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Emily Holtz Use Case

Faculty & Institution

  • Faculty: Emily Holtz
  • Institution: University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  • EPP area / program: Elementary teacher internship

Course Information

  • Course title: TPTE 574/575 Professional Internship Seminar
  • Course context: Yearlong graduate-level elementary internship seminar aligned to the Tennessee TEAM rubric and practice-based teacher education
  • Course duration: One semester in the deliverable form; the use case describes the seminar as yearlong
  • Implementation timing: One semester

AI Integration Overview

  • Use case title: AI as a Reflective Rehearsal Partner in Internship Seminar
  • AI role: Reflective rehearsal partner, simulation generator, and instructional analysis support
  • AI tools used: Colleague AI; syllabus also names tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini as examples of generative AI
  • Purpose: Support preservice teachers’ pedagogical reasoning, professional noticing, and reflective decision-making around authentic internship problems of practice.

Activity / Task Description

AI was integrated selectively around TEAM rubric topics such as standards/objectives, assessment, differentiation, questioning, feedback, and thinking/problem-solving. Activities included simulated student work analysis, instructional decision-making scenarios, questioning and feedback simulations, video-analysis reflection prompts, and critique of AI-generated instructional recommendations. Submitted examples include simulations based on interns’ placement curricula, including mathematics student-thinking analysis and main idea instruction.

Do / Do-Not Guidance

  • Documented do’s: Connect AI activities to authentic teaching practice; use AI to support reflective thinking; provide prompting guidance; require critique of AI outputs; integrate AI selectively; model critical faculty use; preserve collaborative discussion.
  • Documented do-nots: Do not introduce AI without clear instructional purpose; do not assume preservice teachers can evaluate AI critically; do not overuse AI; do not let AI replace personal reflective writing; do not frame AI as a shortcut; do not rely on generic lesson plans without context; do not separate AI from ethics and equity.

Evidence & Reflections

Holtz reported that some students initially saw AI as either wholly helpful or wholly problematic, and some used it outside the intended scope for written reflection. She would provide more guidance on critical evaluation earlier and create more collaborative analysis of AI-generated responses.

Materials Reviewed

  • Holtz_Use Case.docx
  • Holtz_[Template] Deliverables_.docx
  • Holtz_syllabus.docx

Library Tags

  • EPP area: Elementary clinical practice / internship
  • AI integration type: Simulation, reflective rehearsal, instructional decision analysis
  • Student population: Graduate preservice elementary interns
  • Implementation scale: Semester integration across selected seminar topics
  • Materials available: Use case, syllabus, simulation descriptions, deliverable form