Educators

🌟 Practitioner Spotlight: Dr. Dillon Martinez

Dr. Dillon Martinez Bio

Dr. Dillon Martinez is a professor and the Director of the Adapted Physical Education Teacher Preparation program at Winona State University. His work focuses on bridging innovative technology with inclusive design, making AI accessible and practical for educators. He is a thought leader in educational AI applications, having presented and published on using AI to enhance differentiation, support pedagogical decision-making, and improve educational delivery. Dr. Martinez asserts that teaching to the individual and special education practices constitute "just good education that should be blanketed across every domain".

Topic: Leveraging AI to Slay the Differentiation Dragon

Dr. Martinez addressed the challenge of providing individualized instruction, often referred to as the "differentiation dragon," which is a heavy lift for educators. The solution, he suggests, is to leverage AI to make differentiated instruction scalable and successful.

How He Addressed the Topic:

Data Collection and Analysis: The first step is to gather data using a Learning Profile Survey (collecting preferences, communication needs, motivational factors, etc.). This data is then transferred to a spreadsheet and uploaded to an AI tool, specifically Claude by Anthropic, to automate the analysis and create a comprehensive Class Learning Profile.
Scalable Assessment Differentiation: Using the class profile, he workshops with Claude to create multiple assessment options that can all be scored using the same rubric. He showed examples for a basketball unit (e.g., video portfolio, peer teaching, game design). This reduces planning time significantly and makes differentiation feasible.
AI Policy for Students: Dr. Martinez uses a "stoplight policy" (Green, Yellow, Red) for AI usage, teaching students to use it appropriately and ensuring they know he is aware of how they might use it to cheat. He encourages students to use AI to increase critical thinking by analyzing outputs and evaluating their prompts.
AI Benefits: He highlighted that AI can reduce qualitative data analysis and coding time by 75%. Furthermore, it allows educators to focus on the "why" of learning, giving them more mental space.

🌟 Practitioner Spotlight: Joshua ("Mr. Hose")

Joshua ("Mr. Hose") Bio

Joshua, known by his students as Mr. Hose, is an EL (English Learner) teacher in St. Cloud Public Schools. He specializes in helping students develop their skills, particularly in areas like morphology (the study of the forms of words).

Topic: Enhancing EL Assessment and Instruction with Gemini GEMS

Joshua's segment demonstrated the effectiveness of using a custom-built Gemini GEM (a specialized, programmable AI tool) to streamline and enhance the creation of standards-aligned instructional and assessment materials for EL students.

How He Addressed the Topic:

The Problem: Joshua was looking for an efficient way to generate assessment questions after teaching a specific content concept, such as morphology. The district's goal was to efficiently integrate content standards with WIDA standards.
The Solution (Custom GEM): Using a custom GEM created by the Innovation Coach, Joshua input a prompt asking for an assessment question related to the constituent morphemes of the word "invisible".
Unexpected, High-Value Output: He was surprised that the GEM did not just produce a simple question, but immediately included:
- WIDA and ELA Standards: It generated standards that highlighted the application of morphemes to other settings, supporting the goal of teaching students to look for these components "in the wild".
- Instructional Tools: It provided sentence frames and stems that could be used immediately as a tool for facilitating discourse about morphemes (like in and odd) and predicting meaning.
Impact: The GEM successfully functioned as both an instructional tool and an eventual starting point for assessment. This demonstrated the value of the GEM as a "thought partner" for teachers who may not have daily co-planning access to an EL specialist.

🌟 Practitioner Spotlight: Jen Ivers

Jen Ivers is a language arts teacher and Instructional Development Facilitator at Orono High School. She teaches English nine and reading intervention, describing the time spent in her classroom as the "very best part of my day". In her role as a facilitator, she supports teacher PLCs, administration, and MTSS processes. Jen is known for her collaborative, reflective practice and for learning "in front of my students and with my students".

Topic: Reimagining Authentic Assessment in the Age of AI

Jen's presentation focused on how her 9th-grade Language Arts team is tackling authentic assessment and timely feedback in the context of generative AI.

How She Addressed the Topic:

The Writer's Room Project: Jen shared how her team "blew up" a traditional coming-of-age literature unit and replaced it with a complex, team-lifted, summative assessment called "The Writer's Room". The project transforms the classroom into a writer's studio where students develop and pitch a coming-of-age television series to the teacher (acting as the showrunner). This shift was motivated by asking what skills students will need as "adults that are thriving in our world".
AI Literacy & Responsible Use: Students use a responsible use scale (AI Assisted level) and must articulate the skillful vs. unskillful use of AI. They are required to provide artifacts of their use (e.g., chat logs) and explain the "neural network" they are building to ensure they are using AI as a tool to support, not replace, core learning.
Closing the Feedback Loop: Jen described using AppScripts in Google Sheets to pull writing samples, like thesis statements, into a collective spreadsheet for quick scoring and to push high-quality, human-focused feedback back to students' documents. This process "remove[s] that friction" from the administrative side for students.
AI for PLC Work and Customized Practice: The team uses their workspace Gemini account to analyze anonymized student writing data in the shared spreadsheet, informing tailored instruction. They also use customized GEMS for grammar and vocabulary practice, which simultaneously nurtures student AI competency.

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