If you’ve been curious about teaching with AI but aren’t sure how to start, good news — you don’t need to overhaul your curriculum or spend hours learning new tools. Some of the best uses of AI in the classroom come from adding it into the things you’re already doing, making them more engaging, more precise, and often a little easier to manage.
These aren’t major overhauls. Think of them as small shifts you can try tomorrow to help students think critically, write more intentionally, and build the AI literacy they’ll need long after they leave our classrooms.
1️⃣ Ask AI: “What’s beautiful about this writing?”
When students finish a piece of writing — or when you’re reading a mentor text together — try asking a LLM like Claude, ChatGPT, or Perplexity:
“What’s beautiful about this writing?”
It can be fascinating to see what AI picks up on: sensory language, pacing, figurative devices. Sometimes it highlights strengths your students didn’t realize they had, and other times it misses the mark — which makes for an equally valuable conversation about why certain craft moves matter.
Teaching with AI this way isn’t about outsourcing feedback, it’s about adding one more voice to the reflection process.
2️⃣ Language Dives — with AI
You might already use Language Dives to unpack rich, complex sentences. AI can become a helpful partner here too.
Choose a particularly meaty sentence or short passage from a text and have student groups ask a chatbot to explain the meaning, identify figurative language, or paraphrase it. It pushes them to look closer and lets them engage with the text in a different, lower-stakes way.
Pro tip: This works especially well for multilingual learners or students who benefit from multiple exposures to tricky syntax.
If you’re interested in more about AI supported language dives, this article from Edutopia is a great place to start.
3️⃣ Push for More Precise Language
AI image generation tools like TwinPics AI offer a creative way to strengthen descriptive writing. Students craft a prompt for the image generator, then review the resulting image and its accuracy score.
The goal? Revise the prompt to get a better image and score, pushing students to be more specific, intentional, and precise with their language.
This strategy makes abstract skills like revision and clarity tangible — and students usually get competitive in the best possible way.
If you’d like a full breakdown of how to run this routine, I’ve written about it here: Using AI Image Tools for Precision Writing.
4️⃣ Host Conversations with Text
Another way to start teaching with AI is by using chat agents to have students interact with texts.
After reading an excerpt, students can ask a chatbot clarifying questions, debate points of view, or request paraphrases. If your tool allows for uploading your own source material, even better — it keeps the conversation grounded in your curriculum while offering individualized support.
This strategy works especially well for reluctant readers who might hesitate to raise a hand, but will eagerly test out their interpretations with AI. Using a hosted tool for education can provide additional student protections and insights for you.
5️⃣ Fact-Check the Textbook
In politically charged climates, it’s not always simple for teachers to critique biased or incomplete curriculum materials outright. AI can act as a neutral third party.
Invite students to ask a chatbot to fact-check a textbook passage or identify what’s missing from a historical narrative. It opens up critical thinking without putting all the pressure on you to name those gaps yourself.
Teaching with AI here empowers students to question sources, build media literacy, and engage more actively with content.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need to do everything on this list to start teaching with AI in meaningful ways. Even picking one small strategy to try next week can make a noticeable difference in engagement, critical thinking, and student agency.
The best part? These ideas build on practices you likely already have in your toolkit. Consider which one fits naturally with your next unit or goals — and give it a shot.
When you do, let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear what’s working in your classroom and what isn’t so we can keep learning together.
