Magic School AI

          

             For this blogpost I will be posting an AI generated lesson plan, analyzing its effectiveness and then sharing some final thoughts on the use of AI in the classroom. 

The following is a lesson plan created by Magic School AI as a result of prompting the generator with the National Core Arts Theatre Standard for HS Proficient TH:Cr1.1.I c. Use script analysis to generate ideas about a character that is believable and authentic in a drama/theatre work.

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Character Development in Drama: Script Analysis

LEARNING OBJECTIVE:
Students will be able to use script analysis to generate ideas about a character that is believable and authentic in a drama/theatre work.

ASSESSMENTS:
Students will create a character profile based on their script analysis that includes a detailed backstory, motivations, and potential conflicts that make the character relatable and authentic.

KEY POINTS:

• Understand the importance of backstory in character development.

• Identify character motivations and their influence on actions.

• Analyze dialogue and stage directions for deeper character insights.

• Recognize how cultural and social contexts shape characters.

OPENING:

• Begin with a brief dramatic reading of a selected script excerpt that highlights character emotions.

• Ask students: "What makes a character feel real to you?"

• Encourage responses and create a word cloud on the board with their ideas.

INTRODUCTION TO NEW MATERIAL:

• Discuss the concept of backstory and how it informs character actions.

• Introduce key terms such as "motivation," "conflict," and "development."

• Use examples from popular films or plays to illustrate these concepts.

• Common misconception: Students may believe that characters are solely defined by their actions and not by their background or motivations. Address this by emphasizing the importance of context.

GUIDED PRACTICE:

• Assign small groups to analyze a short scene from the script, focusing on one character.

• Encourage them to identify motivations and potential conflicts based on the text.

• Scaffold questioning from “What does the character say?” to “Why do they say it?”

• Monitor groups by circulating and asking guiding questions to keep them on track.

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE:

• Students will create a character profile for a character in a drama they are familiar with or from the script studied.

• The profile should include a backstory, motivations, and potential conflicts.

• Set clear expectations for presentation format and depth of analysis.

CLOSING:

• Have students share one key insight from their character profiles with a partner.

• Conclude with a class discussion on how understanding a character's background enriches the performance.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY:

• Students who finish early can write a short monologue from the perspective of their character, exploring their inner thoughts and feelings.

HOMEWORK:

• Students will read a scene from a play or script of their choice and write a one-page analysis focusing on a character's motivations and development.

STANDARDS ALIGNED:

• SS.912.H.1: Identify and analyze the historical, social and cultural contexts of the arts.

• SS.912.H.1.2: Describe how historical events, social context and culture impact forms, techniques and purposes of works in the arts.

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The lesson above aligns with the provided standard.  The plan has potential for rigor, including the section below that has students break into small groups to analyze short scenes. This section of the plan, like the rest of the lesson, should be used as a jumping off point and the teacher should alter and adjust so as to reach specific lesson goals. A teacher may improve upon the section below with the addition of the question, “why does the character say it this way?”. 

• Assign small groups to analyze a short scene from the script, focusing on one character.

• Encourage them to identify motivations and potential conflicts based on the text.

• Scaffold questioning from “What does the character say?” to “Why do they say it?”

• Monitor groups by circulating and asking guiding questions to keep them on track.

While there are some interesting lesson ideas like the section above, certainly the AI generated lesson plan will only be as good as the teacher implementing it. In many ways the lesson uses very general character explorations. Having students explore “backstory, motivations, and potential conflicts” is useful but doesn’t really guide students to identify effective implementation of this practice. For instance, a motivation for a character might be “to get information from the other character’, however, as pointed out in A Practical Handbook for the Actor, a more specific motivation would be to get the other character to “spill the tea.” This technique of effective and playable actions is not explored even with further questions into the AI prompt. A general sense of the analysis concept is present, however, the effective use of applicable technique seems to be missing. 

The AI generator suggested asking the question “How can I help students connect character backstories to their motivations?” There were helpful results to this question, including the three suggestions mentioned below. 

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3. Textual Evidence:

• Teach students to find and analyze textual evidence that links backstory to motivation.

• For example, students can highlight lines in a script that reveal a character's past and discuss how these moments drive their actions.

5. Writing Prompts:

• Provide writing prompts that ask students to explore how a character's backstory informs their current motivations.

• For example, “Write a diary entry from the character’s perspective reflecting on a past event that drives their current choices.”

8. Multimedia Use:

• Incorporate film clips or audio readings where character backstories are explored.

• Discuss how these elements contribute to the characters' decisions and motivations in the narrative.

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These three suggestions appear to be active and fun ways to get students to connect with the lesson and deepen their understanding of characters. This tool could be useful for teachers, again however, it is just a jumping off point for lesson ideas. The last suggestion below ties in with the readings we have been doing throughout this course. The use of multimedia in this extension of the lesson would really help students to connect with the lesson objective in a variety of ways beyond using only the texts the students are analyzing. 

This is the starting place for a rigorous lesson. The generator has a general understanding of technique and will even respond inaccurately when asked to explore deeper concepts. When asked to “Create a lesson plan using Mike Alfred's text analysis” the generator gave a general and essentially false representation of Mike Alfred’s techniques. If a teacher were to use this tool without intellectually interacting and altering it, they would be creating a poor lesson.

 

PART 2: Magic School AI Tools 

  While exploring Magic School AI, I began using the AI tutor which was set up to teach me about aquifers. The AI seemed to have been designed to be supportive and encouraging with its instruction. It led by first asking me what I knew about aquifers and then gently guided me to the points it wanted me to hit in creating a deeper understanding of aquifers.

The AI tutor was helpful and the Q & A format really helped break down the information for me so that I could utilize my prior knowledge with new knowledge. This concept ties into the reading explored in my week 3 blog of How People Learn II: Chapter 5 knowledge and reasoning. By accessing past understanding and tying that understanding to new concepts I am able to make long term connections. 

While I enjoyed the AI tutor, and can see where there may be benefit, I would most likely not use the AI tutor as a teaching tool. As mentioned in the first part of this week's blog, I believe AI has trouble understanding how humans implement the acting technique and I would be cautious as to what the AI would suggest. I also am a bit hesitant with using something like this AI tutor. I fear that students may think that AI will always respond truthfully and while some AI generators may be set up to answer truthfully, not all are. I wonder if students, let alone adults, are able to always question the content they receive from the AI. I don’t know if students should be taught to trust AI for factual information.

Part 3: Reflection

    I can see why AI is so enticing to educators. So many in the profession are overworked and it can be difficult to find ways to cut down the hours spent on needless tasks. Magic School AI can benefit teachers by helping them brainstorm lesson plans and I can see how tools like the AI Tutor could help a student learn a concept. I worry that AI is so easily misunderstood and misapplied that AI is likely to do more harm than good. I, honestly, would never use it and I am in many ways appalled that there is such a massive push to incorporate AI into the classroom without careful consideration. Certainly, at this point, students are using AI to get out of thinking critically and in many ways so are teachers. Using AI, even for the activity of brainstorming, robs the person of the ability to have to actually brainstorm new and inventive solutions. Teachers can pick up strategies from AI that they would have struggled to develop on their own, however, they may not access new ideas that they might develop with their own judgement. When brainstorming, a teacher is pulling from their experiences with their students and by relying on AI generated work, they aren’t taking inspiration from their reality. 

The use of AI tutors may be an effective way to get students to explore a concept but also could be developing an unwarranted trust as mentioned above in Part 2. There may be some benefit, but we have to be honest with ourselves as to whether the price paid is worth the benefit gained. Is the misuse of AI and the moral gray areas worth the possibilities and could these possibilities be attained in alternative methods. Is it possible that there would be a more effective group pairing activity which has students act as teachers in a role-play that mirrors the AI tutor in a more social and experiential way? How often do we as teachers experience the massively funded technology accomplishing what may be more effectively gained with effective lesson planning and social organization. 

The AI guidance to Oklahoma K-12 correctly states the importance of protecting student data and information. The use of AI in the classroom and used by teachers when planning and organizing cannot risk the illegal release of information that could possibly occur with student and family information. If AI is to be used for classroom assignments, I believe the focus from the guidance on transparency is important. Students must know what type of AI should be allowed and must be transparent about how they used AI to complete their tasks. Personally, I think that AI should not be utilized to edit papers as I think that skill should be developed and in my classroom I would lean towards not using AI. 

Overall, I do not have much experience using AI in the classroom and I fear that my children will have a very different learning experience than I did growing up. I worry that schools have fallen into the politics of “job preparation” rather than honing in on the goal of building critical thinking skills in their students. I believe districts will jump right in with AI without hesitation and try to sell this as the new path to boost test scores. I think we have lost the plot on what we are doing in education and I worry. I worry. 

Resources

Bruder, M., Cohn, L. M., Olnek, M., Pollack, N., Previto, R., & Zigler, S. (2019). A practical handbook

             for the actor. Vintage.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2018. How People Learn II: 

Learners, Contexts, and Cultures. Washington, DC: The National Academies 

Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24