Leading from the classroom in the age of AI

Fast-moving technology requires leadership at the level where learning happens, in the classroom.

At a Glance

Advances in artificial intelligence move so quickly that traditional, top-down professional development can’t keep up.
As students adopt new tools, teachers are having to rethink instruction, assessment, and academic integrity in real time.
Because they are closer to where AI tools are being used, teachers are in a position to take the lead on identifying effective uses of AI.
The need for teacher leadership related to AI creates opportunities for teachers to lead from the classroom without taking on a formal role.
Schools need to create opportunities for teachers to experiment and share what they are learning

The first time Joanne Mumley used artificial intelligence in her seventh-grade English classroom, the students were skeptical. This was the fall of 2024, and many of their teachers had been banning AI tools and warning students that if they were caught using them they would be in trouble. Mumley admits that some of her colleagues had doubts. But she wanted her students to give it a try, so she asked her students to get feedback on their writing from a chatbot on a platform that complied with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

After some success with this initial experiment, Mumley wanted to go further and build purposeful use of AI into a larger-scale project. The project she developed asked her 12th grade students to create museum exhibits based on the historical elements from the novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. Mumley built a custom bot that gave students feedback on their museum exhibit proposals. Playing the role of a museum director, the bot asked students questions about how they were going to make the exhibit interactive, what they were going to display to capture the audience’s attention, and what they wanted the audience to take away from the exhibit.

By the end of the project, students not only demonstrated knowledge about the content they had researched, but also displayed critical skills like collaboration, creativity, and problem solving. The museum exhibits were displayed in the school library.

Teachers taking the lead

Joanne Mumley was an early adopter of using AI in the classroom, and other teachers took note. Slowly, more teachers started experimenting with AI tools and began to look to Mumley as an in-house expert. She is one of many teachers to become a leader from the classroom because of her willingness to experiment with AI.

In Thomaston, Connecticut, teachers knew students were using AI tools outside school and sometimes using them to complete assignments. Many teachers were experimenting with tools for their own classrooms. But there was inconsistency across the district, and teachers needed a structure to build shared understanding quickly and responsibly. The district chose to enroll 15 participants from across the district in an AI in Education micro credential. The 15 participants included classroom teachers, special educators, support staff, and the superintendent. Their explicit goal was to build leadership from inside classrooms and encourage peer-to-peer leadership while also ensuring that the leadership at the top was fluent in AI.

The cohort became the AI team that helped develop student- and teacher-facing AI guidelines. Thomaston’s central office was adamant that teachers take the lead on the use of AI in the classroom instead of approaching it as a top-down mandate. Even without released time, stipends, or formal leadership positions, these 15 educators stepped up to lead.

Classroom teachers and support staff are closest to students and see how students use AI, in both helpful and unhelpful ways.

The teachers learned a host of new skills and ways to use AI in the classroom, from differentiating texts to redesigning lessons, from creating rubrics to using interactive chatbots. After experimenting with using AI in their instruction and workflow, the next step was for these teachers to lead short instructional sessions during schoolwide meetings and professional learning opportunities. They had real examples from their classrooms of how AI could impact teaching and learning. And without needing a title, designation, or mandate, these teachers became AI leaders from within their classrooms.

Why AI forces a rethink of teacher leadership

Many efforts to make changes in classrooms come from top-down mandates. These initiatives, like cell phone bans or new reading programs, follow a familiar pattern: Decisions are made at the district level and implementation is handed over to teachers. The same method and pattern cannot be followed for addressing artificial intelligence. Centralized decision making at the district level is often slow, and the pace of AI development is too fast for central district structures to manage.

Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the pace at which new AI tools are released and the speed at which AI is changing and improving are beyond any one person’s capability to fully understand and manage. Teachers are on the front lines of figuring out how to adapt to this rapidly changing landscape. They need guidance from the district but will do best when watching their peers to learn how to use the myriad tools at their disposal.

Classroom teachers and support staff are closest to students and see how students use AI, in both helpful and unhelpful ways. Often, teachers hear from students about the latest app or enhancement to an existing model (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, or Copilot). While initial responses focused on stopping students from using AI to cheat on assignments, teachers have moved far beyond that cat-and-mouse game. They have sought out professional learning opportunities, read extensively, and looked to each other to learn how to adapt or completely rethink assessments that were no longer durable in the face of AI. Many leaned in and began using chatbots for deeper and more personalized instruction. Teachers continue to adapt as AI changes. With something as complicated as artificial intelligence, leadership needs to happen where the learning happens: from teachers in classrooms.

The trouble with traditional leadership models

Traditionally, to be seen as a school leader it is necessary to leave the classroom. Even leadership roles closest to the classroom, such as instructional coaches or department chairs, pull a teacher out of the classroom teacher role and into a new position with a title and an explicit hierarchy of power. The more influence a person wants to have, the higher they climb up the administrative ladder and the further they get from the classroom.

These leadership roles are crucial for the healthy functioning of a school system, but they also lead to unintended messages and consequences. Often, some of the strongest teachers end up leaving the classroom to seek out ways to have more influence. Over time, schools can unintentionally reinforce the assumption that leadership with the greatest impact requires leaving teaching and is only legitimate when it comes with a title.

For many teachers, the idea of leaving the classroom and their students (the whole reason they love their job) is a barrier to seeking a leadership role. They may not want to seek out a new position, but they are ready to lead. The rise of AI in schools gives schools an opportunity to rethink the traditional model of leadership. In fact, it may force schools to rethink what leadership means and how it can be enacted within a school community.

Teachers as AI influencers

Instead of filling a role outside the classroom, teacher leaders can help shape instructional norms, decisions, and professional learning while remaining embedded in classroom practice. When teachers are given opportunities to have a voice in a professional learning community, department meeting, or schoolwide professional learning, they can influence practice using examples drawn directly from their classrooms. By modeling how they use AI — whether by sharing a tool that has improved practice or student learning or guiding teachers on how to use a prompt to redesign an assessment — teachers can lead their peers in ways that have impact but don’t require a special title, a new spot in the hierarchy, or released time.

Schools are already seeing teachers leading AI adoption from within classrooms. In Missouri, Sarah Holtmeyer-Hollstrom learned about creating Gems in Gemini when she attended a one-hour online meeting as part of the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms course. Learning how to make these custom bots — using language tailored perfectly to her students — was a game-changer. She immediately went back to her department colleagues, shared a Gem she had made, and taught them how to make their own. Now, most teachers in her department regularly create Gems to ease workflow. Holtmeyer-Hollstrom is an experienced teacher of multilingual learners. Her peers look to her as a leader, and her curiosity and excitement around how AI can help English learners has allowed her to share her expertise without waiting for an official invitation.

Ryan Carey, a Connecticut business teacher, learned to use AI to assess his lessons and assignments for their durability in the face of AI. Carey used a well-designed prompt to determine whether AI could complete the assignment in question, as well as pinpoint vulnerabilities and provide suggestions for redesigning the lesson. He shared this prompt with colleagues, who started using it to take a closer look at their own lessons and assessments. There was no top-down mandate to rewrite assessments or analyze current lessons, but Carey’s approach to changing his instructional and assessment practices had a ripple effect from his business classroom to the entire high school.

Structuring opportunities for classroom-embedded leadership

To create the ideal environment for teacher leadership from the classroom, teachers need meaningful, practice-based learning opportunities. They need time to try out what they have learned, apply it in their classrooms, reflect on how it went, and then share with their peers. This means professional learning needs to build in time for practice or be broken down into smaller bite-size pieces so teachers don’t walk away feeling overwhelmed by a cascade of new tools or ideas. Instead, they need time to try a few new approaches over several days, weeks, or even months. Then they need dedicated time to share experiences.

Encouraging all teachers to share strategies, prompts, artifacts, or lessons develops a norm that all teachers are valued for their practice and anyone can lead.

Giving teachers opportunities to experiment and share helps grow distributed leadership in a school. Teachers who engage deeply with their practice often become informal leaders by sharing lessons, prompts, artifacts, and assessment strategies that shape how their peers approach instruction. When multiple teachers engage in this kind of learning, more teachers build capacity and the pathway to leadership widens.

Teachers also want to learn from other people living and working in the same context. They want to hear about successful experiments and failed attempts so they can build their own toolkit and strategy list. Flexible professional learning that allows teachers to follow their interests and motivations is far more sustainable than compliance-based conformity to a mandate.

Sometimes it is necessary to bring in an outside expert to talk about a particular topic in education. Given the speed of its development, artificial intelligence is especially well-suited to letting those within the system take on the sharing and teaching. While AI makes the need for this approach especially clear, the same structure can apply in other complex areas of practice where learning is ongoing and certainty is elusive.

What schools need to do differently

As schools consider how they want to address AI, there are four key shifts they can make to support students and teachers while strengthening teacher leadership.

From control and policy to trust in teachers

Artificial intelligence evolves so quickly that teachers cannot wait for district guidance after each upgrade without becoming stagnant and stifled. Teachers need permission to experiment thoughtfully and ethically, reflect on outcomes, and adjust practice in real time.

While AI is fertile ground for encouraging teachers to step up as leaders, the underlying lesson applies to virtually any topic in education. When teachers are trusted to try new approaches, they are more likely to share their work with others and build a culture of professional learning.

From roles to practices

In many schools, leadership is designated through titles and positions. A more sustainable approach is for school administrators to pay close attention to what is happening in classrooms and to recognize leadership through practice. When teachers share an artifact, demo lesson, or effective prompt, leadership becomes tangible rather than aspirational.

Teacher leadership isn’t missing in schools, but it is often misconstrued or unnoticed.

AI is a timely example because there is so much to learn and try, and many teachers are eager to explore the new frontier while remaining full-time classroom teachers. They may not seek formal leadership roles, but creating opportunities for them to share with colleagues legitimizes their work and builds capacity across the school.

From compliance-based professional development to inquiry-based learning

The rapid and constant evolution of AI demands that schools rethink professional learning opportunities. Unlike topics like implementing a new reading program, learning about restorative practices, or learning a new report card format, artificial intelligence is continually evolving. A one-day professional development session in August is insufficient, especially if it is a traditional “sit and get” session organized from the top down.

Teachers need opportunities throughout the year to test new tools and methods, reflect on what worked, revise practice, and share learning. While AI makes the limitations of attendance-based PD especially visible, this shift toward inquiry is equally essential for instructional improvement, assessment reform, culturally responsive practices, and student-centered learning across disciplines.

From individual experts to distributed leadership

When one person is dubbed the in-house expert on a topic, unintentional consequences arise. Others may feel less welcome to share their experiences and discoveries, and if that person leaves, the system loses its capacity. In contrast, when leadership happens from within the classroom and multiple teachers engage in learning and experimentation, expertise develops across the school rather than in one place.

Encouraging all teachers to share strategies, prompts, artifacts, or lessons develops a norm that all teachers are valued for their practice and anyone can lead. This shift goes far beyond artificial intelligence. Developing a school culture where teachers as respected leaders supports improvement efforts across initiatives and helps capacity endure over time.

Leadership where learning happens

Joanne Mumley did not become a leader because she applied for a new role or stepped out of the classroom away from her students. She became a leader because her classroom practice helped answer questions her colleagues were already asking. As teachers experiment with AI, leaders are emerging who model, share, and help peers navigate uncertainty in real time.

Teacher leadership isn’t missing in schools, but it is often misconstrued or unnoticed. Artificial intelligence has made teacher leadership more visible by accelerating change beyond the reach of purely top-down systems. Schools that thrive in the face of AI will be those that define leadership not by title but by influence and that build structures for teacher learning that naturally lead to sharing, collaboration, and distributed capacity.

District leaders will continue to write and revise policies and adopt and abandon tools over time. But the success of those efforts will depend on what happens in classrooms — whether teachers are trusted to learn, test, and refine practice, and whether schools are designed to notice and elevate the leadership that already exists where learning happens.

This article appears in the Summer 2026 issue of Kappan, Vol. 107, No. 7-8.