Why I Don't Use AI for Lesson Planning

I don’t use AI for lesson planning. Why would I? Outsourcing the lesson planning, the most important part of preparing for a session with a client, is a short cut that I’m not prepared to take. I wouldn’t outsource it to another human being so I’m certainly not going to hand it over to a machine.

We’ve all seen the many articles about AI, explaining how it can help us to ‘save time’. These articles suggest that if we aren’t incorporating AI into all aspects of our jobs, well that’s on us. If we don’t embrace this technology, we aren’t being modern enough and we’ll be left behind. The emphasis is always on being faster, implying that being more efficient is what logically follows.

I take issue with these articles. 

Of course AI is useful in some areas. Used with the right applications, and by people who know what they’re doing, it will allow us humans to make major breakthroughs and exciting discoveries. However, there is also absolutely no doubt that, at the moment, AI is being used for ridiculous and unnecessary tasks which is why the terms AI Slop and CRAP (Computer Rendered Artificial Picture) have entered our everyday vocabulary.

AI is ethically dubious and comes with enormous environmental costs. So I think we should carefully consider the nature of the ‘time’ that it purports to save, and if that’s really how we, as teachers, want to use it.

Although our collective experience of using AI is still relatively new, we’ve already learned that AI writing is general, imprecise, and lacks nuance. And that’s how it presents for lesson planning tasks too. 

There’s an old saying in computer programming that, “What you get out is only as good as what you put in.” Unfortunately, with AI, what you get out is dependent on what other people have put in, so you can imagine where this is leading. AI scans what it has access to, which is often of dubious quality to start with, and then compiles it into something that appears to meet the criteria you’ve input. It makes assumptions and it’s frequently glaringly incorrect.

I got into language teaching because I enjoy investigating and immersing myself in English, and I now have many years of experience as an English language teacher. I’m good at it. I know exactly how to prepare sessions for my clients based on their requirements, and I’m known for my highly personalized service. 

Each one of my sessions is specifically tailored to my clients’ precise needs at that time so I don’t want some generic lesson plan that might just about suffice. I need a highly specific plan that’s exactly right for the client session I’m preparing for. In this respect, I’m sure I’m better than AI.

I also enjoy my job and take professional development very seriously. I’m absolutely convinced that the sessions I plan for clients now are better than the ones I was planning ten years ago and that’s because I’ve build my knowledge and experience through trial and error, and by reflecting on my decisions. I want to get better. 

If I were to outsource that aspect of my job then how would I improve my skills? How would I gain experience? I believe that lesson planning is an integral part of a teacher's job and if that gets handed over to AI then the teacher has to question whether they even want to be doing that job.

AI is like the CEO’s socially awkward nephew who has been drafted into the company for a summer internship. He’s obliging and eager to please but also highly incompetent and needs close supervision. 

So why would I want to outsource lesson planning, the most important part of my job, the place where I add the most value for my clients, and the area where I build my knowledge and experience to the machine equivalent of an inexperienced student intern? 

The answer is that I don’t, and I won’t.

Written by me, Jane Birkenhead, not AI, so I can be clear, precise, and say exactly what I mean.

Header photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash