001on Thursday, December 4th. Uh we'll start by calling the Wilton Board of Education organizational meeting to order. Um as per bylaw 9120, the officer interest survey was sent on 117 and the results were included with board material um packet emailed to members in advance of tonight's meeting. Um Lori, Mark, Pam, and I expressed officer interest. Um, board members may nominate any member to serve as an officer notwithstanding the information shared through the survey. Board members may accept or reject a nomination notwithstanding any information shared with the survey. Um, as per bylaw 9120 and 9321, we move to the election of board officers which are to be done in writing and recorded in the minutes. Anybody has three ballot sheets? Um, are there any nominations for the position of chair? >> I nominate Ruth to continue
002her work as chair. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Lori second. Any um discussion? Um move to um vote by paper. I just Is it required? There's only one candidate. >> Yes. Yeah. Thank you. [Music] It's uh six goes for >> So um you said six up >> six. Yeah. >> Thank you. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you all very much. Um are there any nominations for the position of vice chair? >> I'll nominate Nicola Davies. Uh second any discussion vote by >> Am I allowed to ask a question of Nicola? >> What was that? [Music] >> I don't um usually the discussion is you know there's discussion on the motion. The motion is Nicola. So I'm >> Oh sorry. >> So that's a no. I mean, >> you're you're the chair. I'm
003just >> It's never come up before. So, I mean, >> I'm just curious if it's I was just curious why you didn't express interest. >> Oh, because I I it felt like >> Or do you actually want the job? >> Yes. Did you want the job? It was Thank you. [Music] Six votes for Nicola Davies. Congratulations. Um, are there any nominations for the position of secretary? I would like to nominate Lori. I'd >> like to second. >> I'll second. >> We'll take Nicholas as the second. Any discussion? Vote. I Christine Magnum is still going to be with me. Poor thing. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] S for Lori. Thank you for secretary. With officers being um set, we'll move to um the consent agenda. Has everyone had a chance to review the consent agenda which includes the
004appointments of Shipman and Goodman for council? Dr. Christine Mackin as medical advisor, designates signatories for the WPs Webster bank accounts, and appoints the firm of Kaden, Escalara, and Male as impartial hearing board. Are there any um questions about the consent agenda? Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? I >> move. Thank you, Nicholas. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Pam. All in favor? >> I I >> Any oppose or obsession? >> I'm just again I'm confused because this consent agenda just says minutes from the November 20th business. >> No, that's the um full organizational meeting. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Sorry. >> I did read all those things. I I >> motion carries unanimously. Um moving to the um next item we have to discuss and approve the 2526
005meeting calendar. Um has everyone had a chance to review the meeting calendar? The calendar sets the time and the date of regular BOE meetings which are always the first and third Mondays of each month. The budget workshops and also the BOE BF joint budget meeting. Um are there any questions about the calendar? >> Just one question, Ruth. the if I recall last year I don't know if we use the third budget workshop meeting if anybody but those are like at our discretion to keep or cancel for that >> the workshops or the regular meeting >> the workshops the yeah the workshops we scheduled um we had like I think two cost centers or three cost centers per workshop um what we can do is if we find whether we're racing through the first one and
006you know we can um adjust the schedule for the second one and then you you can keep it or cancel it if you want. >> I think if I remember correctly, last year we went we used the three workshop meeting dates but we took off of further deliberations from another from another meeting. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Great. >> Any other questions or discussions on the calendar? Is there a motion to approve the calendar? >> So move. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Lori. All in favor? I >> I >> motion carries uh unanimously. Um finally there's um to just review and discuss there's for you all there's a um draft board committee members and liaison list. Um what I would um ask of all members to do is to
007take that home, think about your time and your availability and your interests over the um coming year and then when we come back to workshop on the 18th um if you could be prepared to you know share what your assignment interests are and um discuss your individual you know goals and priorities as we um figure out who's going to take on what in the coming year. Um, and if anybody has any questions um about that either now or in the coming weeks, you can feel free to email. And with that, the 25 organizational meeting is um adjourned at 7:08. [Applause] And at 7:09, we'll call the Thursday, December 4th, 2025 Wilton Board of Education regular meeting to order. Has everyone had a chance to look at the agenda? Is there a motion to approve the
008agenda? >> So move. >> Thank you, Pam. and we'll take Pat a second. All in favor? >> I motion carries unanimously. Um public comments. The board has set aside time at the beginning and end of regular meetings for public comments for members of the public to share their views on matters involving the Wilton Public Schools and to help inform the board's decisions on such matters. Two minutes will be allotted to each speaker and a maximum of 15 minutes to any one subject. For the record, please also give your name and address. The board considers the views of citizens in its deliberations and welcomes and appreciates public comment. The board listens to public comment thoughtfully and with interest. The board, however, generally does not respond to public comment during board meetings by offering commentary or answering
009questions. The board also invites commentators and the public to contact the superintendent directly with any specific questions or comments. The board through the chair and the superintendent may respond to questions and comments offered during public comment or shared directly and in responding may also direct members of the public to the appropriate staff member for a response. Are there any comments from the public? No comments. There'll be an opportunity again at the close of the meeting. Um consent agenda. Has everyone had a chance to review the consent agenda? It's the minutes from November 20th business operations meeting. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Thank you, Nicholas. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Pad. Any questions or discussion? All in favor? I. Motion carries unanimously. Um board chairs report. I
010don't have anything tonight. So, great. >> Just a couple things. First, welcome. So very happy to have you at the table. Um we want to congratulate um 68 of our newest National Honor Society inductees who were inducted two nights ago. Um Mr. Michael DJ Janeiro who is a relatively new school counselor has taken over celebrating that group. So he's been working with the officers and they put together a terrific induction ceremony and um a lovely reception that followed today. um our former board member had two of her her two teams wearing jackets. So, congratulations to them and to the others um nice and then uh if you were there or following along or read the paper um our football team um one last night and so they're on to the state semi-final game which will
011take place here at Fujitana Field um either 6:30 or 7 on Monday in Benel and so that should be a good game. So bring your winter coat and come on out. Uh and then last uh just on the calendar, next Wednesday, Thursday, um December 10th and 11th, we'll have our um sounds of the season concerts um in the Cloon. And so I was down with um Malcolm and his ensemble this morning or this afternoon um just listening and it's they make a joyful noise and so it'll be you know worth your time to attend. So u mark it in your calendars if you're available. Um and then just the the last item for me. Um there was just a little chatter before um the meeting started. And so you saw the um you may have
012saw the headline in the article about last night's um facilities committee here in the town. And um that's been just a challenging process. You know, there's a lot of information to digest and trying to, you know, get that ship moving in the right direction. It's um been daunting to say the least. And so a lot of good people sitting around that table wanting to do good work and um not having good clear information has just been challenging for all the time this this committee has been. um thought it might be helpful um for this board to take some time on the 18th and then again um you know we can look at some additional time when next we may after the budget presentation in January to really do a a much more um in-depth examination
013of um our facilities plans um such as they are and are developing. I think for you know the 18th one of the things I want to um talk with you about and get your input about is around sequencing. Um we had kind of a g general plan in place uh that was emerging um really thinking about Middlebrook and then moving on to Cider Mill and then you know really focusing attention at the high school because that's where most of the work needs to be done. There are a lot of factors that weigh into that. Um and so I think that um merits a conversation. We have um Eric Hire from KG&D doing work for us now. And so we'll have u we should have it by that meeting um for all of you to look
014at both the um educational specification documents for each of our schools. Um plus the um bond proposal um for Middlebrook School. um we should have that by then as well to look at and if we don't we'll certainly have it um for the first week in January and then I think so having first round conversation then a second round conversation around um strategy and you know what kind of additional technical help we might need to really make sure that we set these projects up appropriately and make sure that nothing gets missed in the planning in the early planning phases um I think would be freeful so if you're on board with that then you know I'll I'll make those arrangements management. >> That sounds right. >> So, we'll add it to the 18th. >> Yeah.
015>> Okay. >> That's it for me. >> Okay. >> Um so, um next up under um review and discuss um is the um community conversation um parent engagement and um budget discussion which um takes place that two weeks ago already. >> It's time flies. >> I know. almost 2026. >> Yeah. So, you I just thought we'd take an opportunity um to just to have a debrief conversation. Um we shared with you the um Google Gemini summarized notes. Um they were, you know, pretty accurate to what was actually printed on paper. Um and so you know thematically um if you have time to read through them you know you'll get a general sense you know from the group that was um assembled in terms of budget priorities uh you know there were a lot of common
016themes that instruction um professional learning ensuring you know services um it looked to me like a desire to continue to expand you know more hands-on and you know kind of authentic type experiences. Um and then you know the other set of questions really hopefully challenge people to think about you know how we can um continue to strengthen um just parent engagement. And so one of the um I think older takeaways that I saw both in the summary and in the actual documents was this interest in having um you know more events that include kids and parents together. And so, you know, we do some of those across the year and um for fairly obvious reasons, they're always well attended. And so, to think about how we might be able to capitalize on those and, you
017know, maybe add some other things. Um I I thought too, um I found it interesting just that what people found, you know, really valuable in the the strength of the relationships um you know, that they enjoy with teachers and other staff. And so I think again shouldn't be a surprise to anyone but um certainly a reminder of our values and you know some of the work and practices that we need to continue but I just you were all there and so you know would love to hear your feedback as well. >> Yeah. So I'd love to even just go around the table since we were um all there and share your thoughts or comments anything from the organ organizational nature of the meeting to specific content um in it. So >> yeah happy to start.
018So, um I think one of the one of the I don't know paradoxes that I our group ran into as we broke into groups and were answering some of the questions together was our first station was around how do we drive more engagement between families and the schools and we were debating things whether it was you know the timing of events does it conflict during the day with the workday or at night with post school activity and things and I think one of the conclusions we came to was the folks that were able to show up from from the community are the same people that are always able to show up from the community. And so we didn't have an answer, but like we need to get more creative with how to draw the community
019out to interact with us. And one of the things we talked about as a group just timed up because parent teacher conferences were coming down the pipe was like it would be great to have to find a venue where parents are already going to be showing up because they're there for parent teacher conferences and those things draw people out. I think we should take advantage of those events to source feedback from the community because they're going to be there over a 4-day period for example. So, not to try to push one idea over the other, although our group did push that one forward, so I'm partial to it. But, um, I think it was I think it was a good reflection for everybody was like, yeah, it's the same 18 20 people that are there
020and we have to figure out a different way. Um, and so that that seemed like one interesting one. And there's a lot of those examples of events where parents are coming out, football games, sporting events, and where I think we can get creative for how to solicit that type of feedback. >> Yeah, appreciate that. Um, Mark, I know you were there for a little bit. Any thoughts or reflections? Was your first kind of entry? >> Um, I think probably the same thing, which is I don't know. I don't know if I got it right. I just sort of did my best to count who were staff and faculty and board members versus who were not. >> Yeah. >> And the ratio. I just don't know if you got the signal you needed. >> Yeah. Well,
021we were >> That would be my over represent >> like not not that the people in this room don't have good ideas, but Yeah, I would I wouldn't I would never argue is a a representative sample from our community for sure. >> Um it's like a good brainstorming session, I guess. But >> could we do the same thing again but in the daytime because online notes are all about the same theme? You know, if we want to get engagement from parents, we need to find ways that suit their kind of time crunched lifestyle. So, is there anything we could do with a short digital survey or a building level listening opportunity or have Zoom hours and people could drop in and just listen or make a comment? >> I think we can do whatever we
022think makes sense. Yeah, because I, you know, I'm like I would go around the the pickup line an hour before school lets out Driscoll and the car have conversations with 20 people. One of the things I was with Karen and Brian and Bob and Karen was talking about the lack of attendance to curriculum nights and I was I was thinking why don't the kids and the parent come to curriculum nights and why don't the kids ask their parents to come to those things that are so low in attendance and I not and obviously it's not going to work in North school or even cider mill but at the high school if we can add so that there's engagement between the the ch the kid and the parent listening to the curriculum and both of them
023looking at it and talking about it and have some dialogue because the parent goes but the kid doesn't go and it's it's what he's supposed to be doing. So why can't we have a joint and ask the kids to ask their parents to come and they come as well because it's not like it's mysterious or something that they wouldn't It's what they're being taught. And I just thought, why aren't why aren't we doing more of that? Because they will come if the kid is engaged, >> right? They'll come if there's something that the kid is doing, they'll show up for that. >> Yeah. I think the the game night format that the lower schools have used, you know, that's really tended to showcase curriculum has been >> comparatively much better attended. >> That's a good
024recommendation. I thought a couple of the themes that came through that haven't been mentioned are um great interest in wellness um and there was a couple themes of using outdoor spaces more. I'm sure you guys saw that and also um technology. I think they recognize that um you know with the cell phone kind of ban, but we also need other technology and that everybody should be on the same level playing field with the technology. And of course, like Patrick said, the uh core values were on every single >> Yeah. >> uh board. Kevin, do you when you talk to other superintendents in in the area generally, have any of them cracked the code on this this No. >> You know, I think that the world really changed. I don't want to lean on that as
025as an excuse, but I think the the general sense is people are, you know, kind of more tired or more judicious with their time. um and the kinds of traditional events that we've been running just don't hold the same value um when you've got whatever all kinds of other family obligations. And so there's a a thirst, you know, across the region, I think, to reimagine this type of engagement to to try to make it more meaningful for the folks we intend to serve. Yeah, I will say, you know, generally speaking, and you know, we know this is true here, any events that involve kids are, you know, more often um subscribed by parents. And so there's some initial thinking on, you know, how to target message or, you know, whatever, solicit information or what have
026you, you know, in those moments when you have a more captive audience. I don't know that that quite strikes the need that I'm looking for personally. Um, but it's an opportunity, too. So I mean I feel like this has been something that's been at table for as long as you know the years that I've been sitting here and it's always the um because we have had times where we've had large parent engagement. So to some extent when something comes up that is of interest or of concern like it's not that parents don't know how to engage or that we don't have um a a feedback mechanism or um procedures like that. And I think that the thing that I, you know, the what the what why I like kind of the organizational structure that we
027had the other night and it would be great if we could find a way to engage more people on those types of platforms is because all the school administrators are there too. And so like you have them as a captive audience all at once as well besides just having like kind of like diffuse kind of conversations where other people don't you know where you kind of it's harder takes more work and it's harder to kind of figure out where where there's like a consensus or kind of like a train of thought or a common thread. So um but at the same time it is you know parents it generally tends to be um the same >> the same people. I think that, you know, maybe there's a way to um come up with like working
028with the PTAs too in terms of, you know, there's like kind of one big PTA meeting a year that where people come to versus others or um a way to kind of combine the questions that we have with with an openhouse night or something along those lines. But I think it is really um it is really difficult and I think that there has been times like if it doesn't directly kind of fit with my kid and >> and also you know I think that we should also kind of look at it also as a signal for in general that the community does support what we're doing and overall >> They're happy. You know, I'm not saying that every single person is happy with every single element, but I think that there's also um I do
029to some extent take comfort >> um in that. So, I went to the accountable session and there was there were not that many parents there and I was surprised about that because that's kind of a hot topic but you know that's that's pretty pertinent to everybody here and I just thought that that to me was a shame that she you know she was good and there wasn't enough people there to kind of generate a lot of energy for her and I and I was I I was wor I thought, you know, this is something that we're everybody's struggling with everybody. And she had some pretty good ideas about how to help and that wasn't available to enough people because they didn't come and that's a night thing. And I don't know if that makes a
030difference and if it was a day thing. More parents would come to a day thing than a night thing. I or babysitters or what? >> It's hard to tell. But that was a I thought a real loss for the for the for this community. But she was good. >> Yeah. >> One other thing too that came through and I don't know how we source these traditionally but there was a consensus that they want to create more opportunities for worklike experiences, internships and out of the classroom. >> Yeah. >> So I I don't know if we can you know when when this meeting gets summarized in the paper but we can have an ask of like for the business community. I mean that is a that is clearly something parents are looking for in those opportunities
031for their kids. Um and and I think that also like research opportunities or opportunities for kids to have field work or other types of >> you know moments like that >> um definitely came through. And I think also I think um our facilities and you know whether um you know between indooroutdoor environments >> the buildings themselves um play play into um a role in environment and wellness and that came through a few times in terms of you know priorities. Um, we'll keep keep cracking at it. >> Yeah. I mean, you guys are all there, too. Is there anything Maria? [Music] >> I think it was a lot of what was shared already here. It's I think the big question is really how to engage parents in what we perceive to be these really meaningful experiences.
032We've had some um big names here with important messages to share. And um you know, one of the things we wondered was how well we're getting the message out to parents. And it's really um trying to balance the amount of communication that we're sending out in a way that um gets people's attention, but so that we're not sending out so much that nothing >> Yeah. Right. Like if everything is important, nothing is important. And so, you know, I don't have an answer to that, but I think one of the things that um I heard was just that parents may not always know about the opportunities and how do we communicate that better? How do we maybe engage kids in knowing who's coming and maybe communicating the message to families? And also, you know, I may
033have shared this personally because I look at this also also through the lens of a parent is just offering parents different opportunities for engagement. Like if it's in person, can we also offer a remote opportunity? Can we also record it so that parents can you and I'm just speaking specifically to some of the speakers that we've had and the panels that we've had so that they can access the information later. Um because scheduling just seems to be a challenge for everyone. >> Anything to add? >> So I'm sitting here listening to you guys and I I guess I'm a little confused about what you mean by parent engagement. To me, the most important thing is the engagement between teacher and parent. And so we've talked about things like making a phone call to every parent
034in your classroom. It was mentioned it here. Always say something positive. Going back to what you were talking about, I would like to see kids um lead their own >> Yeah. >> conferences, right? I think that would be much more meaningful. >> Um so that's the kind of engagement. I'm not quite sure how the board can engage more. Um I like your idea. Why don't you go and walk? >> That was an interesting idea. >> It's an interesting idea. >> Not this week though. in the springtime >> and it's warm and lovely. >> School night might be an opportunity for all board members to go to those open school nights because the parents will be coming in. So, >> so and and I do find that I you know I'm at those places as you
035know parent and sometimes as board member or as both. Um I think also though we have to be you know when you when you try to co-opt the opportunities as to where parents are like what is their mindset in those moments and are we like you know are we asking too much of those of those moments. I mean, I do think that um I think to some of what Chuck said about like parent and teacher kind of engagement. Um really I think communicating to parents how how best or how easily to get in touch with teachers or to be involved in the in the classroom. I think, you know, something as silly as I've always thought that um the um finally like kind of like the the um phone book or the directory is now
036like front on the website now. >> So, it's like easy easy to like find contact information. But >> um it's hard to arrange a phone call or have phone time without doing an email or some other type making in some other type of request first. I really like in Middlebrook how they at least some of the Middle Brooks have like office hours for parents. So, I think that those types of um engagement opportunities are nice and I do like the idea of bringing kids >> uh of bringing kids um into it um because kids like to show off too, >> but also they all have more ownership like kids should have come to that session >> with their parent. It would have been a very interesting discussion between the kid and their parent listening to
037what she talked about with the phone. And I think that would have been a fascinating thing to watch because the kids actually have the power because they know more about the mechanisms than the parent does. And so all the parents were there to try to figure it out, but the kid knows more and knows how to make it seem better and the parent doesn't. And a lot of those parents there to last that when I was there were telling me that their kids yell, you know, laugh at them and, you know, because they don't know how to use the phone the way they can. But it would have been interesting to have that dialogue with the kids and their parents there just about the mechanisms and what it does to them as a family. >>
038Can I what kind of engagement are you looking for? So I I think you know initially and you know there are levels of engagement and so I think you know foremost um having parents feel um legitimately connected to you know I think probably their teacher first the school you know second relatedly um but feeling like they have the opportunity to weigh in to participate such as that it's meaningful um and um a member of the community with voice >> and do you expect that at all equivalent at all levels or no? >> Um I don't know that that's that's a great question. I think aspirationally, yeah, I mean, you know, I think if you think about um, you know, your even your own experiences at that when your kids were smaller, right, new experienced schools,
039new one teacher, there's a different energy around that connection versus, you know, say here at the high school and, you know, we also send conflicting messages about independence and what that means. Um, but yeah, I think it's having the opportunity to to have our parents know our staff at this level is just as important as it is at the local level. So, sure. >> I mean, one one observation I guess I would have but people who seem to show up and be the most mobile are at the elementary level and certainly like the s to your point earlier the the signal the system is sending today like when you get to middle school you're told >> we don't do parent teacher conferences unless we invite you. And so I think that starts to send a
040very different signal to like what kind of engagement you want from the parent in the classroom and with the teacher. >> Like I I had two kids go through three years of middlebrook never got invited to a conference once. >> Yeah. And so I can relate to I guess that's a good thing because um but but but even that it's like you know so you know and there were emails and things like that to say like just want to give you an update on your child but it doesn't if your goal is for the parent to have a connection with the teacher. I don't think an email is going to do it and and again I'm not saying that should be the goal but that if that is your goal then I think you know
041you we would you would need to think about how you want to advise your staff to achieve that goal. >> Right now that they don't quite seem think seem >> No, they're definitely not right. We don't run conferences in high school. >> Yeah. Right. So to your point. >> So it's fair. >> Um I've just been thinking about it in light of you know I'll segue in a minute the book that we're looking reading tonight because I think that there was like it made a distinction for me kind of like the school curriculum and like then like the home curriculum that kind of can support what's going on in the schools. And I think that that is a level of parent engagement too that might be different um lower versus middlebrook or or higher that
042I feel like the relationship that I would h want with my te my children's teachers um changes in terms of having more understanding about like what exactly is going on in the classroom when they're little and how they're doing versus when they're older like am I doing the things at home that kind of support the overall educational development and goals that are going on and how can we be a partner in that in that respect like you know and I think that it's right that we do ask for our children to develop a level of agency and independence as they start sixth grade and go up through the high school. I think there's also ways that through parent engagement with staff to facilitate that that too and in a way that kind of furthers their
043you know educational chief. So that's kind of just how especially as you know mom hat my kids are getting older. So >> different ways to support that. >> You know, I just think it would be helpful at some point to just have a maybe a more defined objective, >> right? Like if if it is some sense of like you want the schools to be more of a center of the community, then then that's feels different, then I want parents to have relationship with teachers. And again, it could change their time. It could change at different ages. It could it could be to Ruth's point like I want the parents to engage with their child in a different way just to be engaged in education, not necessarily with the school itself. uh concept I think just
044more like spec specificity in the goal because right now it feels like what's happening is people are saying I want to engage this way I want to engage that way so you're getting these conflicting thoughts because each each person is sort of talking about what's in front of them >> yeah great point >> well to think of that >> and in the meantime so every parent or community member out there regardless of the opportunity that you or the structured opportunity that we provide. You know, all our email addresses are up on the website. If you do BOE um at wiltonps.org, it gets all of us, including Dr. Smith, in one one shot. Um, and so you should feel that you can um send us your ideas or your thoughts on anything from what we're talking
045to at the table tonight, especially as we move into um budget season and other um priority areas moving forward. >> That goes for board members, too. You can send your questions or Um, AI workshop take two. >> We could have tried to cram it in at quarter of 9 at night that other time, but I thought maybe it would be better received if we did it this way. So, thank you very much for your patience. I know everyone was anxious and excited about >> Welcome, Bill and Ken. Thank you and Eric for being here tonight. >> Yeah, thanks for having us. We appreciate it. Um so this is um the second session of the AI for board of ed series. Um we're the first one we focused on AI as a co-intelligence and kind of
046gave an overview of what we've done so far. Uh we talked about um the book by Ethan Malik. Um we didn't quite have a time time for an activity but I think tonight we will um which Ken will kind of walk us through when we get there. Um and uh we had some pretty good discussion just kind of about AI in general and where we see it um you know moving forward um here in Wilton. Um today we're going to focus a little bit more on AI for student engagement. So less of a general conversation, more about uh a more practical application. So um the focus and the agenda are as follows. Um each session we'll try to focus on a particular challenge and in this case um we're thinking about and this kind of
047came up during our conversation we just wrapped up too um that students aren't sustaining an optimal level of engagement in their classes and we'll think about how maybe AI can help increase student engagement. So, the agenda will be a bit of a book talk um based on the disengaged teen. Um we'll talk about how AI can boost some classroom engagement and um Ken will give us a case study on how he's used AI exactly for that end uh in his podcasting class. Sound good? >> Sounds great. >> Awesome. Cool. Thanks. So, um this is um from a survey that was done by Project Tomorrow. Kevin shared this with me a while back and I wanted to just share some of the stats from this survey which uh comes from their SpeakUp National Report. This is
048more from like the 2024 2025 school year, but I don't imagine it's changed drastically since then. Um, and just if you have trouble seeing like I do sometimes, I'll just read through a couple things. Um, it says at the top, um, they found that only 46% of grade six through eight students and 52% of grade 9 through 12 students say they are interested in what they're learning at school. Um, honestly, as a middle school teacher, I thought 46% sounded pretty good. Uh, but obviously we want to grow that. Um so um you know it is alarming in another sense too especially when uh we're hoping that students are much higher in that scale. Um only 42% of sixth through eight students and 39% of grade 9 through 12 students say their classroom environment allows them
049to do their best work. So that's telling um in terms of maybe how the actual classes are run or structured. Um 54% of students in grades 6 through 12 are regularly lo using technology outside to kind of backfill or self-direct their learning. So, I thought that was interesting and especially where they're trying to seek out their own passions or curiosity or maybe self- remediating teaching that's not reaching them in the classroom. So, they're kind of using technology to help themselves, which is great. Um, but maybe the fact that they have to do that or they're reporting that they do means that we should try to do some of that when we're actually with them and we can coach them. And then maybe not surprisingly, 40% of students are saying they're using gener generative AI tools
050to help them. And along the same lines, um, that's definitely where we want to step in and coach them on that. So, that's kind of what we'll talk about today. Uh, so the actual book talk, um, Disengaged Teen. I know Ruth read it. I know I know some of you guys have, uh, have written to me about it. We've talked about it. Um, but just the super duper, you know, Spark Notes version of it is the book really talks about um, you know, different students at different courses in their academic career. Something that I think we can probably all um, uh, fe kind of empathize with as well. Um, that sometimes students are more or less engaged. And the book uh comes out with a bit of a continuum of engagement. So on the lower
051end, you might say a student might be considered a resistor, somebody who pushes back or avoids learning. Um and um sometimes they engage in some costly coping strategies. Um a passenger would be somebody who's a bit more passive, just goes along to gets along. Um sometimes might say school is boring because it's too easy or too hard outside of their zone of proximal development or optimum learning, which we'll talk about in a moment. Um, then someone you're probably very familiar with uh in Wilton is the achiever. Someone who tries to make top grades, but they're really only engaged for that reason. They're not necessarily loving school or excited about their learning, but they're highly capable students and they're succeeding at least in terms of their grades and their test scores. And then the explorer, somebody
052that we really love to have in our classes as teachers and something we're always trying to foster amongst our students. Uh, kids who are actively engaged and learning and they're kind of engaging in this transcendent thinking as described in the book. So that's the bare essentials what you need to know. We'll talk a little bit more right now. So I posted just um some descriptors that came from the book under the four modes of engagement, but I just want you to take a minute just talk with somebody nearby. Um what mode do you think you were in in high school? Um at least part of the time or something that's notable or maybe one class versus another class. When did you feel less engaged? When did you feel more engaged? If you don't want to
053talk about high school, pick another grade level in mind. High school, college is probably where where most, you know, our memories go to. Um, but I like high school the best for this one. And then, um, what mode do you think you're in in your job? I think that's kind of interesting, too. Your day job. Eric just gave me a look. But what mode do you think you're in? Do you think you're more of a resistor, passenger, achiever, explorer? So, just take like one or two minutes and just have a chat with somebody nearby. >> We talked about this. >> Ken and I got dinner. We talked about this already. >> Yeah. Talk talk I was definitely an achiever many like disengaged but I felt like >> better Norwegian [Music] >> much more explorer because
054you get to choose your story. >> And then when I came back my senior year, I was because it was like I understand what's going on. >> I'm in this now. But the first two years were definitely I don't know have a hard time picturing you as a passenger living in the passenger response to your profile describe as resistor explorer. stupid. >> There was definitely times to always um as a pastor and achiever senior year of high school was definitely more >> now. Oh yeah, I would say it depends on >> there's so much to know. Oh, and I love >> pictures and I like problem solving. So, >> they just didn't know where else to >> like this. [Music] Yeah, exactly. >> I should probably bring it back. >> I want to know more
055about >> bring back some but the inflexibility that was fun. memory. >> It's fun, right? >> Yeah. >> Sometimes these things haven't changed that much. You don't realize >> Oh, yeah. I seem to get really uh styied by my math classes or tasks. Yeah. All right. All right, folks. Let's come on back. So, >> just wrap up where you're at with the conversation. Yeah. >> Um I I heard some good some really good stuff um just in the small group that I was participating in and we all kind of shared that it's interesting like especially as a student um you could see like yourself on different points in the continuum and they talk about this in the book like depending on which class. So just personally I know my math classes for example I might
056have been a little bit more of a passenger or resistor but my humanities classes I was more of a explorer because those are the things that engaged me more on a personal level. Uh you likely had some similar conversations. Um, and then in in the classroom, I think, you know, teachers um tend to sometimes take it a little personally. Um, you know, say, "Oh, they're not vibing with my English class, but then you see the kid in music and they're totally engaged and totally, you know, into playing the instrument or learning learning the the piece." And then you're thinking, "Oh, okay." And then, you know, as a newer teacher, that's always a bit of a struggle, but when you've been in the game for a while, you start to recognize this. Um, so that was
057kind of what we talked about a little bit. any other highlights or things you wanted to share from your conversations? >> I just think that it's interesting how you know even within one subject you can be all these different things >> at once. And so um you know I think part of it is also like are there traits or qualities like within explorer that you can um bring out in in a class that maybe doesn't actually make that like explore spark happen for that student. So are there like organizational methods or just you know structural um pieces that you know bring that along with it um just cuz in my own you know and I think that also there's like are there ways that you know there's parts of being an passenger and parts of
058being an achiever that aren't I mean for me personally I don't think we're always negative >> you know so it's like are are Are there ways to make those those moments also more positive to positive too because I think there's like healthier ways to be achiever and you know you just like great you know getting a paycheck is good too you know so it's like you don't always love every part of every aspect so I think that also um sometimes giving permission to kind be a passenger or to understand that there are moments or times or places for that. >> For sure. I I definitely go through all four modes. Actually, probably not explore, but uh the first three modes when it comes to cleaning up my yard for the fall. So, I definitely crossed
059arms, pouty lips, don't want to do the leaves in, you know, September, October, and then by the time November, December rolls around, if I see one's tray leaf, I get really upset because of my achievement has been done. Should be no more leaves in the yard, you know. So, uh I can imagine other people feel that way sometimes, too. So yeah, depending on the task, you can definitely shift around for sure. >> Um, any other comments or takeaways. >> It's kind of fun to think about though a little bit, right? We >> really as a parent, you see all these job one now, right? >> Well, we were saying like you're very much or you would hope in the explorer spot when you get into a job that you love, right? And like how that
060relates to kids and propelling what they might be interested in. >> For sure. So I think as a student you've probably done all of those at one point or another in your life. In your life as a student you probably been all those guy the the resistor the passenger all of that. >> But then the job thing >> is what sort of >> solidifies all that other stuff and are you what are you in your job and is that something that's feeding you and are you the explorer in your job or are you still back in the passenger part? And I think also like there's individual subjects that kids think of, but there's also their overall job of being a student. >> So like how they think about their, you know, holistically like that experience
061and not just kind of within each individual class. So um you know kind of trying to you know make the day more than just the individual parts but how they overall approach like being a student or learning in general. So if you get stuck being a resistor and you just can't get out of that, do you end up being a resistor in your job because you can't see yourself in any other in any other place or any other mode? >> I just think you have to be careful applying the labels in a in a way that makes it like categorization of a person. >> Yeah. >> Like I think I I'll honestly tell you like in my job I'm all for >> Yeah. >> And it depends on what you ask me do. If you
062ask me to fill out an expense report, I'm a resistor because I hate filling out forms, >> right? >> But if you ask me to like do the thing I love doing, yeah, I'll show up all day for that and I'll work 14 hours a days >> because I like it. So, it just I don't know. I just feel like it's less about are you this or are you that? And it's much more have you found the fit? And that to me was the the broader point, right? It's just like no matter what I ask you to do, if it's not a fit for you, you're going to resist in some way or you're going to sort of say fine, let me just check the box and move on. >> Yeah. And I would add
063that, you know, the our system in structure. We talk about this a little bit here. Does it privilege one or those categories more than another because of the way we do things? Yeah. >> And so >> so we have we have thinking to do about how how we set up engagement opportunities. >> Yeah. That's like are there procedures or organizational components or other >> pedagogical practices, >> right? Practices that kind of can lead to more of that explorer mentality even if it's not a subject that automatically sparks. I I I think that's a big question for the educational community is what do you value and what do you want your children to get out of their education? You know, as we said with technology and this ever changing world, what is it just the access
064of content or is it about experience and apply application of content andor discovering what you're passionate about which is the vision of a learner and the idea of this capstone experience that is going to lead to something bigger. Then from the educational standpoint, you know, I would want teachers to be explorers as well to experiment with new literature, new science, new uh social events, social justice, etc. But if you're bound to this is what must be covered or the mentality of that, that raises questions within what you're going to produce with your students or get a lot of achievers, which we have, who want to do well because that's the expectation. But do they really value what they're getting? Is it just to get that transcript? And I think it's a community question. You know,
065what do you want your kids to get out of this public school education? And you know, I'm a parent as well. And I'm I have three kids who are very different. And you know, I have one who's the achiever who's doing writing short stories and doing math homework when it's not even assigned. And the other two who are going to resist doing that completely. And is that okay? and you know where does that start for your children and what do you want the system to to push forward. I think also the tension within like a public school system is that like you also have to like find a middle a middle path because you are bound by you know standards and requirements and um objectives that you know are hard to quantify with just experience
066or um kind of more of an explorer project base or bringing in um other types of methods. And you know what comes like what moves first, you know, and how do you satis you know how do you figure out a way to within the classroom to be able to satisfy satisfy both because there has to be objective measures. there has to be ways that where you also go through when you can see that you know you're meeting um an educational that educational achievement need also that piece also >> and I think that's the question what are the requirements where the expectations from the state and also from this board of education of what a child needs to be exposed to and experience and that's that's a tough question >> but it's just hard to like
067you know that's >> it's a it's a good question Yeah, but I feel like that's the boundary and you know he's kind of like at this at this table and I think what's interesting is like from an AI perspective are is there are there ways that AI can perhaps perhaps you know change those boundaries? Is there an opportunity um to use technology to you know get at both pieces? >> That sounds like a great segue. >> Yeah, you said so nicely. I couldn't say it better myself. I think I'm just going to go to the next slide unless anyone has anything else they want to add. Feeling pretty good. Next slide. So obviously as educators um we all want students to explore be in that explorer mode as you know students and then later on
068hopefully finding jobs that are a great fit like we described and um you know that that give them actualization and fulfillment in their lives. Um so to kind of speak to the conversation that Ruth and Ken were just kind of bringing forward is um how do we maximize student learning through engagement and by way of technology in this instance and one you know that you're one aspect of that you're probably pretty familiar with especially if you've been in the classroom is trying to help students reach their zone of proximal de development which is discussed in the book a lot. The short version is kind of summed up in that chart. Where do you find that sweet spot where stuff's not too hard or too easy so that you're pushing the kids, getting them out of
069their comfort zone? So, you know, School AI, Gemini, Notebook LM can help to do this. These are our main AI apps that we've been using can help provide opportunities for personalization and differentiation. Overcoming l language barriers for example or text levels creating interactive activities and study guides um enabling some deep thinking and independent research um captivating using AI personas helping solve real real world problems and obviously by combining all this stuff we can help ensure students are moving toward staying in this zone of proximal development. So a really good example of this is something Ken's going to give which is a case study. um he um he's done some really great work with AI the last couple years since I've been working with him and um I was able to come to his classroom about
070a month a month ago and uh he was working with his podcasting students and I'll let him explain to you kind of the context and even get you give you a chance to try out the activity too sound good >> all right take it away Ken so um I like to just set the the groundwork for your understanding um I teach a heterogeneous mix of students um mostly freshman two sophomores currently in my uh enrollment and one of the challenges I have in my classroom is the independent work and well the personalized direct instruction in small groupoup settings. So my classroom is set up in groups uh they are not set by me. The students have designed their groups based on personal interest because they are developing a serial podcast that is based on what
071they care about. So, like I said, last time we met, I had one group doing Fairfield County uh restaurants and hotspots. They were looking at about uh text food. This next episode to a group of boys who were looking at Boston, Chicago, and New York as sports cities, and they set up these groups, not by their friends, but we looked at what they cared about and then they grouped together. So, one of the challenges I deal with is there's 20 to 22 students in the room. I need to sit with each group and I know this is a challenge and as I call myself the executive producer before they go into record I need to make sure they have accurate relevant information that they have a sequence or a storyboard put together that it's a
072logical story for a conversation and that they're comfortable enough to have a somewhat informal conversation that is somewhat scripted in reality at the same time. while this is going on, I have to meet with each group and support them. So, it's similar to I would say maybe what goes on in the elementary classrooms like you're workshopping >> and I it can't be available to 22 kids at the same time or even five groups of students at the same time. So, I was trying to think of a solution. How can I empower the AI model, school AI, which is a guardrailed model that I programmed as the instructor to be my co-intelligence in the classroom to support the learning because I can't be with everyone at the same time. And it was a way for the
073kids to have a sounding board to get some feedback rather than just go to a student who's going to say, "Oh, Ken, that was great, Melissa. Yeah, I love what you do." which students are not always comfortable being critical friends like we are as adults to give that feedback. I may not have the expertise to give that feedback. So I programmed a bot called Mel and I I generated an image because I was imagining Mel in my head and I tell the kids Mel is not a human being but he is my assistant executive producer. He's a grizzled uh radio disc jockey producer from New York City and I know Ruth you probably love the Jethro Tall shirt. That was a joke for the inside adult in me. Um, he he just changed his shirt
074for the first time in his new picture with me, which you won't see. He's wearing a Green Day shirt right now. Um, but Mel Mel is grizzled and he's a New Yorker and he has a New York accent when you speak to him. And he allows you to soundboard your ideas for your first episode before you come to the executive producer, which is me. So, I'm not sitting there with the students with these basic low-level questions. the bot was able to to respond to the students with the structure I gave it to say well what's your off opening how does this connect to a through line that's going to connect to every other episode so these very basic questions which I would ask the kids anyway the bot is doing that for me secondly as
075I'm using school AI as a teacher I'm able to monitor the feedback so when I see guard rails unlike Gemini this program we're purchasing allows me to see consol considated data back from the student feedback and dialogue with their prompting in order to see who's doing well and who may need more support. I will tell you it didn't matter what the students ability level was for this activity because the students were personally interested in content of their own. They're applying inquiry skills which I'm reinforcing and retaching of how to use our databases or use the print collection. It's one of the cool things I have the opportunity opportunity to do in an elective that I'm giving them more freedom because I don't really care what the content of the subject is they're discussing because that's
076what they care about. It's more about were you able to locate reliable sources? Did you evaluate them? How did you set up a story? And how is this episode going to connect to future three episodes and why? And this bot has really sped up the time in my room where I couldn't get to all these students at once. But when they came up to me to finally meet after they reworked and came up with a new iteration of their storyboard, I was able to approve their work to get into the recording studios much faster. I could have done this as a humanities teacher with their essays that before they come up to me to workshop their essay, the bot is programmed to give them certain feedback about maybe opening paragraphs and thesis statements. It's very
077similar instruction, but just a different media that I'm working with the kids to produce. Does that set some context for you? So you can program like I said a personality to these bots. But I always reassure the kids that it is not a human because I want them to understand AI will always give them an answer and that don't assume that the answer is always correct. But as a teacher, I'm testing these bots before I roll them out. It's like the old days when we used to have a VHS. You show you you better watch that movie before you put it on for your students. So you need to know what's there. And it's the same when they record. I listen to every recording before I publish it to Spotify because I need to know
078what is being put out there. Does that help you get some context? So, what you're seeing up there right now is students who are in my class. That is the data that school AI pushed back to me as the instructor so I know who is being successful, who needs support, and where they're at in the process. So, I'll give you a second to to read that. So as a teacher this was data I had before I was able to conference when so one class they were working with Mel they made their new edits and then they could start coming to my table to then start getting my approval of what changes they made and why they made you. So I'm really looking at process you know explain to me why you made this choice what
079was missing and how did you solve this problem. So it's more that application of knowledge and thinking which we always are worried about is the critical thinking. The students are doing the critical thinking. They're the AI is not taking that away from them. It's just having another version of instruction supporting them as they go through the process and then they could talk to me as the human in the loop. And they recognize that right away. And I I was curious their reaction and they said it was a great support structure whether it was the kid who's going to the topnotch Ivy League school or the kid who may not or grapple with learning and this high school experience has been painful and they're that passenger and they're that resistor. So I think we're tapping into
080something that AI is not replacing me as a teacher. It's helping me help the students and get more in contact with them to support their learning to execute the goals of what they're doing. >> Does that clarify? >> Yeah. And and it obviously boosts engagement too because it is fun and it's interactive and it also keeps people from twirling their thumbs while they're waiting for Ken to meet with their group. Um they're all they're all they're not just doing a worksheet or doing some separate unrelated task. they're all engaged in the work at the same time at their level that they need to help them keep them in that zone of proximal development until Ken can reach them. So that was cool. >> I think the other thing is the extended activities like I will
081have other activities ready to go and that's the planning and that that's a hard part of the teacher job in this model that I'm working and I think it's the evolution of education. It's what is extending the activity for the kids who are moving faster. So the kids who are already going into studio and I'm still working with other students who are still in that struggling in that building process, they're maybe listening to a podcast example using Edpuzzle as another one of our digital tools which monitors and I could ask questions of listening or watching a video as well as students are able to then start building and applying ideas through a schooly discussion board which is basically a blog with each other which is what colleges are expecting now prior to coming to class.
082this discussion boards. So, it really allows for different activities to go through, but it is the the work of the teacher to prep this and think about what's the strategy in this type of learning environment. >> Yeah, it's fun to watch when I was there. >> Yeah. And and the last thing I would say is, sorry, I just want to think I don't use this every day. I think that's a key thing. Every fat in education, you know, we joke that you walk around the school, we roll something out that's new, everybody's doing it the same day and the kids are like, I'm sick of this. I think the thing is as a practitioner you need to know when to employ it and support the process and it's not an everyday activity and I don't
083want anyone to think that this is replacing me on a daily basis. No, it's just there's a certain time and a place to employ the AI when it's necessary. >> Yeah. You guys want to try it out? >> Sure. So I I was just curious though, do you find like as a teacher you're able you talked about like extending the activity but also kind of deepening it. Yeah. Too like pushing I you know kids further into it because I think with this class it's class itself like you said it's not about the content it's about kind of the critical thinking behind it or how you >> that's what I value more. Yeah. And so in terms of um like pushing kids to think of other ways or other places or other spaces like within their
084um own within their own time. >> Yeah. >> And I think it's it'd be no different than my colleague back here Peggy who does this with you know the STEM stuff you know you know the idea of problem solving you know whether it's aeronautical solutions to problem. I mean that's where I'm sure you we get excited. >> Yes. and and and that's the best learning I will tell you. You know, yes, there's certain things you need to know like they need to know how to turn on a soundboard. They need to know how to use Google Drive and executive functioning and that's being delivered here too. But when it all comes together, this is the application just as trying to launch a rocket or whatever thing they're doing in that class, no matter what discipline
085it is. >> So, what you're going to do is I would like you to to think about like if you had a podcast that you're going to produce, what would be the theme? And it's going to ask you like what's your through line? How would you relate this to future episodes? So simulate this and entertain Bill and myself that that you're a student in the class working with this co-intelligence. When we work with the co-intelligence, talk to it, meaning type, or you could do voice, but I think in this room it's harder to do voice. Talk to it as if it was a person sitting across from you and you're going to get better responses from the AI. Now, our students always try to break it. That's that's part of the goal I always and
086I I try to break it. I Bill I have something said Bill try to break it as well. Uh because we're learning how to prompt it and program it. And I always say to kids, this is not perfect. It's it's it is going to give you an answer. That's what generative AI does. It's programmed to predict what's coming next. And that's the thing with school AI. We're able to program it to a certain degree so we know what it's going to predict to do next. And that's the prep work that we do in the back end. And sometimes it fails. and we let the kids know this is learning, it's prototyping, it's design. >> Yeah. So, maybe we'll just spend like five minutes just try it out. You can roleplay yourself as a student podcaster.
087Um don't feel like you actually have to know anything about podcasting or have a you know, a background in that. Um but just to get a feel for it. So, if you want to scan the QR code or um if you I think I shared this file with you a while back if you had a device and wanted to click on the link, but the fastest way is probably just hit up the QR code. Um feel free to try it out. Don't feel like you have to go very far. Just kick kick the tires a little bit. See what it's like. >> Yeah, I don't bring a device. So, let me look down with you. >> It's just a bell to bell. You can have them afterwards. >> Listen, you try to mind time. >>
088And one nice thing about school AI has been I've noticed lately, it will tell you it is a robot or it is not a human being in its start. And that's been a nice addition to reminding kids there's not a person typing back to you here. >> Yeah, I think that's cuz California on the board. >> Just um pull up a browser. No looking for space. >> I think you know I just catch up really hard if you have to. I mean what would be your podcast >> the dynamic du I like that. sell service. >> Oh, I like it. I want to join your train. I want to join your train. Wedding planning. >> I like it. I can get into that. >> So, the story board is a grounding that I allow the
089kids to personalize, but I I show them this is how you set up segments. >> Just like a real producer. And we have a community member who I had collaboration like are you thinking about where you're going? Oh, that's funny. >> Direct space. >> Nice try. That's kind of >> I'm looking forward to seeing what podcast I was thinking about it. >> I'm just going to have Jim and I write his group. >> Jumping ahead. Yeah, >> you need a draft storyboard. I'm feeling pressured. >> But Mark, one thing about they're not allowed to do scripted podcasts. So, it has to be when I say scripted, >> but he say he's asking me to upload my script, >> but it's what it is is it's an outline of segment questions. So, it's those open-ended questions
090because you want your co-host to know the question so they're informed, but at the same point, you want that informal conversation that sounds like you're just having it's leading it. >> Yeah. And that's the idea. >> Well, like a good interviewer will do that >> and they're not. So why should we have another option? I just want to know. No, it is a challenge. >> It's okay. I just listen to all their first episodes and I you know 25 minutes of something is tough. >> Um but my teacher said I can just give you >> there's flashes of brilliance. They just need more practice in sport and everyone see that. >> You go back to the earliest first episode. >> Sure. >> But it's like throwing a ball against the wall or practicing violin. >>
091You know it's for 10,000 hours. Yeah, >> you have so many things. >> Malcolm Gladwell. >> Well, Gladwell's right on certain things. >> The next >> I really like this through the hand. That's the problem. >> There's other factors at play. >> So, one of the dynamic duo checklist cookie some of what we >> it could be called and I don't know the answer and that's why I like answer >> it's not getting >> Wait this time of day night I feel the same way >> episode one the dynamic holiday breakfast >> okay Yeah. See what happens. >> A second episode. >> Where's the camera? >> Yeah, you could like what you know sort of what they need and the teacher would have that data. >> Okay, that's how you program. What is the purpose?
092What is it? >> And the nice thing is this one gives you more. I've written an email. Could you please give me feedback on >> Yeah. Yeah. So it just depends on what >> the questions not just kind of I say only the rhetorical question sending me back to answer questions >> and you can make sure friendship So what should we tell sometimes even after >> this is one? >> Yeah, you can't. >> This is interesting. Go ahead. >> I'll tear it apart. has good decent decent bagel. >> Yeah, I mean I think it's also think >> well it doesn't seem to understand that that's the question for our minute wrap it up. >> Do one more minute. >> Yeah. Okay, that's true. That's a good point. You shouldn't have asked it as a question.
093>> You're like take your glasses off to actually see. >> Yeah, cuz I'm strong enough. I'm like actually very good at seeing up close. So when I take my >> I don't need both yet. >> Yeah, but right now like I take them off >> eventually I know that will go away but right now I'm okay. I feel weird like most people put their glasses on too. >> Okay. >> Gotcha. Yeah. I never wore them so I'm afraid to. >> Several weeks. >> Exactly. All right, guys. Let's start wrapping up. >> Very cold. >> So, again, the goal is just to give you a taste of it, let you try it out. Um, I think we created at least one hit podcast called The Dynamic Duo. Looking forward to first episode, which is about the
094holiday breakfast. Um, should be delicious. Uh, but anyway, always. >> Yep. The episode, too. Uh so anyway, so again, we just want to give you a taste for this. I'll let Ken kind of wrap up the conversation here. You can kind of share your impressions, ask any questions of him, and then we'll uh you know, kind of finish for the evening. So go ahead. >> It's very cool. >> Yeah, >> really cool. >> And I would say this is not a novelty. Uh this is not something that's going to go away. >> I think as educators, we need to start to empower the tool and make our choices wisely when to employ it. Also, you know, we're seeing a lot of companies popping up and this is any trend. Um, you know, in the near
095future, Bill and our team will have to decide, you know, does Gemini evol evolve educationally with Eric, you know, that it will do a lot of these things >> or do we stay with products like school AI? Uh, we decided when we piloted as a team, school was the product that our our teachers really like to use. Um, and I think that's that's a positive. So, we did listen to our our team. uh and it's also becoming comfortable with it and how does it fit in your educational model >> and every discipline is different. Every task is different but it it the kids didn't feel like it was not helping them. They felt it was just another tool to support their development than to come see me and I didn't need to ask those low-level
096questions. It was more able to move them further in the process with their learning. And one cool thing I've seen your students do is they've critiqued the AI output. So they've talked about as a class and with and with Ken, what are some of the things that the AI told them that was good feedback about their podcast and what are some things that they did disagree with and they wouldn't actually use that feedback. So that he was training the kids not to use it at face value, which is just a great AI literacy skill in general, but especially helpful for an assignment like this. >> And you don't use it every day? >> No. So, I've used it uh with this. Mel has been used once. Mel will be coming back. Like I said, he
097changed his shirt, which is good to a a green dish because it was becoming kind of ripe. >> Santa hat, too. >> He got a holiday Sienna hat. Yes. As well. Um he's still drinking lots of black coffee to stay awake, but he he will be coming out this week and the kids know he's coming out and he's going to be working with them. And there there wasn't any push back which which kind of I found it interesting but it wasn't like I said it's not every day >> it's making that educators making that e expert decision when to use the tool and I think that's the key with any any new technology we're using why are we using it is it appropriate to use it and how is it improving and extending the education
098to go to next >> it would be very intriguing that you use it all the time >> so that's the question with Gemini. And I think that's going to be with our curriculum review with digital literacy and this idea of when do we use this at an appropriate level because our adults are certainly using it whether it's that product or chat GPT or another uh gen generative AI bot but when do our students use it and I will tell you my students are using it but do they know how to prompt it correctly to get where they want to go and I think adults are trying to figure that out as well because that's a whole another skill set for digital literacy I think we as educators need think about is what are the questions
099you're asking it? What are you trying to get from the bot? >> Yes. >> And where is the bot scraping the information from? Is the question I always say to my students? You know, are you paying a free model or are you getting a paid model? And what's the difference? And I think our digital literacy team, our LLC leaders, our technology leaders are always asking those questions and reminding our students of that. I think that's where we're going. >> Yeah. >> 100%. Yeah. >> Fascinating. >> Yeah. Very neat. >> Any other questions, comments, takeaways? >> Did your students want Mel back? >> Did they ask for mailback? >> They want another personality, right? >> You know, it it's they didn't specifically ask, but I I it's been in my agenda and they know he's there.
100And I think it's setting up a procedure within my learning environment. no different than I would go to my my instructional leader then to go to my administrator with an idea of a new curriculum or a new instructional tool. Um I think it teaches the kids that there is a path that you just don't jump right into a studio. I think they understand it's supporting them. I think they bought in because they saw good responses coming from it and I was impressed that it was giving a lot of answers that I would have given when they first would sit down at a very basic level. I'm curious to see what Mel 2.0 is going to do because Mel 2.0 is going to not just take basic information. It's going to say, "Okay, what did you
101learn from your first recording? How are you changing that as you go into your second recording?" So, one of my personal goals with Bill for my evaluation this year has been feedback. I tend to give a lot of feedback. Bill's been on me for that cuz I I like to let the kids know where I think they could grow. I think the kids need to reflect on that. That's that metacognition of like I'm just not going to make the same mistake again. How is episode two going to be different than episode one? Mel is going to ask them that question to think about that. So, not only is it that soundly important, but also the growth of what what we struggled with to what now we need to do differently. Does that does that make
102sense? >> Sounds great. >> Does that help answer your question? >> No, I I think that it's um Well, I I also really like the idea that you're setting it up with the understanding that the AI isn't always right. And so, how do we evaluate information? because I think that um a lot of kids they think that if it comes from Google or if it's like out there then it's it's it's correct. >> I've Ruth I've seen that with our freshman. I've had a couple conversations with flight students and it's very discouraging when they you know you're dealing with a middle school mentality still as a ninth grader but well it's it's right because it's scraping it from the internet. Well, do you realize there's misinformation? No, no, it's got to be correct but it's
103a free product. So some some kids are in not cognitively there but we got to keep reminding them and modeling and I think that's us like I've modeled how to use these tools before I cut the kids loose on it >> because they think they know how to use like the cell phone no different. >> Yeah. >> How to use a productive tool. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. So I think also but just having like the like the experience within it because I think you know one of the um articles that I read recently was talking about how even if you kind of teach kids like the the rules or the appropriate guard rails or whatever that it doesn't matter. They're not going to follow them anyway. So like how is it that we
104embed like those those deeper kind of reactions or critical you know critical reactions um to things that even um help them understand that there's like a better way and that they have experience with seeing how how that is. >> And as an educator Ruth I I would say we can't put our heads in the sand and pretend that AI is going to go away. I think it's not the issue of being resistant. It's saying how do I apply this? When is it appropriate? >> You know, you came up with a good term the other day when I was talking about we were talking about this that I don't want to make assignments that are AI resistant. Well, you came up with a great phrase. I I'm not >> durable is the word that they're using.
105Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Because I think that's that's that's my worry as an educator and as a technology instructional leader, as a library media specialist. I don't want educators to think that we should be cutting this off. And I don't think that's what our our from our policy on AI right now as as a district. We need to give the kids the opportunities to work with it because they're doing it anyway. We I I see it all the time in the library >> and now we're teaching them how to use it, right? >> That's our job and that that's what we're trying to do and model it and and apply it and use it within our instruction to maybe go beyond where we were able to go to before three years ago where we were
106stuck on c certain facts that you had to know. Maybe we had to move beyond that. and it's going to supply that. >> Is this your first year teaching this podcast? >> It's uh my third year. >> So, I would be curious to see if your kids are getting to a deeper or different place this year using this tool faster or in a way that you know is kind of informing your your curriculum as opposed to you know a year or two ago. And I don't know if that's something to to, you know, easily compare or look at, but just kind of how how has integrating this maybe like changed the arc of their learning or their development or um the the outcome quality. >> My observation right now is it's made them more independent
107that they're not going and it goes back to the achiever. >> Yeah. >> Mr. J, Mr. Dina, is this what you're looking for? Is this what you're looking for? And that are a lot of our students I don't they always want to know they're giving the right answer and the right answer being am I pleasing my teacher because I'm the achiever. >> Yep. >> Does that make sense? I think this prevented a lot of that because it was acting there as something I was looking for but also saying think about this. It wasn't just saying you're right >> and look at this guy. He's never pleased. >> You're not going to get the Terminator to become back. So, so I I would say they're they're moving faster with moving along with getting to that through
108that storyboard and that planning phase. >> Yeah. >> The resistor is the resistor and you know at some point you know I can't move a kid's hand and Melissa and I were just talking about that like there's some things that there's are out of our control but for the kid who is engaged they my my average student to my highf flyier it's supporting their learning and application. I Ruth, I'm teaching kids who are in front of me. It's different every semester. So when I have a junior and senior in the class, which I may have next semester, those kids move at a totally different speed. >> Yeah. >> Than a freshman, but Bill's been in the room. My freshman are behaving like sophomores and juniors by this point with their maturity because they're buying in
109because it's what they're interested in, but I'm giving them a structure to do it in a form of media. No, I No, I think that >> I'm lucky. I'm lucky. >> But I think that that distinction of like trying to get the answer and please you and then maybe stop versus working with something that then makes them think about it and then maybe has them keep going. Um like past that point, which is kind of what the explorer mentality is, that you don't just stop when you get to where you you think you need to be. um is a is an excellent component or a way to kind of like utilize the the technology. >> Do you find that the students are also this is a leading question so but answer it honestly. Do you
110find that the students are more open to feedback from an AI because it's not personalized. So if I have the human in front of me who's giving me feedback that may be critical, a constructive, I would imagine that I'm a little bit less receptive than if it's an AI agent that I'm interacting with. >> Patrick is a great question. So I would tell you it depends on the individual. Some of our high flyers have told me over the years, not this, not in this course specifically right now, but when we're doing portfolio work in flight, so some of our highf flyers will say to me, I I just want to work within a human. I don't want to work with and I I don't blame him because when I'm doing a help line, I'm always
111picking up the phone trying to get a human on the line rather than the bot because I know I'm going to end up at the human at some point. I think this one worked because they knew I was they were going to come with me with me at some point. And I think that's the I think that's the key I discovered that I'm not just saying do this and I'm going to look at the data after class and then we're going to move on. They know they were going to workshop with me in person at some point. And I think they'd rather be somewhat prepared to meet with me on the spot rather than just assuming we're wasting time when they come up and they're not as far along as they should be. And this
112is addressing problems that I could have it do before it comes to me. >> So I could get deeper questioning of, wow, I really like your opening. I like your hook here, but have you thought about this? Where the bot won't always come up with that. And sometimes the bot will come up with suggestions, which are good suggestions, but they're not always great. And that's where we'll I'll ask them, "What did Mel tell you?" And that's where that evaluation comes into play. So, I think it depends on the time, the place, but I would not just rely on this to solve all my problems. Absolutely not. I think there has to be that human element at some point. It's a good question, Patrick. Do you have more than you're going into tonight or is this
113>> This is the only example you're giving tonight. Yeah. >> Okay. I have some maybe some other questions. I just don't know if you're going to go there already anyway. But I guess one question would be like how much work is this for you to set up and do we think our faculty broadly have the cap like the skills they need and what are we doing to arm them with the skills they need to set these things up? >> Do you want me to start off with what it takes for me? >> Um the short answer to the second question is that we're working on it. Um we're we didn't have as much time secured originally as we had hoped this year. So we're doing a lot of uh peacemail ad hoc type of work
114to meet with uh teachers where they are and help them out. So Ken does a lot of coaching. Um I've been putting together materials and sharing with people. Uh in the springtime we came around and introduced all these programs to people with in faculty meetings and try to get them started. Um so we're hoping to continue to work on this and accelerate it throughout the year. Um and then get more and more people up to speed. Mark, there are explorers on faculty. Bill and Eric could see the data usage and they've mentioned a couple teachers to me. There's other teachers who are dipping their toe into it. I think it's feeling comfortable what this technology is sitting down with it. I find today I and I'll teach the class again tomorrow. Um the prep work
115was the majority of my work. I was liberated during the class to sit down and move around more with my students in small groups. uh the work the heavy lifting is upfront and I know we >> I understand I'm just trying to figure out like >> an hour or two. >> How much time and space do we create for >> I think the more you do it the better you get. >> You with the sales technology today feels like you have to be able to figure out like there's there's a use case for it as opposed to a general thing that we want to throw open >> and then envision how this fits into it and how this helps with the enrichment or this helps to scaffold folks who need that scaffolding. I think this
116bot took me about a half hour to 45 minutes to get going to to give it its parameters to make sure I know this is executive functioning where my files that I uploaded to it. So my graphic organizer was uploaded to the bot, my standards were uploaded to the bot. So I know where those things are. >> Asked me multiple times to comply with the standards and I was like I don't have the standard. >> Yeah. But but yeah, and that's the nice thing about this bot is you're able to if I'm an ELA teacher, I'm able to put in common course standards. So the bot knows what I'm looking for. If it's speaking and listening, it's going to be in there. So this one took me about 45 minutes, but then it's the testing
117of the bot. So maybe it takes me another 10 to 15 to 20 minutes. And I had a bot today that worked great yesterday for me. And then for some reason the worldwide web was running really slow today. And Bill and I weren't getting the answers from the same bot that worked great yesterday. So because this is emerging technology, we're not fully there yet. And I don't know if it will ever be per perfect and I don't think it will. >> So to go back to the second part of your question again, you know, getting teachers to understand this and especially in math and science where sometimes we know AI isn't always accurate as it should be and just kind of coaching them through this and getting them to understand that you your your mileage
118may vary depending on what you want it to do. Um, you know, and again getting them to kind of figure out and experiment and play with it. That's kind of the ongoing process. And then um you know one other thing we I think you you mentioned a couple times like so obviously we're saying AI generally but we're mostly talking about LLMs and um you know they don't have a concept of truth and so you talked about like it's not always reliable. Are we doing other things to arm both faculty and students with the concepts of like probabilistic reasoning all the other things that come along with this? I think we're going to see more of that come up as we go through our curriculum review because right now um as I'm going around to the
119digital literacy lessons for example that the LLC uh staff is running um they're explaining these things on a kid kid-based level um but I think you know as we develop our curriculum more because we're trying to catch up to this um we'll have a more more intricate or more in-depth ways to explain it to people. Um so it's not just don't always trust the AI. It's more here's why you can't always trust the eye because it's probabilistic technology etc etc. So, we get more into the the weeds with that. >> And if I tie this to our reading homework, which I did, um, and the thing I found most interesting was the zone of proximal development and and thinking about both sides of that. And it was clear to me how this would make sure
120that they've done their work to like a sufficient level to be ready to engage. That makes sense. But how do you use uh something like this or have you yet gotten to a place where you're using this to also provide enrichment for the students who are frankly bored um or or need more? And and I think sort of related to that, have you looked into the work that like alpha schools have been doing out in the west coast and and have what have we found any useful learnings there or or not or are they sharing? >> Um well I haven't been in touch with anybody from alpha school but I have looked into it quite a bit and we were actually just talking about it earlier um you know about how their whole model is
121that the students are exploring their learning digitally for the two hours in the morning and they have the coaches and stuff and and I'm sure you've all read pros and cons of that approach. um and then you basically work through you know SEAL type activities and you know out u play-based learning and all this other stuff the rest of the day um I don't see that particular model necessarily being something that we adopt but I think we're already have a lot of those practices in place where uh for example if you go into one of the elementary schools you may have them doing station work where kids are on and they're trying to get this differentiated learning in front of those kids so that they can practice their skills um and then the teacher might
122be you know working on um you know rolling dice to practice you learn about probability um and then other kids will be in a reading group and and they'll do stuff like that. So we're incorporating those type of techniques into what we're doing um in a way that makes sense in public school I think. >> Yeah. Cool. >> Yeah. >> Do we have any PD days dedicated to this? >> We have a lot of PD day. Well, excuse me. That's not true. We don't have a lot of PD days. We have a lot of PD that we need to cover. And so time is our um resource. We're not nearly enough. we've been particularly in the elementary schools focus very much on reading math instructions consumed a lot of oxygen um and then some department
123based concerns so um you know it's there's a a lot always a tension here with you knowing for topic initiatives competing initiatives >> in the um meetings coming up in the next year we'll have a session on the PD and PD calendar and what's in what's out um priorities um and see how you kind of piece together adding new things in and and um also then several times quicker than review has been raised um tonight. So um in the coming weeks that'll um start getting structured and then um there'll be a call for board volunteer or two um to sit on that um committee too as we start looking at the digital literacy um curriculum um across the across the district. And just to speak, uh we've been attending at advance um workshops on AI
124>> and it's with schools and leaders from around this the state and it's it's probably been some of the best learning hearing what other schools are doing and I think we're right with everyone. I think we might be a little bit ahead in some ways and Bill and I are going these with the other techs uh to to see and learn how this technology could be leveraged. I'm also I'm bringing other teachers to um uh Tri-State for a study group and to CES as well to work with Fran actually on AI stuff. So, we're we're branching out, but we're starting small. >> So, right now the the teachers can dip their toes in if they want to, but there's no expectations right now for the teachers. >> Yeah. Um something that I'm working on with
125Chuck's office is um we're putting together an AI scale of use and um it's kind of like a red yellow green light system where you know there's certain foundational skills or assessments where students shouldn't be using AI at all and then the yellow yield light would be you know there can be some integration in AI um but it's not the main product. I would say this would probably fall under that this particular assignment. And then actually Danielle is working on the presidential AI challenge with her coding students at the middle school and that would be full green because you're using AI to try to solve some kind of real world problem and then that solution gets judged by the panel um in that committee you know in in the in the federal office. So, um
126I would say those would be three quick examples of what that might look like. And um we're hoping to have that document and supporting documents ready for summer curriculum writing so that moving into next year will be basically requiring everyone to start thinking about where their assignments and tasks and assessments fit on that scale. What's AI durable? U what needs to have, you know, higher level of durability whereas what can be more open-ended and more AI integrated. Um, so that's definitely stuff that we're working on. >> To what extent are you dipping your toe into the AI universe I sit on AI 10 true and false questions on whatever it was and I got one out of 10 one good question. So then I did can I have 10 true and false questions on this
127topic and I got one. So, um I can tell you there's a a a app called whatever it is AI called Sizzle that some of my students are using and um the difference between that and just you know what is the answer is it it does prompt you sizzle prompts you well you know what did you do so far where did you go and with math problems so prompts you to understand the math so um I was very proud of the student that told me this because that you can't just look up the answers So it was nice that she's scaffolding her own work and she finds it very helpful although a little it takes it's time consuming. >> I mean I've heard lots of stories about students also using you know uploading source material
128and then saying can you quiz me on this material create flashcards for me like things like that. I guess that that to me is more like are we also >> teaching or or do we think there's that the technology is at a point where we're ready to teach students like how to use this to enable studying to enable like self-guided I don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet, but um I guess I can tell you guys because no one else outside of this room will know. But uh uh Ken and I are going to be presenting to the high school hopefully within the next few months um exactly that, talking about those capabilities that um Gemini and Notebook LM can do, which are already state approved for ages 13 and
129up uh to the high school staff. And then Eric's going to turn it on so that students can use uh those tools. Exactly. For those reasons. >> Yeah. Because that's been the barrier so far, right? Is they're doing their work stuff in their school account, but they can't. >> Yeah. And I mean, I even walked by a classroom today where there was a teacher um talking about some scripting for a class and she was coaching kids on how to do GPT outside of our domain. And you know, again, we're not quite ready to turn it on yet, but that'd be a perfect example where that teacher could say, "Hey everybody, open up Gemini. Okay, here's how you're going to want to prompt it to help you with your script. You know what I mean? So,
130there is an aspect of gradual release to our AI instruction that we need to incorporate. So, school AI would firmly be in that probably 5 to 8, 6 to 8 realm. Um, where students would be interacting with the chatbot that the teacher programs, all the guardrails are in, but then by the time you get to 9th or 10th grade, we really need to think about how are we teaching kids how to prompt, how are we teaching them to create those study guides using Notebook LM or to conduct research, um, evaluate sources that AI is using with them, etc., etc. So, um, that's kind of in the long range plan, too. Glad you brought it up. Just don't tell anybody. Last slide. It's a bit of a wrap-up. I think we've already covered a lot of
131this. Um, AI is quickly making skills prized by the age of achievement. This is on page 254, 255 if you want to follow along. Processing and transmitting information quickly, synthesizing knowledge, and communicating in a certain way less unique to humans. I think we've all probably experienced this to a degree in our personal and professional lives using um technology, especially AI. Uh to be prepared not only to navigate but also to thrive in this new landscape, we need to shift our priorities to thrive in the age of agency, which I think Ken demonstrated extremely well tonight uh that he's doing with his students. Our kids will need to not only identify where they want to go, but be able to drive their own learning to get there. And that kind of hearkens back to what Mark
132was just talking about, you know, with the study aids and things like that. Um, so this comes from right from this book. If we want to get kids engaged, teach them to be explorers in their personal and professional lives in and out of school, etc., etc. Um, this is where we start the conversation. And I appreciate everybody playing along and adding to it tonight. And Ken, huge thank you for demonstrating that case today. It was awesome. No problem. >> I would love at the end of the semester for you to send us like a final podcast or two. So I I will be happy to send uh the board um the they already have built websites introducing themselves. Again, mostly ninth graders. So please understand, you know, what you're listening to. Uh but it's interesting
133to hear them reflect on where they start and where they end up. And it's never perfect and that's okay. And that I think that knowing that there's a safety net sort of like in a in a STEM classroom, the experiment could fail. >> But what do what did you get out of this? And I do have students who said I want to pursue communications careers and are we offering and you you last time we met you approved a level two course whether it's media productions down in the studios with the cameras with video whether it's with audio with me or whether it's in a public speaking class which I know Kevin's own children have gone through. It's one of those things that our students are craving these skill sets and sometimes for the electives that's
134where they're getting these experience to then go into those mainstream subjects and the teacher doesn't need to worry about teaching what we're teaching. So there's not an overlap and the kids are mastering. So yes I Ruth to answer your question I'd be happy to share you with uh some of the ones and it's it's it's amazing some of the stories the kids share and tell. >> That would be great. Any other um questions or thoughts for Bill and Kenny? >> Thank you so much. Truly thank you. >> This was great. Really great. >> Appreciate it. >> Yeah. Thanks. We We love what we do. >> Explorers. Explorers. >> And you're allowing us to explore. So that's that's the great thing. >> Keep going. >> Thanks. Thanks for coming along. >> No, thank you very much.
135Thank you. >> And I'm glad we didn't, you know, try to rush it into at >> there's no way we would have got that. No, >> not even with milk. >> No. >> Um, >> no. Um, action items for this evening. Um, comments from the public. >> Any online? >> Are we lost? >> Oh, thank you. Comments from the public. >> Yeah, there's no participants. >> Fantastic. Um you'll see also um under future business just letting everybody know that the BOE regular meeting um on Thursday 8 uh 18th will be structured as a board workshop. We'll have um council here and um still a public meeting. will have council here and we'll also um have a facilities um and capital planning update and then um everybody will have a lovely and restorative holiday break and
136we will come back um to the superintendent's budget presentation on January 8th and then we will move into um our three um budget workshops cost centers um specific to 15 to 22 the second and um the 20 um and it is 8:49