Everywhere I go, one topic dominates the conversation.
Artificial Intelligence
Schools are dealing with it. Leaders are asking what it means for the future of teaching and learning. Educators are feeling the impact of it.
And it’s adding to the Era of Overwhelm.
But there’s one question I don’t hear asked often enough.
In the era of AI, what should we focus on that will help learning stick for everyone?
For us at Unleash Learning, one answer stands above almost everything else:
Intentional and planned-for student engagement.
- Not engagement that’s left to chance.
- Not engagement because a lesson happens to be interesting.
- Not engagement where a handful of students participate while others quietly watch.
The kind of engagement that makes learning stick is intentional and planned-for.
If you’ve worked with us, you know we call this Lifting the Weights.
And:
- there are specific weights that ALL students must lift.
- there are ways ALL students must lift them that make learning stick for everyone.
One of the most powerful moments when schools begin using the Unleash Learning System™ is when teachers, leaders and teams gently recognise something about their own practice.
The engagement they were seeing wasn’t always intentional.
It was by default.
That isn’t a criticism. It’s an opportunity.
When a school strengthens how everyone is designing for intentional and planned engagement for all students, every instructional minute has the potential to create deeper learning that lasts.
And in the era of AI, that matters more than ever.
AI can generate explanations.
It can answer questions.
It can create resources in seconds.
But for learning to stick for everyone, full student engagement matters.
