Ethical AI Usage in the ELA Classroom 
By:  Lyndsay Daly

Project at a Glance :

At the start of the 23/24 school year, Allendale High School had no published guidance for the use of AI in classrooms. This 5 day project was designed to fill a gap -  How are teachers supposed to address AI and encourage students to use it ethically? ​


Driving Question:

How can Allendale High School create ethical guidance around the use of AI technology in our classrooms?           

Standards:

• Skills4Success - Technology Literacy (AI), Communication, and Ethical Citizenship
  

Team / Culture Building:

• Students will be in randomized groups based on their assigned seat for the first day of school. 
• Icebreaker protocol: What’s on your plate this year?  Students decorate a paper plate explaining what other priorities exist for them (in addition to school). This is run kind of like Hopes, Fears, and Norms, but on an individual plate instead of a collective poster.
• Use the Creative DNA and Creative Types activity to get to know each others strengths and weaknesses.​

Entry Event:

• At each table, students will examine a policy from Allendale High School's student handbook. Looking for common vocabulary, things to include, structure, etc.

Stakeholders:

• Principals
  
• Librarians
  
• Teachers
  
• Students
  
• Superintendents
  
• Future employers
  
• Government officials
  
• Authors
  
• Professors
  
•  Counselors
  
• Coaches

Empathy Building:

• Stakeholder Map
• Empathy Maps- every table group creates an empathy map for a different stakeholder.

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Create a Know vs. Need to Know T-Chart in their writer’s notebooks.​​

• Use the Save the Last Word protocol while reading an informational article about the background of Artificial Intelligence.
• Exploration time using AI: show students AI-generated pros and cons of AI, AI-generated handbook guidance.
• Students will create a name for the list of pros and cons of AI, such as:  The Dark Side and the Force).

Incubation:

• Students will produce at least one AI policy for another educational institution: high school or college level.
• Student-Generated rubric: What does our final product need to include in order for this to be a successful policy?​​

Checking in:

• Since this is a short project (around 4 hours start to finish) the teacher will circulate during class time and offer quick feedback to each group as they go along.
• Sentence Starters: For every identified stakeholder, groups must complete this sentence before they begin drafting their policy:  “It’s important to Allendale High School  ____ that this policy includes _____.

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Solution Building:

• Students will begin drafting individually, and then will spend time meshing their group drafts into one handbook proposal.
  
• Self-assessment reminders using student-generated rubric.

Critique and Revision: 

• Stakeholders and classmates will vote on pitch day to see which proposal actually moves forward to the school leadership team (SLT). Then, it will go to the Board of Ed.

Authentic Audience:

• Teachers
  
• Peers
  
• Administration

Final Presentation:

• Elevator Pitch from each group highlighting their handbook entry, followed by a Gallery Walk with Dot Voting.

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:
 

• Audience members were given a feedback form to jot notes on as they rotated through pitches. The handwritten feedback was given to the groups the day after the presentations. 
  
• Students were assessed using a student-designed rubric.
  
• The self-reflection was a Google form created by the FAST team.
  
• Students reflected on the form individually, but reflected with their team and audience members during Q&A and after audience members voted on the best pitches.​

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:
Lyndsay Daly teaches English for College Prep, AP Literature, and English 11 at Allendale HIgh School. 
     "PBL is what makes planning fun for me. Approaching units with driving questions and having an arsenal of protocols has changed the way I teach."