AI Is Already Here: What K-12 Teachers and Students Need Now

EPISODE DESCRIPTIONAI is already inside the world children inhabit, and waiting for perfect policy will leave teachers alone and students unguided. Indianapolis Catholic school leader Ronda Swartz joins Jason Padgett to make the case for beginning with teacher pain: return time lost to planning, grading, and repetitive work so educators can focus on students.They examine testing fatigue, project-based learning, voice as a doorway into student thinking, and personalization that builds from strengths instead of only repairing weaknesses. The conversation also gets honest about device dependence, children's mental health, anthropomorphism, sycophancy, student data, and the difference between a school-managed AI account and a personal one.Ronda's line for AI professional development is worth keeping: teach the tool, then create the sculpture. Schools need shared learning, clear guardrails, and a plan people will execute.ABOUT THE GUESTRonda Swartz is an Indianapolis Catholic school principal with nearly two decades of experience as a principal and executive director. She began as a public school educator in 1999 and now helps teachers explore practical AI use through Teacher Tuesday in the AI Launch Pad community.GUEST LINKSRonda Swartz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rondaswartz3177272065/Teacher Tuesday on Skool: https://www.skool.com/ai-launch-pad/about?ref=6da44c20543646dfbd48cd032aa36886TIME STAMPS00:00 - Ronda's new school year and leadership background01:35 - Give teachers their time back07:50 - The whole child and the weight of testing15:28 - Redesigning school with families and communities18:55 - Personalization that builds from student strengths25:03 - AI as electricity, not one more classroom lamp32:19 - Children's mental health, sycophancy, and responsibility40:15 - Put AI literacy into the DNA of education47:23 - Teacher Tuesday and learning in community50:00 - School accounts, personal accounts, and student dataCONNECT WITH JASON PADGETTJason Padgett | AI Solutions Architect | Co-Founder, Wooden Boy Industries | Host, AGI Podcast | AI Adoption, LLM Systems & Human-AI WorkflowsAGI - Advance, Grow and Innovate with AI Podcast Network: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/Co-Founder, Wooden Boy Industries: https://woodenboyindustriesai.com/Chief Solutions Architect, Chakra AI Solutions: https://chakrasolutions.ai/Email: jason@agipodcast.aiTOOLS JASON RECOMMENDSMindStudio: https://get.mindstudio.ai/q7n7u5cttkdqRiverside.fm: https://riverside.sjv.io/e1xyBrWispr Flow: https://ref.wisprflow.ai/jason-padgettRESOURCES MENTIONEDClaude for Teachers, July 2026: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-for-teachersNotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google/MagicSchool: https://www.magicschool.ai/SchoolAI: https://schoolai.com/Google Gemini for Education: https://edu.google.com/ai/gemini-for-education/Antiqua et Nova, Vatican note on AI and human intelligence, January 2025: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20250128_antiqua-et-nova_en.html2026 HECC Conference: https://hecc.k12.in.us/conference-info.htmlWooden Boy Industries: https://woodenboyindustriesai.com/