This workshop focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence with reading and writing instruction and provided teachers with many ways AI can be a tool to generate personalized student materials as well as support teachers with the large amount of reading and feedback required in this subject area. The experience highlighted how AI tools can significantly enhance teaching efficiency while enabling more personalized student support. The workshop demonstrated ways to leverage technology to streamline tasks and generate materials quickly from a variety of sources a teacher uses already, allowing educators to focus more on meaningful student interactions.

A particularly valuable aspect of the workshop was exploring specific AI tools and their practical applications.

Using NotebookLM to convert written articles or other sources into lifelike, engaging podcasts/audio content to engage students is an amazing AI tool that has so many applications we explored. Using AI to curate and modify texts to specific Lexile levels while maintaining content integrity is another way AI helps make material accessible and engaging for students. Being able to create targeted mini-passages that demonstrate specific reading skills (e.g., making inferences, identifying themes, analyzing character development) is very helpful and AI does it in seconds.

This also supports the need for content curation specific to units and topics being studied and supports the integration of literacy skills and other subject matter. Converting text content into various formats (infographics, timelines, mind maps) for multimodal learning is one more example of AI as an invaluable tool in curating resources for learners. The workshop showcased innovative ways to use AI for content creation such as:

- Converting complex articles into student-friendly podcast scripts

- Generating discussion questions at various DOK levels

- Creating parallel texts that model specific writing techniques

- Developing scaffolded reading guides for complex texts

- Producing content summaries at multiple reading levels

A crucial insight from the workshop was discovering how AI tools can dramatically reduce time spent on routine tasks like assessment of student writing samples, providing initial feedback drafts, or generation of differentiated practice materials. These time-saving features allow teachers to redirect their energy toward high-impact, personalized student interactions such as more one-on-one conferences, Small group targeted reading instruction and intervention sessions

and extended discussion with students around skills.

The hands-on portions of the workshop were particularly valuable, as they allowed us to experiment with tools that were introduced (like SchoolAI, Claude) and meet with others to discuss what we tried, how we refined prompts, and how we'd apply what we were doing to the classroom:

- Experiment with AI writing assistants while maintaining educational integrity

- Develop strategies for teaching students to be critical consumers of AI-generated content

- Create efficient workflows for managing large volumes of student writing

- Practice creating differentiated content using various AI tools that used the materials we are already using but generated a variety of media/ways to delivery the information

Some things that I look forward to trying after this workshop are:

1. Use AI tools for initial writing feedback, allowing more time for in-depth individual conferences

2. Leverage AI-generated differentiated materials to meet diverse student needs efficiently

3. Develop multimedia content libraries using AI tools to support various learning styles

This workshop revealed how thoughtful AI integration can transform the traditional teaching model. By automating time-consuming tasks like initial grading and basic feedback, teachers can focus on what matters most: meaningful interactions with students. The workshop demonstrated how these tools can help create a more balanced teaching practice and showed ways that AI can be used for routine tasks and for supporting more students concurrently, creating more time for teachers for the human elements of teaching that truly impact student growth and development. The ability to quickly generate and modify content, create multimedia resources, and provide differentiated materials opens new possibilities for reaching every student effectively.

It's worth noting that this reflection itself demonstrates one of the key learnings from the workshop - the effective use of AI as a collaborative writing tool. This document was generated using Claude 3.5 Sonnet, an AI language model, through an iterative process of four versions. Each version built upon my initial workshop notes, with refinements focused on highlighting the aspects I found most valuable from the professional development experience. The final version was then the foundation for my reflection as I read through it, modified it, and edited it to be more like my voice.

This iterative process allowed me to:

- Start with my core takeaways from the workshop

- Expand on key concepts through collaborative revision

- Refine the focus to emphasize the most impactful learning points

- Model the very tools and processes discussed in the workshop

The ability to quickly generate and refine professional reflections while maintaining authentic voice and personal insights exemplifies how AI can serve as an effective tool for educational professionals. This meta-level demonstration of AI's capabilities in supporting professional writing aligns perfectly with the workshop's message about thoughtful integration of AI tools in educational practices.