Noelia Pozo

In this episode, Priten speaks with Noelia Pozo, a high school Spanish and French teacher with nearly two decades of experience who now heads the Foreign Language and Classical Department at her school. Noelia shares how she transformed her classroom by using AI openly alongside students rather than policing it. The conversation covers how she handles AI-generated work through relationship-building rather than detection tools, why she collects phones in a "Telephone Hotel," how exploring AI bias with students sparked deeper learning than lectures, and her frustration with colleagues who refuse to adapt while hypocritically using AI themselves. She argues that the question isn't whether to engage with these tools, but how to do so while preserving human connection, critical thinking, and genuine learning.Key Takeaways:Show students language is already in their lives. From "in lieu of" to Chipotle menus—they're already speaking foreign languages without realizing it. Recognition breeds respect.AI can't replace human connection. You can't build trust through a machine. Professional relationships require authentic communication, not a technological relay.Create honesty, not surveillance. Use AI openly alongside students and ask only for transparency. When trust flows both ways, students voluntarily admit mistakes—and learn from them.Teach students to verify AI output. AI isn't infallible. Once you put something in your paper, you own it—right or wrong.Explore AI bias together. "Nobody looks like me" in AI images sparked deeper conversations about bias and better prompting than any lecture could.Adapt or be replaced. Teachers won't lose jobs to AI—but they may lose them to teachers who use AI well.