Lesson planning
‘talk therapy’ with Noa

It has been observed by psychologists (e.g. Dergaa et al., 2024) that excessive reliance on AI for everyday usage can limit creativity, empathy, and motivation, which can result in depression or anxiety.

Instead of detailed research, young students prefer fast access to information, which can interfere with their cognitive (e.g. memory decline), emotional and/or social development. With this in mind, I stick to the traditional way of doing all the job by myself. I have never relied on AI to plan my lessons or help me with reflection as I was afraid that AI would take away my creativity and freedom to produce a lesson plan that would appeal to students from different levels and backgrounds, and I didn’t believe that a tool could know my students better than I do. Also, I believe this kind of creative work contributes to keeping my brain younger, more effective, and in good shape.

Caring for my students’ mental health, I obtained an online diploma in Psychotherapy and Councelling in order to guide them in their difficult teenage years; since then I’ve been using talk therapy in my classroom whenever I can.

When I was first introduced to Noticing, it came as a surprise that it differs from other AI tools in several points. First, it was simple and easy to use. The second positive thing is that it made me think on a deeper level. I thought AI is there to do everything for me including the thinking part, but Noa guided me through several stages to help me brainstorm as many ideas as possible. Even I had momentarily ‘forgotten’ that I taught at a music school when I was doing my lesson plan, Noa was there to remind me that I can link a specific topic with music so that my students can be more engaged and motivated.

For example, Noa proposed songwriting using target vocabulary or grammar, something which I had never thought of doing in my classroom. Another activity that appealed to me was watching interviews with musicians in order to promote real-life context. Suggestions like these opened my horizons for new ideas and made me see things from a different perspective.

What surprised me the most was tha Noa "remembers me" (e.g. that I work in a music high school) and there is no need to remind it of context all the time. This makes Noa a friend who remembers who you are and links this data with the new information you provide. While working on a new lesson plan, it was Noa that reminded me to consider group work to tackle challenging tasks, or to use music to engage my students.

Additionally, the way Noa smoothly develops its communication is a thing that is not so relatable to a robot in a way, but more to a human. I felt like I was speaking to a real mentor who guided me through all the necessary steps in order to write an excellent lesson plan.

Another human-like characteristic was that Noa smoothly moderated the discussion, like a good mentor would, encouraging me along the way. There was no judgement at all; Noa showed complete understanding and offered help anytime needed. This directly links to talk therapy (aka counceling), which I often use with my students. Talk therapy is about listening to one’s problems without judging them.

For example, when my students have mid-term and end-of-term exams, which they find very stressful, I always use talk therapy before their exams. They appreciate talking freely about their fears or doubts, which helps them release the negative exam feelings and lower their anxiety. Similarly, Noticing non-judgementally listens to my ideas, helping me develop the good ones. It encourages deep, self-reflective thinking, thus guiding me towards new discoveries and making me realize that I can do much better, which lowers my anxiety when planning a lesson. We as humans like to be praised for the good things we do (no one wants to be scolded!); Noa acts as a councellor that uses praise in order to promote better work.

With all things said and with my initially reserved approach to AI, Noticing holds a lot of promise. It promotes personalized professional development with focus on creativity and freedom in planning, without leaving bad feelings behind, but instead fostering positive thinking and overall well-being through supportive discussions.

Reference:

1. Dergaa I, Ben Saad H, Glenn JM, Amamou B, Ben Aissa M, Guelmami N, Fekih-Romdhane F, Chamari K. From tools to threats: a reflection on the impact of artificial-intelligence chatbots on cognitive health. Front Psychol. 2024 Apr 2;15:1259845. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1259845. PMID: 38629037; PMCID: PMC11020077