November 12, 2026Learning in the Age of AI: Part 2 | Behind the Scenes: How Teachers Are Using AI at Aberdeen Hall

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Learning in the Age of AI: A Series

In this series Mr. Derek Cutler, our Director of Innovation, takes a deeper look into AI in education: exploring the science of learning, rethinking assessment, and nurturing the human connections that matter most.

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Mr. Scott Twigg is no stranger to the classroom. He's been a much-loved teacher in our Junior School for years, and I can speak from personal experience. He's taught all four of my children.

Over the years, he's built up quite a toolkit of lessons, activities, and assessments to help his Grade 5 students understand the world around them. So when it came time to put together a science test on natural resources, he certainly wasn't starting from scratch.

But one of the things that makes a great teacher is the willingness to keep learning and improving, no matter how many years they've been in the classroom. And this time, Mr. Twigg decided to get a second opinion. Not from another teacher, but from Gemini, Google's AI assistant.

He asked it to review his test and consider whether the questions were appropriately balanced across the topics his students had been studying. It noticed something interesting. Several questions focused on the rock cycle, a topic Mr. Twigg had already assessed through an assignment and quiz. That prompted him to reconsider whether those questions were necessary. Gemini also suggested incorporating a diagram that students could label, offering another way for students to demonstrate their understanding.

Mr. Twigg then asked Gemini to review his study guide against the assessment. It identified a couple of areas that weren't adequately covered, giving him an opportunity to make adjustments before students began preparing.

What I find interesting about this example isn't simply that AI helped Mr. Twigg improve his test. It's how he used it. He knew what he wanted his students to learn, he had already designed the assessment, and he was the one deciding which suggestions were worth incorporating. AI offered another perspective, but Mr. Twigg brought the experience, the understanding of his students, and ultimately, the judgment.

As I've been speaking with teachers across Aberdeen Hall, I've noticed a similar approach. They're not handing over their teaching to AI. They're using it as a tool to help them achieve goals they've already set for their students.

The Learning Goal comes First

Over the past couple of years, our faculty have had the opportunity to hear from Dr. John Spencer, who spoke with us about how to thoughtfully integrate AI in our classrooms. One of his enduring messages has been that we need our learning outcomes to drive the use of AI and not the other way around. I think that's an important distinction. Rather than asking how we can fit AI into our classrooms, we should be asking what we want students to learn and whether AI can help us get there.

One of our professional development priorities this year is Universal Design for Learning, or UDL. Put simply, it's about recognizing that students have different learning needs and designing lessons that give them multiple ways to engage with material and demonstrate their understanding.

Mr. Twigg's example connects nicely to this work. By suggesting a different type of question, AI gave him another option to consider for how students might demonstrate what they knew. It was a relatively small adjustment, but one that aligned with a goal we were already working toward.

Ms. Kara Van Donkersgoed has been exploring this connection even more deliberately in her High School English Classroom.

"If I have an idea but I'm not quite sure how best to approach it, I'll describe the strengths of the students in that class and ask AI to help me explore different ways to make it work.”

I think this is a great example of how AI can support our work with UDL. Ms. Van Donkersgoed already knows her students and what she wants them to learn. She's using AI to explore different ways of getting there, considering the strengths and needs of the students in front of her. And that's really what UDL is about. It's not about creating a different lesson for every student, but about designing learning experiences with enough flexibility that more students can participate meaningfully, and demonstrate what they know.

But Ms. Van Donkersgoed also raised something else I found interesting: there are parts of her work where she has deliberately chosen not to use AI.

“I have never used AI to make tests or grade assignments. I find that even if AI knows what the standards are, it doesn't know your kids."

For Ms. Van Donkersgoed, knowing her students means understanding not just what they've learned, but how they've learned it, what they've struggled with, and what support they've needed along the way. Those are things she wants to consider herself when designing assessments and evaluating student work.

AI has become a valuable tool for helping her plan and refine lessons, but that doesn't mean it's the right tool for every task.

The Teacher is Still in the Driver's Seat

In speaking with other teachers across Aberdeen Hall, I've noticed a common thread. They're not simply asking AI to create lessons or tell them how to teach. They're starting with their own ideas, their understanding of their students, and what they want those students to learn. Then they're exploring how AI might help them get there.

One of my favourite books on AI is Ethan Mollick's Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. In it, Mollick offers a principle that I think captures what we're seeing in our classrooms: "Be the human in the loop."

It's a simple idea. AI can be a powerful collaborator, offering suggestions, challenging our thinking, and helping us see possibilities we might otherwise have missed. But we're still responsible for deciding what to do with those suggestions.

What encourages me most isn't simply that our teachers are finding new ways to use AI. It's that they're approaching it with the same curiosity, care, and professional judgment they bring to their classrooms every day.

AI may be a remarkable new collaborator, but the teacher is still the one deciding what meaningful learning should look like.