The Human Elements still important in the AI-enabled classroom

here's some things we've built into our classrooms to keep the important human elements even while we incorporate AI tools

where the human is still important:

  • taste and curiosity. taste taste taste will continue standing out in the current blandness of AI slop

  • collective listening and feedback from peers

  • continue building a judgement-free space so students are comfortable sharing their creations

  • paying attention to the nuanced context of the classrooms' culture. who is friends with who. who has tension with who. the relational dynamics are important to continue knowing.

  • the ai and internet (youtube videos, etc) teaching the technical skill but our teaching artists still are the ultimate facilitator and 1:1 feedback giver

the biggest mid-term challenge in this era:

teachers getting lazy and not exactly replaced by AI, but outsourcing the hard parts of planning, feedback, and interpretation without engaging deeply.

the instinctual:

“ChatGPT, give me a lesson plan.” Then running it as-is. Result: a plan that ignores all the above: students, resources, classroom culture, the teachers' nuanced goals.

try a reflective loop. Before class:

  • set the artistic goal

  • add class context and constraints

  • treat AI output as a rough draft, not a script

during class:

  • Co-creating with students reminds them the magic of human teamwork

  • let AI suggest repertoire, warm-ups, or visual prompts

  • IMPROV: watch closely for what lands and what falls flat, then improvise where necessary

after class:

  • judgment-free debrief with yourself or peers

  • make two lists:

    • What went well: all the good and positive cues and vibes

    • What didn't go well: plan assumed gear you do not have or missed the class’s cultural mix and skill levels.

build an AI devil’s advocate. for each student or activity, ask the tool for two reads:

  • evidence of progress

  • an alternative or pitfall to watch for. this counters confirmation bias and the Pygmalion effect.

  • this SHOULD just be set in your settings prompt of your go-to ai tool so it's always being a devil's advocate for you

worried about over-analysis killing spontaneity?

use AI summaries for insight, not scores. this can be important to protect risk-taking and play amongst students.

here's one of our music lesson examples:

  • you focus on tone color, breath, emotion

  • student logs a quick reflection: what felt different, what improved, what still needs work

visual arts aspects of our classes example:

  • AI generates mood boards or composition studies

  • you curate references, add cultural context, and lead critique

  • devil’s advocate flags stylistic bias or derivativeness, prompting students to push their voice

the tl;dr of things to think about:

  • track risk-taking, originality, ensemble cohesion, quality of critique, and technique tied to expression

  • try the reflective loop and devil’s advocate this week

Building Beats