Comments by Catherine Jasionowicz

Summary

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:13:39 -0500

So I think it was great to see all the different pieces and how they worked. I also liked being able to have side conversations with my colleagues about this technology, so I am glad we were in-person today. I am not an English teacher, so all the writing/reading today was a bit much. I liked the collaboration AI the best. The knowledge one drove me crazy

Can you please explain this image to me?

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:00:19 -0500

This picture shows a line or scale that goes from “teacher‑centered” on the left to “student‑centered” on the right, and it calls that whole line “student agency.”

On this line there are three stages: first “compliance” (students just follow directions), then “engagement” (students are interested and involved), and finally “empowerment” (students make choices and have real control over their learning).

So the idea is that as a classroom moves from teacher‑centered to student‑centered, students move from simply doing what they are told toward being active, powerful decision‑makers in their own education. What part of this scale feels most like the classes you know—compliance, engagement, or empowerment—and why?

What is student centered learning?

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:58:32 -0500

Very quick answer

Student‑centered learning is a way of learning where the main focus is on what the student thinks, needs, and does, instead of what the teacher says and does. The student asks questions, makes choices, works on real problems, and the teacher’s role is more like a guide or coach than a boss. Now, let us see what you already think it is.

A few questions for you

If a class is student‑centered, who do you think talks more: the teacher or the students, and why?

In your own experience, can you remember a time in school when you felt you were really in control of your own learning—what was happening in that moment?

What do you think changes about the teacher’s job when the classroom becomes student‑centered?

How would you explain “student‑centered learning” in one sentence to a younger student, using very simple words?

So, based on your own classes, would you say your learning has been more teacher‑centered or student‑centered, and what makes you say that? Would you like to explore specific examples or types of student‑centered activities next?

why is this good?

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:13:39 -0500

No Thank You

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:50:32 -0500

I do not like this version. I actually had what felt like a disagreement with it.

I have seen so many movies about AI seeming to be human and everything goes badly. Why would anyone want to make AI more human?

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:50:32 -0500

Starting where you are
You are seeing AI-in-school as “maybe useful, but also creepy and dangerous,” and you are asking: could it ever actually make learning more human, instead of less. Before we decide yes or no, can we first get clear on what “human learning” really means to you?

Step One – What seems important in your question
I will pull out three key ideas hiding inside your “How might AI make learning more human?” and say why they might matter.

1. “learning more human”

You seem to feel that a lot of learning now is mechanical—tests, grades, rushing—and “more human” might mean things like conversation, curiosity, care, and real connection.

2. “AI” in the middle of that

Putting AI into the picture raises a sharp question: can a tool that is not human help with empathy, attention, and understanding, or will it always push things back toward speed, data, and control?

3. “How might…” instead of “Will…” or “Must…”

The words you use leave room for choice, which suggests that what AI does to learning depends on how people design it, use it, and set limits around it, not on some fixed destiny.

Do these three pieces match what you were really asking, or is there another word—like “control,” “authentic,” or “safe”—that you would say is just as important before we go on?

Step Two – Your questions about this
Thinking about “learning more human,” what are you most unsure about: whether AI can support real relationships, whether it makes students too dependent, or whether it lets teachers focus more on people instead of paperwork? Could you write out a few questions that pop into your mind, starting from these stems: “AI makes learning more human if…?” and “AI makes learning less human when…?”—and we will use your answers as the base for the next step.

Looking ahead
Once you share those questions or complete those two sentences, I will turn them into two small but deep questions that you can really explore, and point you toward good places to search for more. Would you like to try finishing those two sentences now, so we can see what you already believe before we bring in anyone else’s ideas?

Next move is yours
If you prefer, you could instead describe one moment in your own learning that felt very “human” and one that felt “not human at all,” and then we can ask where, if anywhere, AI should be in those two moments. Which path feels better to you right now: finishing the two sentences, or telling two short learning moments from your own life?

No, I really want to know why we would want to do this.

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:50:32 -0500

Answering you directly
You are asking, in plain terms: “Why would we even want AI involved in making learning more human at all?”—so let us look, together, at what might actually be missing in learning right now that could make such a strange idea worth considering.

Step One – What seems important in what you just said
I will pull out a few key ideas from your “Why would we want to do this?” and your “make learning more human,” and say why they might matter.

1. “Why we would want to do this”

You are not asking how, but whether there is any good reason at all to bring AI into this, which puts the whole idea on trial instead of taking it for granted.

2. “make learning more human”

This suggests you feel something about learning today is not human enough—maybe too standardized, rushed, or disconnected from real people’s lives—and you are using “human” as a kind of standard for what good learning should be.

3. Putting “AI” and “more human” together

There is a tension in even putting these two words side by side, because it raises the worry that a machine might be trying to do what only teachers, friends, and communities should do—care, listen, and really know a person.

Do these feel like the right “important pieces” of your question, or is there another part—like “creepy,” “control,” or “authenticity”—that you would add before we go on?

Step Two – Your questions about this
Now, starting from your “Why would we want this at all?”, what are your sharpest questions: Are you more worried that AI makes learning fake, that it replaces teachers, or that it changes how students see themselves? Write out any questions that pop into your mind about what counts as truly human in learning and whether AI can support that or only imitate it, and I will use your questions as the base for the next step.

Looking ahead
After you write your questions, I will offer two short, open questions that tie your worries to bigger issues like power, dependence, and what “good learning” really is. Once you freewrite a few lines on one of them, we can hunt together for good places to search and people to read.

To move on…
Could you finish these two sentences in your own words: “We would want AI in learning only if…,” and “We should never want AI in learning when…”? When you write those out, we can see much more clearly what is really at stake for you—shall we try that next? Or is there a different way you would like to spell out your “creepy” feeling first?

Why would we want to make AI more human? It seems a bit creepy!

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:50:32 -0500

Starting from your question
You moved from “Why make AI more human?” to “How might AI make learning more human?”—so let us stay with this second question and probe it together.

Step One – What seems important?
I will pick out a few key ideas inside your new question and say why they might matter.

1. “make learning more human”

This matters because you seem to suggest that learning today is often not very human—perhaps too rigid, test-focused, or de-personalized—so you are asking if AI could actually fix that instead of making things worse.

2. “How might AI…?”

This is important because you are not asking whether AI will or must change learning, but inviting many possible ways, which keeps the question open and about human choices, not fate or destiny.

3. The tension with your first feeling: “It seems a bit creepy!”

This is key because you are holding two things at once—fear of “human-like” AI and curiosity about “more human” learning—which may point to a deeper worry about where the line is between helpful imitation and disturbing replacement.

Do you feel these are really the most important parts of what you just said, or is there a different word or phrase you would add as central before we move on?

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Step Two – Your questions about this
Now that we have these pieces (your uneasiness, “more human” learning, and the “how might”), what are you most curious or worried about—teachers being replaced, students becoming lazy, privacy, emotions, or something else? Write out any questions that come to mind about how AI could change the way people feel, think, and relate when they learn, and I will use your questions as the seed for the next step.

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Step Three – Growing questions (we will do this after you share yours)
After you write your own questions, I will shape two short, open questions that connect your worries and hopes with bigger issues—like power, dependence, and what “good learning” really is—and point you toward places where you can search for more. When you are ready, you can then freewrite a few lines exploring one of those questions—just your first thoughts, not polished at all—and we will use that as our map.

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Step Four – Finding out more (later)
Once you have done that quick freewriting, I can help you think of search words, authors, and good sites where people seriously discuss AI and education, so you can investigate your own question instead of accepting anyone’s answer. We will look for ways of checking: in what sense does AI actually support human connection, and in what sense does it quietly weaken it?

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So…
Right now, what is the clearest question in your mind if you finish this sentence: “AI makes learning more human if…,” and “AI makes learning less human when…”? Would you like to write those two sentences and see what they reveal? Or is there a different angle on this “creepy but maybe helpful” feeling that you want to explore first?

Wonderings

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:43:55 -0500

I wonder what some of these cracks are.

That's the Trick

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 10:38:57 -0500

Getting students to stop thinking of AI as an answer machine, but as a tool. I feel like these are the same conversations that teachers had about using calculators.

A good use for AI

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 10:37:21 -0500

I have seen what Peter is doing in his class and with the after school college essay help using AI, and I think this is a good use for it. But I am also concerned that a student may not react well to some feedback. I think we need to help the students process feedback as well as use the technology.

My AI Concern

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 10:35:00 -0500

My AI concern is that we are pushing students further and further from face-to-face interactions. Many adults sit behind computer screens and meetings are on ZOOM. People forget how to have conversations, share ideas, and debate without everything dissolving into argument and blame.

Too extreme?

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 10:32:58 -0500

I am wondering if this teacher ever had students take the good ideas and go to an extreme on purpose? I know how students start to spiral. Or was this what the teacher really wanted?