Henry County Public Schools Superintendent Jim Masters has several AI tools in his toolbelt, and he shares how leaders with no tech background can use them to automate administrative routines, grade students’ work and complete various tasks more efficiently. To top it off, these tools are completely free.
Masters guides us through some practical ways of leveraging Google’s NotebookLM in ways that are human-centered and research-based to improve academic outcomes and his own efficiency as a superintendent.
For example, Google Docs has a built-in AI summary feature, a tool he often uses to summarize important documents that used to eat up much of his time reading.
There’s also an “email drafts” plug-in, a space for users to draft emails more seamlessly than creating them in their email. You can include meeting notes, add action notes and assign tasks to specific employees.
Regarding teacher productivity, Masters saw AI as an opportunity to help reduce workloads and improve morale.
“When I first arrived as superintendent, staff told me it was killing them the amount of hours they were having to put in to create lesson plans or to grade on-demand students’ writing,” he says.
One way he’s supporting staff through AI is by using NotebookLM to provide IEP development support. This particular tool allows you to upload “sources,” including website links, documents and text, and interact with the AI only using the sources you provided.
Henry County Public Schools uploaded every document necessary to follow state law surrounding IEP support. From there, teachers can ask the AI questions like, “[Student] is reading 105 words per minute for reading fluency. What are the next best steps?”
From there, NotebookLM will respond only using the documents the district provided that adhere to state law.
“This is going to keep you legal, for lack of better terms,” Masters says. “But it will give you all the information you need to ensure that you’re meeting a student’s IEP goals.”
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