July and August mark the beginning of a new season of school. While many view this time of year with mixed emotions, the idea of back-to-school planning is often met with a particular groan. It is hard to narrow down what to teach our kids when we haven’t met them yet. We want to create activities that will help us get to know them, but we also have to balance building expectations, district expectations, curriculum needs, and any pre-assessments or standardized testing. The time blocks can fill up, and it can be easy to feel like time is running away from you.

This post contains 5 areas that you can consider when doing your back-to-school planning. Specifically, I will be talking to literacy teachers in classrooms grades 4-10, but everyone can pick up some of these ideas and apply the concepts to their own classroom. You can also feel free to steal my first two weeks of school already planned out in detail in this post.

Teachers have been asking for help for years all the while doing the work of multiple professionals in one work week. Between lesson planning, grading, communication to home, activities, and the actual working with kids during the school day, teachers have long been burning out. The newfound trends with AI (Artificial Intelligence) have taken the world of business by storm, with many saying that “you are behind if you aren’t using AI.” Yet, as a former classroom teacher, I was hesitant to check it out. It felt like plagiarism. It reeked of cheating. But, then I adopted a new approach:

What if AI can help teachers do the tasks that take up so much time so that teachers can actually focus on the work of teaching kids?

This post explores the transformative potential of AI in the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. AI has rapidly evolved, paving the way for innovative educational tools and resources that can empower educators to create dynamic and personalized learning environments. In the realm of secondary ELA, AI can serve as a virtual assistant, offering a plethora of benefits ranging from lesson planning and differentiation to supporting English as a Second Language (ESL) and English Language Learners (ELL) students. With AI by your side, you can unleash your creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness as an ELA educator. Specifically, let’s look at how AI can help out with the everyday tasks of teaching including lesson planning, activity preparation, and differentiation to be inclusive of all types of learners.