboard with
anything on it, what would it beand why?
Stacy (37:51):
It would have to have some truth because I tell you, I
live near San Francisco.
The last time I was drivingthrough the city it was
billboard after billboard of AIhype and like not even true
hypness.
It was like things that werenot even.
It was like what was one that Isaw.
(38:16):
It didn't say do this with AI,it was like AI will do this for
you, type of messaging.
And I was like, no, that is notwhat we need people to think
about AI doing it for them.
It needs to be a collaborationwith AI that you are doing
things together and alwayscentering the human being.
So I think if I were to have myown billboard right in the
middle of all those with badmessaging, it would have to be
(38:40):
some really powerful, balancedmessage or anti-AI message or
some reminder for people to likequestion what they're seeing,
just to kind of counterbalancethat narrative that you just go
onto an AI tool and it's goingto solve all your problems and
do things for you, or that it'sgoing to do it better than you.
(39:00):
That's not true.
Fonz (39:03):
There you go.
I like that so great balance,because you're absolutely right.
I know I think I've seen onsocial media some posts that are
out there.
I mean, I don't get to see themhere in my area, but it'll say
something like you know why hirehumans, hire like a virtual bot
or hire this, and I'm like, ohmy gosh, like this is ridiculous
, you know.
So it's just like you saidfinding that balance and that
(39:24):
human touch.
We still need that human touch,that human approach.
I love that, all right.
Stacy (39:33):
So here we go, some kind of like very humanizing.
Fonz (39:34):
Don't forget the people there you go.
I love that.
All right.
Last question If you had theopportunity to trade places with
one person for a day, who wouldit be, and why?
Stacy (39:48):
Last time I was on your podcast I said I would trade
places with one of my childrenand I think I definitely would
enjoy trading places with mychildren for a day, just to like
have life a little bit easierfor a day.
But I also would be interestedin swapping roles with someone
(40:09):
who travels and gets to doexciting things for a day, just
because I get to do a lot of funthings at school and for my
district and it's reallyexciting.
But I'm not.
I'm a mom of three.
I'm not traveling, I'm notleaving the area, going anywhere
exciting.
But I see Saba Kidwai and hersidekick, sophie going to all
(40:33):
these other places and it looksreally fun and exciting to
travel and get to present aboutAI and talk to educators.
So I think it'd be fun for aday to be in their shoes and tag
along for the ride.
Fonz (40:46):
I would say you can be Saba, and I don't mind being
Sophie.
They'll be their hype girl yeahwe'll trade places with them for
a day.
I wouldn't mind being Sophie,they'll be there hyped, they're
all like, yeah, we'll tradeplaces with them for a day.
I wouldn't mind that at all.
Well, I mean, Stacy, thank youso much for today.
Thank you for this wonderfulconversation, just your
enthusiasm and just yourknowledge and passion for
education as a whole, you know,and just being able to help
educators navigate this spaceand it's been two years, there's
(41:13):
been a lot of things happeningand just to have leaders like
you, you know, that are puttingout great content on LinkedIn,
that are encouraging others,that always have just some
wonderful words and just greatstrategies, I mean I'm just
thank you so much again foreverything that you put out, you
know, because it is veryvaluable and for us like myself
in in this role and for othercoaches that are in that role
(41:33):
too, just to hear from voiceslike yours, the human
intelligence movement and allour other connections on
LinkedIn.
It has been a wonderfullearning experience and journey.
So thank you for all of yourshares today I really appreciate
it and for all our audiencemembers.
Please make sure that you doconnect with Stacy.
Everything, all the information, will be on the show notes, but
definitely follow her onLinkedIn.
(41:54):
She puts out some amazingthings there as well and just
definitely connect her there.
She's so great.
I'm pretty sure that if youmessage her, she'll definitely
help you out or answer anyquestions or, if not, lead you
to somebody that can help alsoas well.
She definitely has a greatnetwork.
I can definitely assure you ofthat.
So thank you, Stacy, and all ouraudience members, thank you, as
always, for making my EdTechLife part of your day.
(42:16):
Please make sure you visit ourwebsite at myedtechlife, where
you can check out this amazingepisode and the other 308
wonderful episodes where, Iguarantee you, you will find a
little knowledge nugget that youcan sprinkle onto what you are
already doing.
Great.
And if you haven't done so yet,please jump over to our YouTube
channel, give us a thumbs upand subscribe.
We're this close to a thousandsubscribers and we definitely
(42:38):
want to get to that.
That's our mission for 2025.
And I think we're about 35short, so maybe you can be that
lucky 35th person that is, ourthousand subscriber, which would
help out the show immensely.
So please make sure that youjoin us on YouTube as well and
(43:00):
follow us on all socials at myed tech life.
So again, friends, thank you asalways, from the bottom of my
(43:32):
heart, and until next time,don't forget, stay techie.
Thank you.
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