AI in Elementary Schools: A Principal’s Take

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In this episode, Matt Stauffer is joined by Amie McCaw, an elementary school principal in Southwest Michigan with 19 years of experience leading K-5 buildings. Together they explore what AI actually looks like inside a real elementary school and how teachers, principals, and students are navigating it.

Amie shares how she uses AI for communications, observation feedback, and behavior planning, while always vetting the output and never passing it off as her own. She talks about the surprising generational divide on her staff, where younger Gen Z teachers are often the most skeptical of AI, and why she still wants her K-5 kids learning to write a sentence before reaching for a chatbot.

The conversation widens into bigger questions: how AI is reshaping teacher burnout, why critical thinking has to come before trust, and why no tool will ever replace the human connection between a teacher and a child.

• Matt Stauffer on X - https://x.com/mattstauffer
• Tighten Website - https://tighten.com/
• Amie on Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/amiemccaw.bsky.social
• Amie on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amie-mccaw-53633464/

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Editing and transcription sponsored by Tighten - https://tighten.com/