Imagine a classroom where 5th graders present their research to younger students, take questions, and proudly defend their findings — and where AI is a quiet helper, not the centerpiece.

That’s Celeste Riley’s dual-language classroom in Memphis! It's a space built on trust, cultural relevance, and clear expectations that make learning feel urgent, relevant, and real.

On this week's episode of aiEDU Studios, we spoke with Celeste about how she uses AI to widen access and differentiate for multilingual learners while still ensuring academic rigor.

Instead of policing AI tools, Celeste focuses on vetting and verification:

Students first draft projects in Canva.
Then, they compare AI summaries with primary sources
Finally, they refine their projects until the writing sounds like them.

Subsequently, class presentations serve as honest assessments. If a grade-schooler asks, “Why did that family leave their home country?” gimmicks fall away and understanding shows up. Along the way, Celeste teaches students good habits for digital citizenship with lessons about strong passwords, online privacy, checking sources, and spotting misinformation.

Celeste also shared a favorite lesson from an AI cohort: students wrote step-by-step prompts while a partner “played” the AI to reveal how vague requests fail and precise language succeeds – kind of like Amelia Bedelia! She also walked us through her process of using AI to personalize lessons, like reading fluency tools that put students in charge of their own pace of learning.

For school leaders, this episode digs into what actually works:

Short, teacher-led professional development sessions
A culture that treats mistakes as part of the learning process
Visible celebrations of classroom wins.

The result is a blueprint for blending AI, project-based learning, and bilingual education together without losing the human element that makes school matter. If you believe student voice is non-negotiable, you’ll find practical moves you can use tomorrow.

aiEDU: The AI Education Project

Celeste Riley: Teaching with AI, learning with critical thinking

aiEDU Studios

Celeste Riley: Teaching with AI, learning with critical thinking