At the #HarvardKennedySchool, the Mayor of Mannheim, Christian Specht , asked me a question many cities across Germany are currently facing:
how do you teach one class when every child speaks a different story?
In a superdiverse classroom, teaching goes far beyond the curriculum. Educators are navigating multiple languages, different levels of German proficiency, varied home literacies, and the ongoing challenge of building cohesion in a room where children are still learning how to belong. Retention becomes difficult when content does not meet learners where they are. Engagement becomes difficult when students do not see themselves reflected.
He was particularly interested in my perspective shaped by more than 15 years as an award-winning children’s book author working on literacy and multilingualism, alongside solid experience in enterprise resource consulting and now pursuing my Master’s studies in Learning Design, Innovation and Technology.
My view is that #AI can act as a common denominator in superdiverse classrooms. It can adapt texts in real time to different reading levels, provide multilingual scaffolding, generate differentiated materials from a single lesson and give each child a voice in a language they can express themselves in.
That was what resonated most in our conversation, not a technology pitch, but a vision for how AI can support teachers in the daily work of building classrooms where every child can read, stay and belong.
#AIinEducation #LearningDesign
