In this episode, part 4 of our series on the productive struggle for teachers, we explore a growing challenge in teacher preparation: how can supervisors tell whether a teacher candidate used AI as a thinking partner, or simply submitted a polished AI-generated lesson plan?

In this episode we explore:

• Why AI can make a teacher candidate’s thinking invisible
• The difference between thoughtful AI-assisted planning and minimal revision
• Why teacher preparation programs should grade decision logs, not just lesson plans
• How supervisors can identify genuine pedagogical reasoning
• Which parts of lesson design should remain productive struggles
• How AI can remove unnecessary friction without replacing professional judgment