Differentiating effectively has always been one of the greatest challenges I have encountered in my teaching. Every class contains a wide range of abilities, interests, and needs — and meeting each learner where they are can often feel like an unattainable task at times. With limited planning time and resource availability, it’s no surprise that teachers often see differentiation as something aspirational rather than achievable.
Over the past number of years, I’ve discovered that AI tools can make genuine differentiation far more manageable, freeing up time for what really matters: supporting children in progressing their learning further.
When One Size Doesn’t Fit All
So often our textbooks or content found online can have interesting and engaging learning experiences for a given topic, but can be pitched too high (or too low) for many of the children in our class. Traditionally, you’d adapt it manually — rewriting passages, simplifying vocabulary, or adding extension tasks — but that can take hours. MagicSchoolAI is a really transformative AI tool in this regard, and can complete hours worth of work in a matter of seconds. The ‘text rewriter’ tool can create more accessible or more challenging text if it was a reading passage based on your prompting, e.g. ‘Rewrite this passage for three different reading levels (Age 7, Age 9, Age 11) and include a few comprehension questions for each’. This gives us a really string starting point, from which we can tailor or edit if needed.
Scaffolding Tasks without Starting Over
Another powerful use is scaffolding assignments for children who need extra support. If your class were writing persuasive letters on an environmental issue. Some students might benefit from a structure or sentence starter bank. You can use the ‘Sentence Starter’ tool on Magic School to achieve this. In the same vain, you could also prompt the AI tool to provide follow on questions to extend the thinking of those who are confident in the persuasive writing element of the task. Now, your task feels inclusive and personalised — without trebling your workload.
Managing Bias
Of course, not everything AI produces is suitable for our learners. Due to the fact that these models pull from large datasets, they sometimes reflect bias or misinformation. I always check for cultural relevance, factual accuracy, and appropriateness. This can also become a teachable moment: asking children to critique AI-generated content and suggest edits can build digital literacy and critical thinking.
AI isn’t a magic wand, but it’s a remarkable timesaver. It allows us to focus on the human side of teaching, and respond to emerging classroom needs, while letting technology take a significant workload burden off us. The trick is to approach it with curiosity, not fear. Differentiation may never be effortless, but with AI in your toolkit, it’s no longer an impossible dream.