Revolutionize Your Teaching Toolkit with Magicschool.ai’s Wizardry

By Farah S. Akbar, Teachers College, Columbia University

Introduction

Language teaching can be a rewarding but challenging profession. Language teachers often have to juggle multiple classes, design engaging lesson plans, create and adapt various materials, and assess their students’ progress. These tasks can be time-consuming, exhausting, and repetitive, leading to teacher burnout and reduced quality of instruction. Fortunately, there is a solution that can make teaching languages easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable: Magicschool.ai. This platform harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist educators with various aspects of their work, such as generating original content, differentiating instruction, writing assessments, and more. It also enables teachers to communicate and translate in different languages, facilitating cross-cultural understanding and collaboration. Magicschool.ai is a free and user-friendly tool that can help language teachers save time, prevent burnout, and promote sustainability in their profession.

What captivates me most about Magicschool.ai is its remarkable array of tools that are available in one place. There is no need to hop between digital tools and multiple web pages on your laptop as you work on a particular lesson or unit. Magicschool.ai provides a variety of AI tools, including Lesson Plan, Song Generator, YouTube Video Questions, and Multiple Choice Assessments. What sets these tools apart is their simplicity and user-friendliness, revolutionizing the way educators work. With just four prompts or less, each tool efficiently delivers the desired output. For K-12 teachers, the ability to align the plan with specific Grade-level standards adds an extra layer of customization. The flexibility of modifying, making revisions, and fine-tuning the output until it perfectly aligns with your vision is truly commendable. The features in Magicschool.ai not only streamlines the process, but also empowers teachers to create tailored, high-quality lesson design and materials with ease. The platform uses text-based input prompts, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to make it easy and convenient to use.

Name of tool	Magicschool.ai
URL	https://www.magicschool.ai/
Primary purpose/use of tool	To use AI to support teachers in tasks such as lesson planning, rubric writing, content creation, instruction differentiation, and assessment writing, among many others. The platform also promotes cross-cultural understanding and collaboration among educators by facilitating communication and translation in various languages.
Cost	Free Version: Provides multiple functionalities – this version allows individual teachers to explore features like content generation, instruction differentiation, assessment writing, and translation. Premium Version: Offers advanced capabilities and unrestricted access – this version includes customizable content, data visualization, rubric grading, and enhanced integration with platforms like Google Classroom and Microsoft. Geared towards individual educators seeking maximum benefits, the premium version is priced at $12.99 per month or $99.96 per year with a 30% discount, which comes down to $8.33 per month. View updated pricing options
Rate ease of use with a brief description	Simple and easy to use, with a neat and clear interface

A former teacher and principal, Adeel Khan, started Magicschool.ai in 2023. Magic School Inc., a private company that he also founded in 2023, runs Magicschool.ai. The company is located in Denver, Colorado. There are no hidden costs associated with the Free version of the app. 

Overview of Magicschool.ai

Signing up for an account is pretty standard. You can sign up for a free instructor account at https://www.magicschool.ai/ using your email account and proceed to completing your profile details.

Once you save your profile details, you will be taken to the Dashboard page. Here you encounter a long list of AI tools ranked by Most Popular. The Dashboard can be a bit intimidating but, hey, we are language teachers, and we are up for any challenge!

I have picked 20 of my favorite AI tools that are on the Dashboard. As shown in the table below, there is a wide array of tools that can not only assist language instructors but also language educators and management professionals, and K-12 and content-based instructors. 

Tool Name	Tool Description
Helpful for: All Language instructors
1. Lesson Plan	Assists in generating a lesson plan for a topic or objective you’re teaching.
2. Text Rewriter	Take any text and rewrite it with custom criteria however you’d like.
3. Multiple Choice Assessments	Create a multiple choice assessment based on any topic, standard(s), or criteria.
4. YouTube Video Questions	Generate guiding questions aligned to a YouTube video.
5. Informational Texts	Generate original informational texts for your class, customized to the topic of your choice.
6. Rubric Generator	Write a rubric for an assignment you are creating for your class in a table format.
7. Text Dependent Questions	Generate text-dependent questions for students based on any text that you input.
8. Jeopardy Review Game	Create a jeopardy review game for a fun way to review content.
9. Song Generator	Write a custom song about any topic to the tune of the song of your choice
10. Unit Plan Generator	Generate a draft of a unit plan based on topic, standards and objectives, and length of unit.
11. Text Summarizer	Take any text and summarize it in whatever length you choose.
12. Group Work Generator	Generate group work activity for students based on a topic, standard, or objective.
13. Vocabulary List Generator	Generate a list of vocabulary words based on a subject, topic, or text that are important for students to learn.
14. Project-Based Learning (PBL)	Based on the principles of PBL, create a full project plan.
15. Text Leveler	Take any text and adapt it for any grade level to fit a student’s reading level / skills.
Helpful for: Language Education and Management
16. Teacher Observations	Generate areas of strength and suggestions for next steps for a teacher based on a classroom observation.
Helpful for: K-12 Language Teachers and Content-Based Instructors
17. IEP Generator	Generate a draft of an individualized education program (IEP) customized to a students’ needs.
18. Math Story Word Problems	Write a custom math word / story problem based on the concept you’re teaching and a story topic.
19. 5E Model Lesson Plan	Generate a 5E model lesson plan for your science class. Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate.
20. Custom Chatbot	Create a custom chatbot to interact with based on any criteria that you choose!

If you are interested in exploring the rest of the tools available in Magicschool.ai, feel free to check them out here: Magic Tools (magicschool.ai)

Practical Uses

Teachers can begin by testing out four functionalities: 1) the Lesson Plan, 2) YouTube Video Questions, 3) Rubric Generator, and 4) Song Generator. Let’s take a look at the Lesson Plan tool first.

Lesson Plan Tool

When you click on the Lesson Plan icon, you will find a short form where you can input the details of your lesson, such as grade level, topic/standard/objective, additional criteria, and standards to align to, if any.

Teachers can enter their own lesson plan details. For instance, I can choose the proficiency level of my students, the theme of the lesson, and the objectives for this lesson. I also asked it to create two related lesson objectives. Moreover, I have decided the type of activities I want in the lesson and a summary of my previous lesson content in order to align my current plan with the previous one. 

After you enter all the necessary information, press ‘Generate’ and witness the wonder. Based on the information I entered, this is the output that the Lesson Planning tool created for me.

Lesson: Health Vocabulary and Setting Up an Appointment Objective: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to use health-related vocabulary and set up an appointment on the phone. Assessment: Students will participate in a role play activity where they have to use health-related vocabulary to describe their symptoms and set up an appointment with a doctor over the phone. Key Points: Health-related vocabulary (e.g. ache, itch, pain, blur, sprain, broken, injury, diet, abdomen) Role play dialogue for setting up an appointment Proper phone etiquette Opening: In pairs, students will discuss their understanding of the health-related vocabulary they learned in the previous lesson. They will share examples of when they would use these words in real-life situations. Introduction to New Material: Begin by reviewing the health-related vocabulary from the previous lesson. Ensure that students understand the meaning of each word and its usage. Introduce the concept of setting up an appointment on the phone. Show students a sample dialogue and explain the importance of using appropriate language and tone during such conversations. Address a common misconception that students might have, such as assuming that a phone conversation for setting up an appointment is similar to a casual conversation. Guided Practice: Model a sample phone conversation with a student, demonstrating how to use the health-related vocabulary and set up an appointment. Provide students with examples of dialogue prompts and have them practice in pairs. Start with simple prompts and gradually increase the complexity to challenge students. Circulate the classroom, monitoring student performance, and providing feedback as necessary. Independent Practice: Distribute a worksheet or handout with a variety of scenarios requiring students to use their health-related vocabulary to set up appointments over the phone. Students will work individually to fill in the missing information in each dialogue. Closing: To summarize the lesson, students will participate in a short role play activity where they have to demonstrate their ability to use health-related vocabulary effectively to set up an appointment on the phone. They will take turns playing the role of the healthcare provider and the patient. Extension Activity: For students who finish early, they can create their own dialogue prompts for setting up appointments on the phone. They can exchange these prompts with a partner and practice the role play activity using their own scenarios. Homework: As homework, students can research common health issues or ailments and create a list of vocabulary words related to those conditions. They should also create sample dialogues using the vocabulary to set up appointments with different healthcare professionals.

You can also translate your lesson plan into any of the 100+ languages available. Click on ‘Actions’, then ‘Translate’ and you will find a long list of languages to pick from. 

You can also modify the details of your lesson plan by clicking on ‘Edit Prompt’. This is a useful feature that allows you to collaborate with the generator and adjust the plan as often as necessary until you have the perfect lesson for a particular class. You can edit your prompt as many times as you like if you need to change or improve the output or if you are not satisfied with it. Once you are happy with the output, you can ‘Copy’ it, and paste it into a Word document. You can then fine-tune the content and save the document in your local folder.

YouTube Video Questions Tool

The YouTube Video Questions Tool on Magicschool.ai is an AI-powered tool that can generate quizzes including multiple choice questions, free response, and True/False questions from any YouTube video with a transcript. It allows you to customize the grade level, number of questions, and question type, and to copy and paste the questions and answers for assessment purposes. 

This tool is very impressive to me! Prior to using Magicschool.ai, I had to invest a lot of effort in creating questions from a YouTube video. However, with this tool, I can generate multiple choice questions and T/F questions in a short time. This allows me to save time and use it for other aspects of my teaching, such as creating supplemental materials, providing feedback, and fostering student engagement. 

As illustrated in Picture 5, I used the tool to produce multiple choice questions for a Pre-K class and a 12th Grade class based on the same YouTube video. I observed that the outputs were suitable for both levels. Furthermore, the questions had time stamps that can be very useful to the instructor in navigating the video in the class.

Rubric Generator Tool

One of my favorite tools on Magicschool.ai is the rubric generator that helps you create rubrics for your assignments, allowing you to tweak it as much as you need until you are happy with the result. You can decide on your assessment criteria, performance levels, and the tool will put your rubric’s point values in a table format. You can get this tool by picking the Rubric Generator from the list of tools on the Dashboard page. Unlike most other free rubric generators, Magicschool.ai lets me view all my previous rubrics in a single location. It also enables me to transfer the rubric to a Word document while keeping the table layout intact.

I used the Rubric Generator to create a 4-point writing rubric for Grade 5 ELA standards. I also asked the Generator to include criteria such as nutritious value, cost, size, and accessibility of M&M’s and Skittles for a compare/contrast essay. Moreover, I wanted the rubric to focus on descriptive words and transitions.

The following is the output that I got after pressing Generate:

Rubric for Compare/Contrast Essay: M&M’s vs. Skittles
Criteria	4 Points	3 Points	2 Points	1 Point
Thesis Statement	Clearly and effectively establishes a strong thesis statement that accurately presents the purpose of the essay.	Establishes a thesis statement that presents the purpose of the essay, but may lack clarity or effectiveness.	Presents a somewhat clear thesis statement, but the purpose of the essay may be vague or unclear.	Does not provide a clear thesis statement or fails to establish the purpose of the essay.
Compare/Contrast Analysis	Provides a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the similarities and differences between M&M’s and Skittles based on their nutritious value, cost, size, and accessibility. Demonstrates a deep understanding of the subject matter.	Provides a detailed analysis of the similarities and differences between M&M’s and Skittles based on their nutritious value, cost, size, and accessibility. Shows understanding of the subject matter.	Provides a basic analysis of the similarities and differences between M&M’s and Skittles, but lacks depth and thoroughness.	Provides limited or no analysis of the similarities and differences between M&M’s and Skittles.
Use of Descriptive Words	Effectively uses a variety of descriptive words and phrases to enhance the reader’s understanding of the characteristics and qualities of M&M’s and Skittles.	Uses some descriptive words and phrases to convey the characteristics and qualities of M&M’s and Skittles, but may not consistently enhance the reader’s understanding.	Uses a few descriptive words and phrases, but they do not effectively convey the characteristics and qualities of M&M’s and Skittles.	Does not use descriptive words or phrases to convey the characteristics and qualities of M&M’s and Skittles.
Use of Transitions	Skillfully uses a variety of transitions to smoothly guide the reader through the comparison and contrast of M&M’s and Skittles. Transitions enhance the overall coherence and flow of the essay.	Uses some transitions to guide the reader through the comparison and contrast of M&M’s and Skittles, but transitions may be inconsistent or not contribute to the overall coherence and flow of the essay.	Uses a few transitions, but they do not effectively guide the reader through the comparison and contrast of M&M’s and Skittles. Transitions may disrupt the overall coherence and flow of the essay.	Does not use transitions to guide the reader through the comparison and contrast of M&M’s and Skittles.
Note: Each criteria is scored on a scale of 4 points, with 4 representing the highest level of performance and 1 representing the lowest level of performance.

Similar to the Lesson Plan tool, you have the option to revise and refine the rubric by modifying your prompt until you achieve a satisfactory result. For instance, to obtain the output shown above, which meets my lesson objectives and New York State standards, I used the Edit Prompt option in the tool to revise my prompts three times.

Song Generator 

One of the most delightful tools on Magicschool.ai is the Song Generator. This tool offers teachers the ability to craft custom song lyrics tailored to their students’ needs, bringing a fresh and engaging perspective to educational content. 

Picture this: you’re a content-based language instructor with science as the content, fueled by a passion for instilling awareness of climate change in your students. Your goal is to make learning about it interesting and memorable. Well, with the Song Generator, you can do just that. Think of the Song Generator like a helpful guide that helps you create song lyrics. You pick the topic, like climate change, and then add in important concepts like the greenhouse effect, how the Earth is getting warmer, ice melting, and why we need to take care of the planet. You can even give your song a cool title, like “Earth’s Melody.”

The Song Generator processes all the provided information and transforms it into song lyrics. This tool is highly effective because it maintains student engagement, especially when teaching complex topics like climate change. Additionally, it empowers teachers to unleash their creativity by converting intricate ideas into memorable tunes. Moreover, each song can be personalized to align perfectly with the lesson, aiding students in memorization. And let’s not forget – the joy of learning through music adds an extra layer of fun! Be aware, though, that the quality of the results is variable by language so you should try it out in the language you teach.

Output History Feature

Finally, Magicschool.ai allows you to access the records of the content you produce in a single location. By clicking on ‘Output History’ in the navigation column, you will see the content that you have created there. The Free version of Magicschool.ai only grants access to the last five outputs or content that you have produced. You can select any title from the content list and resume working where you left off, or modify a specific output but the new output will overwrite the oldest saved output.

If you wish to have access to previous work generated on Magicschool.ai, I suggest copying and pasting an output you would like to keep to a Word document and marking them clearly with version numbers. This will allow you to keep track of all the previous versions of your work and the prompts that you used to achieve a desired output. You also have the option to remove the existing five outputs from the Output History to retrieve the previous ones.

Pros and Cons

Magicschool.ai is like a sidekick for language instructors, packed with features that make teaching a bit easier. Firstly, Magicschool.ai is a platform that aims to help teachers with various aspects of their work, such as lesson planning, assessment writing, differentiation, communication, and more. It uses over 60 AI tools to generate original and personalized educational content, feedback, and suggestions. Secondly, privacy is a big deal – Magicschool.ai is FERPA-compliant, which is crucial for safeguarding sensitive educational information. 

What I love is its laser focus on education – it does not get distracted by non-educational content or let you get distracted by ads. That means a smoother and more efficient experience for us educators. The tool filter is a lifesaver, making it super easy to find what we need. Now, here’s a gem: the response generator’s quick copy button. It is like a time-saving wizard, letting you paste generated content lightning-fast into lesson plans or wherever you need it keeping the format intact. It improves the quality of educational materials by offering proofreading, text leveling, and plagiarism checking tools. Moreover, MagicSchool.ai provides a user-friendly interface that does not demand any AI or coding background from educators.

However, Magicschool.ai does have some limitations. An important aspect to consider is that the platform’s knowledge is up to the year 2021, which may impact its ability to provide the latest information. The input and the tool used may affect the accuracy, currency, relevance, and suitability of the outputs, making it crucially important to always check its output. Additionally, it currently lacks the capability to search the internet or generate images, limiting its scope in comparison to platforms with broader functionalities. Despite these limitations, Magicschool.ai remains a valuable asset for educators seeking support in various educational tasks.

Summary

In essence, Magicschool.ai stands out as an AI-driven teaching assistant capable of transforming your lesson planning and boosting efficiency. While I have delved into just four of its features in this review, the app’s array of functionalities becomes irresistible once teachers dive in. This tool serves as a valuable assistant for educators, offering inspiration for lesson plans, rubrics, worksheets, pair/group work details, and more, avoiding the hassle of starting anew or browsing multiple websites each time. It is an innovative platform, yet it is important to note that Magicschool.ai is a complement to, not a replacement for, the unique role of human teachers.