Can AI Really Help with Lesson Planning? What Teachers Should Know

Teachers are always adapting to new technology in the classroom. With artificial intelligence (AI) becoming a major tool, educators are using it to improve how they approach everything from prep time to grading and giving student feedback. Lesson planning is another area where teachers can use AI to streamline their workload and save time.

Continue reading to explore how AI can help you become more efficient, create learning materials, and support differentiation in your classroom. You’ll also find guidance about the limitations of AI that every educator should keep in mind.

Save Time on Lesson Planning with AI

AI is a simple solution to the time-crunch teachers face each week. Here are three ways AI can speed up some of your routine work:

Automating Routine Tasks and Prep Work

AI can generate learning materials that are aligned with your curriculum standards. You can input a basic prompt and almost instantly receive a structured outline complete with required materials, learning activities, and assessment strategies. This gives teachers a customizable starting point for any class.

Streamlining Content Creation

Brainstorming ideas to keep students engaged can be easy if you’re feeling energized, but it can be exhausting if you’re not. Let AI take the lead by asking for a list of collaborative learning strategies tailored to your specific subject. You can also generate creative, high-quality visual aids like graphs and timelines to support your class’ learning objectives in no time.

Researching and Finding Resources

Teachers are resourceful. That doesn’t mean they know about every resource available.

Using AI to find and summarize videos, articles, and interactive websites is an easy way to find relevant resources that fit your curriculum.

Supporting Personalization and Differentiation

The ability to meet diverse student needs is a must for effective teachers. It requires a human touch, but AI can be a great assistant when it comes to analyzing information and helping differentiate your instruction.

Differentiating Instruction

By recognizing or being instructed about different learning styles, AI tools can recommend multiple pathways to the same learning goal.

For example, during a unit on ecosystems in a science class, an AI assistant might suggest and generate:

• Interactive simulations or games for kinesthetic learners
• Diagrams, charts, and visual organizers for visual learners
• Discussion prompts and collaborative activities to encourage critical thinking
• Review activities to reinforce new ideas
• Step-by-step transitions and scaffolds to support complex concepts

Rather than starting from scratch, teachers can use such AI outputs as a foundation and adapt them to meet the needs of individual learners in their class.

Personalizing Assessment

Designing meaningful assessments takes effort. The next time you’re tasked with creating a quiz or exit ticket to measure student understanding, ask AI to do the heavy lifting. Once it creates a draft you’re satisfied with, you can even ask it to adapt the assessment to different difficulty levels and provide scaffolding for those who need extra support.

The 80-20 Approach

The 80-20 approach is a hot topic in AI-centric education, with reputable companies like MagicSchool championing the strategy.

In this model, AI does 80 percent of the work for teachers, like generating outlines, brainstorming activities, and formatting rubrics. Once that is complete, educators step in to complete the remaining 20 percent, using their professional judgment to review, refine, and add context.

This collaborative approach ensures lessons and classroom content remain accurate and authentic. It also drives home the fact that AI is not replacing teachers, but enhancing their ability to create effective, engaging lessons.

What Teachers Should Know About the Limitations of AI

AI is far from flawless. That’s why teacher oversight is non-negotiable.

Research from multiple organizations — including Stanford University and nonprofit news organization The 74 — have uncovered inaccuracies and racial and gender biases when asking AI models to grade student essays. While AI can be a useful tool, it lacks the empathy, intuition, and emotional intelligence of humans. Teachers must always review AI outputs carefully before presenting them to students.

Additionally, teachers should never input sensitive student information or personally identifiable data into AI systems.

Empowering the Future of Education

By automating routine tasks, streamlining content creation, and offering highly personalized learning pathways, teachers can use AI to save time and create the best possible outcomes for students.

If you are ready to explore more ways AI can elevate your teaching practice, Moreland University’s online Resource Center is filled with free materials to support your discovery. You can also get more practical strategies and actionable advice on our university blog.

When you’re ready, you can take the next step in your professional journey by completing a free application to Moreland’s fully online, 9-month TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program or one of our 12-month master’s degree programs, including an M.Ed. with a specialization in educational technology.