On a sunny Wednesday morning this March, teachers at Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Ill., slowly filtered into a before-school, all-staff meeting on artificial intelligence.
As teachers fired up their laptops and sipped coffee, the presenters at the front of the school鈥檚 cafeteria warned that AI was set to reshape the education space, whether 糖心动漫vlog were ready or not.
鈥淲e need to get in front of this,鈥� one speaker said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 ever want to start a race behind the line. You want to be able to be ahead.鈥�
It鈥檚 not an unusual message for teachers to hear these days. Nationally, experts say it鈥檚 important for 糖心动漫vlog to learn about AI so they can leverage the technology in their work and show students how to use it responsibly. Half of all teachers said they鈥檝e had at least one training on AI, according to a 2025 survey from the EdWeek Research Center.
But Wednesday鈥檚 presentation did feature some unusual messengers. The speakers at the staff meeting weren鈥檛 school leaders or outside experts. They were nine 8th graders, who have spent the past year experimenting with the technology under the supervision of Ashley Kannan, a social studies teacher at the school.
鈥淲e鈥檙e here because AI is going to be a part of our future, our generation,鈥� said Viv Rowell, 14, to the more than 60 assembled 糖心动漫vlog and parents of some of the presenting students.鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be the first kids who have AI grading our college resumes. It鈥檚 just going to be a giant part of our lives.鈥�
Students have perhaps the biggest stake in how AI literacy is taught, but often the least input into those decisions, noted Kannan. Teachers decide what constitutes appropriate use, or even whether to broach the subject at all in class.
鈥淲e鈥檙e diagnosing something, and we鈥檙e not asking the patient,鈥� he said, in an interview.
With the project, Kannan wanted to flip the script. What would students do if they could use AI to reach their own goals? What guardrails would they deem essential?
The result was a group of teenagers who came away with their own nuanced assessments of the technology鈥攁nd some advice for the adults in their lives.
鈥淚鈥檇 rather have my students making those decisions right now than the Pentagon,鈥� Kannan said.
How students went from AI skeptics to frequent users
Kannan has been a teacher for almost 30 years. 鈥淚 was around when we started with overheads and transparencies,鈥� he said.
He鈥檚 seen how schools have hurried to catch up as new technologies have transformed how people seek out information, read, and write鈥攆irst the internet, then smartphones. Even so, he was resistant to AI in the classroom at first.
鈥淎 year ago, I was convinced that I was going to ride out the whole AI thing, and not even bother with it,鈥� Kannan said.
That changed when he became part of a cohort of 糖心动漫vlog examining how innovation is reshaping education with Teach Plus, a teacher-leadership organization. So much of the AI conversation in his building, Kannan said, was focused on cheating. He wanted to move past that with students to explore 鈥減romise and possibility.鈥�
The district had involved students in decision-making processes around technology before, said Michael Arensdorff, the school system鈥檚 chief technology officer. They鈥檝e convened tech advisory groups over the past 10 years for input into instructional and infrastructure decisions, he said.
鈥淥nce kids are there, it completely changes the conversation,鈥� Arensdorff said. Parents and 糖心动漫vlog might come with strong opinions, he said, but having students in the room refocuses the conversation around kids鈥� needs.
Kannan鈥檚 project, though, was more in-depth than other student voice initiatives the district had taken on in the past.
Students would have to go through acceptable use training with district tech leadership, and then have Google鈥檚 Gemini added to their school-issued devices for the year. They would give up their lunches and recesses twice a week to work on assignments Kannan designed, and then eventually develop their own projects. And they鈥檇 be expected to do extra homework.
When Kannan approached the students in October, some were skeptical at first, they said in interviews.
He said he wanted to talk to them about something related to AI, and immediately, a few 8th graders thought he was accusing them of using it to cheat. 鈥淲e were terrified,鈥� said Kennedy Lewis, 14, laughing.
鈥淲e got really worried, and we were still skeptical, even when we joined the group, because AI is always seen as bad, bad, bad,鈥� said Viv.
Though surveys show that almost half of middle schoolers use AI for homework, they鈥檙e also wary of how the technology might be affecting them. Forty-eight percent of middle school students said they were concerned about AI harming their critical thinking skills in a 2025 survey from the RAND Corp. In a , almost a third of Gen Z say they鈥檙e angry about AI growth, and about 4 in 10 say they鈥檙e anxious about the trajectory the technology is taking.
It鈥檚 a worry a lot of her classmates share, said Kennedy. 鈥淣ow that I鈥檝e been in this cohort, it鈥檚 changed my perspective,鈥� she said.
Technology can鈥檛 replace human judgment, students say
Kannan鈥檚 first assignment was a history lesson: Ask the chatbot to assume the persona of a figure from Reconstruction, and interview them about their life and experiences.
It gave students an opportunity to get comfortable with the platform and practice prompting, he said. The project鈥檚 second phase was more open-ended. Kannan asked students: If you had access to this tool in your everyday life, what would you do with it?
One student worked with Gemini to craft a 30-day roadmap that would help her get better at test-taking. Another built a plan to scale a business idea. (Other projects underscored how students鈥� fluency with AI could create new challenges for schools to manage鈥攐ne boy, for instance, coded an app to control his home computer from his school Chromebook.)
In their presentation to the teachers, the students returned often to questions of ethics.
鈥淭he transformation here isn鈥檛 just about smarter technology, it鈥檚 about creating systems and mindsets that respect boundaries,鈥� said Lailah Kamal, 14.
That鈥檚 the responsibility of AI developers, but also users, students said.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 really start a conversation without having your own thought,鈥� said Ava Kamenski, 13, talking about using AI as a writing or thinking partner. 鈥淏ut once you do, then you can work together with AI to create something that鈥檚 still yours.鈥�
AI can also help students explore a topic from more angles, said Rae Kamenski, 13. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like, 鈥楬ey, let鈥檚 look at a few different possibilities to start this assignment,鈥� and it can push you to think harder,鈥� she said.
This is a core question about acceptable use of AI in school classrooms: Does asking AI to brainstorm with you or build on your thoughts help students think more deeply? Or does it short-circuit the thinking process? Not all 糖心动漫vlog and experts come to the same conclusion.
While some researchers warn that involving AI in the drafting stages of writing an essay, for instance, could shortchange learning, some teachers encourage students to use AI as a thought partner.
It was clear, the student presenters said, that not all teachers in the audience shared their views. One student said she saw one of her teachers in the crowd with a skeptical frown, seemingly 鈥渢hinking of rebuttals.鈥�
But ultimately, the students said, AI still can鈥檛 replace human judgment鈥攅specially that of their teachers.
鈥淵our teachers will actually laugh at your jokes, and make you feel important, and make you feel loved,鈥� said Josie Baker, 14. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think AI could ever take that away.鈥�
