By Baylee Lindell Schneier 

When we think about summer, we think about slowing down, playing outside, traveling somewhere new, and finally having space to breathe. The school year, by contrast, is often marked by tight schedules, pacing guides, and mounting pressures. But as more educators begin to explore the role of AI in their classrooms, summer offers a surprising lesson: the best learning doesn’t always come from doing more, it comes from doing differently. 

For years, conversations about AI in education have focused on productivity and efficiency. Can AI save teachers time? Can it automate grading? Can it help plan differentiated lessons faster? The answer to all of these is yes, but if we stop there, we miss a much bigger opportunity. Just as summer invites us to rest, reflect, and reconnect with what we love, AI can open up space during the school year for teachers and students to do the same. 

AI isn’t just a shortcut for repetitive tasks; it’s a tool for reimagining what’s possible. By offloading the busywork, reformatting rubrics, summarizing student data, rewriting lesson objectives, educators can reclaim their time for what matters most: relationships, feedback, curiosity, and creativity. In other words, AI can help us build classrooms that feel a little more like summer, places where there’s room to wander, explore, and grow at our own pace. 

Take student agency, for example. During summer, kids often choose what they want to read, what to explore, and how to spend their time. In school, those choices can be limited. But with the help of AI, we can offer more personalized learning paths without increasing teacher workload. Chatbots can serve as brainstorming partners. Content generators can help students create multimedia projects. Adaptive tools can adjust to different learning levels, offering scaffolding or challenge as needed. When used thoughtfully, AI can help students become more independent and invested in their learning. 

Similarly, summer reminds us of the power of unstructured time; time to be bored, to tinker, to try something new. Classrooms rarely afford this luxury. But AI can help. Instead of assigning another worksheet, a teacher might use AI to create a mystery for students to solve, a role-play debate, or a “what if” simulation in history or science. With AI doing some of the heavy lifting, educators can infuse their lessons with more play, more experimentation, and more space for students to surprise themselves. 

Of course, none of this happens automatically. Just as summer doesn’t magically recharge us unless we choose to slow down, the benefits of AI require intention. It’s easy to let AI replicate old patterns, faster grading, faster lesson plans, faster everything. But we have the chance to use it for something better: to make space for more human, more joyful, more meaningful learning. 

As we enjoy the final stretch of summer, maybe we can bring a little bit of its spirit back to school with us, not just in sunscreen-scented memories, but in the way we teach, plan, and connect. AI can help us get there. But it’s up to us to decide what kind of school year we want to build.