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Being a teacher in a Christian school is no easy calling.
Not only are we teaching the array of subjects in the curriculum, we seek to do this within a rigorous Christian worldview, showing how all of life can be understood and lived under the Lordship of Christ. We face the pressures of planning, assessing, reporting, and mentoring our students. Duties, meetings, and administrative tasks fill our calendars. As I said, it’s not an easy calling.
It’s no wonder, then, that many teachers are exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI). This isn’t a bad thing.
I have every confidence that AI can help us save time, be more creative, and have a bigger impact in our classrooms. It can help us honor Christ with excellent work while not sacrificing our own physical, spiritual, and mental health. But to do this, we need to think carefully about how we use these technologies. We need a principled approach.
In A Time To Lead, I go through ten principles of wise AI use—principles that allow us to explore the possibilities without falling into the pitfalls.
One of the wise AI principles I discuss is using AI for options, not answers.
Options, Not Answers
The options, not answers principle encourages us to ask for a variety of responses from AI, then use our wisdom and discretion to pick the material that will work best for our context, classroom, and community.
When we ask for answers, we’re letting AI take the lead; we let it chart the path. We don’t allow space for our own pedagogical and relational nuances.
When we ask for options, we put ourselves firmly in the driver’s seat. We put ourselves in a position to use our God-given wisdom, discretion, and knowledge of our learners.
Here’s how you can apply the options, not answers principle.
- Create a quiz
- Draft an email
- Create a reading
- Differentiate a text
- Write sentence stems
- (Or anything else you do!)
Ask for multiple options of what you want then pick the best option.
If you’re after an interesting hook activity to start your lesson, don’t ask for one activity; ask for five and pick the best one.
If you’re after eight multiple-choice questions, don’t ask for eight; ask for sixteen and pick the best ones.
Let me show how this looks in practice.
Original Prompt
Task: Give me an exciting hook activity I can use to begin my unit on ancient Egypt. Make sure it stimulates conversation without requiring prior knowledge of the subject. This task should not require physical props or any setup. Give me an overview of the activity and a discussion prompt for the class.
Format: Write it at a Year 7 reading level.
Improved Prompt
Task: Give me an exciting hook activity I can use to begin my unit on ancient Egypt. Make sure it stimulates conversation without requiring prior knowledge of the subject. This task should not require physical props or any setup. Give me an overview of the activity and a discussion prompt for the class.
Format: Give me five options for this activity. Include clear headings for each. Write it at a Year 7 reading level.
- Wisdom
- Discretion
- Content knowledge
- Professional experience
It acknowledges that God has called you to be the leader of learning within your classroom.
This keeps you in the driver’s seat and increases the quality of your resources.
Let me know if you decide to try this—I’m keen to hear how you go!
You can get in touch with me here.
