TeachLab with Justin Reich

Jesse Dukes reports from a two day training one school district offered its teachers, all to help them adapt to the arrival of generative AI in schools. That training proved helpful to teachers, but it’s not clear how much professional development most American teachers are getting, and it appears many are getting little or none. 

Episode produced by Jesse Dukes

Research by Chris Bagg, Andrew Meriwether, and Natashas Esteves. 

Editorial support by Natasha Esteves. 

Additional research from Manasa Kudumu. 

Thanks for the school district that let us visit (you know who are!) 

Thanks to all the teachers who talked with us for our ongoing research into the arrival of generative AI in school environments. Learn more at tsl.mit.edu/AI. 

We've just wrapped up a school year, so our team researching the arrival of generative AI in classrooms shares  some fun and inspiring moments of teachers adapting to the new reality. We hear from teachers who role modeled the use of as a tool or resource for students, or to generate amusing and weird curricula. 

This episode was produced by Andrew Meriwether and Jesse Dukes, and features research by Natasha Esteves, Chris Bagg, Andrew Meriwether, and Jesse Dukes. Original song "The AI is a Hummin'" written by Jesse Dukes with help from Bing CoPilot, and performed by Jesse Dukes. 

To learn more about our ongoing research, take a survey, or volunteer to be interviewed, visit https://tsl.mit.edu/AI/.

The Arrival of AI powered tools like ChatGPT (now GPT4) in schools has generated concerns that students would use the tool to bypass cognition, or, “cheat” as we colloquially call it. And, it appears many students are doing just that. Early on in our research project about generative AI’s arrival in schools, it seems that English, ELL, and Social Studies at upper levels are particularly likely to encounter students using AI, without permission, to complete assignments. Justin talks to Jesse Dukes who shares a few examples of how teachers are managing this new challenge, and they discuss the wider implications for teaching, ethics, and student well being. 

This episode was produced by Jesse Dukes. We had research help from Natasha Esteves, Andrew Meriwether, and Chris Bagg. Thanks to the Spencer Foundation for funding our research, and to all the teachers and administrators who agreed to speak with us. 

Justin spoke at the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education in November of 2023. You can see his graphics and outline.tsl.mit.edu/AI/ has more generative AI related resources, including our SURVEY for educators, school leaders, students, and parents. Jesse Dukes is leading our current project about the experiences of teachers and students with generative AI this school year. 

Today we share another great episode from our friends at Upper MiddleBrow. As students, parents, and teachers happily (or wrenchingly) returned to school, Upper MiddleBrow invited TeachLab host Justin Reich to talk about stories with teachers. They identify many examples of bad teachers and bad teaching in fiction, and while film and TV often present sympathetic teacher protagonists, they wonder if the Great American Teacher novel is yet to be written.

Resources and Links

Check out Upper MiddleBrow, a podcast where hosts Jesse Dukes and Chris Bagg discuss high-craft works of popular culture

Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools

See Upper MiddleBrow’s Teacher Protagonist’s graphic

Watch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different

Follow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTube

Follow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

Civics 101 is a podcast refresher course on the basics of how the U.S. government works, born from the brain trust at New Hampshire Public Radio and hosted by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice. This is the second part in their series about the state of civic education in the US. 

In this episode, TeachLab host Justin Reich joins the Civics 101 team  to talk about how teachers choose what to teach, so-called "divisive concepts laws," and how we can approach disagreements without falling prey to "division actors."

This episode features: 

• Justin Reich, Director at MIT Teaching Systems Lab and host of the TeachLab podcast
• Louise Dube, Executive Director of iCivics and member of the Implementation Consortium at Educating for American Democracy
• CherylAnne Amendola,  Department Chair and teacher at Montclair Kimberly Academy and host of the podcast Teaching History Her Way

Resources and Links

Check out Civics 101: A Podcast, a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools

Click here to see a map of all the states that have passed legislation limiting what teachers can say regarding race, sex, gender, etc. 

Click here to see the Interactive Roadmap by Educating for American Democracy.

Watch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different
 

Transcript 

https://sonix.ai/share/XBF9ue1HSi1uek4spV3fHohu
 

Follow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTube

Follow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

Civics 101 is a podcast refresher course on the basics of how the U.S. government works, born from the brain trust at New Hampshire Public Radio and hosted by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice. Today is the first part in their series about the state of civic education in the US. 

In this episode, the Civics 101 team gauges how we're doing civics-wise and then delve into the perpetually controversial history of history; have we ever agreed upon a narrative for our nation that we can teach students?

Walking us through the past, present, and future of social studies and civic education are Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, and Adam Laats, Historian and Professor of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University. 
 

Resources and Links

Check out Civics 101: A Podcast, a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools

Watch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different

Follow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTube

Follow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

In our final episode in our Iterate series, we are joined by one of our favorite collaborators here at the Teaching Systems Lab: artist, creative professional and graphic recorder, Haley McDevitt. Haley is a master of listening, synthesizing, and creating visuals that support big ideas. And, Haley is the  illustrator of our host Justin Reich’s new book, Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools.

Justin and Haley go behind the scenes to share the creative process for the book’s illustrations. We also hear about Haley’s own experiences with iteration and growth mindset in her creative life, and learn about the amazing resources that she created to support educators who read Iterate. 

Resources and Links

Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools

Take a look at our free downloadable materials for Iterate, designed by Haley McDevitt

Check out Haley McDevitt’s amazing graphic recording work 

Watch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different

Explore our course Youth In Front, with illustrations by Haley McDevitt

Transcript 

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/iterate-haleymcdevitt/transcript

Credits

Host Justin Reich

Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley 

Recorded and Mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTube

Follow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

This week on TeachLab, we continue our series of conversations with innovative educators with Mel Cheng, a lifelong educator and learner. Mel is the Director of Engagement at What School Could Be, and before that worked as a classroom teacher, technology facilitator and coach, and administrator at Hawaiʻi’s first public charter school for 23 years. A maker enthusiast, Mel believes that intentionally designing environments in which learners are free to tinker builds stronger communities and richer connections.

We talk to Mel about her experiences with the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning, and the idea that people who can really change the teaching and the learning in schools are the classroom teachers.

“Intuitively we know that teachers are the driving force of change and administrators need to create the conditions for this to happen but rarely is that articulated, much less given a road map” 

Mel Ching’s review of Iterate:The Secret to Innovation in Schools

Resources and Links

Visit the What School Could Be platform to find resources for educators and join the community.

Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools

Watch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/iterate-melching/transcript
 

Credits

Host Justin Reich

Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley 

Recorded and Mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTube

Follow our host Justin Reich on Twitter