Episode Details

Sarah Rubenstein, principal of OCEAN School, shares her experience using ChatGPT to write grant proposals. She highlights the time-consuming nature of grant writing and how ChatGPT helped her generate drafts quickly. Rubenstein believes that using AI for certain writing tasks is acceptable and efficient, freeing up time for more meaningful work.

• OCEAN School - 20 year-old school
• Family partnership program school. Some learning on campus with a teacher
• 30% in school settings. 70% with parents
• 6–12 online program.
• Experiential learning opportunities.
• Place-based learning
• Grant writing is needed for that job.
• If you want teachers to get kids out of classrooms, need school buses and time to plan.
• Some grants are straightforward.
• Super time-consuming, read, highlight,
• Didn’t always get the grant.
• writing 20–40 pages on the grant.
• 130K over 2 years.
• First time, took 4–5 days uninterrupted time. Needed to work from scratch.
• Only took 3–4 hours.
• I didn’t have to do any of the thinking.
• Read, objectives,
• Spit out the chunks in sections.
• Thought it would be the best
• The way chatGPT writes and the way technical grants want it to be written align well.
• Almost everything, take its first draft and then edit it in Google Docs.
• Not sure if it was cheating
• Was transparent with the superintendent that she was doing it.
• We can’t afford grant writers.
• Decide if it is really coming from me.
• Almost anything is acceptable to use chatGPT.
• An article for publication somewhere
• If AI can generate that assignment, why are we assigning it to them?
• It’s not worthy of my time.
• Anytime that someone asks you to write something, just open up the AI and ask it to do something.
• Audiopen
• I haven’t tried to write anything that I care enough about to not use ChatGPT.

About Sarah Rubenstein

Sarah Rubenstein is the principal for OCEAN School, a K–12 Alternative School in Port Townsend, WA. Sarah also serves at the Port Townsend School District Place Based Learning Director supporting community connected learning across the district. 

She is a credentialed teacher with Masters’ Degrees in Biology and Educational Leadership. Sarah has worked as a math and science teacher in Washington and California, as well as a curriculum writer, and teaching coach.

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL, and Renaissance Learning:

As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spe