Live from the Air Show - Kristen Brooks and Jamie Israel

Join Jessica and Georgia for an episode with Kristen Brooks and Jamie Israel for a discussion around the latest conversations around AI.

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Georgia Terlaje: [00:00:00] It's Time for the Edge, a podcast brought to you by its d and A SCD community leaders. Whether you're a teacher, an administrator, or someone who simply loves education, fasten your seat belts because this podcast is tailor made for you. Join us as we dive into the world of education, sharing, inspiring tales of innovation, passion, and change directly from those on the front line.

Georgia Terlaje: In the episodes to come, we'll highlight the incredible dedication and creativity that drive transformation in the field of learning. Buckle up. Embrace yourself for an adventure. Coming up today, we are podcasting live from the AI show in San Diego. I am one of your community leader hosts, George Slahi.

Georgia Terlaje: I'm a former TK five instructional coach and classroom teacher and educator of 36 years, and I'm here with my always favorite partner in crime, Jessica Pat. 

Jessica Pack: Thank you, Georgia. Being able to record face to face today is amazing. I'm Jessica P, a middle school teacher and an Isti author. On [00:01:00] today's episode, we have two incredible guests who will share their work with AI within the field of education.

Jessica Pack: We'd like to welcome Kristen Brooks, a former elementary teacher and current education consultant, and Jamie Israel, a district ed tech coach for Des Moines Public Schools.

Jessica Pack: Kristen and Jamie, welcome to the Edge. Thank you. Thank you. Can you introduce yourself for listeners, please? Kristen, let's start with you. 

Kristen Brooks: Okay. So again, thanks so much for having me on. This is really cool to be here like. In the room with everything happening. So I am Kristen Brooks and I am an educational consultant.

Kristen Brooks: I just retired from my district after 30 years in December. So it's a whole new world and I'm really enjoying it and loving just the opportunity just to help people. That's like my bottom line is I just wanna help educators 'cause then they're gonna turn around and help students and other educators and district office staff and you know, just, it keeps the trickle down effect.

Kristen Brooks: So yes, I'm just. [00:02:00] Here I'm doing a session later today. I am an AI innovator and just sharing out like what I have been doing with AI in my district started about three years ago with really just trying to help my educators. Like I was doing kind of dual thing. I was working with the educators as a coach, but then also teaching technology classes to students in the K five.

Kristen Brooks: Elementary area. And so just really wanted to start using AI because I felt like if I want to get the teachers to do it, I could start easily with the children and then the teachers will be like, oh, that doesn't look so hard. So that's really what I do, and I just kind of share that out Now with, you know, districts or schools, or sometimes I work with companies that just help share what their product does and what that looks like in a classroom.

Jamie Israel: All right. My name is Jamie Israel. I am kind of an odd duck. I currently work with a, [00:03:00] Iowa has regional ed service centers. So I work with one of those but have been contracted and consulting with Des Moines Public Schools for this school year. And I am transitioning into being with them full-time at the end of this year.

Jamie Israel: So as part of my role, I'll work district wide across our system to. Help support teachers in all things ed tech, but our first run for it is with AI and how do we improve teacher retention and teacher happiness and kind of bring back some of that joy into the workplace utilizing some of the pieces of AI that we can push out to them.

Jamie Israel: So 

Georgia Terlaje: well, we're so happy to have both of you on the edge today, in the middle of all of this craziness. Could you each give us a little insight in how you kind of became involved with ai? What's your sort of origin story with how you came to ai? 

Jamie Israel: I can bop in. I think my first. Spot into ai, I always kind of giggle [00:04:00] is somebody brought it up in a meeting and said, do we need to have a policy about this or should we just shut it down?

Jamie Israel: And I was like, I don't really think tech director friend, that we should shut it down. Like that just encourages us to work around the system, look at it in different ways. So let's explore it and kind of dig a little bit deeper. And that was when I was still with the district a few years ago. Since moving into this Eder Center, we have done a lot of professional development around ai, what it looks like how to help support teachers, policies, guidelines, that kind of work. So it's just kind of been a really long up and down bat, not battle, but journey, I guess. And it's been, it's been a fun and interesting one. It's kind of that like breathing new life into the role that you're doing.

Kristen Brooks: And this is Kristen, and I started with AI many years ago with chat GPD, and just using it myself, you know, to help me figure out what to go see when I was in a [00:05:00] new city, that kind of thing. And just really felt like, you know, as a technology teacher for children and for adults. That it was really important to bring that into school somehow.

Kristen Brooks: And I am a huge component of creativity in the classroom and really was looking for how I could, you know, bridge that gap. And I'm like, as a technology teacher, if I don't teach it to my students, who is going to teach it to my students? I really feel like that is, you know, I have to mine that gap. And so I was already using Adobe Express in my district and literally they were kind of testing it.

Kristen Brooks: The, it was. Rolled out, but not really out there, you know, and I saw it as soon as it came out and I've done a lot of work with them in the past and just, you know, different conferences and was just like, Hey, let me just introduce this to my students. And I did have a great discussion with them. And of course, day one saying to my fifth graders, who knows what AI is, every hand in the classroom went up.

Kristen Brooks: They already knew. And so I'm like, you know, [00:06:00] and, and somebody said, are we gonna do it? And I'm like, we are. You know, 'cause they want to get in there and just play around. And that's basically what we did. I said, Hey you guys, we're going to use this to create an our own creature and you're going to morph a couple creatures together and really just explain what that would look like.

Kristen Brooks: And what I love about Adobe Express is that the prompts are almost a fill in the blank kind of prompt. So for. Yeah, anyone who's new with that, it really helps them to kind of know how to phrase it and that they just change different things and what that looks like. And I love the visuals that came up because it gave us an opportunity to talk about it with my students and say, Hey, maybe you were going for the creature with eight legs or eight arms.

Kristen Brooks: I don't know. But you know, in. Giving us a chance just to have that communication with the class and using those pictures also to show my younger students, so they weren't actually creating with it, but I started having the conversations about what it is and how it looks and that it may not always be what they were hoping for, [00:07:00] but they could go back and just refine and do it again.

Kristen Brooks: So that's how I kind of got into it. 

Jessica Pack: I love what you're talking about with using Adobe Express and specifically Gen AI images as like a starting point, especially at the elementary level, that's so engaging and it's such a user friendly way to just get in there and start working with it. That's such a great idea.

Jessica Pack: Jamie, what are you seeing in classrooms that gives you hope around artificial intelligence and how students are using it, how teachers are using it? What do you see?

Jamie Israel: The first thing that comes to mind is the idea of equity. And we talk a lot about you know, I work in a very diverse district. We're a large system. We have a lot of newcomers. A third of our population is multilingual. And the idea that my kids could come home and ask me a question about. What they're learning in school and I can be there to support them.

Jamie Israel: And [00:08:00] knowing that there's kids in my community that don't have that opportunity don't have that support at home or that parental experience is something that really makes me think like, okay, this is why. Like, yes, it's a great resource, it's a great way to generate all types of products and work, but making the, ah.

Jamie Israel: But giving kids the opportunity to ask questions to someone who has great resources for them and not just relying on the open internet and we can just find anything but structuring, you know, those resources in a way that they are productive and helpful for kids, I think is real. Really mo, really motivating.

Jamie Israel: That's not something that we are doing well right now, but kind of the like, here's where we want to get to piece. I think about like. Kristen was talking about with littles and understanding, you know, how, what AI is and how we can [00:09:00] generate images. I talked to my own kids and I think we've all heard this story, like they don't realize how often they are utilizing AI in their everyday life and what impact that does have on their learning and their educational experience.

Jamie Israel: So having those conversations with students either in my home or in my schools about here's what it is, here's how it can help you, here's where it should support you, you know, and then. Like, I feel like our kids are more tight about the guardrails that they want put on AI use than adults. Maybe think that they are, you know, and understanding like, Hey, I will use it for nonfiction work, but I'm not gonna use it for fiction.

Jamie Israel: And that idea. So just having those conversations with kids, where is it appropriate? How do you see it? How can it help you move forward?

Kristen Brooks: Okay. So I would say that for me, I really hope that everyone moving forward will not have the fear [00:10:00] factor that so many educators have because the students don't have that fear factor. I understand. Like I am an educator. It was funny, I used to say, you know, when I went up to the district office, I was still.

Kristen Brooks: Teaching students and working with educators. So I had a dual role and I would say to folks when they'd ask me questions, well, do you want my educator side of my brain answer or do you want my district side of my brain answer? Because there are two different answers. But there's reasons for both. And so I feel like with AI that you have to kinda look at it that way.

Kristen Brooks: You know, you have to look at it through the lens of. Your students through the lens of the parents, through the lens of the educator, through the lens of the district office. And sometimes those answers are completely different, but can be aligned and can work together. So I just feel like my hope is that everyone will be more open-minded and have a growth mindset to look at it.

Kristen Brooks: Like how can this help and not just shut it down like you were referring to. And [00:11:00] I feel like, you know. The way that I looked at it was if I go at this from the students first and you know, before at that time, 'cause it was three years ago, I actually came up with my own little like, reason for doing it and had a statement that I share in all of my sessions about, you know, this is why we're doing it and this is how I'm doing it and I'm doing it with visuals and you know, then we're putting those all onto a Padlet.

Kristen Brooks: So you're welcome to see that Padlet at any time, you know, because I knew it was a new and kind of a different thing. I think from my. Being in the same district for 30 years, the parents were like, oh, okay, that's cool. Like, like she's good. But you know, I wanted that just kind of as a backup to, you know, since there wasn't those policies out there, I'm glad that schools and districts and states are coming up with those policies.

Kristen Brooks: Thanks to our friend Matt over there. But you know, I just really hope my desire is for everyone to just have an open mind and. See like how it can help and not look at all of the ways, you know, that they get nervous about it and [00:12:00] just, you know, trying to, in my work, encourage that, you know, however I can do that.

Georgia Terlaje: Jamie, could you add on a little bit, 'cause I we're going to kind of down the way we wanted to to travel is for those educators that are maybe hesitant to start, what's some practical advice that you would give them to just. Give it a try with and be open-minded, but where would you have 'em start?

Jamie Israel: I always tell educators when you're gonna start with AI or any new tool, what is the thing that just gets you the most? Like, what is just driving you nuts right now? And can we use AI to fix that or to help support that work? Right? So looking at a maybe canned. Lesson or canned curriculum, and you're like, I, this is stale.

Jamie Israel: I have to teach this six times today. Putting that standard in asking for modification based on your student interest, your interests, things that make you more excited [00:13:00] about doing the work, but start with just that, like, oh my gosh, if I, I can't believe I have to go to work today and do this one thing one more time.

Jamie Israel: And if that seems scary, think about it on the personal lens. Like the same thing. Hey, I have to make dinner. Tonight and my kids want chicken, what am I gonna make? So just that one piece that you wanna change and tweak about your life. And start there. We always talk about like, the five easiest things to do in AI to really kind of dip your toe in are to unpack a standard, craft a lesson plan, create a communication create an assessment, and then analyze data.

Jamie Israel: So if any of those five things are your, like bottom of the to-do list, waiting until the end of. Time to do, start with one of those five and dig in from there. 

Kristen Brooks: And I would say a yes and to your answer, Jamie that for me, I, you know, with working with educators and district [00:14:00] admin and people at the district office that I usually start with, what's a tool that you already use?

Kristen Brooks: And then I think of, okay. What kind of AI is already embedded into that tool, because I do feel like, again, with teachers, they're busy. They don't have a lot of time to go learn a whole new tool, although there are fabulous tools out there. I look for, you know, how can we go deeper into the tool that you're already familiar with and make that help you and give you back some minutes of your day.

Kristen Brooks: And so a lot of times people have already used Adobe Express, so I'll help them with that. Or help maybe with Padlet 'cause that also has AI embedded into it. And then look at maybe a lesson or something that they already do. And let's, let's kind of rework this using ai, it's gonna make it more fun for everybody.

Kristen Brooks: And then you can add in more creativity to your classroom and just kind of spruce up or rework what you're already doing. So no reason to replan everything. Let's just add in a little bit. 

Jessica Pack: That's such a [00:15:00] good approachable recommendation for sure. 'cause I, I really hear what you're saying about teachers having a lot of tools already, and for some it's just overwhelming to look beyond that and feel like they have to learn all the other ones right now because the, you know, it's such an emerging technology and everything just keeps coming on the market and they just get a little overwhelmed.

Kristen Brooks: Yes. And I would say yes, and to that as well, that with students. They like to go deeper with the same tool. They don't love having to, oh, let me log into this. And I mean, I know a lot of people have single sign on, but not always. And you know, having to learn all the different logins or all the things to click and then that changes in six months.

Kristen Brooks: You know, that's challenging for kids as well as educators. So I feel like using something that they already have and just how can we rework this, just tweak it a little makes it a lot less fearful and they're like willing to try. And with me, I had the luxury of. Being in a tech lab. So the kids came to me once a week so I could kind of teach it to the kids and then they could help their [00:16:00] teacher when she was doing it, you know, even if I hadn't gotten to that with the educators as well.

Kristen Brooks: So it was really a nice way to roll things out. 

Jessica Pack: Super smart. Yeah. 

Jamie Israel: I think Kristen brings up a really good point. We talk about like the cognitive load of kids and going into. First period and having one thing that they log into and second period, they use a whole new suite of tools and how many tools they're exposed to on a daily basis.

Jamie Israel: We have the same piece with our teachers, and we're asking them to do so many things in so many spaces that the more that we can, you know, lead with a single tool, whatever the flavor in your district or your organization is, and have that consistency, it's gonna not only create that like. Powerhouse for more teacher learning, but it helps your students to kind of continue to go down that path of usage and using things deeper.

Jamie Israel: Mm-hmm. You know, once they've really started to understand the value and the power behind those tools as well. 

Jessica Pack: That's really smart from a universal de design standpoint as well. [00:17:00] That's one of the things my school has been looking at is I'm at a middle school and every classroom can feel like a different country.

Jessica Pack: So being able to streamline with like specific tools, your whole staff gets around. Is a really smart way to go about it. Just really quickly, you know, we're here at the show and there's so much great innovation happening. As we look at the landscape of education as it pertains to ai, what is something that you see coming as a possibility in the future?

Jessica Pack: Okay.

Jamie Israel: I don't know that this is a new idea, but. I'm excited for the idea of extending my capabilities across a district. I'm on a team of four people. We have 66 schools and 30,000 kits that we serve. That is not enough face-to-face time to meet with every teacher, which is ideally the situation I would be in, but utilizing AI to, you know, feed it those resources from our district perspective.

Jamie Israel: Here's our preferred tool set list. Here's our instructional frameworks that we use. Is [00:18:00] technology and across the curriculum wise, here's our curriculum that we use. And letting teachers interact with that as maybe like a first line of defense feels like a way to make a really big problem, a little more manageable.

Jamie Israel: So I think just that idea of being able to provide just in time necessary support, just like we talked about with those kids who don't have parental supports at home. Like, Hey, you have a, a teaching question. Go ask your AI bot friend at the district, and. And ask 'em your question and then somebody can follow up with you.

Jamie Israel: But being able to maybe be in more places at once feels like something that is doable rather than a, how am I gonna support all of these teachers and kids? From school buildings. 

Kristen Brooks: I would agree with those, those statements. And I would also say that I think moving forward, again, my brain always goes back to just the creativity aspect.

Kristen Brooks: And I feel like a lot of times my students would say to me, oh, Ms. Brooks, I [00:19:00] just love being in your tech lab because I know we're gonna have fun. And I'm like, oh, we're always gonna have fun because school is supposed to be fun. And so I just wish that, you know, I feel like on the horizon that there is more because of AI possibilities and ways to make learning fun.

Kristen Brooks: And just really to like embed that into the learning and what you expect. And using the creativity aspects like I love that AI can help a child, like they can see it in their head. I was that child. I could see this great drawing that I wanted to make. I could see it, but I did not have the capability to create that.

Kristen Brooks: And using ai, now I can see my vision and I can make my vision. And so I feel like that also levels the playing field and brings everybody up to the same, you know, possibility. Can I, I'm gonna, I 

Jamie Israel: keep interrupting Kristen on the opposite side. Kristen, I cannot visualize things. So I read, it's called a Fantasia.

Jamie Israel: I read and I do not see pictures in my head at [00:20:00] all. So the idea on the other end of the spectrum that as an elementary teacher, you know, I used to ask my kids to visualize something, realizing I was making up these visualizations for myself too. Well, now they can go to Firefly and say, okay, here's what's happening in the story.

Jamie Israel: I'm reading. Give me a picture. So now I am in that same spot that you are. And being able to visualize alongside of my peers is a really exciting piece too, to kind of create that, that balance for our students. 

Jessica Pack: That's so fantastic. Thank you both. We really appreciate you joining us today. This has been such a great conversation.

Jessica Pack: We appreciate your time and your message. Before we let you go, where can listeners connect with you, Kristen? 

Kristen Brooks: Yes. I am on all the social media just at Kristen Brooks, 77. And then I also have a website that is kristen brooks.net. And yeah, I, I'll answer all of those. I always tell people that, you know, I, I remember.

Kristen Brooks: Being in the classroom and having a specific question, and before [00:21:00] I knew lots of friends across the United States, I would go on Twitter or X and message people because I knew that sometimes their answer could get to me before my folks at the district could help me. And so I really do answer people when they message me.

Kristen Brooks: So please reach out. I would love to connect 

Jessica Pack: and Jamie 

Jamie Israel: feel like I should map this. MyPhone just got hacked. That's why I keep. Oh, because I'm like, I'm trying to reset it up. So you can find me online at Jamie m Israel or Jamie m Israel at Gmail if you have any questions and look forward to connecting with you as well.

Jamie Israel: I think that value of community is so important, so I look forward to the conversation in the future. Perfect. 

Jessica Pack: Well that wraps up this episode of the Edge Podcast. We hope you had a great time. My name is Jessica, and you can find me at Pac Woman 2 0 8 on X Threads and Instagram. 

Georgia Terlaje: And I am Georgia Tlai, and you can find me at Georgia tlai on Blue Sky, and both of us at Storytelling saves the world.com.[00:22:00] 

Jessica Pack: On behalf of everyone at A SCD and isti the Edge Podcast, remember to keep exploring your passion, fostering your creativity, and continue taking risks, all things that can bring you to the edge.