aiEDU Studios

Celeste Riley: Teaching with AI, learning with critical thinking

• aiEDU: The AI Education Project • Season 1 • Episode 34

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Imagine a classroom where 5th graders present their research to younger students, take questions, and proudly defend their findings — and where AI is a quiet helper, not the centerpiece. 

That’s Celeste Riley’s dual-language classroom in Memphis! It's a space built on trust, cultural relevance, and clear expectations that make learning feel urgent, relevant, and real. 

On this week's episode of aiEDU Studios, we spoke with Celeste about how she uses AI to widen access and differentiate for multilingual learners while still ensuring academic rigor. 

Instead of policing AI tools, Celeste focuses on vetting and verification: 

  1. Students first draft projects in Canva.
  2. Then, they compare AI summaries with primary sources
  3. Finally, they refine their projects until the writing sounds like them.

Subsequently, class presentations serve as honest assessments. If a grade-schooler asks, “Why did that family leave their home country?” gimmicks fall away and understanding shows up. Along the way, Celeste teaches students good habits for digital citizenship with lessons about strong passwords, online privacy, checking sources, and spotting misinformation. 

Celeste also shared a favorite lesson from an AI cohort: students wrote step-by-step prompts while a partner “played” the AI to reveal how vague requests fail and precise language succeeds – kind of like Amelia Bedelia! She also walked us through her process of using AI to personalize lessons, like reading fluency tools that put students in charge of their own pace of learning. 

For school leaders, this episode digs into what actually works:

  • Short, teacher-led professional development sessions
  • A culture that treats mistakes as part of the learning process
  • Visible celebrations of classroom wins.

The result is a blueprint for blending AI, project-based learning, and bilingual education together without losing the human element that makes school matter. If you believe student voice is non-negotiable, you’ll find practical moves you can use tomorrow. 

 

aiEDU: The AI Education Project

Alex Kotran:

You know, I think one of the most important conversations that we can be having at AIDU studios, which is like actually just giving some time to educators to talk about their experience in the classroom. And you know, there's so much talk about AI and education. And yeah, I think it's important to actually have the teachers who are at the front lines of this kind of just sharing what this looks like or, you know, what your yeah, your own experience. I guess to kick us off, can you tell us your name and then sort of where you teach and maybe even just share a bit about the school where you teach and sort of like help us paint a picture of you know your classroom and then we'll dive in.

Celeste Riley:

My name is Celeste Riley. I am a fifth grade ESL dual language teacher, meaning I teach English and Spanish. Uh I teach at in Memphis, Tennessee at Treadwell Elementary International School. And uh our student population is about almost 60% Hispanic and then uh black students and a few, a few others, but those are mostly who we uh teach in SERB. And our particular students, uh many uh large population are Spanish speakers, and so uh that would be their native language. So we're code talkers.

Alex Kotran:

And at what ages do you teach? Mm-hmm.

Celeste Riley:

So fifth grade, 10, 11, that's the preparing them for middle school.

Alex Kotran:

And so you are uh one of the AI trailblazers.

Celeste Riley:

Yes.

Alex Kotran:

Tell us about, yeah, can you tell us about that experience? Like why first of all, like what prompted you to apply? Um, and then I'd love to sort of hear, you know, just any anything about your experience that you want to open the way, then I'll and then I have more questions.

Celeste Riley:

But Okay, great. Yeah. We're just setting stage. Here's the thing. I don't live in the district that I work in and that I serve in. And I choose a district I serve in because of the students, uh, the access and opportunities. So when I saw this opportunity to join an AI cohort, I was like, ah, game on. It's a game changer to provide access and opportunities to our particular students. And to be honest, I also love even using ed technology in the classroom, especially fifth grade. I'm like, you might, this is your first time. We're gonna learn, we're gonna learn together, we're gonna troubleshoot, and that's fine. That's part of the process. Uh and so, and then we're gonna iterate, figure out what we, you know, got right, got wrong, and move along until uh we we continue to improve our process. So being able to see this opportunity, I know how much AI supports teacher work as far as not just lesson planning, but differentiating. Uh and I also realized with time, because of the way it's continuing to progress at such an accelerated pace. I realized too that uh this is a game changer for our particular students in meeting their specific individualized needs. And that doesn't always happen with our particular population of students. And so that's why I was like, I have to join in, I have to see what I can learn and what I can implement in the class and expose the students and they're excited, they're already using computers all the time. So hey, now we're all doing it together in the classroom.

Alex Kotran:

When did you first kind of get your hands on AI? I mean, everybody has their story. Um, it came out, I guess end of 2022. Were you hearing about it and got curious, or did you just like happen to get hands on pretty early?

Celeste Riley:

That's a good question. When did it first first start? I'm a very curious person anyway. Anytime I hear something new, especially when it's technology, I think I heard uh Chat GPT is probably the one of the first ones. So I'm trying to think which one came out first. If it was that Gemini.

Alex Kotran:

There's ChatGPT was first, yeah.

Celeste Riley:

Okay, thank you for that. Uh and so I've been dabbling along with Chat GPT, Magic School AI, Claude, trying to think of one of some of the other ones. I really like Copal. I've been leaning more towards that one, but I still use Chat GPT all the time. So uh, and so teachers would say, oh, you could use it for, you know, creating mini lessons. You can use it to differentiate your lessons for particular students where you need to scaffold or things of that nature, especially because we're speaking, we're teaching uh speakers of other languages, right? And so I'm always looking for opportunities and ways to expand um my reach in a way that I might not have considered, or even in learning the prompts. Okay, so how can I make my prompts better so that I can really uh be more of an expert in um bringing out the the needs that I are I'm trying to um make sure you know is met in our classroom.

Alex Kotran:

I mean, it makes sense because you're a trailblazer that you're an early adopter, because I feel like for a lot of educators, they were they were kind of caught off guard. And so for for folks, it was students using the tools and whether it's cheating or not, right? It's like um, you know, some teachers that they just like saw that that essay and it was like, wait a second, there's no way this kid wrote that essay. Um is that I mean like fifth grade is interesting because it's you know, they're old enough to certainly be using technology, but do you feel like the kids are a few steps ahead or are are they still early enough that you know they're not necessarily, you know, prompt engineering themselves?

Celeste Riley:

Well, let me backtrack and say this. I um part of my uh master's I took several classes and that included ISTE standards and learning what it means to be a digital citizen. And that's what I bring with me in the classroom. So I'm constantly, for instance, our students um they have to create their own passwords. So I'm like, we're never using our name, we're never using our address, nothing personal. So use your favorite character and maybe the year, something you know, obscure and something you can update. And so I'm always thinking about being the first one to explain to them how to use it, what's why to use it, and that type of thing. And then we just had this conversation. Oh, we had a teacher meeting this last Monday, uh Saturday, excuse me, um, multilingual learners. And a teacher specifically said that, well, this student used it for, you know, they produce this beautiful, you know, paper, la la la. And I said, and they were like, this is the these are the dangers. I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna push back because here's the thing. First of all, my students are writing all the time in class. So I know their voice, I know their capabilities, I know their grammar. So I have an open conversation. And right now we um we complete projects on Canva and there's lots of AR opportunities on there. And I'm like, use it. Now, when you use it and you check out the resources and what it, you know, click on what is it, uh, the background that it's giving you. Is it giving you background? Let's compare that to Google. Oh, Google, you can keep going on with the pages, but when it comes to Chat GPT, it's just giving you like a summary. Is that really robust? Is that really the research that we're looking for? Let's be hierarchical thinkers. And so I'm pushing the envelope, pushing them there with their thinking skills to consider what they're reading. And we're just gonna leave it there. And what does your voice sound like? So sure, maybe I'll take some information, but I'm gonna go check that information to make sure to verify is it meeting um the is it is it true? Is it misinformation, disinformation, that type of thing? And so it's really like learning to engage with information and not just take what's in front of us and say that's it. That's really my whole goal with my fifth graders because they're at that cusp of concrete and abstract. And so with that teacher, I was like, my teachers, my students use it, and I have a conversation. I'm like, so I read this. Um, does it sound like you? And the funny thing is, this particular student last year, he looked at me, he's like, No, I I did use, you know, chat GBT. I was like, you know what, that's fine. I said, take some of that, keep doing your research. I want to hear your voice. This student continued to learn and had become the expert in the the room with using technology. Anytime we ran into a problem, hey, I can help. Of course you can because you love it. So let's engage in that. And I'm like calling him the ed tech guru because I just see his pathway, and I'm super grateful that we have the opportunity to wrangle through it, work through it, and um empower him.

Alex Kotran:

It's really interesting because I feel like there's so much consternation right now about, you know, these tools are just gonna, and I've even stated this worry that like these tools are gonna get in the way of students' productive struggle and um, you know, it's gonna uh undermine learning, or at least like we're worried about this. Um is that example like an outlier, or do you feel like that's actually maybe relatively common in terms of like what you've seen as like as students are using and getting hands-on with AI more? Do you find that they're actually more engaged?

Celeste Riley:

I do. I find like they're very engaged because they are they this is their generation. I mean, it's generation alpha connected to the umbilical card. They grew up with a handy and a computer in their hands all day long. So they're constantly already utilizing it. How can I utilize it and help me with my education, drive my education, right? So project they're learning that right now we're um reviewing and and creating projects over different countries. And I'm about to say, okay, so you just wrote about Afro-Latinics, you just wrote about um the American Revolution. Now you're gonna compare it to revolutions uh in South America, right? Because we're gonna bring in their culture. That that's research. And so we're we're engaging those higher critical thinking skills. And again, I know they're student, the students' voices. So we're gonna work at the with this in the classroom, utilizing those tools, but not just they're bringing it to me. Okay, so what do you think about this? And it's a lot of it's the engagement. It's not just here, go do this, you're done. Oh, you completed it, check. No, because I mean, anybody can do that. Um, it's more like we're having a constant, continuous conversation. They show me the work. I'm like, I'm not sure. What do you think? Does this really sound like you or is this sounds like college level, you know, terminology? I never heard you use these words. What do these words mean? You know, that type of thing. And it's really the engagement I feel, and and them feeling safe enough and brave enough to come to the teacher and say, okay, I did use it, but what do I do now? Or how do I how do I engage with it at a higher level so that I can continue learning, right?

Alex Kotran:

We were just doing a podcast, we were talking about advice of parents, and there's a um a psychologist who one of the points she made is like you have to build trust with kids. If you really want to be able to engage them in this, like you have to actually, you know, you can't just approach this from this like assumption of bad intent.

Celeste Riley:

Oh yeah.

Alex Kotran:

Um and but then there would be folks who say, well, you know, uh, but some kids are just gonna use it. Maybe it's not cheating, but it's a shortcut. And um and and so you mentioned this idea of like a you know, like project-based learning, you describe part of a project. Can you just share a bit more for like teachers who are listening in and wondering, like, what does it actually look like? Because maybe just and maybe I would just repeat back to what I heard is you know, focusing not just on the output, but on the process to get the Yes, yes. But like, but like sort of like tactically, like how do you how do you sort of like test knowledge and make sure that there is learning happening?

Celeste Riley:

Sure. So learning comes through iterations, right? It's like computer, that computer language, right? Where we're just constantly learning through different processes. Uh with our projects, we use Canva, as I mentioned before. When they complete the Canva, they present it. So we're fifth grade, we present it to fourth graders. And not only do we present, but I also tell them you must be ready to answer any kind of question that they have, and then you have to provide some extra information. So now only, so now, and I'm about to test them in this because when we stand in front of another group and we start reading and it doesn't sound like us, how is that gonna work? Right. Because if I know what I put in my work, if I know what I put in each slide and it's me, then I'm not gonna, it's gonna sound like me. But if it doesn't, that's when we can have that conversation. And it's an open conversation. So maybe the teachers might ask a question, another student. So why, uh, how come they left their home country? A person who's truly engaged in the research would be able to answer that, where another student will not be standing there going, uh, I don't know. And that nobody likes to feel like that, you know, where we're like, I mean, it's one thing to ask a quite easy question that we really can't answer, but it's another thing to ask a question with the research we should have conducted because they have a rubric, they know what it is. Um, and so really I'm going to walk through because we we just returned these in like literally on Tuesday. And I've even gave them some extra days. So I'm gonna engage with them first before they stand in front of the audience just to say so with the one-on-one consultation. And that takes time. That does take time. It, you know, but at the same time, I'm helping them to see is this you? Does it sound like you? How can you make this sound more like you? What more, how more can you make your project more robust, that type of thing. And from the beginning it to the end, you see, you have a subject, you have a project per trimester, right? So we basically would have four projects. By the fourth project, they're rumping and rolling, like they're owning it, they're excited to present, they're excited about their work. People who students who like are just pulling it out from the internet, copy and paste, and we talk about plagiarism all the time. Um, they're not as excited to present, right? So I I feel like as long as we're engaging in topics that they're interested in, that's how we can do it.

Alex Kotran:

And it's funny because what you just described, there's like a college professor and he's getting a lot of accolades because it's like, oh, he like figured out how to, you know, re engineer the classroom. And it's basically kind of like what you just architected yourself, which is you have you you the students know that they're gonna be, I don't know if you call it being getting put on the spot, but they kind of like are feeling a little bit of that pressure. And so you can't just memorize, you can spell you can spend all the time memorizing the words, but you're better off actually easier just to like lure the material.

Celeste Riley:

Um there you go.

Alex Kotran:

Yeah.

Celeste Riley:

And it's that accountability, it's accountability. It's like because you know, really, especially for students, like where is their voice? How often are they asked questions about world issues, things that are happening, and that type of thing? And when they find that empowerment, like my voice counts, what I think counts, absolutely. So Tommy, what does this mean for today? How can we connect from the the the because we study history a lot, I teach uh social studies in Spanish. How do we connect that to what's happening today? It is so engaging. I don't have to worry about them just copying and pasting because they themselves see the beauty of what they're learning and how they are growing from the beginning to the end of the year. If I have teachers, I have students that reach back to me and go, Miss Why, you're the best teacher, because they know I've helped them engage their higher critical thinking skills. To me, that is the not the end goal, but that is the reach.

Alex Kotran:

Yeah, you mentioned critical thinking, which is something we're obsessed with, but you also mentioned agency. Yes. It feels like it's quite powerful that you combined, you've given students agency, but you've also you're tapping into something that I think a lot of educators are struggling with, which is this this feeling that kids just aren't in like there's the sense that students don't find what they're learning relevant. Yes. And I like did that come naturally to you, like just for for teachers who are struggling, you know, because kids are tough crowds these days and they have a lot of distractions. And it's funny because we haven't really talked about using AI, which I think is awesome. Because I it sounds like AI is almost like it's it's sort of a background player. It's like you're it it it's been helpful, but what you're describing actually I think applies almost, you know, would be would have been relevant even before AI. But like what advice would you give teachers who are that are just like feeling like, oh, it's really hard, or like, you know, granted, you know, maybe they're a math teacher or an English teacher where you're just teaching something that just isn't actually that fun.

Celeste Riley:

Look, I love English. And here's the funny thing. Last year, when we were looking at figurative languages, I said, Y'all, I love Shakespeare. And so we were jumping in, even though we're fifth grade. We were just saying things idioms. Uh uh, we had um a person come into our classroom that was talking about by but uh being bilingual. And he was asking the students, where do you want to be? And one of the students popped up, I want to be an English teacher. I was like, because they want to teach Shakespeare. You just never know what you're gonna say, but let me circle back. The biggest thing with engagement is meet the students where they are. So uh I had my youngest, um, she's in middle school now. When I first started teaching fifth grade, she was fifth grade. I was like, give me all the in-roads, girl. I need to know the words. So every year, you know, terms change. Last year it was always skibbity toilet. So I was like, I don't want no skibbity toilet with this work. I want you to level up. Give me 10,000, you get 10,000 aura points for those words. And so use the words that they use. Now I know some teachers feel uncomfortable, like, oh, this is professional. I tell, yes, it's professional, but sometimes I'm like, hello, what's happening here? You know, or okay, like six, seven is the big thing. You know, like find those little nuances that they're like, what? What do they how do you know about that? But those inroads make all the difference and making those connections with them. And so, like, we all love watching like Stranger Things and Wednesdays. So we talk about who's watching that, who's watched Squid Games, you know, little nuances because when you show them that you care about what's happening in their life, man, everything else just opens up. They're like flowers, and then they're ready to get super engaged. Not everybody, sure, of course not. And when it comes to especially teaching like English and teaching things that may not be culturally relevant, or they're like, that happened a hundred years ago. I always try to connect it to their life. Like we just read about um World War II and co-talkers, right? And the the the Navajo language and how that helped, you know, navigate that time frame. And I was like, you guys are co-talkers. Did you know that? And they were like, What do you mean? I was like, Because you know two languages, look, you can talk. And I started speaking in Spanish. And I say, if somebody monolingual just walked in the door, they would know what we're saying. You're a co-talker. So like I'm constantly building the up the things that the strength that they have, right? And and so just I I feel like every time I time I trap into one of those things, they're into messy, they're into soccer. Okay, let's talk about soccer, you know. Uh all those things make all the difference with being able to like streamline the areas that um they're learning about. I I just I'm like, we're repeating like, you know, history repeats itself if we don't know it, like all these pieces. They're there, they're children and and people are naturally curious. They we really are. So like continuing that curiosity, game changer.

Alex Kotran:

Have you ever used AI to just help you come up with an idea of how to connect with students?

Celeste Riley:

Uh I use it more for like really to be honest, is more of with assessments for me. Um, but asking questions. Yeah. Oh, but because with assessments, yeah. Um, so if I'm a particular standards, you know, we're always standard driven. And so I'm I'm working towards a standard, and I feel like, okay, there's a little bit of a misconception here. Help me break this down um to me to explain it in a different way. And so it will bring something out. I don't find it is as rigorous, to be quite honest. And that may be because of the input, right? The more input it has, the better it can output. And so um it'll produce something, but it'll won't be as challenging and higher order for them as I want it to be. So I'll even take it and tweak it myself. But as far as assessments, they might give me a little affirmative one. And so then I go, okay, this works. Okay, that doesn't work. How can I change this again? And I all, you know, that's kind of how I use it.

Alex Kotran:

Right. This is important. You're describing you're not just using the AI, having it spit something out, and then that goes right to the students. It's like you're taking that, you're remixing it. Yes, making it your own with your understanding of the kids. And um, can you talk about just like for your peers? So, like the other teachers, are you an outlier? Like, are other colleagues also doing some of this stuff, or or are they still skeptical?

Celeste Riley:

I am an outlier. I and again, I'm a naturally curious person. I get so excited to know that there's an uh that AI's an entity that's learning from itself, learning from other computers, learning from us. I I can't even imagine the world. And that's actually one of the things that I utilize in my classroom. I show them the job. What jobs are happening today and what jobs can you do with AI or what jobs? That's one of my last projects, actually, because I asked them what careers are you interested in, you know, getting involved. In how will AI change that job? And so when I ask them how AI will change that job, they they start realizing, oh, uh AI can help, you know, uh streamline this job, like the industrial revolution, right, is streamlined things. AI might be able to help me um just decimate information at a faster rate than I can myself. Um, or it might be, you know, there's just different things. And so being able to engage in that type of thing, those that curiosity. So I'm I'm like a Rubik's Cube. I'm like, there's many sides to me. Um when I do present to our teachers, there are teachers like, oh, I don't know, that's just too much. Uh we recently just had a PD on ed technology. And I'm like, there's so much that we could use. You don't have to, you have to, you can work smarter, not harder, right? That's the purpose of AI. For instance, there's a one called reading coach, where you can select the passage for the student. The student reads the passage and then um it shows them the accuracy rate. It captures their minutes, and I tell them capture your data and then listen to the vocabulary words that you had a difficult time either pronouncing or you don't know what the word was, go back and improve your reading rate. This is them driving their own education because I don't have to say with them. I mean, I can and I do with the ones who really need the the most intense uh intervention. But some of our other students, they just need practice reading out loud. And so that AI is listening to them. And I'm like, bam, bam, like what? So uh some teachers push back though. They're like, oh, I don't know. Uh Edpuzzle's another one. Recording yourself so that um when students are taking the test, they can hear you and they can follow along uh as you're reading the test to them. There's just so many opportunities and advantages. IXL, uh NearPod, I use everything. I'm like, hey, I want you to learn it. I'm learning it with you. It's okay if we make mistakes. I use clickers and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. That's fine. It's part of it. Like, that's the beauty of learning is making the mistakes and going, huh, that worked, that didn't work. What could I do better? In fact, I even tell them, I'm like, did you troubleshoot? They start telling me, you know what? I troubleshot that Mr. Alley. I checked this the internet, I checked this, I did this, and you know, now they're giving me like all the stuff that they're taking, where in the beginning of the school year they didn't know. And I also tell them this you are teaching your family. You're the expert in the room because they don't know, they haven't used it. We use Google Classroom. I did not use it last year. And um, it made things um communication a little bit difficult with homework and projects and things of that nature. But now I'm like, you show them, all right, click the hamburger. Okay, now do we do what do we do? Drop down box. Okay, so this is where you um, you know, upload your assignment, and then here are the test grades. I damn, it's ready to go.

Alex Kotran:

So, how long have you been in the uh the AI Trailblazer cohort?

Celeste Riley:

Uh well, last year was when I completed I completed it uh Oh, you that's right, that's right.

Alex Kotran:

You completed it last year.

Celeste Riley:

Yeah, I just completed it like May. It was like the it was a year round, yeah, academic year.

Alex Kotran:

Yeah, I mean, can you tell me about like some of the stuff you learned in the cohort and how that's like influenced your own teaching practices?

Celeste Riley:

Listening to other educators and what they were doing, because we were able, we were in spaces with, you know, from pre-K all the way to high school. Um, and so I I love listening to other educators and seeing what they use, how they utilize it in their room. And even if it's kindergarten, just listening to some of their best practices and form my practices, that was very powerful. Then when we created our projects with our particular group, so you know, elementary work together and middle school work together and high school work together. Um, and then when we implemented the program or the lesson, uh, my student said to me, Miss Ronald, that was the funnest lesson we've ever had. I was like, of course, because it was, we had to slow down and realize the steps that we give to AI and what that really looks like. And so at first we're so automated with uh our moves and what we do that we don't realize that for coding or when it comes to prompts, we have to be very specific, very explicit in order to get the output that we want. And so once we re we uh again iterated that, iterated that in the classroom, they didn't want to stop. They were like, can we do it again? Let's do another one. And so again, that's sort of um really leaned towards that project base because it gave them an opportunity to see it from the coder's point of view and also from the AI. Like AI is gonna only uh give you what you put in. So if I say stand up, it's only gonna stand up. If you're trying to tell us a walk, it's not gonna do anything, right? So they'll start with things. So it was really engaging. They really enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed that. And I enjoyed seeing the videos of the other uh lessons that the other teachers provided. So holistically, it was really uh aligned to the standards and what I wanted to do and that type of thing. And so I'm actually gonna uh reintroduce that again this year and then level it up with a different uh AI lesson uh with our uh with our this new group of students.

Alex Kotran:

Can you walk us through the lesson itself?

Celeste Riley:

Yeah, so I like I love that AI actually had slides um ready, you know, that we can utilize if we wanted to. They actually had some printouts that we could use and then um then we can decide, and they even had a little video. So one of them was just was sequencing, it was providing uh prompts to the AI, and then the other one, the other person acted like the AI, right? So for instance, if I was supposed to give it, uh it was supposed to give me a handshake. Well, first I have to tell the AI to walk left and right and then left and right, you know, uh put out your hand. Which hand do I just put out my hand or my arm? You know, it was so specific, and we think that's so ridiculous, but it's not because then once they were done giving the commands, they started doing moves. I said, wait a minute, but you didn't tell it to do that move. And then I was like, you know, like a high five. They were like, high five. I said, but did you tell it to high five? So I'm like, so I was standing next to them modeling what their uh actual prompts were versus what they thought their prompts were. And I was like, okay, let's go back to the drawing board, talk to your partner, see what you can change to make it very clear and very specific. And that just helped them slow down. And then we wrote about it in our sequencing, what we learned, uh, what we now know, and uh what we could do better next time and that type of thing.

Alex Kotran:

So there's like an older version of that activity, which is um making instructions to like to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh, yes, and um, but I like that this one is it's interactive and actually gets like multiple people because the peanut butter and jelly sandwich one is uh maybe harder to do with a classroom like at school.

Celeste Riley:

Oh, I need to add this. I totally forgot. So I went online because I I like a I love media. Um, I found a Junie B. Jones, uh no, it was Amelia Bedelia, excuse me. Amelia Bedelia, because that was a perfect hook because Amelia Bedelia misunderstood the instructions, even though they were told she was told to, you know, um powder the baby or something like that. And so she's getting weird things into the, you know, and they're laughing. And I'm like, but this is what happens if we are not clear and explicit with our instructions. It was a short video, we were all laughing at the end, you know, dress the chicken. And so she's cutting out, you know, clothing to make a dress for the chicken. And so again, we're engaged, we're laughing. Um, we now understand what it means. And then we went into the lesson, and then we came out on the other end. Okay, so are you giving, you know, the banana to the chicken or the baby? Like one of the things was giving the banana to the chick, the baby, but that she did peel it. So anyway, it was fun.

Alex Kotran:

It's so funny. You mentioned Amelia Bedelia, and I'm like, oh my god, I literally read Amelia Bedelia. And yeah, pretty sure the one you're referencing is where like she delivers the chicken and it's yeah in a box wearing like literally suspenders and exactly, yeah.

Celeste Riley:

And but that was a perfect connection to what it means to you know, to code AI, if you will, or to to give it the clear and explicit prompts. And they're so excited. Like, I'm I cannot wait to see what happens in is happening today and now, but like what our students are gonna do uh as adults in the career choices that they have that are that work alongside AI, mind blowing. It's a whole new world, it's a paradigm shift.

Alex Kotran:

You know, adults are like freaking out about oh my god, what are the what's gonna happen to jobs? And um I think there's a worry about talking to kids about it because we don't necessarily have the answers. I love that you're just bringing them in and challenging them to think about what would these jobs, the future, look like, which feels like the perfect way to get them to A, like be aware that like jobs are changing, but then give them agency, which is I think often missing even in like conversations with adults where you know they're hearing all the doomsayers talk about, you know, AI disruption, and we're not also posing the question of like, well, what can you do? Yeah. So just to close, there's you know, a lot of the folks that we talk to are building leaders, district leaders, uh, and they're always trying to they're agonizing over like, well, how do we support more teachers embracing you know just not not necessarily just the AI tools, but right, but some of the practices that you've talked about, like project-based learning, you know, making learning relevant, um, integrating the standards. I mean, like, what advice do you have to to those education leaders that are ultimately trying to like empower folks like you and maybe address some of your colleagues who are you know a little bit less uh ahead of the curve?

Celeste Riley:

Definitely some PD training makes a big difference. So, and in in and in small, in small chunks, right? Because if I give you everything, I'm I can't, it's too much. I don't know what you're talking about, and I'm just gonna check out. So start with one thing. So, for instance, our school, we with our PD, we have five rooms. Every the teacher who excels in teaching that particular thing or utilizes it in their classroom, like I love using NearPod, they taught 15 minutes, 15 minute chunks. And then the teachers can write, ask questions, answer questions, whatever it may be, but it was a small chunk of time. Having your utilize the teachers in your building that are already excited and utilizing these these uh different opportunities, right? That's really what they are. Um, because my enthusiasm will rub off even more than just an admin enthusiasm, right? Um, and then they don't feel like, oh, I gotta do this. It's more like, oh, this is how they're doing it. And as soon as we had this PD, we had two or three. Show me how to do that. I'm gonna use it tomorrow because it's actionable. And that's a big part of it too. So I have to one, utilize the people in front of you. Two, um, is it something I can take away and utilize tomorrow? If it's something that it's gonna take a long time to utilize or to implement, I'm gonna walk away from it. But also make it normal that it's okay for it not to work well the first time, right? And that's part of the process. Like, and then I would even say go back a month later. So, how what worked, what didn't work, how can we, what else can we implement for those who it worked for? Great, try the second one now. And then those who didn't work, let me see how I can support you. Because sometimes teachers, especially when it comes to technology, it's going so fast that if I'm not learning about it as it's going on, uh, I'm gonna be very lost. And so um feeling uncomfortable with being uncomfortable, it's fine. Like that's okay. You're building the plane as you as you're flying it, that's okay too. Our students are doing it, we're doing it. Let's just do it together. And so doing it as a as a school, I think if you could introduce one maybe once a month, I don't know if that's overwhelming, maybe, maybe every six weeks. If some teachers have pushback, but having a real good PD on it makes it all the difference. Even some like recording. Hey, um, are you you had the PD, but I still I don't remember all the steps. Can you like send me a video so I can do it on my own time asynchronously? Big because I know I'm a visual learner. I'm like, okay, she said, click here, let me click here. Uh now I'm supposed to go over here. Okay, that just helps my brain when I'm implementing it in the moment. And then share the wins. Hey, I used this for three, you know, in three, three months. I use this and I saw an increase in this kind of engagement. And then we hear each other because I'm listening to you. What? That worked in math. Maybe that'll work in ELA, you know, and vice versa.

Alex Kotran:

This all speaks so loudly, and it's something that we've it's been our intuition. Uh, it's really powerful to hear it actually coming to life, this idea of you can't just mandate this top-down, creating a safe sandbox for experimenting and you know, celebrating failure as a learning opportunity. Stuff that we would I I think want for our kids, but educators also feel like they need to know everything and that that's that's impossible in this um in this moment. Um it's Celeste Day, right?

Celeste Riley:

Celeste, yes. Thank you for that. Yeah, Celeste Spanish name.

Alex Kotran:

I know that we're we're at time. I wish I could I wish we could chat for another hour, but um, but yeah, it sounds like you have a busy day. Uh yeah, thank you so much for for jumping on. Yeah. This has been this has been really cool actually hearing it. It's like the most fun conversation I've had in a while. Um and I can see why your kids are your enthusiasm is rubbing off on me. I can imagine your kids totally uh like feeding off of it as well.

Celeste Riley:

Yeah, they um they really are the light of the world. And um, I'm just I'm grateful that I get to sit in this space and we get to explore the world together. Ah, it's so the world is so curious, it's beautiful. So we learn together. So thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.