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Be a Better Ally: critical conversations for K12 educatorsAuthor: Tricia Friedman
What does real allyship look like in a classroom, a staff room, a school community? Be a Better Ally helps K-12 teachers and school leaders build inclusive classrooms where every student feels they belong without slogans, scripts, or shame. Host Tricia Friedman (Director of Shifting Schools) sits down with the authors, researchers, and educators shaping these conversations to explore student identity, belonging, school culture, media literacy, and the digital lives of young people. Each episode leaves you with something to try, question, or read next. 280 episodes of critical conversations for anyone who believes schools should be places where everyone gets to become themselves. Language: en Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Be Bold, Be Humble: Rethinking Assessment with AI
Episode 362
Wednesday, 2 September, 2026
What does it look like to be bold about AI in education while remaining humble enough to revise what does not work? In this episode, Tricia Friedman responds to recent guidance from MIT by sharing a practical way to experiment with AI, assessment, and curriculum design. The challenge invites students to research a topic, develop the concept for a board game, select mechanics that support its theme, and pitch their idea. Along the way, students must make five deliberate choices: three moments when AI could assist their work and two when the task should remain human. They then explain what each choice contributed, complicated, or diminished. Tricia introduces a shorter version of her free GAMES Framework for educators who want to explore game design without committing to a complete game-development unit. Her example draws inspiration from the history of the Spokane River, but the structure can be adapted to almost any subject or local context. The episode also considers: Why AI literacy requires judgment, not simply tool proficiency How game design can bring together research, writing, creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration Why the relationship between a game's theme and mechanics matters How playtesting gives students useful feedback about difficulty, clarity, and engagement What board-game boxes, reviews, playthrough videos, and Kickstarter campaigns can teach us as contemporary texts How the challenge could extend into mathematics, economics, visual art, media literacy, or local history Why alternative forms of assessment can help students make their thinking more visible The goal is not to use AI throughout the assignment. It is to give students genuine practice deciding when AI adds value, when it distracts from the work, and what evidence supports that judgment. Explore the free GAMES Framework: https://shifting-schools-games.netlify.app/salmon-challenge Read the MIT report referenced in the episode: https://aiandeducation.mit.edu/ Have a unit that does not seem to connect naturally with game design or AI literacy? Send Tricia the topic and challenge her to find the connection. Contact Tricia: tricia@shiftingschools.com
