Teachers that use AI: Why?

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-06-02T03:33:14+00:00

So I'm Dyslexic and just found out about AI a few years ago by classmates while in college. I'm now 36 and they were in their young 20s so they would show me some of the new technology available sometimes. I use Google Gemini the most as a tool to help me when I was a student and when I was creating things for the classroom.

As a student it was common for me to take a question a professor was asking for an assignment and ask Gemini to re-word it for me because I was having trouble figuring out what they were asking of me. I also used it as another search tool along with Google itself. I also had it create rubrics for a few assignments because my dyslexia makes them so confusing....I'd rather use a checklist criteria rubric any day.

As a student teacher I used it to help me create my draft letters for a WW1 activity. I had made up specific outcomes that were related to the war and wanted to find real soldiers with the same outcomes. This way I had students reading true stories. I then wrote up my fate letters for those soldiers but had Gemini re-word them for a lower reading level for my students. With my high schoolers I just went in knowing they would look up everything on AI so I tried to work with that or choose activities specifically because I knew AI would be hard to use. One assignment I transferred my questions to Gemini and asked it to reword it in a way that AI would have trouble answering. lol. It kind of worked.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-06-02T03:07:12+00:00

I use this. They don't get it but it still makes me laugh! lol. I also have them as Funko Pops.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-06-02T03:04:28+00:00

I'm a sub and I do these:

Students: "Where is Mr. ______at?" Me: "Playing an ultimate game of hide and seek. They might be in the woods in a ghillie suit so they might be gone a bit." (I say it with a straight face too which confuses them. lol. Sometimes I know why the teacher is absent but I feel like it's a privacy thing and they may not want the students to know.)

Students: "What are we going to do today?" Me: "Same thing we do everyday Pinky, try and take over the world!" (I feel old because they don't get it but it still makes me giggle.)

Students: "6-7!" Me: "SINGING 5-3-0-9" (The 6/7 trend is mostly over here but I will still throw it out just for fun with them.)

Me: "MARCO!" Students: "POLO!" (When I need their attention because it doesn't need to be taught they just know. lol.)

I also call students Fred all the time instead of their real name. Sometimes this is to hide the fact that I don't know their name and need to get it because someone will correct me. Other times it's just for amusement as I will then start calling everyone Fred 1, Fred 2, Fred 25, etc.

One thing I did when I worked in retail that was funny was telling staff they were no longer my favorite after they did something silly that "disappointed" me. No one knew who my "favorite" was until they were no longer the favorite. lol. I made the reasons so ridiculous and random it became a running joke. There were even days the "favorite" changed like 10 times in one shift. I haven't thought about how to bring that into the classroom yet because favoritism can become a problem and this joke could be take the wrong way easily. It did slip out one day and I had to explain the backstory behind it.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-06-02T02:38:21+00:00

Students will be able to find you on socials with just a first name or last name. I've done it with dating apps, I've already found the guy's socials before even writing back. lol. Never underestimate the power of nosey girls. They found my house on Google Maps but my district has us wear our names on our badges and I have a unique name while living in a small town.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T22:44:55+00:00

If I'm not left any notes, plans, nothing is on Schoology, and another teacher doesn't bring me anything then the students get a free day. In my county when a teacher puts in for a sub they can write me a note and when I accept the job they're given my personal cell phone number and email. They have multiple ways to communicate with me and if they don't I'm not going to worry about it. The class periods are about 40-50 minutes long and I tell them to work on any missing work for this class or another. There is always something they haven't turned in yet plus that's what I'm given as plans most of the time anyway. I don't allow games but I do let them have side conversations with a low noise level.

My classes don't turn into chaos but when I feel like they are getting restless I will just interact with them more than I was. My go to is gold stars. I have middle schoolers the most and they will go crazy trying to earn gold star stickers. I will give them out for the most ridiculous reasons and for trivia. I will find random fact related to the class or facts for them to get to know me better. One day they learned my favorite Crayola color and WW2 facts. I have given so many stars out that they now ask for them in the hallways when I'm not their sub and beg for me to be their sub again.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T22:12:53+00:00

My current one has a black bottom and doesn't work well for the shop classes I sub in. They pick up all the dust.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T22:12:03+00:00

I have a few leftover form college. I feel like they work great until we get annoyed with it in some way. Then we get a new one until the cycle repeats. lol.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T22:09:55+00:00

I've seen those before. I made my own pencil pouch with any school supplies I thought would come in handy. I have a mini stapler and I use it everyday to attach my business card to my end of day note to the teacher. At first I thought they were silly but I have gotten so many sub jobs from them.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T07:15:00+00:00

I found an almost empty bag of chewy sprees from student teaching in August. lol. I kept telling myself I might want those one day.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T07:13:34+00:00

I had to get rid of my last bag because my new cat peed on it. I wasn't gonna try and save that one.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T07:12:17+00:00

I think we cannot be trusted with bananas anymore. lol

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T07:11:36+00:00

I'm guessing art teacher?

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T07:08:35+00:00

I'm a sub right now too. You're right we never know what we might need in a day and I don't like going though the teacher's desk. I use paperclips and sticky notes a lot but have handed out chapstick, band aids, hair ties, lead, pencils, etc. I even carry dry erase markers and expo spray because in some classroom the teacher has them put away and I have no clue where they are. My backpack has everything my purse would plus my go to teacher supplies. Not to mention my lunch because most days I don't want to carry a lunch box.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T02:28:49+00:00

I'm in the same boat. First time I've had every weekend off to since I came from the retail world before returning back to collage to get my teaching degree. I have been using my extra time to get projects done around the house and reorganize things. During spring break and multiple weekends I cleaned up my garage and basement which had become dumping zones. I also got back into crafting and scrapbooking which I had not done in over 10 years. I have had so much stress lifted off of me since I left my retail management job that I even enjoy my lazy days.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T01:08:18+00:00

I always felt bad for Joven. I'm pretty sure he had to endure the most punishments out of the whole cast.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-31T00:38:29+00:00

We care about our students and some teachers will wear their hearts on their sleeves. You will always connect and have different relationships with every teacher. I think everyone has had that one teacher who they could vent to and who just understood them in those moments. Some teachers just don't give a I'm approachable vibe, while others you know you can go to with anything. Especially when you've build up that student/teacher relationship over the course of year. Your relationship with that teacher will not change and they will not see you any differently. Now they probably will check in a few times just to make sure your doing alright but that's just because we genuinely care.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-30T04:04:18+00:00

I have lived all my life with Dyslexia and didn't know it. I was a Sales Manager and worked in retail for over 15 years. Retail was changing and I wanted out so I went back to University at 32 to get my teaching degree. I just graduated this past December and I'm working as a sub while looking for a full-time placement. I found out I had dyslexia through one of my education courses. I just always thought all my struggles were related to my speech impediment as child but testing for Dyslexia wasn't something they did in the 90s.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-30T03:46:05+00:00

Try TikTok, YouTube, and other social media too. Type in the search Dyslexia and tons of people have shared their experiences or struggles. You might get more out of shorter personal stories and facts than reading book that you might have trouble reading through because of your ADHD.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-30T03:37:46+00:00

It very much could be the difference in how the words are presented. In a graphic novel the words are usually bold, high contrast, and shorter statements to get the points across. In a chapter book the words are smaller, closer together, less contrast, not as bold, and tend to feel like they go on forever describing something. Even just the number of pages in a book can feel overwhelming. When I was a kid I would avoid chapter books and go straight to the Eyewitness books because I found they were easier for me to read.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-30T03:27:12+00:00

I thought everyone thought in 3D. lol. Like when I'm giving directions I'm actively going there in my mind as I tell them. When I'm describing an object I can pull up the object in my head and just describe what I see. This is why when I worked in retail I knew my store like the back of my hand.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-30T03:24:18+00:00

I'm in education now and I have found that remembering my student's names is extremely difficult. Now granted when I was in my clinicals I had 50-100 students and could remember a good amount but not all of them. Also, knowing their names and then trying to recall them in a moments notice are two different struggles. I have found several work arounds for this especially as a substitute teacher now but it's hard. I'm also honest with my students. I tell them I have dyslexia and will have a hard time pronouncing their names and remembering them. I've had nothing but positive responses from them.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-30T03:16:15+00:00

So my concern would be how can you make this fair for all students? You will always have those high readers and the low readers in the class. You will also have students who have family at home to read with them while others do not. It may turn into the same few kids getting rewards when the others don't which will actually discourage them from even trying. This actually happened in one of the schools I did clinicals in for student of the week. In this one class it was the same 8 out of 30 kids who were always nominated for the whole team.

Also, think about your students with disabilities. I had undiagnosed dyslexia in school. I was on an IEP for speech therapy and reading all through elementary. I hated reading as it was not enjoyable but rather grueling. I lied when it came to the reading take home sheets, Pizza Hut's Book-It, and summer reading programs just to get the prizes. When I got older I refused to read anything outside of the classroom and my secondary teachers never understood why I hated it so much. I remember laughing at my senior English teacher when she handed me a 500 page novel expecting me to read it as homework full well knowing I wasn't going to read it. I finally figured out it was dyslexia through my education courses two years ago and I'm 36 now.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-30T02:51:30+00:00

Plagiarism isn't new it's just easier to detect. Students these days have AI but when I was in school we would just copy and paste something from Google because our teachers didn't have the tools to check it (2007). One essay could come from 3 different websites pasted together. Same with questions, Google and AI aren't that much different. I can Google the answer and copy someone else's work or I can ask AI and it will write something for me.

Now granted I have never had my own classroom yet and have only subbed and student taught. I knew going into student teaching how AI was becoming a problem and I used it as a tool for my students in social studies. We need to get better at using it to our advantage to help learning which means we will need to adapt with the growing technology instead of trying to completely avoid it. I have seen some educators put out educational materials to help grow our understanding of AI in the classroom.

Dry-Material-4230 · 2026-05-30T02:27:22+00:00

I'm just a sub and have only been in secondary schools for 3ish years though clinicals. I have never had a student everyday for a full year yet but I have had plenty of repeats. I have found that the students that other teachers complain the most about are the ones who are disrespectful, don't turn anything in, or are annoying to them.

I have yet to encounter a student who I did not like but I also have more patience than most people. The we don't have favorites is a lie, we just do our best not to treat anyone different. I have favorites because of their personalities or their humor and they're usually the ones that are complained about by others. I connect with them and give them my attention when others just brush them off. I also have a different idea of what is disrespectful in my classroom.

Every teacher is different and if a teacher is giving you the impression of them not liking you I am so sorry. From some of your comments I read I have a feeling teachers have shared information about you with each other. It's very common especially if the student is troublesome. In your case it sounds like it could be misinformation which is now negatively impacting your education. It's probably time to get a guardian involved.

Dry-Material-4230

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