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79 views

Week 4 Blog

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api-747602263
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Week 4: Magic School AI

Keisha Morris

Southeastern Oklahoma State University

EDUC 5103: Intro Learning Technologies

Dr. Kate Shannon

May 28, 2024


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Week 4: Magic School AI

Part One: Lesson Plans

As technology continues to evolve and create changes in education, Magic School AI

presents itself as a useful tool for educators. Magic School AI offers a wide range of tools

designed to streamline much of the paperwork present for educators. One feature Magic School

AI boasts is the “Lesson Plan Generator” as it aims to help lessen the demands of planning and

preparation by creating lesson plans so that teachers can free up some of their time. While the

lesson plan generator does show potential, it is best used to create outlines and provide a

starting point for educators, rather than being taken as “the end-all, be-all” answer for

streamlining teacher planning time.

For a 10th grade English II class focused on plot elements and summarization, Magic

School AI’s Lesson Plan Generator offers a quickly crafted lesson that is best suited to being

the skeletal outline of a more in-depth lesson. A copy of the lesson plan can be found with the

following link. The teacher must input parameters, standards, and desired learning outcomes

and they will receive a well-organized outline. This outline often includes objectives, key

concepts, activities, homework, and assessments. This is a great starting point for teachers and

will inevitably help them save time while also ensuring that elements of the curriculum are

covered systematically.

While Magic School AI presents advantages for teachers, the Lesson Plan Generator

can produce superficial content that lacks depth and rigor. The plot elements and

summarization lesson mentioned previously lacked the depth necessary for a comprehensive

understanding of complex topics. For example, the lesson plan generator is basic in its

coverage of plot elements and summarization. An educator could view this plan and enhance it

by including cross-disciplinary connections in which students could make connections between

The Cask of Amontillado and other literary works, include class discussion on interpretations,

presentations for peer review, expect detailed justifications and citations for choices, etc. The
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generator also failed to include methods for differentiation, a common misconception, and focus

on higher-level questioning.

Changes to Be Made

One are in which Magic School AI could improve is differentiation. Currently, the

program appears to have a one-size-fits-all approach to lesson plans, which fails to address the

varying needs of a diverse student population. One way to enhance opportunities for

differentiation within the platform would be to include a checkbox system where teachers can

select options for differing student abilities. This could cause the AI to suggest accommodations

such as sentence stems, simplified texts, and text-to-speech for struggling students and

advanced analysis tasks for gifted students, or even multimedia resources for visually impaired,

making the lesson more inclusive and effective for all learners.

Part II: Other Tools

I am not unfamiliar with Magic School AI. I have used it during the 2023-2024 school

year on several occasions. My favorite way to implement Magic School AI is by using the “Text

Leveler” feature. This past school year I had students with various different reading levels

ranging from second grade level to tenth grade level. Because of this large disparity, it was

important that I differentiate lessons to meet the needs of my students. I often found articles on

NewsELA and pasted them into the text leveler to enhance the vocabulary and reading level for

my more gifted students.

Another beneficial tool was the “Multiple Choice Assessment” tool. This tool allowed me

to input text and generate a quick multiple choice assessment from which I could conduct

formative assessments on students and their understanding. I do not believe that this tool

should be used in place of research-based or teacher-created assessments, but rather can be

used to guide instruction and assess where students are showing growth and where there is still

weakness.
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Part III: Reflection

Simply put, AI cannot replace educators, or the work educators must do to ensure high

quality and rigorous instruction. Magic School AI is a tool, and it should be used to guide and

organize lesson plans and assessments. I would and have recommended Magic School AI to

others, but with the caveat that it is a tool to help guide lessons. It should not be used without

being examined and corrected by educators. My greatest concern is that educators use

programs such as Magic School AI without proofreading or analyzing its output, and I strongly

caution all educators against taking that kind of approach.

Educators must engage with the tool critically and add their insights while simultaneously

making necessary adjustments to create rich, differentiated, and engaging lessons that meet the

diverse needs of students. Magic School AI can make lesson planning more efficient and

effective, but it cannot replace educator input in the process and remain as effective.
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References

ISTE (2024, January 1). ISTE Standards: For Students. Iste.org. Retrieved May 22, 2024, from

https://iste.org/standards/students

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English II – Grade 10: 19 TAC Chapter 110, English

Language Arts and Reading. (2017). Austin, Tex.: Texas Education Agency,

https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?

sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=2&ch=110&rl=37

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