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Principal demonstrates AI classroom tools; district pilots Copilot and Magic School with guardrails
Summary
Principal Angela Tushman demonstrated how District 28 pilots AI tools—Copilot, Magic School, Adobe, GoGuardian—are being used for classroom feedback, translation and staff productivity, and emphasized norms for responsible use.
Principal Angela Tushman, speaking at the CEC May meeting, demonstrated how artificial intelligence tools are being piloted in District 28 classrooms and said adults must learn to use them responsibly before students do.
Tushman said the district has run a small AI pilot for about a year and described AI as “a tool that you can organize information from lots of different places to give you a response,” distinguishing that from search engines. She said district norms require AI to be used “to build our capacity, our understanding, and engage in critical thinking” and not “to think for us or to replace us.”
Tushman demonstrated classroom applications: a teacher uploaded an assignment and student responses into Magic School and the platform returned immediate, itemized feedback to a student (for example, punctuation with quotation marks and areas for growth). She showed Microsoft Copilot generating travel-itinerary style outputs as an example of prompt-driven results and demonstrated Adobe’s Teach Hub generative image features for school materials.
Tushman listed tools used or discussed in District 28: GoGuardian (classroom monitoring software), Magic School (student feedback/rubrics), Microsoft Copilot (DOE-approved Copilot instance), Canva and Adobe (for slides, flyers and images), Gemini and other generative engines. She repeated that ChatGPT is blocked on DOE networks but can be used at home.
In response to member questions about misuse and detection, district staff said DOE-approved systems keep most unvetted AI off the DOE network and that pilots began with staff so adults can set norms before students use tools widely. Dr. Hall said central teams and the mayor’s office have begun planning guidance and that the district is working with Microsoft and others “to get ahead of this AI” and to build protections and notification mechanisms for student safety.
Members raised equity and academic-integrity concerns. CEC members asked for parent training and better guidance on classroom use; attendees suggested that teachers could be given training on prompt literacy so AI is used to scaffold student learning rather than supplant effort. Several members also described pilot uses that provide immediate feedback for students and support for teachers with lesson resources, rubrics and small-group planning.
