The AI in Education Tension We’re All Navigating

Instructional leaders at every level, classroom teachers, coaches, principals, curriculum directors, are feeling the same squeeze: AI is already reshaping teaching and learning, but clear, coherent frameworks and policies are still catching up. The result? Anxiety, inconsistency, and the dangerous temptation to wait until “everything is figured out.”

A recent webinar, “Leading from Where You Are,” offered both clarity and permission. The core message: You don’t have to wait for the perfect plan to begin making the work real.

AI Frameworks on Shelves Don’t Protect Anyone

One of the most powerful reminders came through the story of Dr. Tom Payzant: A framework does not move a system by itself. People do. He implemented, revised, refined, and scaled with fidelity. Frameworks are relatively easy to write. Moving systems, and the humans inside them, is hard.

Another slide made the stakes crystal clear for AI:

“A framework on a shelf will not protect anyone. AI requires alignment that is lived in daily practice.”

Beautiful documents without repeated practice, feedback loops, refinement, and real work in classrooms change nothing. The work is to make it real.

Lead AI from Where You Are: Control • Influence • Accept

The webinar introduced a simple but powerful leadership map that applies beautifully to AI rollout:

• Control: What can I do directly? (A question I ask, a norm I model, a resource I create, a move I make.) 
• Influence: What can I shape with others? (A conversation, a shared expectation, a pilot with colleagues.) 
• Accept: What must I release for now? (Perfectionism, waiting for top-down mandates, trying to control things outside my sphere.) 

This framework is especially freeing for instructional leaders who don’t sit in central office. You can still lead powerfully from your classroom, your coaching role, your grade-level team, or your building.

Applying This to AI: Pedagogy [PBL] First

You may not control the technology itself or every district policy, but you can control how AI shows up in service of high-quality teaching and learning.

For many of us, that means anchoring AI use in the instructional models we already know work, such as Project-Based Learning. When AI becomes a thought partner that strengthens inquiry, student agency, collaboration, and reflection (rather than replacing them), we uphold our deepest values while still moving forward.

Small AI Moves That Build Lived [PBL] Practice

Here are concrete actions instructional leaders can take this week—no attorney approval or finished policy required:

• Co-create norms with students or your team around AI use (transparency, citation, when it’s helpful vs. when human thinking is essential).
• Choose one upcoming project or unit and intentionally integrate one AI-supported element (research scaffolding, reflection prompts, rubric feedback, or project brief co-creation) while protecting the student-centered core.
• Start reflective conversations with colleagues: “How are you thinking about AI in your practice right now?”
• Build simple feedback loops: ask students what’s working and what isn’t when they use AI tools.
• Model metacognition out loud: Show students (and colleagues) how you’re thinking about AI as a tool, not a replacement for thinking.
• Complete the sentence exercise yourself and share it with your team: “I may not control _____, but I can _____ this week. The door I can open is _____.”

These small moves compound. They create the repeated practice and refinement that turn frameworks into lived reality.

Your Next Step with AI

You don’t need the perfect AI policy to begin. You need the courage to move the part you can touch.

Take five minutes today and finish this prompt:

I may not control _____, but I can _____ this week.
The door I can open is _____.

Then make one move.

Instructional leadership in the age of AI isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating the conditions where coherent, human-centered practice can emerge—one thoughtful move at a time.

Disclosure: This post was developed in collaboration with AI as a thinking partner. All ideas, framing, and voice are grounded in my own experience and the powerful conversation from the webinar.