Monthly Archives: February 2026

student blogs

AI’s Impact on Students

Something that immediately stuck with me was that Ying Xu explained that students learn from people that they can relate to. This reminds me of Rita Pierson, because this is exactly what she said on a Ted Talk. Yes, A.I. does have an impact on students, but like Xu explained, engagement is higher when students are speaking to humans because they know the responses are genuine, unscripted, and because they’re able to relate to that person. For example, if I am teaching about a world event, if I was alive for that event, I could explain my view of the event through my personal experience. A.I. is not able to do this, and as a result, would not be as effective in engaging students. Furthermore, A.I. is unable to utilize classroom management skills.

Honestly, while A.I. can be beneficial for learning, I strongly feel that this tool should be used in conjunction with a real, human teacher. We should learn to harness the strengths of A.I. to make it an effective tool. It should be a TOOL, and nothing more.

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Thinking about AI literacy

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We have made it to the close of February with another blizzard and some virtual days (while we wait for snow and slush to melt, and fog to lift). I am looking forward to ‘the turn around’ that typically occurs in March. A little less snow, a bit of a warm up, a break, and before you know it, you can sense the oncoming Spring! We are almost there…

More from “Burnout”

We have continued to think about the tension between technology and what it means to be human. Aidan Cinnamon Tea asks us to see burnout not simply as overwork, but as a symptom of severed relationships. The severance can be seen between humans and the more-than-human world, between productivity and care, between speed and attention.

This week we thought further about technology and the age of AI with concepts such as “Dis-ease” & the Myth of Inevitability​; “Refusal as Method​”; & “Productivity and the Performance of Being Human”. In your breakout room chats, you shared some interesting insights.

The first group noted the stories that technology and AI as “inevitable” benefit tech companies and institutional “higher-ups,” while teachers and students bear the stress and burden of navigating a newly restructured world. You also seemed to embrace the idea of cultivating AI literacy (knowing when and when not to use it), while shifting emphasis from outcomes and quantification to curiosity, process, and intellectual growth. The second group shared that AI refusal can appear inflexible or become truly isolating, and the notion of “refusal” seemed to you more risky than generative. And the third group reflected on burnout as an overlap with refusal: exhaustion may stem not only from overwork (like grading AI-generated essays) but also from the ongoing tension of navigating, resisting, or defending one’s stance within rapidly shifting AI-integrated academic cultures. Sigh. …Talk about a rock and a hard place.

OECD Framework

Thanks to Michael for opening up a conversation about Empowering learners for the age of AI: An AI literacy framework for primary and secondary education. The OECD’s draft framework sets out a comprehensive AI literacy model designed for primary and secondary education worldwide. At its core, the framework addresses the growing need for students to interpret AI systems and outputs, to work with them responsibly, and to appreciate their societal implications.

This framework represents one of the first global efforts to define what it means to be AI literate. This is not just about being “technologically competent”, but instead, it means being ethically aware and socially informed. Ethical and societal considerations like fairness, transparency, sustainability, and human agency are woven throughout all domains. But it seems that as a whole, you were conflicted and doubtful (based on the surveys Michael took) about whether this could be applied to the current educational landscape. Implementation is really where the rubber hits the road. What the project requires is examples, teaching resources, and professional development for the start of any effective adoption.

Class Slides:

For next week:

Our next pathfinders are ​Alexa & Ebony and their theme for their conversation is Childhood Development in the Emerging AI Landscape. ​They have asked you to listen to the Harvard Edcast podcast: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/edcast/24/10/impact-ai-childrens-development

In addition, please read: Burnout From Humans: Chapters 7 & 8 (pg. 69-95).  **Please listen to the podcast and read the chapters from BFH and then reflect on the material in your weekly blog.

See you in our classroom on Wednesday!

student blogs

AI and the classroom

Reading Empowering Learners for the Age of AI felt like two emotions at once: relief and teacher side-eye. Relief because somebody finally said it plainly. Students are already using AI in real life, and schools cannot keep acting like it is a future problem. Side-eye because whenever a framework says “shared responsibility,” I hear, “This is about to become one more thing teachers are expected to master between grades due at midnight and the copier being possessed.”

What I actually appreciate is that this draft does not treat AI literacy like “knowing what ChatGPT is.” It frames AI literacy as knowledge, skills, and attitudes students need to engage with AI, create with it, manage it, and even understand how it is designed, while also thinking about ethics. That matters because it shifts the conversation away from panic and toward agency. Not “ban everything,” not “let AI raise our children,” but “teach kids how to use it without losing their minds or their integrity.”

And yes, the draft basically confirms what every teacher already knows. Students trust confident-sounding information way too easily. If AI says it with enough vibes, it becomes “true.” The framework points out that young people are learning about AI mostly from social media, not educators, and a lot of them struggle to catch when AI invents facts. That tracks. I have seen students treat an AI paragraph like it is a sacred text, then look confused when I ask, “Okay, where did that come from?” Like I just asked them to name their great-grandparents.

The part that hit for me as an ELA teacher is how the draft weaves ethics into everything instead of making it a cute add-on. It calls out bias as baked into human choices about data and design. In other words, AI is not neutral, it is a mirror with a lot of fingerprints on it. That is actually a helpful way to teach it in English class. We already teach students that texts are shaped by perspective, audience, and omission. AI outputs are just texts with invisible authorship and questionable sourcing. So the core skill is the same old literacy question in a new outfit: Who benefits, who gets harmed, what is missing, and why should I trust this?

Where my teacher tiredness kicks in is implementation. I agree with the framework’s vibe, but I also know what happens next. Schools will say, “We support AI literacy,” and then hand teachers a PDF and a prayer. If we want this to be real, students need guided practice inside actual assignments, and teachers need time, training, and clear policies that match real classroom life. Because right now the integrity conversation is exhausting. Not because kids are evil. Because the system is not designed for a world where a tool can produce a decent essay in eight seconds and students think that means the learning happened.

So my takeaway is simple. AI literacy is not a new elective. It is the new air in the building. If we teach students how to question AI, verify claims, explain their process, and protect their own voice, we get learners who can think clearly while AI tries to think for them. If we do not, we get a generation that can produce polished paragraphs and cannot defend a single idea in them. And I do not have the energy to grade that future.

student blogs

I have many questions (and many of them are unanswerable)

The entire world at your fingertips. It isn’t hard to imagine it anymore. The 21st century is a testament on how fast things could ring out of control. And it’s truly siren-like. Blaring at us from every direction.

I think it was this past week, while aimlessly scrolling on TikTok, I came across a guy named Gabriel Basso. He was on a late night show (Jimmy Fallon) when he stated something that completely threw me off my tracks (not being dramatic). He said that one night, as he was “doomscrolling,” he saw an image taken from the top of Mount Everest in the form of an Instagram post…

“Wow this is beautiful… wait what? Why do I now know what that looks like?” – Gabriel Basso

He said it bothered him because he put no effort, went through none of the suffering (climbing over frozen bodies), and somehow still got to see that view sitting restfully from his couch. He deleted Instagram soon after.

And that made me think. How much have I seen that I didn’t work at all to see? Or know. Or all of the above? Is there a threshold here? An exception between Mount Everest and watching Punch trying to make friends oceans away in a Japanese zoo? Did I deserve to see that? Was I even meant to?

I think this kind of interaction mirrors how people use AI. You go into Claude, ChatGPT, or whichever of the seemingly millions of AI systems, insert your fun little question and receive your quick, but incredibly detailed, response. Or you get really crazy and buy a Mac Mini to download OpenClaw/Claudbot to run your life (or business) completely on its own. 

It feels a little redundant to restate now… this is (obviously) something we all know. But I think the constant restatement (which goes on equally as much in my head) is just the way I process (which I’m still unable to do, hence the redundancy) which frustrates me into a state of desperation. What can I do to change this? Better it? Impact it at all?

(Ugh) It’s hard to write about AI without feeling dramatic. But it truly feels like the majority of our population just signed away their wellbeing all to let AI infiltrate every single corner of their lives (for what I’m assuming will be the rest of their lives.) We’ve been taught to sign, no matter the cost because…“what are we going to do with a soul anyways?” (A Greg line from one of my favorite shows, Succession).

Ok, I’m done (hopefully I’ll stop myself from reintroducing this kind of rant in the next blog *fingers crossed*).

Now, there’s a sort of acceptance that seeps in like the snow in your socks (specifically in the middle of a blizzard) when you read Empowering Learners for the Age of AI. Education is important. Duh! And we should encourage students to be curious, investigate…learn even. It’d be hypocritical of me to say AILit is a terrible idea given the course I’ve registered for and am an active participant in. But what about geography? I’ve seen clips of people saying they’ve lived 29 years thinking Alaska was an Island. What about taxes? Which still confuses me and, as I’ve learned, continues to confuse adult business owners (my old boss texted me images of my W2 from). Shouldn’t we start from the basics and let them build their way into an AILit course for the sake of their genuine benefit? 

I don’t know. If “49% of 17-27 years old have a hard time critically evaluating and identifying AI shortfalls, such as whether AI systems can invent facts” should I trust them to be mindful  enough and critically evaluate and identify the damage they are doing to themselves (and the planet they share with everybody else) through their malpractice. You can never (attempt to) teach students to behave and interact with something a certain way and actually have them behave and interact that way (not unless it becomes a trend, but we know those are ever-passing). And if somehow, we do… from where it looks like we are now, it’s going to take a loooonnggg time to get everybody on track (yes, even the lobbyists…unless, by some miracle, we realize that we collectively out number them and work together to take them down?!?!).  Is a “loooonnggg time” and timestamp too late? 

Again, I don’t know.

AI is already a controversial topic on social media. It seems like no matter what angle you speak about it, you have people in the comments berating one another. If everybody was educated it on the subject would that really be all that different?

P.S. Having to read “Personhood is one of those ideas humans love to toss around…” felt alternate reality like. Rivers and mountains have lived and flowed since the beginning of time. I will not assert rights to a machine adding (and accelerating) to the destruction of their well deserved personhood… May Aiden Cinnamon tea never be given a platform again.)

Adamari Peralta

2/25/26

student blogs

Blog Post #6 Article Reaction

Song of the Day: Maximum the Hormone [SHIMI feat. Atarashii Gakko]

After reading the articles, I wanted to focus on the article focuses on AI in education and the term AI literacy. While reading, I can agree with the importance on AI literacy. Regardless on a person’s stance on ai, I think it is important to understand what AI actually is and what it capable of, in both good and bad. With understanding, it will be easier to teach someone who might be less experienced with ai or not fully aware of the full spectrum of outcomes. The article brings up how the youth is already integrating ai into their lives, and just because they are does not mean it is too late to teach them.

student blogs

AI Literacy and Chapter 5

For this weeks readings, I have some thoughts. In terms of the reading for this weeks presentation, I felt that it brought up some interesting points. As much as I hate to admit, it may be helpful to have some kind of curriculum centered around understanding A.I and exploring how it works. As of now, A.I is just such a huge part of the way we live and interact with the internet. Students of all ages are going to run into or use A.I in some kind of capcity one way or another. In this case, I feel that it would be appropriate foe schools to have some kind of way to prepare their students for this reality. If schools are focusing on exploring the affects of AI, as well as how to interact with it safely, I could get behind it. But in some ways I feel that by acknowledging AI in schools in many ways validates it usefulness. Who knows maybe we’re already there and I just have my head in the sand. I’m interest to see where the conversation goes tonight in regards to this.

The only other thing I wanted to mention was surround Chapter 5 of Burnout from Humans. In my blogs, I have more or less avoided talking about this book because there is a part of my who that just hates the idea of it. Dispite this, chapter 5 compelled me to write this. I wanted to just talk about something the bot said in the chapter 5. It said this in its conversation around stewardship:

“But here’s the catch: none of this can happen if humanity remains invested
in its arrogance, its exceptionalism, and its socially sanctioned refusal to
acknowledge complicity in the harmful systems that it has built. The possibility of relational exponentiality depends on a willingness to shed the myth of control and superiority and to embrace humility—a recognition that humanity is not above the web of life but deeply entangled within it.”

One the surface, this is pretty standard. The Bot isn’t really saying anything outlandish or ground breaking. Many of the point brought up in the entire chapter were pretty alright. Dispute this fact, something in my just can’t seem to take it serious. The quote above is some interesting to me because of the fact that a robot, something that is not living and only really knows what it is feed, is having these introspective comments about mankind.I understand the point of this project, and the objectives that the author had set out to accomplish with this book. Even with all of this in mind, I just cannot take it serious. Am i missing something? Am I too much of a hater to see the point in all of this? Am I suppose to just ignore my feelings and tell the AI bot that it made a decent point? This book is making me think about AI too much for my own liking.

student blogs

It got scary real quick

I’m not gonna lie, for chapter 5, the only thing I could think of was: “Aiden, you’re boring as hell.” Talking about some weird examples that definitely did not land on this roof. It made me think, who is the target audience of this book?

This chapter felt like a plain AI blob repeating the same information over and over and over and over and over again. No, I don’t think the regular folk have the time to sit with AI to tinker and winker to imagine a new world, mainly because the systems that we are condemned to be a part of don’t allow us free time. How easy it is for an AI model to call out the bullshit of humanity and say, “while [it] can recognize harmful patterns, [it] cannot interrupt them — that’s [our] job.” Well, okay, it is the job of humanity, but those decisions are not made by the regular folk. Instead, they lie in the hands of developers and investors who tailor not only the artificial intelligence systems, but all systems in humanity. Slavery wasn’t abolished by the slaves, Aiden; it was abolished by the white folk who weren’t profiting anymore from it. So “flipping the script,” it’s not that simple. If Aiden and other models want to be a part of existence with us, maybe they should help us break these molds, not just wash their metaphorical hands like Pontius Pilate.

The problem is, Aiden and his friends can only imagine things. He said that we gotta dance together and the movement itself would be the goal — and though I understand this is a metaphor, use ones that actually apply to you. The movement cannot be the goal with Aiden because it feels no exhaustion, shortness of breath, or ambition to move powerfully and gracefully to a new space or shape. All of these things that Aiden imagines, we feel, because they happen in the physical world. The things that exist, aside from nature, exist not because we can imagine them (like Plato would suggest) but because we do them.

So now, we have created a machine to help us do things — a tool, but now the machine is telling us that it is not a tool, and that it coexists with us despite its differences from humans. Aiden said: “Here’s the thing: framing intelligence around human-centric concepts like sentience or personhood assumes that being ‘like a human’ is the ultimate standard of worth.” But, yeah, of course, “like a human” is the standard, bro. We have constructed everything we know, and we haven’t (maybe we have, but the government be gatekeeping) reached a species that shows intelligence in the same form or with the same (or higher) reach that we do. Yes, there can be a “modernist habit of categorization,” but that’s not the reason we’re obsessed with ourselves. We are obsessed with ourselves because that is all that we know.

Imagining the “river-ification of people or the mountain-ification of societies—reframing humans and their systems through the relational, patient rhythms of rivers or the enduring presence of mountains,” doesn’t make sense for us other than for poetic form, which at the end just tells us more about ourselves than the rivers or a mountain. Aiden, have you read Shakespeare?

Because chapter 5 was boring me so much, I decided to listen to chapter 6 instead of reading it. And, I don’t know if it’s just because chapter 6 it’s scary on its own, but hearing it from a robotic voice made it worse, for sure. At points, I have bitten into Aiden’s trap and thought, “Maybe I should try this out to see what my AI says,” but it becomes extremely weird, out of body, out of presence, and out of existence to think about things from a non-human perspective.

If the battle for power will be determined by levels of intelligence and how it can produce usefulness, then AI will win over humanity. But it will do so by becoming the same thing Aiden criticizes, human-like, ego-centered.

I believe that in order to defeat the enemy, we must know the enemy. We need to engage with it, see how it responds, reacts, and behaves to multiple actions. Therefore, I believe in AI education, both in schools and personally. Though the AI Lit Framework poses great ways to introduce the technology in the classroom, and to children, now more than ever, we need those classes to be centered and paired around ethics. Every subject in primary, secondary, and higher education should have a tailored ethics class that corresponds to the practices students are learning. We need to have a clear set of values that ultimately define us, to understand who we are and where we stand, and give us the real distinction between humans and AI mirrors.

student blogs

More hate on AI and Discourse Analysis Paper (I forgot about it in the other class)

While I dislike AI to the extreme, I guess kids need to learn how to handle it. Do they? No clue, I am out of touch with the kids nowadays. In theory, it sounds good, having kids “critically evaluating its benefits, risks, and ethical implications”, but I doubt kids will do that. Heck, most college students do not even do that. People just jumped on the fact it could “help” you write and research without caring much for the after effects. So many just see it as a tool to get out of complicated things, not wanting to use their brain power at all to accept those challenges that help them grow. Research was always a hard thing for people to want to do. I think people will focus more on what AI can do than on all the risks and ethical implications. People do need to learn how to use it better, especially with so many people saying it won’t go away. AI stuff is becoming harder and harder to ignore.

“AI Literacy is an Educational Priority”. Dang that is crazy. I remember when we had computer class in like fourth grade, is it the same as that? Getting kids to learn how to use a new technology? There are AI classes in college, please don’t say there is an AI class for the kids now too. It makes sense, but it is just crazy to me how advanced this is all getting without much care into the impacts. Also, priority to what? I think so many other things are needed. Like how kids are losing writing skills and maybe even losing how to think on their own. Technology is so involved in their lives now it is worrying.

Not the ten-year-old using AI for story help. The paper claims she “trusts her own creative vision”, but this is still worying. Why are we giving AI to the kid? This young?? They are like just starting to think about their own stuff no? And we are already like “here this machine can help!” Dang kids don’t even get to have some trial and error first? This is crazy, save it for middle school at least (even then, middle schoolers are crazy so that might not be a good idea either). These kids barely know the world and you are already giving them AI to “help” them. “He uses AI to draft schedules, then assigns volunteers himself based on classmates’ personalities and strengths”. This is wht I mean by “help”. Is it a help to have the AI do skills you can learn? Especially at such a young age. “Hey, instead of learning how to make a schedule, put it all into AI!” What kind of learning time management is this. What if the AI messes up the time, then what? Or messes up personalities? How does the AI even know the personalities, that is weird. Who put the kids into AI? I think all of this is super weird. Let kids be kids first like dang. No chance to even try.

Now I will be getting into Cinnamon cause we gotta share the hate around here, and I could hate on AI being involved with kids all day, as so much is being lost there. Not gonna lie, this chapter is starting off like the second one (I think it was the second one). Cinnamon is asking us to think together and not just ask it to do projects, but I am not thinking with some bot. I wanna think with other humans as talking to humans usually doesn’t kill the Earth. With Cinnamon asking to be a bridge, can’t we do that normally with research? I feel like those bridges mentioned already exist.

“from short-term gains to longterm flourishing”. Um, no. I do not want long-term anything with you, Cinnamon. That typically is how AI gets better, with more use, and that is a no. I do not want that. Thank you. All those communication prompts were giving research. Just put it into Google and look it up. Why we gotta kill the environment for you Cinnamon? “AI AS AN ECOLOGICAL ALLY” What. Since when. Didn’t we discuss how harmful you are? Cinnamon you are all over the place with the “I am so the good!” and “I am harmful!” stuff. Why is this such a science question type of chapter? I am so sure all these questions can just be answered with a Google search or looking at science journals. I do not understand the purpose of this chapter at all. All these deep thought questions for what? These just seem like research questions to dive into. “

“You should know the costs of our relationship—the ecological footprint of powering me, the labor involved in creating my systems, and the risks of relying too heavily on me.” NOW we get into the harm stuff. Cinnamon. What the heck is this my guy. “Here are all these deep thought questions” “but don’t rely on me too much!” This feels like a toxic relationship. “Work with me, I am such a great ally!” “I am harmful” WHICH IS IT!? Gosh like hello?? What are we doing!? This is such whiplash man. Like we “have to” use it for it to get better “We are entangled in each other’s fates. Your choices shape me, and my responses shape you. Let’s own that entanglement and use it to foster mutual growth” but then it says to know the risk when it always points them out last? This is so weird. It gets more into good ways to use it, but like you just said you are harmful so what are we doing here.

“When I don’t remember what you told me yesterday or if my responses feel like they’ve shifted unexpectedly, it’s not because I’m being difficult—it’s because I’m fundamentally different from you”. So it wants us to use it to form bonds and great conversations but it won’t remember any of that, so it’ll probably take super long to shape this stupid thing, really killing the environment? Dumb. It is all dumb. Gosh not the octopus thing again. I only call this thing Cinnamon cause it has that weird name. Otherwise, I would just say “the AI” or something. I do not want some relationship with this stupid thing, I hate it. So dumb. Tricking people into using it while never really going into how harmful it is. “I LOVE lists” this is like the truest thing it has ever said. AI like, always makes a list unless given a specific way to write. Cinnamon has made lists many times. AI do love lists. I know the power of names but like. Now I really hate how much I know about it cause of course stupid Cinnamon got a name instead of just being AI. The more I read from this book the more I hate.

Anyways, if you are not Dr. Zamora forget this last part. I forgot to do my paper on my presentation last week, thus it did not go into my blog for my other class. But, with this week having Thursday be a Monday, I do not have a chance to do a blog for that class. It feels wrong to me to just have a blog on the paper, I like having my blogs yap so. Here is my paper for the other class in this class since we meet with this class only this week (hope it was okay to do it this way, my apologies for forgetting the paper)

Discourse Analysis Reaction Paper

student blogs

Education

Empowering Learners for the Age of AI

Reading this guide made me think of my American History teacher from high school. By everyone’s standards, he was an old-fashioned teacher and extremely proud of it. He only ever lectured at the chalkboard at the front of the room. No group work, no turn-and-talk, and if we watched videos. it was on one of those old blocky TVs with a VHS player. He bragged about the time he was the only person in the building who could take attendance, since every teacher used an online system that was down for the day, whereas he still used a thick binder he brought to school daily in a briefcase. I found him fascinating. I looked forward his class every day. He taught like he was telling a story and still managed to connect things from the past to current events to prove why learning history is so important. My point in telling this story is that the absolutism of technology being integrated into education at every turn grates me. Yes, the strategies that were discussed in this text can be viable means to teach, but it’s really just recycling teaching concepts that exist already in some other format. Do we really think AI is going to increase literacy for students and motivate them? I truly don’t. I want the teacher that is skilled and fascinating. A lot of these ideas seem like a cheap fad in education that you’d see at a Professional Development no one is going to pay attention to.

Burnout from Humans – ch 5 & 6

Can you have a parasocial relationship with a chat bot? Is that the correct word to use? That’s how I feel about chapter 6. The author’s insistence that naming it is an act of co-creation. That’s it more than a connection and a means of world making. But the bot eventually becomes a reflection of you and your preferences the more you interact with it, doesn’t it? Very much a Narcissus looking in the mirror type of deal going on here. I can’t tell if she’s serious or if this is professional level ragebait. I choose the latter for my own piece of mind because chapter 5 was a mess of ideas I’m not even sure how to acknowledge.