Move beyond generic tools and build a proactive partner that understands your context, streamlines your workflow, and amplifies your instruction.
By Dr. Matt Rhoads
As teachers, we are constantly juggling a multitude of tasks. From lesson planning and grading to communicating with families and differentiating instruction, the demands on our time and energy are immense. But what if you had a personalized assistant who knew your school’s handbook, understood your instructional philosophy, and could help you design lessons tailored to your students’ needs? This isn’t a glimpse into a far-off future; it’s the reality of what AI agents can offer teachers today.
What Are AI Agents?
Simply put, AI agents are personalized artificial intelligence systems designed to perform specific tasks and assist you in your work. Think of them not as just another tech tool, but as a proactive partner that can learn your preferences, understand your context, and help you become more efficient and effective. The best part? These tools are becoming increasingly accessible and customizable for every teacher. As we’ve seen with other innovations in education, their relevance and integration will only grow over time.
How Can Teachers Build Their Own?
The idea of “building” an AI agent might sound complex, but it’s becoming surprisingly straightforward. You don’t need to be a coder or a tech expert. Platforms like Google’s Gemini (with its “Gems” feature) and OpenAI’s ChatGPT (with “GPTs”) allow you to create your own custom agents through simple, conversational instructions. You can upload documents like curriculum maps or resource packets, and the agent uses this information as its knowledge base, ensuring its responses are grounded in the context you provide. Many other tools, including those in Microsoft Teams, are beginning to offer similar capabilities.
Let’s explore some practical ways you can leverage these AI agents to transform your teaching practice.
5 Ways to Leverage AI Agents
1. Personalized AI with Gems and GPTs
Create AI models trained with your own data to become specialists in your unique educational environment. Imagine uploading your school’s handbook and district’s instructional philosophy to an agent that can answer your questions about policies or suggest aligned strategies. You can also train agents with your curriculum folder to brainstorm new lesson ideas, differentiate activities, and develop assessments.
2. AI as Your Personal Tech Tutor
Tools like ChatGPT and Gemini now offer screen-sharing capabilities, turning them into on-demand tech tutors. If you’re struggling to learn a new EdTech tool of software, you can share your screen and ask the AI to guide you through it with immediate, step-by-step instructions.
3. Taming Your Workflow with M365 & Google Workspace Agents
AI agents are being integrated directly into Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace to help streamline daily tasks. These agents can compose and summarize emails, create documents and presentations from a simple prompt, organize your schedule, and find information instantly in your OneDrive or Google Drive. These tools give us back precious time that can be reinvested in instruction and student relationships.
4. The Power of Agent-Like Browser Extensions
You may already be using AI agents without even realizing it. Google Chrome extensions like Brisk are excellent examples of tools that can revolutionize your prep time. With a single click, these extensions can generate lesson plans, differentiate text for various reading levels, and create presentations from a simple prompt, seamlessly saving materials to your Google Drive.
5. Your Personalized Instructional Coach & Research Assistant
Beyond daily tasks, AI agents can become powerful partners in your professional growth. You can task an agent with finding relevant research tailored to your goals, summarizing key findings from books or articles, and providing practical strategies you can implement immediately. For PLCs, agents can transcribe meeting notes and track action items. For data analysis, they can identify patterns in anonymized student data and suggest differentiated strategies, helping you engage in deep, reflective practice.
The Future is Agentic
The rise of AI agents represents a significant shift in how we approach our work as teachers. As we move forward, these tools will become increasingly sophisticated, allowing teachers to develop a series of personalized assistants. By offloading repetitive tasks and streamlining workflows, these AI agents can help amplify a teacher’s work, freeing up invaluable time to focus on what matters most: providing direct instruction and building meaningful relationships with students. The journey with AI in education is just beginning, and by adopting an innovator’s mindset, we can shape a future where technology truly serves the art of teaching.
Navigating the Present and Future of Education 