The Tool is Changing. The Purpose is Not.

I’ve been watching the reactions to the AI coach I’m building for S-Cubed, and they have covered nearly the entire emotional spectrum—excitement, curiosity, skepticism, fear, and, in some cases, outright anger.

Honestly, I’m underwhelmed by the overreactions on both sides.

AI is neither a miracle that will solve every problem nor a monster we can make disappear by refusing to use it. The technology is already here. The question is what thoughtful, experienced people are going to do with it.

This is not the first time I have stood at a technological crossroads.

When I began sharing my work through YouTube and Facebook, many educators were uncomfortable with those platforms, too. But traditional publishers were not interested in S-Cubed. They did not give my work its reach because they wouldn't accept my work. 

Technology made it possible for me to get my work out there, and because of it, I've been able to help a lot of teachers in a lot of classrooms and, most importantly, their students.  

I used the tools available to me at that time when no one knew what S-Cubed was to show teachers what I had created. I demonstrated the lessons. I answered questions.  I still do.  I did it today.  I built relationships. Teachers tried S-Cubed, their students succeeded, and word began to spread.

Only after I had created that success myself did established companies become interested in what I was doing.  

Even then, I had to fight for the value of my work. I had an extremely difficult conversation with the leadership of J.W. Pepper when they wanted to underpay me. 

I handled it.

I stood up for what I had built, and that is why S-Cubed is offered there today, and I am paid what I deserve for what I created.  

Now we have arrived at another crossroads.

I am not using AI to replace my work. I am using it to deliver my work in a new way.

The coach is being built from the program I created, the classroom experience I earned, the videos I recorded, the questions teachers have asked me, and the guidance I have provided for years. I am not pressing a button and asking a machine to invent a sight-singing curriculum for me. 

I did it already.  

It's documented. 

I am the one who will tell my story.  That's why I have always been tech-forward.  

I am carefully teaching a new tool how to help teachers use the curriculum I have already spent years developing.

And I am working just as hard on this version as I worked on the original.

Teachers do not have to feel completely comfortable with AI today. I understand the hesitation. But I also believe that refusing to explore a new technology will not stop that technology from changing education.

My responsibility is to explore it thoughtfully, protect the integrity of my work, and find out whether it can help more teachers get past those difficult early lessons—when they are most likely to feel stuck or give up.

That is what I have always done: use the tools available to help teachers reach students.

The tool is changing.

The purpose is not.