Where Does AI Belong in a Lesson? Four Insertion Patterns

Being told to "try using AI in your lessons" leaves you stuck. The chatbot window is open, but you can't tell where in a 40-minute lesson it's supposed to fit. So it usually ends with one impressive demo at the opening. Students say "oh, neat" and clap, and nothing is left of it in that day's learning. The question is whether you're using AI as an event or as part of the flow. A one-off demo is an event; something slotted into a particular phase in service of the lesson's goal is flow. In the flow of a lesson there are natural places where AI belongs. Learn those places as patterns and you don't have to agonize each time, and the need to pick a new tool every period disappears too.

The Four Insertion Patterns

Different phases of a lesson suit different roles for AI. Split it into four and choosing gets easy.

• Opening pattern (spark curiosity): At the top of the lesson, AI throws out an unexpected question or example to create a reason to be curious about what you're about to learn. Starting from a counterexample AI raises to "why is the sky blue," for instance.
• Practice pattern (individual coach): When a student gets stuck during the main activity, AI gives staged hints instead of the answer. It fills the gap where a teacher can't watch 30 students at once.
• Transition pattern (provoke thinking): Between one activity and the next, AI offers a counterargument or a different perspective to flip thinking over once.
• Closing pattern (consolidate and check): At the end of the lesson, AI sorts and summarizes student reflections and passes them to the teacher, while pointing each student to their own review points.

If you don't know where to put AI, first ask, "In this phase, is what students lack time, stimulus, or feedback?" The answer is the pattern.

Combining Patterns Within One Period

You don't need all four patterns at once. One or two per period is usually plenty. Here are some combinations.

1. Inquiry lesson: Switch on curiosity with the opening pattern, and organize reflections with the closing pattern. Fill the middle with human activity.
2. Practice-centered lesson: Concentrate on the practice pattern alone. Because each student gets stuck at a different point, the individual coaching effect is largest here.
3. Discussion lesson: Slot in one AI counterargument with the transition pattern to put some tension into the debate.
4. Review period: Pull the closing pattern forward, analyze reflections from the previous lesson, and rebuild the period around the weak spots.

The principle to hold to when combining is keeping the patterns pointed at the lesson's goal. AI added because it's neat breaks the flow; AI added toward the goal keeps the flow alive. Cram all four patterns into one period and the lesson becomes a tool demo. Usually the most stable arrangement is one at the head and one at the tail, the opening and the close, with the middle filled by human activity.

Key Takeaways

Bringing AI into a lesson isn't a problem of handling a tool; it's a design problem of deciding which phase to slot it into. Keep the four patterns in mind, curiosity at the opening, individual coaching in practice, provocation at transitions, and consolidation at the close, and you won't have to start from scratch each time. In your next lesson, pick just one of the four and check whether AI fills what students lack in that phase. Once one pattern is in your hands, the rest expand on the same principle.