From Tijuana to Top of the Class: A Fifth Grader’s AI Story

A brand-new student walks into a San Diego classroom—fresh across the border, speaking only Spanish. No prep. No warning. Just dropped off mid-morning with a “good luck.”

What happened next? It’s the kind of story that reminds us why AI, when done right, can be the ultimate scaffold.

In this episode, Jake shares the real story of a fifth-grade student who used Snorkl’s AI-powered translation tools to not only access a classroom assignment—but outperform every other kid in the room. What happened when he got a perfect score? The class—and the conversation—shifted.

Key Takeaways:

•  Why AI isn’t isolating students—it’s connecting them
•  How translation tools create equity and engagement
•  Why Lexile-leveling + shared vocabulary = real inclusion

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Transcript

Jake Carr (00:00)
Welcome back to another episode of What Teachers Have to Say. I'm Jake. You ever have a kid dropped off in your classroom, like out of nowhere one morning, no warning, no background, just like a secretary walking away quickly at 9.30 in the morning, like, yeah, so here's your new student, bye. gosh, right, it happens. Well, now, I'd imagine that that student also doesn't speak a word of English, okay. Well.

Today I want to tell you about what happened in Scott Reiter's classroom down in San Diego Unified. It's one of those moments that you wake up and you're like, that's what artificial intelligence is for.

So Nathan and I were down at the ASU GSV The Show, right, the AI and Education Summit in San Diego. And we were at the Snorkel booth, Snorkel, awesome. And there's the fifth grade teacher there named Scott Reiter And he started telling us this story. And I'm like, my gosh, bro, can we just record this? This is amazing. So I want to tell you about what happened down here. So let's just hear it. Here's Scott's story.

Scott (01:10)
So

literally at 9.30 morning dropped off by the secretary and she goes here's your new student, bye. And I have him sit down and started talking to him and realized he spoke no English. 100 % Spanish. He literally just came across the border from Tijuana and had no English whatsoever. And I had a Snorkl project ready to go. And I was like no, what am I going to do with you?

So luckily his mom teaches English across the board in America but they live over there so he's got some back and forth so he had some English but he as a fifth grader knew very little but he knew computer tools he knew how to hit Google Translate he knew how to hit translation on a few other things so he dug into Snorkl and found the translation tool literally before I did.

He played with it enough and found the translation tool and gave the answer that I was asking because Snorkle was able to read it to him in Spanish. So he was able to speak back to Snorkle in Spanish and give them the answer. Right along with my other kids who were doing it in English. He literally was at a desk next to 20 other kids who were doing the same thing. But he did it in Spanish because he found the translation tool. Well, he was the first one to get feedback and literally the first one to get a four. I love that so much. got a four. The rest of my kids were getting twos and

Some were getting threes, but no one got a four. Except him. So that was an instant like, my God, this kid's smart.

Jake Carr (02:32)
Did you catch that, right? Like that, that's the moment, that's the moment, right? That's what we mean when we say that AI is the ultimate scaffold. So Scott didn't prepare for that. Nothing can prepare you for that if you've been through it, right? He didn't build an onboarding packet. He didn't go to TPT and like buy something. He didn't design a three tiered differentiation plan. Like that kid walked in cold.

And because Snorkel has AI voice tools and translation embedded into it, and it's really easy to use, right? And because that student had some computer literacy and he knew his way around a computer, he got instant access to the assignment. And frankly, he crushed it. But also, Scott went on to tell us more that deepened it. So let's keep listening to Scott.

Scott (03:29)
Because let's face it, they're fifth graders, they're not exactly friendly when new kids come in. Especially when a kid speaks a second language, not the same language they do. They're like, he's a new kid, we don't really care. When he got a four and they saw he got a four, it was an instant bonder in my class. my God, this kid's brilliant. What's he doing here? my God, they want to be friends with him. They walked out to Reese.

wanting to be friends, trying to talk to him, and best that they could in their language, because my kids do live in San Diego. have a basic understanding of some words, especially recess type words. Four squared. That pretty much translates to anything. Bounce ball. Pretty much translates to anything.

Jake Carr (04:07)
That's the part that cynics miss. This is why you have to talk to teachers in a classroom. When people say that AI is gonna isolate us, it's gonna break down human connection, it's gonna depersonalize learning, well, they're not watching what happens when a brand new fifth grader uses a tool not just to survive, but to shine, right?

Scott told me that his classes also see that student differently. More than that, they see each other differently. So listen to what else he had to say.

Scott (04:46)
Again, just the way my kids related to him. And I truly believe how they're gonna relate to other kids in the future. Because instantly you think, he doesn't speak the same language as me. He looks different than me. He's not the same as me. But wait, we're more connected than we believe. We don't look the same, we don't dress the same, we don't speak the same language. But we're really not that different. And that's what my kids have found through him.

that they're not that different. They can go outside and play research. They may not be academically the same or the same level, but I find it, even the way my kids treat my kids with IEPs, they're more friendly together through these technical tools that are able to change the lexile level of something, but give the same topic.

can create something at a second grade level and create something at a fifth grade level, change the Lexile levels, and the kids are reading the exact same material at different reading levels. So when we're talking about it as a class, they know the vocabulary words. The vocabulary words were the same. No matter what level you were reading at, they're getting the same content.

Jake Carr (05:49)
That's it right there. That, that is inclusion. That is what an inclusive education setting looks like. And that is an awesome way that artificial intelligence done right can really scaffold and make that student feel seen, heard, all of those things, right?

It's not EdTech for tools sake. It's not about flashy shiny. It's not about, I heard about this new thing. I wonder if I could play with it. No, it's not about novelty. It's about tools that lower barriers, tools that raise the floor, tools that create connection. Okay, so I wanna wrap this up and I just, love that story. Scott is a listener of the show. We were so excited to run into him on the floor of the convention, okay, but.

I want to wrap up what I said there. There's three things, okay? So three takeaways for you. Number one, use AI translation features on day one. Don't wait for a full plan. Don't wait for a transition. Even the really basic tools, Google Translate, things that are embedded in EdTech plans, things that are already embedded into tech platforms, just like Scott found with Snorkel. Those can create immediate...

Access and the first time you do it, maybe it's messy. Maybe maybe you're not gonna get it right. It's okay, but it's better It's better because because of number two We have to we have to let kids see each other win So when your students see that someone knew this this emergent bilingual Student is smart. He's capable. He's thriving it reshapes the whole narrative of that student

And I mean, if they've moved to town and they're there now, I mean, we've seen this story play out so differently where like the bilingual kid or the monolingual, the kid that's only speaking a foreign language comes into a scary new environment and just quietly sits in the corner because there aren't tools. And that's, and we don't need that anymore.

And then also number three, and it's a little to the side, but Scott touched on it. It's rethinking that same content idea. We want the same topic, the same vocab, but at different lexile, a different entry point, different language, right? That's equity. That is connection. That is scaffolding and differentiation.

Well, I know Scott's not alone, right? I know he's not alone. Have you had a moment like this? Because I want to hear about it. These are powerful. This is part of a huge reason why Nathan and I started What Teachers Have to Say, because y'all got a lot to say. Well, we have some exciting ways that you can share stories like this. I mean, believe me, I want to see you in person on the floor. And I want to shake your hand. I want to give you a hug. And I want to celebrate this in person with you. But I don't get to always do that.

So we've opened up two modes. You've heard me talking about SpeakPipe. So just know, all you have to do is jump on SpeakPipe. There's a link in every single description, on every single platform, on every single episode that we put out now. And you can just click on that, and you can do it on a phone, on a computer, on a whatever, and just leave us a voice memo. And it's OK. You can ramble. Don't worry about it. Like, I'll cut it down. I'll edit it. I'll.

I'll preserve your story and your voice and I'll make you sound great. Just listen to what Scott did today. The other thing is brand new and maybe you've stumbled upon it. At the top of the description of all of our new episodes, it says send us a text and guess what? You can just send us a text and it comes in and it is anonymous. So if you want us to know who you are, just add that in there. If you want us to contact you back, make sure you text that in there.

But then at least you can send us a text and we can incorporate that. And it's good to just have community. Remember, like always, you can find us on various platforms. I'm a lot on LinkedIn, right? And Facebook and all of these things. And we want to hear your stories. What is AI making possible in your classroom? All right, keep on questioning.

And if this story moved you, send it to a teacher who might need to believe again that EdTech tools really can bring us closer, not further apart. All right, see ya.