Podcast Episode
Episode Description
In this episode, I talk with Dr. Brandee Ramirez about what it takes to lead AI implementation across a school district. She shares how her work focuses on supporting all stakeholders—teachers, students, families, and staff—in building confidence with AI tools and understanding their practical value. Dr. Ramirez unpacks the difference between an edtech rollout and an AI rollout, highlights why scaffolding is key, and explains how her district’s emerging technologies task force is integrating AI into the fabric of education through existing policies and real-world connections.
Episode Transcript
Note: This transcript was generated using AI transcription tools to support accessibility and provide a searchable, readable version of the podcast. While we’ve reviewed and lightly edited the content for clarity, there may still be occasional errors or omissions.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Welcome to the balance. I’m doctor Catlin Tucker, and today I have with me Doctor Brandi Ramirez. She has over 25 years of education experience. Doctor Ramirez earned her doctorate in educational leadership from USC with a focus on instructional coaching and technology integration. She has worked with almost every age level of student in a variety of capacities as a teacher, as a coach.
Dr Catlin Tucker
And right now she is an AI teacher on special assignment for Saddleback Valley USD, where she focuses on integrating artificial intelligence for inclusive practices and is helping to lead kind of the roll out for AI implementation in the district. So I had the pleasure of seeing Doctor Ramirez speak at a symposium. I know so many schools and districts are really kind of grappling with this work of AI rollouts and AI implementation, so I thought it’d be a wonderful opportunity to have her on the show to talk us through her work and how she’s approaching it and what she’s learned so far.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Well, I’m very excited that we could connect and that you were able to come on the podcast. But I always start with asking the question of where did your journey in education start, and then what led you to the work that you’re doing today?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Okay. The journey. My journey in education, like, you know, started in a small town and know North Dakota.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
My grandmother, which is kind of an interesting journey at that. But, we always spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house, and we played school all the time. And growing up in North Dakota, you basically you have the same teacher that your mom had that your grandparents had.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Oh, wow. Yeah.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
There’s not really a lot of growth to be a teacher, really, because once you’re kind of in that role, you pretty much stay in that role and there aren’t a ton of other opportunities, to become a teacher. So when I started college, I started in interior design, and I thought, I don’t know if I want to be a teacher.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I love kids, I love helping others. Is teaching really what I want to do? Because there isn’t a lot in in North Dakota at the time. And so I started with something else, interior design. I did that for a year and realized, you know what? I don’t love math.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I don’t like numbers. You know.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
When you’re measuring interiors of buildings and things like that. And that’s kind of important. Yeah. And so, I thought, you know what? Let me let me take a couple of education classes. So I started doing that. I worked as an aide, actually, in a classroom at the time where I was helping students again. At the time, it was called ESL, and I got to do that role as an actual job and was just fell in love with it.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so I changed my major. Headed down the path of education, elementary education was the focus with child development and then became an educator. And so there were no jobs like I had kind of envisioned. And so I moved to California. I was hired over the phone, to, to take off. Oh my.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Goodness. Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And I knew California. I grew up, actually visiting Bakersfield, California every summer, to see my dad. So I kind of knew California, but yet I didn’t know a lot about it. So the job was in Palm Springs, and I had never been there before. They hired me over the phone to teach fifth grade, and I moved there, and so that was definite eye opening and a bit of a culture shock, but also the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had in teaching.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So started out there, taught for, 13 years, moved to Orange County, began a family and was in the elementary setting for 13 years. And then technology 2013, our school district passed a bond to, implement devices 1 to 1 in fifth grade and up and 3 to 1 in the K through four setting. And so I, I, I had at the time been gathering like I was teaching first grade and I was gathering iPads from, from families and any old device anyone had and was using in my classroom.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And my administrator said, you know, I think you’d be good as a digital learning coach. And the school district’s hiring them. So they took a bunch of teachers out of the classroom to help implement and integrate technology in the classrooms. And so I did that for the next five years, and I decided I wanted to get my doctorate.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So I worked on that, took a year off, worked at an ed tech company as director of instruction, and during that time it was great. But I also it it, you know, it was not as, steady, if you will, as working in, you know, education or working for a school district. And I had four little kids. So I went back to the classroom and then I was able to obtain five CT credentials, because of five.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah. So I’m working. Yeah. There was a lot.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Of layers in that role for one year, when I was working for the educational technology company. So, I can’t I went back into the classroom and I taught computer science, and I taught, media production. And so then I was there for a year, I loved it. I was at a middle school, and they were opening a brand new entrepreneurial mindset, school type, high school.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I was actually six through 12, six through nine that year. And then it was, you know, increasing each year. But I had the credentials. I loved new things, I loved innovation. And so I went there and taught a program called Virtual Enterprise. And I did that for, for I was there for two years. And then that was all throughout Covid.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so then there was a need for intervention. And so then I moved to a comprehensive high school with a really,
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
A major need for intervention. And that was, last year and the year before. So I worked with Credit recovery and, our multilingual students. So and that was yeah, it was kind of full circle from teaching kindergarten, you know, and helping kids learn how to read, to making sure that these, you know, like, hundreds of kids graduate because those students that were seniors last year were our freshman students during Covid.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So they came in, you know, all online. And it just was a lot. And it was extremely rewarding, but also very difficult.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
At the same time.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Yeah. And you’ve really taught like or touched or talked at taught every grade level like across the whole span.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Which is my.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Plans. Yeah. Not plans.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Like yeah.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
You don’t. And honestly, I was used to say those seniors or maybe more of the freshmen, but they’re just like first graders. It’s just they have a few different. But they all they all want, you know, a connection and they want someone who cares about them. And they just they still need you no matter what age they are.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Dr Catlin Tucker
So funny that that reminds me of something I, my therapist said was that there’s this misconception with kids that as they get older, they don’t need you as much, right? Because when they’re little, it’s so like physically demanding. They need so much of your time and play and like all of that. And then as they get older, they need less of that physical, but so much more of like the mental emotional.
Dr Catlin Tucker
So she always, like reminded me she’s like, it’s not that they need you less, they need you just as much, just in totally different ways. And I think that’s so true when we think about students as well right there, it’s not that they need us last because they’re almost adults and they’re almost done with school. It’s it’s they just need us in those different ways.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Those like that connection, the mentorship that all of that piece is so, so important very.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And they and you and you have to be willing to you know, they they might not hear that they need you, but they might need you, like, right now. And you need to be available.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah. Exactly.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
No. And you have to be you can’t take it personal, like, oh, really? You only stop by my room when you need something. Yeah.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
It’s like, I mean, I feel like, you.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Know, my teenagers only sometimes stop by my room when they need something.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So. Same. And,
Dr Catlin Tucker
So we met at an Age of Learning symposium, and you were leading a session, about implementing AI. So talk us through your current role in the work that you’re doing, which I think is. So, you know, I implementation in schools and districts right now is something I think a lot of people are trying to figure out. And it it has echoes of kind of the scramble during edtech of like, how do we respond to all of this new technology, but then it’s also super different.
Dr Catlin Tucker
So I’m curious to kind of have you share a little bit about what you’re currently working on?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So I currently am an AI Tosa teacher on special assignment, who focuses on universal design learning. So, so being able to use AI to help support every learner and all of those learners needs. And so I it was something new and it was it’s not in the same. I was in my previous district for 22 years.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so it was a little bit of a risk, you know, kind of taking that leap of trying something different. But it was also, in my mind, a way to not only be innovative, but also help support as many students and as I have found, adults and other educators as well. So my role, I’m, I’m funded through a grant and that grant is a two year opportunity where I was hired last summer.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And the essential kind of big picture part of it is that I provide professional learning opportunities for and again, like I said, like not just our students and our teachers in the classroom, but it has evolved into administrators, office managers, our HR department, like everyone, is wondering and curious about AI. And so it has really evolved into more than just providing, you know, a couple of professional development opportunities.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I spent the first month of August. My goals were to, focus on meeting all of the administrators at the secondary level. And so I met with as many administrators as I could to kind of hear about their schools and hear about their needs and hear about, you know, where they were at with AI. And just like everyone, it is so new to all of us.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So you’re kind of building the plane, as they say, as you go, but also they’re the biggest kind of push. And the biggest like want or need was just that. We really wanted everyone to try it, to try it and, you know, we weren’t changing all the policies and we weren’t changing all the guidelines, but we were starting to kind of integrate that into what we were already have been doing.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And and really looking at it less of just AI and more of its emerging technology. And how are we evolving not only as educators, but then how to support our learners? Right. So, so I started with meeting administrators, creating some I b I called them, got AI, and we started where we had one main professional development learning opportunity a month.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so in September, the first one was at the beginning of the month, and we had a huge waitlist and, I mean, I hadn’t even met these people. So it wasn’t about me. It was.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Me. It was about the topic. I got a little like, oh, okay. And then I’m like, wait.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I don’t even know anybody. You know, like, it’s not about you, Brandy.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So,
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So then, you know, they showed up and they were excited and there and of course, those are that’s who you want to work at that first, right? Because they want to be there. They want to they want to get on the bus. And so we had a great time and they had a lot of questions and a lot of concerns.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
But also they were eager to, you know, try it out. So then we decided let’s add another one right away. And so we added another one. And originally we were going to keep them separate secondary and elementary. But we also found that by combining them it was also that kind of cross-curricular where it’s like oh okay. Well you you can’t do that at this level.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Well can I? And then how will that help these kids at this level. And so, so we think yeah. So we combine them. And then again, like I said, the wait list grew and grew and grew. And so we had to add more and so then I was starting to go out and do staff, you know, do small lunch and learns or staff meeting PDS where, you know, I would survey the group that I was meeting with, find out what they needed, where they were at, and then provide the some of the basics like that we were talking about, like some of those basic concerns, some of the frameworks, you know, what where we’re
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
at as a district and then what were their specific needs at their site. So it was really tailored, which was nice. And I’m continuing to do that. But from that and I did a lot of research, there was definitely a need to have some sort of task force. And I don’t love that name, but but there wasn’t one that had been, you know, implemented within the school district.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So then I thought, okay. And a lot of stuff I read said, don’t call it an AI task force. You know, it’s it’s emerging technology. Like, how are we meeting the needs and moving forward. And so I also thought, you know, I, I as a parent have been in a lot of parent committees and I as a teacher, I’ve been on a lot of teacher committees.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And I wouldn’t say that I’ve been on a lot of committees where it’s truly combined with parent, student and community, classified, certified and certificated. And so that was another push that I really wanted was I wanted everyone to be a part of this because it it is really affecting, you know, it is a part of it is a part of everyone’s lives.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Parents to touch every stakeholder. Yeah. Exactly.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah. Exactly. So so then we started out sorry.
Dr Catlin Tucker
No no no no. You’re good, you’re good. I was just going to I wanted you to pause because I think it’s really interesting what you said about, like, don’t create an AI tech or task force, like create this, like emerging technology. So before you keep going, like, why was that? Like, what was it in the research? What what made you want to make that decision?
Dr Catlin Tucker
Because I’m sure there’s lots of groups who are leading this kind of implementation who are thinking, we’ll just call it an AI, whatever and why, maybe steer clear of that and think about this more as emerging technologies.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I think it’s similar to when I was doing instructional coaching, and we were called digital learning coaches for two years, and then the funding changed, and then we were called instructional coaches. And I think it reminds me of when I would go into a classroom and we were we had we had people working with us that applied to work with us.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So we had these, you know, we were their coaches and and we worked every week and had these. We followed the coaching cycle. And, and I remember going into some classrooms and on the board it would say tech time with Doctor Ramirez. And I thought, well it should be all the time, right? Like it shouldn’t just be this one hour that we’re focused on technology.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so then fast forward to now and I feel kind of the same. It’s just like, you know, people in classrooms, you might have one teacher who’s who’s using a all the time, or you might have one teacher who were doing one activity, and I or you might have one teacher who’s saying no way at all. And that gets very, I think, cloudy because it’s just creating a huge, inequity.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Like if you have if you have one, one teacher who’s not using it and one teacher who is, I just don’t think that’s fair. And so bringing it back to why it shouldn’t be called just an AI task force, because it is really more in a mindset, right? We’re not just trying to get people to use AI.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
We have to really rethink how we are teaching. We have to think, you know, is an essay the right thing? Is that really what we want to show proficiency or show what a student knows or you know, because are they just going to put it in ChatGPT and copy and paste? And we have to teach kids how to use it.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Right. So, so going back to your question of why not, you know, an AI task force and why emerging technology? Because it already is embedded in what we’re doing. You Google something and it’s using AI. So it shouldn’t be just focused on AI. It should be focused on how are we in our world, how is this changing?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
It changed too. And I keep saying 2013 because that’s when I came out of the classroom. But back then, it wasn’t just about using a device to learn, it was how do we use that device across all aspects from just in the classroom then to when we are in the real world working these jobs? Like, how does that all go across all of those domains?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And I feel like it might be just AI right now because that’s the big. But it’s not even AI, and it’s generative AI essentially.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So so I think I think a lot of the research just said, like, you, you want to have a you want to have a task force, you want to have everyone involved, all the stakeholders, and you, it’s not just about AI, it’s it’s technology’s changing so rapidly that we have to make sure that we’re we’re using all of it, to really support our learners and to really make sure that they’re, they’re ready for the future.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So, so future technology, emerging technology, you know, whatever you want to call it. But it’s not just AI.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Yeah. No, I love that. And I think what I love too, about what you’re highlighting, and this is the thing that I remember was really what sparked me to write my book about, you know, kind of using AI to elevate educational design was more like, I don’t want to just focus on the AI just in the same way.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Back in 2000, you know, eight, nine, ten, when all the edtech tools were exploding, it’s like, I don’t want to just focus on the tool. It’s like, what is the tool going to help us do? What is the tool being used in service of in terms of our learners, the the pedagogy? Like what? Why are we using it?
Dr Catlin Tucker
What is the value and benefit and I do and and generative. I like that there’s so many different technologies that we want to your point weave in to the classroom. So we’re preparing students to go out into a world where they’re going to have to use all these things if they want to be competitive in a, in a workplace, for sure.
Dr Catlin Tucker
And I remember in your session, so you were showing images of the one that sticks in my mind is like a frog. And there were like two frog images. And you are talking about an experiment kind of that you did with students around. Can they identify what is real versus what is AI? So I wanted you to just share a little bit about that, because I thought it was fascinating and maybe almost this like indication that there’s when we talk about emerging technologies, there’s always this moment where I wonder the kids are already so far ahead of us that, like, we have to be willing as educators to learn just to keep up with kind
Dr Catlin Tucker
of their savvy around these emerging technologies.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yes, I agree absolutely. And what was funny is, is I, you know, you always when you’re presenting whatever you’re whoever your audience is, you want to have something sort of engaging and kind of fun. So I started with that. And I have I have three main ones that I use. One is the, the image one, and then I have a like a written one comparing the difference between is this a teacher writing this or is this is, AI and then I have a fourth one that has been really fun lately, and that’s AI Pictionary, where they do reverse prompting and I show an image and they have to figure out how I got
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
that image. Oh, that’s an it’s super fun. Come up with the prompt and everyone really like that one. But back to the frog one, which is exactly the one that I’ve been using kind of this whole school year. When I first showed it to the group of educators, it was basically it’s taken from Britannica Online, and they have a whole group of you know, set of images that are real or AI.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so I, you know, you put it up on the screen and you ask the kids and or the educators or the air group. And so I’ve literally done it with, you know, every, every audience that I worked with. And it is amazing to me the difference between what how students respond to it versus how adults respond to it.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Students were actually much they they were, like like probably, I don’t know, almost 90% correct versus adults. We were not and self included. And they students knew what they needed to look for. And they were very much critical thinkers when it came to this, because they are dealing with this on a daily basis with social media. And that’s kind of the, the biggest generalization.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
But, you know, kids would say, oh, it’s not that one is not real because blank and not blank. And then it looks like blank and, and Grown-Ups were like, well, I, you know, I don’t know. And so when I brought it to a group of parents, parents were actually one of their biggest concerns is that their kids are not going to be critical thinkers.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
When I was just going to do it for them and I said, actually, based on the work I’ve been doing, students are actually doing a lot more critical thinking because they’re they’re doing it every day with things that that we aren’t. You know, we often sit and get. I feel like when it comes to social media or a or maybe a good recipe or something, just my own opinion.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
But,
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
But but but.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Kids are like, that’s not real or that is and so they, they did a lot of that when I was working with them on this and I thought, gosh, they are actually have we had a lot of really great conversations around a real or I and they knew why it was I generated. And so that was, that was I was really cool.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
But it was also like interesting to then take to the grown ups because they’re like, oh, you know, now they’re just copying and pasting. And I’m like, actually, if we give them those opportunities to do that, they’re doing it. And so we have to provide more of that, to give them, you know, those opportunities. And so yeah, but the the reverse prompting is my newest one.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And that’s, that’s also very fun. I will send it to you.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Yeah. And talk about critical thinking like, that’s totally fascinating.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah, yeah. And I took images like one was a dinosaur walking in New York having a ice cream cone or whatever. And that one was really funny because every time I typed in the prompt, I would get a T-Rex with an ice cream cone, walking in New York City or whatever it, whatever city. But, and then I said, you know, we all said, like, why is it constantly, every time I did it and I just said dinosaur, it would give me a T-Rex.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And I thought, well, this would be a great lesson around bias. And like, is that the only dinosaur we think of you know, when we think of dinosaurs? But then my significant other had a really good observation and he said, well, you asked it to have an ice cream cone and a Brontosaurus can’t hold an ice cream cone because he’s walking on all fours.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And my gosh, yeah, I didn’t even think about either.
Dr Catlin Tucker
But that’s such a great point.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah, I know, I was like, oh, okay.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
But you know now. So yeah a very there’s just so many opportunities and different things that we can do that’s engaging. Right. That, that that gets that kind of engagement piece. But then to really dive deep into things, you really can especially the students.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Well, and so the flip side, whenever we have the conversation about the, the students response and their kind of ability to kind of interact with I or their openness to it, you know, a lot of educators struggle, you know, this feels like something new and it feels like it’s evolving so quickly, which it absolutely is. And it can feel a little overwhelming because at its core, it may be the thing that disrupts the way they’ve been teaching, right?
Dr Catlin Tucker
The assessments they’ve been given, the kinds of, methods that they’re asking kids to practice or apply their knowledge may not work as well in terms of like, yeah, do we know if kids are using AI? And if you’re not a regular user of AI, then it can be hard to spot some of what you’re what’s being generated by AI.
Dr Catlin Tucker
And so you also in the session, you’re kind of telling this story about a teacher who was really hesitant to use AI with their students. You know, they were struggling with effective prompts. So how did that experience kind of lead to, like the development of, you know, those fill in the blank kind of prompts that you are talking about in your session, like how how do you go about supporting the teacher when they come in and they say, here’s my struggle, here’s what I’m afraid of.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Here’s what, like I need support. Like, I think that story’s really interesting, but it’s very I think it’s kind of representative of so many teachers experience of feeling a little uncomfortable and out of their kind of comfort zone when it comes to their work. Now that I is in the mix.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I think it was really exceptional that not only was she willing to bring me into her classroom to help support her, but to to acknowledge that she was nervous or a little bit scared about using AI with her students, but really wanted to. So I think that was great that she took that initial step to, ask for support.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So I think the time that we spent together was really kind of diving into what she was scared about. And I think part of it is a little bit of control and not knowing, you know, what’s going to happen or what they’re going to find. And the students that she was working with, she was really wanting to provide the opportunity but just truly didn’t know how.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so she was using Magic School and she was using school AI. So to kind of different ways, of, of, two different products, but yet similar. And so she found that the hardest thing for these students was to just even write a prompt. So if they’re unable to write a prompt, how are they able to access it?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And that was kind of our biggest you know, place that we that we landed is like, okay, so how can we help them access it. And so we decided, okay, let’s we look through all of her, content and her curriculum and the things that she was teaching each week. And we decided that we would create these basically like sentence starters where they were, you know, create, blank.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so then we would talk about, you know, what the kids would need to put in those blanks or in those boxes. I mean, this is this is this is not a new concept, but it was definitely something that she hadn’t thought about with regard to AI. And so it’s not fair if kids can’t access it. And so how can we help them access it.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so by creating these prompts. So she did to and we would put them out on sentence strips literally and put them up on the board. And then the, the students could always refer back to that if they were trying to create something specific or if they needed to ask it a question, you know, help me find, or provide the steps to blank or create, blank.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so that way the students would have this bank of prompts and they could go to, when they were trying to access certain things within, that that product or that software or that platform. And so we also then would print out the what it looked like in let’s say, school AI or Magic School. We would print out that little the box or the prompts, kind of where it’s like labeling text.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So we would print that out and then put it with the sentence, frame or the sentence sentence starter or prompt starter, I guess. And that would be on the board. So they would also know like, oh, if I see that I’m working to help change the level of my text. So, you know, create or level my text or however whichever one they were using, it would give them that visual to and she loves it.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so now, I mean, it’s been two months and she’s got a whole bank on the wall and it looks like, you know, it looks like a live version of what that platform looks like online. Along with a prompt to go with it.
Dr Catlin Tucker
I love okay, there’s two parts of this that I love is that it’s you. What you’re helping that teacher to do is to apply, really, the kinds of strategies and scaffolds that they would use to teach students to learn how to apply any kind of specific skill, you know, not technology based, but you’re showing the teacher how to apply, like the sentence frames, to using AI, how to take those visuals, to have them be kind of a visual model or a visual cue.
Dr Catlin Tucker
But in service of helping students to use AI like any other tool that they might use. And I think sometimes I feel so different and foreign that it’s like, how do I, I don’t even really know how to use this very well. How do I help students use it? But simply giving them the sentence frames they can lean on.
Dr Catlin Tucker
I do the same thing with educators who are in my AI design course, which is, you know, prompt engineering is its own skill and it takes time. And even educators need support doing it effectively in the beginning. And then like any other support and scaffold, eventually you can kind of pull it away. And now we have the confidence and the skill set to do it without that scaffold.
Dr Catlin Tucker
But I love the focus on here. Is this a group of learners? They will benefit from specific aspects or specific functions in these AI education tools. Let’s teach them how to use these tools and provide the supports and scaffolds, just like they were learning any other how to use any other tool, or learning any other skill, which I think is so just makes it feel more doable.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah, I think and I think bringing it any right anything that we do we when I was working for the edtech company, they would do all of their prototyping literally for these, adaptive learning programs and mastery learning programs. They would do them all with construction paper on a table. Kids would manipulate the construction paper, you know, the hamster going through the whatever.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And it was so interesting because I thought, yeah, that’s exactly it. It is so much it’s so helpful when we can bring it, you know, to like tangible, to, to some, you know, to some sort. But, but just seeing it in different ways and not just digitally and online, but actually like kind of real life, I think that’s important.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And we used to do that with back, you know, ten years ago we would have tech experts at one of the school sites that I worked at, and I would I led this group, they were fifth graders. And man, they would go in and they would teach that app, you know, what was one like Padlet? Like, we’re going to go teach the teachers and the students how to use Padlet.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And they would go in and they would have it on paper, and they would show like, it’s just like a bulletin board and you’re just putting, you know, and I think that it is it’s just if we can break it down and scaffold it, just like you said, just like that’s that’s just best practices, you know?
Dr Catlin Tucker
Yeah, I just think sometimes it’s easier to like we’re so used to doing that in the offline environment, but then applying it to some of these emerging technologies where like we don’t take what we know works and apply it there. And the same way. So you are leading AI implementation, which is just has to be the most daunting kind of task in a district.
Dr Catlin Tucker
And so you mentioned in the session kind of a five step process that’s been really guiding your AI implementation. So I know there’s a lot involved in that. But for anybody who’s thinking about, gosh, how do we even start? What are the what are the steps look like? I’d love for you to kind of walk us through the steps and explain, why they’ve been effective, at least in your context.
Dr Catlin Tucker
And I know that other people are trying to figure this out.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
You know, it began with kind of this launch of, okay, where do I start? What do I do? Let’s start researching. As soon as notebook LM came out, I was like, obsessed. Everything I was.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Looking at, I was like, oh my gosh.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I just spent a month of like, you know, my Google Drive is crazy. And I literally dumped it all in there. And it just was awesome to synthesize it and kind of break it apart for me. And, and so launching but then providing those foundational so these one I call it launching, you know, stage two or phase two is, is the foundational piece where we’re providing basic, generative AI, PD, AI.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
What is AI literacy? You know, what is AI? And then what are some of the common concerns and then a couple of tools that you can use and start with and so that’s really that foundational piece. And that’s where I was meeting with the administrators. I was providing PDS. I was asking how I can support the school sites and what that looks like.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And also meeting with our Department of Ed within our county. They were also providing monthly, cohorts where we would go and we still go. We’ve been going all year. So that was helpful as well. We started we also had some recommendations from the county, every school district did to kind of look at and see, you know, what were some, some goals that we wanted.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So that’s where my original goals came from. So phase one and launching phase two of that foundation, just getting everybody just trying as much as we can, seeking out asking questions and then moving into like empowerment. And that’s where really a tech forward task force came in with all different kinds of stakeholders. I have administrators on the team.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I’ve coaches, teachers, all different levels, classified and certificated, like I said, are on the team parents. And so that that empowerment phase was where the tech task force started and they started taking stuff back to their sites. So not only attending the PDS, but, also now kind of spreading the word. And I just had an administrator asked me the other day, said, gosh, you know, can you come and do a session with our, with our teachers, all the teachers?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And when I got done, he was like, man, he’s like, I probably should have had you sooner. And I thought, well, no, because we got to also meet everybody where they’re at, right. And some of these places and it’s yeah, you can’t you got I mean there’s a, there’s two sides to it. But so don’t worry. You’re, you’re, we’re all learning.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
It’s all new to all of us. So so so launch Foundation empowerment and then that impact piece. And so I felt like that was it was impactful because I, you know, I told them, I said, you’re not you’re not blind. You’re good. It’s good. Everybody was here. Everybody was present. They participated. Now let’s, you know, move forward.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And I think then you go into transformation. So the, the last step of it, but it’s not really the last because it never really ends. But that transformational piece where we start to see, you know, instruction transforming the way we’re talking about it with students, with parents, with our community transforming. And then it’s going to need to continue and then really probably start over, but then like kind of the next level of things.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so this summer we have lots of stuff, you know, plan to support teachers and provide opportunities. But it’s it’s really it’s it is a lot for anyone. But I also think, you know, not diving in and just like I have to buy this product, this product, this product, and that’s not where it’s at. We really have to build, awareness and we have to build understanding and providing that foundation of what it actually is, you know, and then how can it support our students and then why do we want it to support, you know, the why.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah. And then I think a big thing for me next year is to look to then do more like is, is it, is it really doing what we’ve hoped it’s do is it supporting our students? Is it are we increasing, you know, whatever we need, whether it’s awareness or those foundational basic skills with AI literacy, like how are we doing it, how are we doing it?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And is it making an impact.
Dr Catlin Tucker
So and so you’re going to have to figure out how to assess those things.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
That’s now well guess what. Our our tech task force I this.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
A shameless plug for you just getting but we did we were going to use this book. I love your book. I love, love love it. And I have obviously haven’t read the whole thing. I’m just starting. But it is, you know, that is again, it’s not just about the technology. It’s about instruction. Yes. And and how are we meeting those needs of every learner.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so, our tech task force, we are all going to be reading this throughout our summer and, and using it to guide all of our practices. So I’m very excited. So yay. And you said.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Well, thank you for bringing it to your your tech task force. That’s so fun. You’ll have to let me know when you guys are getting together so I can, like, pop in and say hi.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Oh, they would love that.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Yeah. You. So you have also referenced some really, helpful frameworks and guidelines that you’ve kind of drawn on as you’ve been doing this work. So are there any like ones you want to like, point people to, to say, hey, these were really useful as I was trying to figure this out, or as my team was trying to figure this out.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Well, in in August, I started with the Add Safe framework, which is the safety accountability, fairness and, and efficacy efficacy. Thank you. I’m like efficiency, no efficacy. Thank you.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Like it’s one of those key words.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yes yes there’s a lot of.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Them out there. But yeah we started with that as kind of our guiding framework. But then I really found a lot of like tons of resources from, Amanda Bickerstaff and I for education. She has some really amazing resources that are free. And, and so I found a ton of stuff there. And then also, I, I let’s see AI for learning, was another one.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So and for education I for learning. We also you’re like I said, your book we’re looking at and so there’s a lot of different pieces and then of course a lot of stuff I read said, do not, you know, immediately change your policies, do not immediately change your guidelines. Look at what you already have and see where AI fits into that.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so we did that. We took our our district guideline ones and we didn’t change them, but we added AI and and really, you know, you’re still following the same protocols with regard to age. That doesn’t change. Anyone under 13 can’t. And and you know 18 and over can, you know, create accounts. And if you’re if you’re 13 to 18 you need our parent permission.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And under 13. No. And so that was something that I you know we just packaged it and you put it in a, you know, a handout or whatever or digitally on our website. But it just it’s it’s really actually, you know, looking at these and having those conversations again, because it’s been a while, we all created these guidelines and policies, you know, back when like you said, 2008 nine.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so I think, it’s it’s just reevaluating those and kind of taking inventory of what we have and what we’re using and how it’s supporting students. And so, you know, we didn’t we didn’t change the guidelines. We just brought them back and kind of brought them to everyone’s attention and created more awareness around them and just added some of those AI pieces, but not fully changing.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Now we are updating policy, to include AI. And that will be happening. This next month, approval with our school board. But but we didn’t just go in and radically change everything. We just brought it, you know, brought it back to having those conversations around it and, and, you know, and, and focusing on emerging technology versus just AI, you know.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
So, yeah, I think that that’s kind of been our, those have been our main ones. But I definitely think that I, been learning. Oh, digital promise. Sorry. That was another one. Digital promise has a really nice kind of. They put everything together with kind of a nice, set of resources, and there’s just a ton out there.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so, you know, you do have to,
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
We have to quite a bit. Yes, exactly. You have to know book.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Limit is you.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Have to do.
Dr Catlin Tucker
I’ll include some of those links on the in the show notes to for people who are like, I am looking for resources and there’s a ton out there, but I don’t know what is really strong or where I should start. So make sure if you’re if you’re looking for those, I’ll put them in the show notes for sure.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Okay, great.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Yeah. So I do want to ask. So a lot of people who are probably tackling this, and I do love that you guys are integrating it. I always worry that when we have something bussed into the scene, you know, like I it’s like, oh, we have a whole separate thing for that. And it’s like, wait a second.
Dr Catlin Tucker
AI is almost like an infrastructure technology. Let’s talk about how does this how do we talk about this in relation to what we’re already doing, instead of tier points spinning up something new and separate? And I think that also sends a message to teachers. This is something new and separate instead of something we’re integrating into our policies, integrating into the work we do with technology.
Dr Catlin Tucker
And so there are obviously a lot of people who are tech in this probably remember the ed tech rollout, but there is a real difference between an ed tech rollout of, say, you know, 2008 2009, 2010 and an AI rollout. And so I’d love for you to kind of speak to that. What you see is the difference between the two.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah. Well, I definitely like I said, I that was that was, you know, when I came literally out of the classroom, never thinking that I would leave the classroom to do anything else. And just thought, okay, this is important. And what was different. And I’ll never forget our first PD, there was 13, 13 of us digital learning coaches.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
The school district that I was at passed a bond. So there was a lot of funding for it. And they we were ready to train, a group of elementary teachers, and there was probably 50 teachers in the room, and there were three of us coaches who had spent weeks. All these other teachers had spent weeks, you know, getting their classroom read, you know, ready and students first day and doing all of that where we literally right, go home and sleep for, you know, 13 hours because you’re so exhausted from the first.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Week of school.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And we were all like, oh, research. And we had done all these things and we just thought, oh, look at us. We’re coming in and we’re going to we’re just going to spread all of our knowledge and information across the room and to everyone. And we just thought, oh, that’s going to be great. And it was literally I’m like embarrassed to say this, but it was a PD that was like 50 APS.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And I’m thinking we get into the room and we, you know, everyone’s got their they just handed out their iPads that they were going to have that are just like the students. And we’re up there and we’re doing Apple play.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
You know like it.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Teachers are like okay, okay wait how do you turn this on? And I’m thinking, wow, I felt like such excuse me. But like jackass like.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
You can you can believe. But. Right. But I just felt.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Like such like really like, oh my gosh. Whoa. You need to, like, pull it back. So that was a very, humbling moment. And it also made me just think like, okay, like, we can’t we have to start with just one thing, or we have to start and take our time. Because when we rush into things, that’s when other, you know, other things happen.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so and so that rollout was very, very I really honestly like tangible. Right. It was very here’s a device and now you have to teach with it. And none of us had done that before. Like we you know, we barely I barely checked my email prior to that. I feel like. And so now you’ve got this device all the time and now all the kids have these devices.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so it it definitely was something so new. But really needed a lot of not just instructional training but also just like device training and like the technical side of this.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Yeah, exactly.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah. And so, and a lot of patience because it wouldn’t always airplay or it would go to another room or I mean, there was just so many things, but but I think that definitely, it, it was like it was just so tangible. It was just right there like you saw it. And I think with AI is it’s kind of like this thing that’s like really already embedded into everything, whether we realize it or not.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And a lot of us have already been using it, you know, Alexa and and our, you know, GPS and things like that. But I think when it comes to that, those professional learning opportunities is what’s I think a struggle for teachers is and myself, is that kids are they’ve already been using it. They’re already they’re already kind of like, well this is how you use it.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so it’s, it’s I think it’s it’s harder in a sense because it’s less like in your face, tangible. You see it? Here’s a device. Open your device, shut your device. Like those kinds of things. And but yet also I have a lot of, like, love for teachers because they just went through like we all did, went through the heart.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I was teaching at the time during Covid. And so they were everybody was kind of thrown into teaching online and learning, you know, just something just like immediately whether, we knew a lot about it. And so I do think that every educator has the capacity and the ability to work with AI with their instruction. But I totally understand that kind of like that scary unknown, because it isn’t just here’s a device.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Off and on. Put it away. Let’s stop. Let’s take a minute. Like it’s constantly, constantly running in the background, if you will. And so, I have I really have a lot of empathy, and I have a lot of understanding why it is a little bit scary and a little bit kind of like, where do we start? But it’s not going away.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And it’s also not taking our jobs. We need more of us. I think we need more humans. And if it can help. Yeah, if it can help us, alleviate some of those mundane tasks that are like, okay, I don’t need to spend reading 170 essays like, you know. Yeah. Like, if they can help me with some of that and I can spend more time getting to know my students and building those relationships, I think it can be a really great thing.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Yeah. No, I totally agree. So really quickly, I know you’ve gotten a lot of teachers despite the like, fear of change, despite the fear of the unknown, which I know for a lot of teachers that what that’s what I has been. But you’ve generated a lot of excitement. Is there any like, tip or quick tips that you would give somebody leading a roll out of AI or like leading, you know, AI implementation in a school or district to try to get teachers just leaning in to get kind of interested and excited.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Definitely make a connection to the real world. And and as we should do with our students, we also should do with our educators. And like I had the best time, meeting with a group of our all of our schools from, the elementary to the high school settings, all of the office managers and I, I sent them a survey and I kind of I did some research and using ChatGPT using other tools, unlike what is a day in the life of an office manager.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And I put together a little video that was like, you know, and so are the days of our lives. And it had like all of the things.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
They do. And I’m like, you can’t get through even, probably a phone call without three kids coming to you, without a parent coming in without, you know, your administrator needing you. And so making it real and just want, like, just one thing. Like you don’t need all these tools. First, let’s start with, like you said earlier, prompt engineering, creating a fun prompt.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And and we did we they were taking notes of the stuff I was presenting and I said, well, hang on a second. Can I take a picture of your notebook? And, and one of the office managers was like, yeah, sure. Absolutely. And so I took a picture. I uploaded it to ChatGPT. I said, summarize this set of notes and tell me what I need to do to make sure I’ve completed my next steps or the tasks or whatever it was.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so it, as it populated, you know, live. It was they were just like, what? And I said you could take all your post-it notes from your entire day, and it would do that for you. And like, that made it how it helps them because we all want something to help us. Right. And so I think my one tip would be be willing to take a risk to like, do that live.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
You know, and it’s going to might not be what you want. And then you just show like, okay, this is how you, you know, you do a different prompt then or whatever. And so I think meeting everybody where they’re at, whether it’s a student, a parent. And so even with the parents, I said, you know, how do you I have all these kids and how do I keep track of their schedules?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so I like, take a picture of all the things that I had gotten that week from, from their high schools and, or the emails or whatever. And I like, compile them into ChatGPT. And I said, summarize these for me and then or categorize them, organize them by, you know, whatever date or. And so I think just making those real world, real life connections, and how you can use it to support you and, and your day to day.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
But yeah, I think being willing to do it live too, is also a little scary.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
That because you don’t.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Know and then, you know, you’ve got your research history. So when it’s like best friend suit for the summer, now.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I just get.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Well. Do you remember the the gentleman in the session who said he was working with a group of PE teachers and they were kind of like, oh my gosh, make this relevant for us. Right. And he was like, what is your biggest pain point? And one of the PE teacher said something like just getting the laundry done, like getting all of the sports like jerseys.
Dr Catlin Tucker
I couldn’t remember the exact scenario. And he goes, okay. And so he used, like you said in the session, live. Like, here’s the scenario, here’s what needs to be done, break down a schedule, make this doable. And he said, from that moment on, the PE teachers are like, we’re in.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
We’re yeah.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Like I guess to your point, they like see the value of it, right. How it can actually help them. And I think when you feel that personal value, then you’re more willing to say, okay, what what challenges do I have in a classroom? What things are my struggling with with students? Like maybe it’s coming up with those construct specific choices.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Like, we know we should give students multiple pathways, but coming up with choices feels like, heavy cognitive lift at the end of the day. Now, here, we can use this to do this more effectively. So I love that. And I know I’m at time with you, so I don’t want to keep you on too much longer. But I always ask my guests to end the podcast, because we’re called the Balance.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Just sharing a tip, a routine, a strategy, something that helps you to strive for kind of a healthier work life balance because you are juggling a ton with your role, your family. So what works for you?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Well, I, I was thinking about this because I wondered if maybe something would have to do with the balance because I.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Love your because I love the.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Title. And, you know, I thought about it and I thought, okay, one of the biggest things for me is that I feel like I feel like I have constantly chased finding balance in my life, and that almost to the point of, being a little bit obsessed with it. Like I have to have balance, I have to have balance.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And it became this, this like thing versus actually kind of like technology or I, it became this, this like this, separate thing into everything else I had to do. I have to find balance. I have to find balance. And it was when I was about, 40 years old that I actually found out that I had A.D.D., and I was literally, graduating with my doctorate in, like, a few days, and the doctor said, Holy cow, you’re, like, off the charts.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And I thought, seriously?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I’m like, wow, this would have been nice to know, you know, a long time ago or.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Not, because I guess you create all these strategies for yourself throughout your whole life. Right? And so I remember, you know, graduating and walking and I just thought, wow, I, I did it in one aspect like, okay, great, good for you. You did it without having that label or knowing that, but wow. What would, what would maybe medication or whatever.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
What how would that have changed? You know, your life and that at that moment I thought, okay, did you try to quantify balance? It feels like an illusion, right? Like it feels like how am I ever going to get that? And so I decided everybody, you know, Brandy, you need to chill out. And so.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
And so I started really reflecting and, and and really looking at the small moments like, like how instead of being mad that I can’t balance everybody at the dinner table and being here and being a part of it, I just started really appreciating the small moments. So instead of, why aren’t you here for dinner? Oh, we have sports, you have activities, you have this.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
It’s more like, oh, they’re they’re, you know, hopping through the kitchen to grab dessert. So let’s sit down and just share a couple of things. And so really, really finding those small moments, we actually of course then I had to go to the extreme of labeling it dessert and dialog. And then my kids are like.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Yeah, I know. I’m like, oh, come on. I’m like, yeah, we have to label it. We have to have it like it has to be in a box, you know? Has to have a name, right? It can’t just be, oh, you’re passing.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Through the kitchen for dessert. So jokingly, you know, that became kind of, and every night at the dinner table when we are together or whomever is there, I always ask them, you know, what’s the success from today? What’s something you might, you know, like to have changed? And then who’s someone you helped? And even if they can’t think on the spot of one of those three answers, they they inevitably come up with something like, I’m like, Will you help, you know, unload the dishwasher?
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
That was a huge help for me. And so we so, so I think finding joy and finding that you know, not being so worried about balance and finding that balance, but actually enjoying the balance that’s around you, I guess. So it becomes more difficult as your kids get older and finding that time. But just appreciate the small moments, whether it’s walking down, you know, walking the dog or going down to get the mail or whatever it is.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
But, just really, truly being present and enjoying the little things.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Which is hard to do. I mean, in the chaos of life and motherhood and work and children. Yeah, it is a lot and I but it’s a great advice just leaning into the moments that you have short, larger, whatever. It’s definitely, definitely gives you that just perspective of like, okay, it’s not exactly the way I would want at every moment, but there are all these really special moments that happen.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Well, thank you so much, Randy, for joining me for this conversation. And I appreciate you sharing your your journey and your experience leading the implementation with I, yeah, just a really nice conversation.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
Well, I am very, very thankful, to have had the time with you. And, it’s been a lot of fun. And I really appreciate everything that you do. And again, last plug.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
I know I’m not getting paid for this. I hope your team enjoys.
Dr Catlin Tucker
The book for sure. I’m excited to. All right. Well, thank.
Dr. Brandee Ramirez
You so much, Doctor Tucker.
Dr Catlin Tucker
I really appreciate this conversation. And there are so many little moments that stand out to me that I think are worth kind of revisiting. And one is that this reality that when we talk about an eye roll out or eye implementation, we’re not just talking about teaching teachers how to use AI or helping students use AI responsibly. It’s really making sure that stakeholders at every level of a school community are having opportunities to learn.
Dr Catlin Tucker
So whether that is school leadership, its certificated staff members, its teachers, its students, its families and community members, how do we make sure we’re helping everybody involved to kind of understand how to use AI in responsible, productive ways that are going to benefit the entire community? I also really love this idea of not just necessarily focusing on AI, but really kind of having it be under the umbrella of emerging technologies, because AI is really woven into so much of the technology we already use, and we want AI and the use of AI to be woven right into the fabric of teaching and learning.
Dr Catlin Tucker
So I love that when we’re having this conversation about AI and how to roll out AI for a school community so that everybody feels like they understand what AI is and how they should be using it, that it’s not something separate, but instead the groups that are integrating it into existing policies, into existing frameworks, into kind of existing value systems for that school so that it’s just integrated into all parts of how we communicate.
Dr Catlin Tucker
What we do at the school are probably going to be more successful, because that’s really how AI is surfacing in our own lives. It’s like in everything and all these things that we interact with. And so instead of making I feel like something separate or something additional that people within the school community have to figure out and learn and now kind of deal with, it’s instead teaching teachers, teaching students, teaching certificated staff in school leaders and families.
Dr Catlin Tucker
How do we use this in our daily lives? How do we use it when we are teaching? When we are learning, as though it is just another kind of emerging technology that is now part of our educational system and part of the world beyond our classrooms and, and schools. So if we really want to prepare students for what comes next, college career, then we’re really making sure they’re going to be able to navigate the technologies that will be all around them.
Dr Catlin Tucker
So I love that idea of AI in implementation plan. It’s not necessarily something separate. It really is thinking about what do we value as a school community, what are our existing priorities and how does AI fit into that picture? Thank you all for joining me for this conversation. I appreciate you being here. And if you have any feedback, if you have any questions, any comments, please feel free to reach out.
Dr Catlin Tucker
I’m easy to find online. You can find me on ECS at Katlin Underscore, Tucker on Instagram at Catlin Tucker on Blue Sky, Catlin tucker.com. And obviously you can find me and lots of resources on my website. Catlin tucker.com I also included in the show notes a list of some of the resources that Doctor Ramirez pointed out that were helpful for her in this work, as well as some, contact info.
Dr Catlin Tucker
If you want to get in touch with her directly. And before we say goodbye, I wanted to remind everybody listening that the first week of June I am offering, for the very first time, a summer learning kickoff. So June 2nd to June 6th, I am hosting a live one hour webinar, and each day I am hitting kind of what I like to think of as a hot topic or a topic that people seem to be really interested in.
Dr Catlin Tucker
And I know for some people, the 3 to 430 Pacific Standard Time, 630 to 730 East Coast standard, time or the the time for the East Coast folks may not work for a live session. If you sign up for the course, you do have access to the video recording for 30 days, and you get the playlist with the curated resources that go along with the session.
Dr Catlin Tucker
But each of the sessions is $25. Anybody who signs up for all five gets a free year long License to My Education Reimagined course, which is actually a 15 hour course if folks are looking for additional professional learning hours, you’ll also get a certificate at the end of each of our training days. On Monday, we’re doing a deep dive into multi-tiered systems of support, with a focus on strategies that elevate tier one instruction.
Dr Catlin Tucker
Tuesday is all about the station rotation model. Wednesday is the playlist model and how we use it to personalize pathways. On Thursday, we’re going to dig right into AI and talk about how we use AI to elevate our design work. And then on Friday, we’re going to end the week with student led learning strategies. So if you have any questions about any of those, again feel free to reach out.
Dr Catlin Tucker
I’m easy to find online. Happy to answer those questions. And I hope to see some of you live in class the first week of June. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.
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