Six Lessons for Helping Students Think Clearly About AI
If you have already used Real or Robot? in your classroom, you have seen students apply the four-question ethics check to evaluate AI-generated content. Screen Smart picks up where that lesson ends.
The full six-lesson unit teaches students to:
Evaluate any AI-generated content they encounter (Real or Robot?)
Recognize that not all AI content is the same kind of problem (Not All Fakes Are Equal)
Ask who stands to gain from AI-generated content they see (Who Benefits?)
Examine their own role as readers and viewers of AI content (AI Consumer)
Examine their own role when they use AI to create (AI Creating)
Commit to personal standards for how they engage with AI (Work Your AI Flow)
The unit ends with a summative assessment called My AI Commitment. Students write a one-page personal commitment artifact and evaluate themselves against a four-criterion rubric.
A few things worth knowing:
Students do not use AI tools during the unit. That is deliberate. The framework students build transfers to whatever AI tools they encounter later, and the unit stays usable in any district regardless of current AI policy.
An Administrator Quick Reference is included in the bundle for that conversation.
$25 at Beyond the Bell Co. store
A Free Lesson to Help Students Think Clearly About AI
Most AI literacy lessons fall into one of two traps. Either they spend the whole class period showing students how to use ChatGPT, which schools have no policy framework for and which puts a teacher in a tough spot. Or they hand-wave at "fake news" without giving students an actual way to evaluate what they are looking at.
Real or Robot? takes a different approach. It teaches students a four-question check they can apply to any AI-generated content they encounter. Students practice the framework on four realistic scenarios: an AI campus tour, an AI-generated news summary, a celebrity voice clone endorsement, and a fundraising video with AI-generated children. The class works through the first scenario together, then students complete the rest in pairs or independently.
What you get:
Teacher lesson plan with procedure and timing
Student worksheet
It is one class period. No AI tools required for students. Discussion and scenario-based.
Real or Robot? is the free first lesson of Screen Smart, a six-lesson digital literacy unit for grades 8-12. If Real or Robot? gives you what you need on its own, use it on its own. If you want the full unit, Screen Smart is available too.
Free download at Beyond the Bell Co. store
AI in the Classroom Policy & Reflection Toolkit
If your admin has asked you to "figure out an AI policy" and you don't have time to write one from scratch — this is for you.
I just released a 6-piece toolkit that gives you everything you need to manage AI use in your classroom without banning it or pretending it doesn't exist. Two policy posters (student-facing and educator-facing), a student AI reflection form built around "what did the AI do vs. what did you do?", a family letter that answers the questions parents actually ask, a teacher quickstart guide with a Day 1 script, and drop-in syllabus language.
The approach: AI use is permitted, disclosed, and reflected upon. No gotchas.
The two posters are free. → Here
The full 6-piece toolkit is $9. → Here
AI Reference Guide for Educators and Counselors: Help school counselors and advisors understand AI in education without the tech jargon. This free one-page printable explains safe, FERPA-aware use of AI tools like ChatGPT in schools and protects student data privacy.
Perfect for counselor professional development, staff training, and district AI guidance. Easy-to-read handout format ideal for keeping at a desk, in a binder, or inside a counseling office cabinet.
Click the link to download for free.
AI Safety Checklist — 5 Things to Check Before You Use AI: Your counselors are probably already using AI. This checklist makes sure they're doing it safely. Practical enough for any campus staff member using AI for student-facing work. Share it at a staff meeting, drop it in a welcome packet, or post it in the workroom. No training session required.
A 5-point checklist covering the most common AI safety mistakes in school settings. Also includes a quick-reference guide on when AI is and isn't appropriate for counseling work.
Built for the admin who doesn't have time to build it themselves. Click to download for free.
CCMR Prompt Guide for School Counselors — Ready-to-Use AI Prompts for College and Career Readiness Work: Seven ready-to-use AI prompts around parent communication, student meeting prep, documentation, and resource creation. Copy, paste, customize, and go. No prompt-writing experience needed.
$5.00 USD
Click to purchase and download.
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