Preparing to teach something new? Use AI to accelerate your professional learning

For many teachers, the end of one academic year is quickly followed by thoughts of the next. Perhaps you're moving from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2. Perhaps you're teaching GCSE for the first time. Perhaps you've inherited a new subject or are responsible for content you've never taught before. Or perhaps you're simply looking ahead to September wondering, How am I going to get on top of all of this?

Every teacher, no matter how experienced, has been a beginner at some point. Every subject leader once taught their first lesson. Every subject leader once opened a specification they had never seen before. Artificial intelligence won't replace your professional expertise. But it can dramatically shorten the journey from novice to confident practitioner. Used well, AI can help you spend less time searching for information and more time thinking about great teaching.

Step one: Understand the learning before you plan the lessons

When we teach unfamiliar content, it's tempting to jump straight into lesson planning. Instead, start with the bigger picture. Ask AI to help you understand:

• What are the key concepts pupils need to learn?

• How does this topic fit within the wider curriculum?

• What prior knowledge should pupils already have?

• What will they learn next?

• What misconceptions commonly arise?

Within minutes you can build a much clearer mental model of the curriculum before you begin planning individual lessons. Of course, always check AI-generated information against your school's curriculum, examination specifications and trusted subject resources. The goal isn't to replace those resources; it's to help you understand them more quickly.

Step two: Build your confidence, not just your knowledge

Many teachers worry about teaching content they have never studied themselves. One of AI's greatest strengths is that it allows you to learn through conversation. Instead of reading chapter after chapter of a textbook, you can ask questions such as:

• Explain this topic as if I were teaching Year 8.

• What are the biggest misconceptions pupils have about this concept?

• Can you explain that again using a different example?

• Why is this important?

The ability to ask follow-up questions makes AI a remarkably effective professional learning companion. The aim is not to memorise facts. It is to develop enough confidence to explain ideas clearly and respond to pupils' questions.

Step three: Think like a teacher

Great teaching is about far more than knowing the content. It is about understanding how pupils learn that content. This is where AI can become a powerful thinking partner. Rather than asking it to write a lesson, ask questions that challenge your own thinking. For example:

• Which parts of this lesson are likely to be most difficult?

• How could I make this concept more memorable?

• What examples would make this more relevant?

• How might I support pupils with SEND?

• How could I extend the highest-attaining learners?

• What questions should I ask to check understanding?

Step four: Let AI take away the repetitive work

Teachers spend hours creating and adapting resources. AI can help with many of those routine tasks. It can:

• Simplify complex texts

• Generate retrieval questions

• Create vocabulary lists

• Draft model answers

• Produce quizzes

• Adapt reading materials for different ages

• Suggest extension activities

• Rewrite instructions more clearly

A note of caution: AI should reduce workload but not professional thinking.

Step five: Arrive in September ready to teach, not just ready to survive

Perhaps the greatest benefit of AI is confidence. Starting a new year group or subject can feel overwhelming because there is simply so much to learn. AI helps break that challenge into manageable conversations. Instead of wondering where to begin, you can begin anywhere. Ask a question. Explore an idea. Test your understanding. Refine your thinking.

Little by little, unfamiliar content becomes familiar, confidence grows and teaching becomes easier. Not because AI has done the thinking for you, but because it has helped you think more effectively.

A few words of caution AI is an assistant and not an expert teacher. Always:

1. Verify facts.

2. Check resources against your curriculum.

3. Use approved AI tools.

4. Never upload personal or confidential information.

5. Apply your own professional judgement.

Try these prompts for September

If you're preparing to teach something new, here are six prompts to try today:

1. Explain this unit as if I were teaching it for the first time.

2. What prior knowledge should pupils already have before starting this topic?

3. What misconceptions should I anticipate, and how could I address them?

4. Suggest three retrieval activities I could use in my first lesson.

5. How could I adapt this lesson for pupils with SEND while maintaining high expectations?

6. If you were observing this lesson, what questions would you ask me about my planning?

These prompts won't write outstanding lessons. They will help you ask better questions and better questions usually lead to better teaching. The most successful teachers are not those who know everything before term begins. They are those who remain curious, reflective and willing to learn.

AI gives us another way to do that. Not by replacing professional expertise, but by helping us develop it more quickly, more thoughtfully and with greater confidence. As you prepare for the new academic year, don't ask, Can AI plan my lessons? Instead ask, How can AI help me become an even better teacher? That is a far more powerful question.

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