Christopher Roberts

Background

About Christopher Roberts

My fourth grade teacher Mr. Merrill made learning fun. He listened to what I said, allowed me to make mistakes, and inspired me to be curious, kind and persistent. Even though I was only nine years old when I met him, he treated me like a full human being. He helped me understand that I was more important than a math problem or a missing assignment. In my personal and professional life, I want to make the people I care about feel like I felt when I was in Mr. Merrill’s class, so they can be inspired to empower themselves through learning, critical thinking, accountability and genuine engagement. Each year since 1996, I have helped 300-500 Van Buren Tech [VBT] high school juniors and seniors in 14 career technical programs learn how to think for themselves and leverage language and communication skills to achieve success and impact. I have worked with a wide variety of students in different settings, including university students, adults, teenagers, tweens, elementary children and professional peers. Since 2023, I have collaborated with artificial intelligence daily to curate, create, organize, refine and deliver relevant curriculum to VBT students and for a variety of other tasks. My ongoing relationship with AI has unquestionably made me a better, more efficient teacher and enhanced the quality of the curriculum, personal projects and artworks I produce. Contrary to some opinions on the topic of AI use in the classroom, AI has made me sharper, not duller. I want my students to know how to use AI to help them learn and to empower them to progress toward their life goals. At the same time, recognizing sobering statistics on AI misuse and how this can undermine learning, I have drawn a clear line in the sand that guides me through the inevitable, ongoing decisions this technology demands: Should I use AI for this? Despite the hyperbole and doom and gloom regarding lost jobs due to AI applications, it seems certain that the value of human agency will be skyrocketing, as AI magic and slop ooze into every crevice of modern life. That is, the value of person-to-person communication, human-made things (like fiction, art and music) and an authentic voice will GAIN value, in my humble opinion. Thus, the process of modifying curriculum in anticipation of this impending change is already underway in my curriculum design, counterbalancing human agency with technology fluency. If you have an interesting project that needs an X factor focused on language and/or AI, shoot me an email and make me an offer I can’t refuse. This statement was not written by AI.