Navigating Uncertainty, Embracing Possibility: AI in Independent Schools

Coffee & Registration

Welcome & Introductions

Session 1

Case Study: Conversancy is King: A New Era
Josh Lake, Pomfret

Regular use of ChatGPT has transformed my astronomy, coding, and freshman science courses, both in and out of the classroom. It's allowed me to do away with written tests, switch to a Conversancy model of checking student learning, generate practice problems, and ignite new levels of critical thinking in students. Come learn about my favorite AI prompts, assignments, success stories, pitfalls, and why I think Conversancy is the best way to move into the future.

Case Study: Designing AI PD for Teachers
Matt Johnson, Loomis Chaffee

How can we create opportunities for teachers to creatively adapt to artificial intelligence? This case study will examine a summer PD opportunity for Loomis Chaffee teachers that empowered teachers to rethink aspects of their curriculum in light of advancements in Generative AI technologies. We will detail the planning and recruiting process, the work we did over the course of the summer, and how we shared the work with the whole faculty.

Case Study: Utilizing AI for Differentiation and Inclusion
Maureen Lamb, Ethel Walker School

In my Latin classes at the Ethel Walker School, I have been using AI to help with generating differentiating activities and assessments, giving students extra support using AI tutors, and demonstrating different ways of interacting with class materials. Participants will come away with strategies, tools, and ideas they can use in their own classrooms.

Case Study: Common Ground amid Shifting Norms: Fostering Community Discussion about AI Literacy and Academic Integrity
John Morell, Lena Sadowitz, Liz Cashman, Nick Barker, Loomis Chaffee

Through an internal summer professional development project, faculty from Writing Initiatives, the Deans' Office, the Library, and Learning Access & Student Achievement joined forces to develop a unified lesson plan for teaching AI literacy and academic integrity within our common experience 9th and 10th grade seminar courses. Join us as we reflect on our initial efforts in crafting and implementing this shared lesson plan. We'll incorporate feedback from seminar instructors to evaluate the impact and pave the way for our future direction in AI education.

Case Study: Using AI in an Honors Government and Politics Class
Jennifer Parnell, The Lawrenceville School

This year in Honors Gov we have focused on evaluating the applicability and efficacy of AI within the academic environment. Students in two course sections have been utilizing various AIs including ChatGPT-3, GPT-4, Claude, Claude2, Bing, and Bard to summarize readings and review current events across a wide range of sources. In class, we analyze results, review prompting techniques, and assess responses. Students use AI to generate discussion questions from readings and those are evaluated using Bloom’s taxonomy to guide class discussions around the Harkness table. We have seen significant improvement in both the academic level of discussion and student engagement. Students have also been using a variety of research tools including Humata, Consensus, ChatPDF, ChatDOC, TLDR, Scite, Scholarcy, and Elicit and comparing results across platforms and plugins. Students keep AI journals and use AI to summarize their results so that future students can have a toolbox curated for the course. The overall goal is to incorporate AI as a learning tool to augment rather than circumvent higher order thinking skill development. We’ll examine results and student views on these learning tools and collaborate with other teachers on what aspects of AI they have found to be effective in promoting higher order thinking and collaboration.

Case Study: Using Bing Chat GPT and Adobe Generative AI Image Creator to Explore Local History: A Case Study of a Controversial Murder Trial
Rhonan Markowski, Salisbury School

This session will present how our history class used Microsoft Edge’s Bing Chat GPT, a chatbot that uses a powerful language model to generate natural and engaging responses to conversational inquiries, to conduct local history education about a Black man convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury to death-by-hanging for the axe murder of a white couple. Bing helped us access diverse and reliable sources of information, images, and news on various topics related to local history, including stories from marginalized communities. It also gave us completely fabricated information that sounded plausible. The session will include students and demonstrate how we used Adobe Generative AI Image Creator, a tool that can create realistic images from text descriptions, to create the first iteration of our documentary. The session will invite participants to reflect on how they can use Bing or similar tools to enrich their own teaching and learning of history, as well as the ethical and pedagogical challenges of using AI in education.

Session 2

Case Study: From Theory to Practice: Adapting Curriculum with AI in Mind
Jen Stauffer and Phil Stewart, Hopkins School

This session entails a case study that centers on the collaborative work of Jen Stauffer and Phil Stewart, both science teachers at Hopkins School. Our goal was to adapt existing assignments to leverage and teach about AI while maintaining academic integrity. Through Jen’s use of AI-generated source material and prompt engineering guidelines and Phil’s use of AI as writing collaborator, students improved both their science writing and understanding of science content and the pros and cons of using generative AI as a thought-partner. Furthermore, by exploring the benefits and pitfalls of this technology and using an AI Decision Tree, students gained AI literacy skills.

Case Study: Designing AI PD for Teachers
Matt Johnson, Loomis Chaffee

How can we create opportunities for teachers to creatively adapt to artificial intelligence? This case study will examine a summer PD opportunity for Loomis Chaffee teachers that empowered teachers to rethink aspects of their curriculum in light of advancements in Generative AI technologies. We will detail the planning and recruiting process, the work we did over the course of the summer, and how we shared the work with the whole faculty.

Workshop: Supporting, Not Supplanting, Student Thought
Nick Zufelt, Andover

Much of the fears around the use of generative AI in education stem from the concern that it will be used to replace students’ thinking. In contrast, the educators who are optimistic about its use wonder if it can instead complement and deepen students' cognitive processes. In this workshop, I’ll share a few ways that I’ve had success with doing so and some of the relevant frameworks from recent research. We’ll then spend time workshopping — so bring a lesson, assignment, a case study, or any relevant classroom artifact, and together we’ll tinker with how AI might enhance, not eclipse, its educational benefits.

Case Study: Common Ground amid Shifting Norms: Fostering Community Discussion about AI Literacy and Academic Integrity
John Morell, Lena Sadowitz, Liz Cashman, Nick Barker, Loomis Chaffee

Through an internal summer professional development project, faculty from Writing Initiatives, the Deans' Office, the Library, and Learning Access & Student Achievement joined forces to develop a unified lesson plan for teaching AI literacy and academic integrity within our common experience 9th and 10th grade seminar courses. Join us as we reflect on our initial efforts in crafting and implementing this shared lesson plan. We'll incorporate feedback from seminar instructors to evaluate the impact and pave the way for our future direction in AI education.

Workshop: Analytical Writing & ChatGPT
Caitie Cotton, Loomis Chaffee

An exploration of how ChatGPT can assist students–and teachers–during the analytical writing process. ChatGPT prompts around analytical writing scaffolding steps like brainstorming, preliminary research, and thesis development will be investigated, noting both strengths and hangups along the way.

Workshop: Creating AI Personas for Education
Adam Alsamadisi, Loomis Chaffee

AI personas or GPTs are virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence that can provide personalized and creative solutions in various aspects of faculty workload. During our session, participants will learn about how to build and interact with AI personas focused on innovative curriculum design, mundane tasks, pedagogical advice, and addressing the learning needs of students.

Workshop: Leveraging the Power of AI Personas to Seamlessly Integrate Authentic Applications and Build Interdisciplinary Opportunities into Your Curriculum
Lauren Riva, Loomis Chaffee

In this workshop, participants will learn about a persona created to streamline the inclusion of authentic applications into the mathematics curriculum. Participants will then have time to explore the creation of an Instructional Design Personas in ChatGPT to facilitate the incorporation of more authentic applications and/or interdisciplinary opportunities in their own classrooms.

Lunch

Session 3

Workshop: Leveraging the Power of AI Personas to Seamlessly Integrate Authentic Applications and Build Interdisciplinary Opportunities into Your Curriculum
Lauren Riva, Loomis Chaffee

In this workshop, participants will learn about a persona created to streamline the inclusion of authentic applications into the mathematics curriculum. Participants will then have time to explore the creation of an Instructional Design Personas in ChatGPT to facilitate the incorporation of more authentic applications and/or interdisciplinary opportunities in their own classrooms.

Workshop: Nurturing and AI-Inclusive Culture: An Open Discussion
Sara Deveaux and Webb Trenchard, Loomis Chaffee

This session invites administrators to explore strategies for engaging your faculty in adapting to Generative AI. We'll discuss the practicalities and ethical considerations of using AI in sensitive areas, such as student report comments and college recommendation letters. Our conversation will highlight strategies for adopting AI responsibly, ensuring alignment with educational values and goals. Participants will gain insights into forming committees, expanding roles, and fostering faculty engagement with AI. Join us to understand how to navigate this evolving landscape, balancing technological advancement with educational integrity.

Workshop: Supporting, Not Supplanting, Student Thought
Nick Zufelt, Andover

Much of the fears around the use of generative AI in education stem from the concern that it will be used to replace students’ thinking. In contrast, the educators who are optimistic about its use wonder if it can instead complement and deepen students' cognitive processes. In this workshop, I’ll share a few ways that I’ve had success with doing so and some of the relevant frameworks from recent research. We’ll then spend time workshopping — so bring a lesson, assignment, a case study, or any relevant classroom artifact, and together we’ll tinker with how AI might enhance, not eclipse, its educational benefits.

Workshop: Creating AI Personas for Education
Adam Alsamadisi, Loomis Chaffee

AI personas or GPTs are virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence that can provide personalized and creative solutions in various aspects of faculty workload. During our session, participants will learn about how to build and interact with AI personas focused on innovative curriculum design, mundane tasks, pedagogical advice, and addressing the learning needs of students.

Workshop: Analytical Writing & ChatGPT
Caitie Cotton, Loomis Chaffee

An exploration of how ChatGPT can assist students–and teachers–during the analytical writing process. ChatGPT prompts around analytical writing scaffolding steps like brainstorming, preliminary research, and thesis development will be investigated, noting both strengths and hangups along the way.

Workshop: Working with AI interns
Ned Heckman, Loomis Chaffee

This session will focus on leveraging AI as an intern for teachers to support excellent pedagogy. Using examples from my science classes, we'll discuss both student-facing and student-invisible work that an AI intern can do to make any of our classes richer learning environments.

Workshop: Empowering Independent School Advisers with ChatGPT: A Workshop for Transformative Guidance
Scott MacClintic, Loomis Chaffee

In today's rapidly evolving educational landscape, students face an array of challenges and choices that can shape their academic journey and future prospects. Independent school advisors play a pivotal role in guiding students through these important decisions. Enter ChatGPT, a powerful AI tool that can revolutionize the advisory experience. During this workshop, participants will explore practical ways to integrate ChatGPT into their advisory process, offering tailored insights and assistance to students on a wide range of academic and personal development topics. Whether its helping students select the right courses, discover their passions, refine their college application essays, or navigate personal challenges, ChatGPT can be a valuable ally in the advisor’s toolkit.

Student Panel