Tammy’s Teaching Tips

← The Field Guide

AI & technologyNew teachersFuture teachersVeteran teachers

Let AI draft. You decide.

AI can take hours off your prep. You're still responsible for every word a student sees.

Written with AI — this one isn’t Tammy. The Field Guide covers ground her videos don’t, and keeps to what’s well established. It doesn’t know your students, and nothing here overrides your school’s policy or your state’s law. · 1 min read

What to do

Good uses: rewriting a text at different reading levels, extra practice problems, draft rubrics, first drafts of family letters and newsletters.
Check everything. These tools can produce errors, invented sources, and questions that don't match what you actually taught.
Never put student names, grades, IEP details or other identifying information into a tool your district hasn't approved.
Edit up, not just for accuracy. Generated questions are often shallow; push them toward the thinking you want.
Keep what works. A bank of checked, edited materials saves more time next year than generating everything fresh.

Why it works

Much of what drains teachers is the drafting around teaching, and that's where these tools genuinely help. The risk isn't only factual mistakes; it's slowly handing over your judgement about what your particular students need. As a first draft, AI buys back time for the parts only you can do.

Try this tomorrow

Take a text you're using this week and ask a district-approved tool to rewrite it at a lower reading level. Then edit it until you'd put your name on it.

Watch out

Student privacy isn't optional. FERPA and your district's data agreements apply to AI tools just as they do to any other app.

More from the Field Guide

Field Guide1 min read

Set your AI rules before students set them for you

AI & technology

Say, assignment by assignment, when AI is allowed — and design work that shows the thinking.

New teachersFuture teachersVeteran teachers

Written with AI — not by Tammy

Field Guide1 min read

Teach routines like they're content

In the classroom

Every transition you don't teach, you'll spend the year managing.

New teachersFuture teachers

Written with AI — not by Tammy

Field Guide1 min read

Ask what the behavior is for

In the classroom

Most misbehavior is a student getting something or avoiding something. Find out which.

New teachersFuture teachersVeteran teachers

Written with AI — not by Tammy

The rest of the guide

Settle phones on day oneIn the classroom · 1 min read Wait three seconds after you askTeaching & assessment · 1 min read Make them remember, not re-readTeaching & assessment · 1 min read Show them first: I do, we do, you doTeaching & assessment · 1 min read Teach reading the way the evidence saysTeaching & assessment · 1 min read Find out who's lost before the test doesTeaching & assessment · 1 min read Make grades tell the truthTeaching & assessment · 1 min read Read every IEP and 504 plan before day oneEvery learner · 1 min read Language learners need language, not easier thinkingEvery learner · 1 min read Differentiate the support, not the whole lessonEvery learner · 1 min read You're a mandated reporter. Know what that means.Safety, law & ethics · 1 min read Student information isn't yours to shareSafety, law & ethics · 1 min read Be warm. Keep a line.Safety, law & ethics · 1 min read Prepare for your evaluation like a conversationThe realities of the job · 1 min read Read your contract. Find your rep.The realities of the job · 1 min read Plan to survive the first year, not perfect itLooking after yourself · 1 min read