Courtnay Boateng (MEd) Ask an image generator for “a doctor” or “a family” a few times, and you might notice the results start to look pretty similar. That’s just how these tools tend to work. Without much direction, they lean on a default. For most things, that default is harmless. For classroom materials, it isn’t. The images on … Read more
Most AI tools treat the lesson plan as the finish line. Type a topic, get a lesson, done. But the lesson plan was never the whole job. The job is everything around it that makes the lesson actually teachable: the activity students do, the supports for the kids who need them, the handout in their … Read more
I’ll be straight about something a lot of AI tools won’t: AI gets things wrong. Sometimes confidently. It can produce errors, bias, and convincing-sounding misinformation, and no amount of clever prompting fully removes that. So when people ask whether CARL is “safe,” the honest answer isn’t a flat yes. It’s that we design around the … Read more
Compass helps you see what’s next. CARL helps you build it. That’s the simplest way to explain how the two fit together. They’re connected, but they’re not the same thing, and that’s on purpose. Why Two Tools Instead of One We could have crammed everything into one big platform. We didn’t, because planning is really … Read more
AI should not replace teachers, create more expectations, or make every lesson start from scratch. Used well, it should reduce repetitive planning work so teachers have more room to teach, connect, or maybe just take a deep breath.
Fair question. If you can use ChatGPT to generate lesson ideas, activities, rubrics, and worksheets, why use something like CARL? Honestly, sometimes ChatGPT is enough. For a quick idea, a wording tweak, or help getting unstuck, a general AI tool is genuinely useful. I use AI all the time to brainstorm and turn messy thoughts … Read more
I know, weird metaphor. Stay with me. A good insole makes the whole shoe more comfortable. It reduces strain and makes a long day a little easier. But the insole isn’t the shoe. You still need the structure, the fit, and the person wearing it. That’s how I think about AI and planning. AI can … Read more
Inside CARL Beta 1: where teachers are most stretched, the planning support they said they need, and how those findings are shaping what we build next.
Lesson Enhancements are a set of supports that appear in every CARL lesson. They’re designed to surface things teachers deeply care about but that often get skipped when planning happens late at night or under time pressure.
When we say CARL creates classroom-ready lessons, here’s what we actually mean. If you’re really in a pinch, you could teach a CARL lesson tomorrow morning. We still recommend a quick review, but the instructional flow is solid. Our actual goal is simpler and more realistic: you shouldn’t need more than 10–15 minutes to make the lesson fully yours.
