Artificial Intelligence: Real Talk

**Jethro:** Okay, everybody. Welcome. Here we are to Artificial Intelligence Real Talk. I am so excited. I mean, is that gonna be the name? I don't know, but that's what the name is today. Uh, this podcast was A Vision for Learning. I've got Matt Karabinos. Matt, welcome. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

**Matthew Karabinos:** Thanks, Jethro. Thanks for having me. Um, yeah, so I'm Matt Karavinas. Um, I am a former

**Jethro:** Oh my gosh, that

**Matthew Karabinos:** right now, as a former teacher, so my job right now is, uh, I am the, what's my fancy title, the emerging technology and project specialist

**Jethro:** sounds amazing.

**Matthew Karabinos:** know, right? Uh, it sounds really cool. So, um, I pretty much have, uh, my dream job right now, which is I get to go around to all of our school districts in our region and, um, I get to talk about AI all day. Um, which as anyone who knows me will tell you, that is something I can definitely do, is talk about AI all day. my main goal is to help schools figure out what to do with it, where to, you know, go, how to, policy, guidance for teachers, students, admins, pretty much any facet you can imagine in education of, of what to do with AI.

Um, 'cause it, you know, it's no surprise AI's over pretty much everything, so including education. So is a conversation I try to have with schools in our region. I do trainings, I do outreach, I do community events. Um, the project specialist part is really interesting, so I'm still a little bit attached to the classroom.

I also, in addition to the work I do with AI, I also run our student programs here. So anything that has a regional, student program or regional competition, um, in charge of those. We have things like FIRST LEGO League, Scholastic Quiz League, Reading Competition, and we just finished up our Math24 competition.

So

**Jethro:** Hmm.

**Matthew Karabinos:** and that's why the title's so long. It's gotta fit all that stuff in there. So yeah,

**Jethro:** Uh, it's

**Matthew Karabinos:** me

**Jethro:** man. Well, uh, we are here talking today because you're gonna be the new host of Artificial Intelligence Real Talk, and so we thought it'd be good to, uh, introduce you to people and get, get your name out there. And so why don't you start by telling us, Matt, what you, what you think this podcast is gonna look like?

And you're... It's subject to change, everybody, so don't get too focused on it, but what do you think, what do you see as the, the future and the vision of this podcast with you as the host?

**Matthew Karabinos:** y- well, for me, the thing is I, I have something right now currently in my job that not a lot of consultants that do professional developments and trainings have, which is I just left the classroom. Like, I, I was literally just there. being able to know what it was like right there in the classroom, I just left at the end of, uh, November 2025.

So being able to transition pretty quickly into this job, um, it gives me that perspective. So I still have the teacher perspective. I still have the educator perspective. I'm very active on LinkedIn, and I learn a lot from LinkedIn and the people that I'm connected to. I have, like, really owned my algorithm very well. So every time I go on there, it's pretty much like micro-learning, little mini PDs for me. So I envision being able to share those things I'm learning from there, connecting things that I see people with... You know, this person has an idea over here, and how does that connect over here? I think the broad, you know, broad topic is obviously, you know, AI and its connection to education. So that's probably the big, broad umbrella. Um, but I, I, I, I have so many, like, ideas of how we can, you know, kind of go from there. And so that's why I kinda like... There's a little bit of fr- I like that, you know? Nothing's set in place. So we're gonna see kinda how this goes, but, um, if I can get my connections to come through on LinkedIn, there will be some really cool guests that are doing some wildly amazing things in the classroom.

So I, I'd have to say that's probably... We're gonna focus on AI in education. We're gonna focus on what are the things that we can do now, like, what's possible now with AI that you couldn't do before. like that the former was, you know, A Vision for Learning, think that is also interesting, too, 'cause even that, even though it doesn't say anything about AI in the title, the AI has changed that entire conversation, has changed the entire vision of

**Jethro:** Yeah.

**Matthew Karabinos:** kinda talking about types of things, what teachers are experiencing, what teachers are going through, and kinda sharing my journey, sharing my story with people, and things I'm learning along the way. I just, I think those types of podcasts are so valuable, the ones that people are just sharing stories, and then they're connecting dots for

**Jethro:** Nah,

**Matthew Karabinos:** So

**Jethro:** I

**Matthew Karabinos:** maybe.

**Jethro:** I call that learning in dog years because when, when you come to this kind of a, a situation where you're doing a podcast and you're asking people specific questions, you get to learn so much faster than otherwise because you're, you're, uh, you're analyzing the problem with somebody else helping you, which is one of the things that makes AI so powerful, is that it becomes that thought partner, or it can be if you're using it well.

And that's what's really exciting. And so I'm excited to see where you take this and what you do and, and how it works out and, you know, uh, we're just gonna wait and see what it looks like. But we got a lot of people who are interested in AI and education and, uh, and I think that there's some real, real good potential for great things to happen with this.

Um, so,

**Matthew Karabinos:** Agree

**Jethro:** let's start today, just chat a little bit about what's exciting to you today about AI. What's, what's tickling you today?

**Matthew Karabinos:** Well, the work that I do with the IU8, I get a chance to go, you know, and work with school districts, work with teachers. Um, main message that I'm trying to get across to people, um, is you, you kind of-- you just said it, uh, a little bit ago, is this idea of moving on from the idea that AI is a, you know, a search engine. 'cause a lot of people still treat it like a search engine. type in, you say, you know, "Do this thing for me. Create me a lesson plan, create this, do that," whatever. Um, I also heard the term, I'm gonna borrow this, I forget from who, so, but they called it an AI vending machine. you're, you're just asking for things all the time: "Do this for me, do that for me," whatever. What I like to spread and tell people is move beyond that. Go beyond the create this thing for me, and move into the reimagining. Like- Instead of here's your lesson that it spits out for you, what are different ways you can present that lesson? What are different ways you can assess the kids? What are different projects you can do attached to that? What are different ways AI can be incorporated into that assignment, you know, on the student side? So kind of just reimagining what we're doing. And, you know, I share my story. This is a simple one that I share at all my trainings is I had a lesson one day. My kids all came in. There was like a game the night before, so all the kids are dead tired.

I taught sixth grade, so like they're already dead tired in the morning. But th- they were all dead tired. I knew that the lesson that I had was not gonna go well. I, I, I knew that it was not gonna land. So before school started and, you know, kids are filing in, I see like, "Oh, this, this is gonna be rough." I'm on my computer and I say, "Here's the lesson I'm supposed to teach today. need an activity that goes with this lesson, teaches this standard, this topic, and I need them out of their seats and moving. whatever it takes, I need them out of their seats and moving." know, and I said, "Uh, the, all the kids have Chromebooks. I have whiteboards." Like I listed all the things I had available in my classroom. And it spit out like... Oh, and this is another little, tidbit, little trick. I always ask for If I need one thing, I ask for five. So that's a nice little, uh, trick to throw in there that I also tell people is if you're looking for one thing, ask for five. If you're looking for five, ask for 10. AI is not g- usually not-- you're not gonna get the best result if you just ask for one. you'll be disappointed. So ask for five, and out of those five you're gonna find a gem. You know, there's gonna be a real good one. And so it spit out this lesson that was having them, uh, it was having them create a, a number, a, a, um, a physical number line with their whiteboards. they would pick a rational number, you know, positive, negative, decimals, whatever, and they'd hold that board up and they'd have to line themselves up in front of the room, and they'd have to talk to each other like, "Am I, am I bigger than you?

Am I less than you? Like, am I greater than? Like, which way do I go?" You know? The whole time they're doing this it's like you're learning where is greater than this number, where is less than this number, how does the number line work? you're doing that by walking around and trying to make the line yourself.

So that's better than doing a worksheet. That's better than doing a game or something where they're sitting at their seats. Um, they're up and moving. So just little things like that, just your lesson. And you know, I've pulled back a little bit from telling teachers they have to reimagine everything because I'm learning that sometimes boring is

**Jethro:** Yeah, and people don't, people don't like the idea of relearning everything. That sounds really difficult and hard, and I've been teaching for 15 years. I don't wanna start from scratch again.

**Matthew Karabinos:** Yes. Yeah. I hear that. I hear that. And what I say to those people is, um, can you have a conversation with somebody?

**Jethro:** Yeah.

**Matthew Karabinos:** all that AI is, is having a conversation with somebody. so, you know, that's, that's the response there. And I, I hear the pushback all the time of like, this is one more thing.

This is another tool. This is another initiative. It's like one-to-one iPads. It's like, you know, and now we have to do these things. And I also throw in the caveat, you, you, you never have to use AI.

**Jethro:** Yeah.

**Matthew Karabinos:** I'm trying to do is just show you some basics so that maybe if you wanted to, you can do things differently. And just

**Jethro:** Yeah.

**Matthew Karabinos:** that y- you don't have to do things the way you always did. and so not to say that they were bad or wrong, but if you wanna change, maybe your kids wanna change, like now you have an opportunity to do that, and it's a low-stakes way to get into that,

**Jethro:** It,

**Matthew Karabinos:** you know?

**Jethro:** it really is, and the thing that's so amazing is that if you... No matter where you're at, you can start wherever you are and then grow from there, and that's, that's the thing that's beautiful is that you don't have to be a, a nerd, a technical user to be able to figure out how to do things. You can be just a normal everyday person, and y- there's an entry point for you, and that's the thing for me that makes this technology really different is that if you are, um, you know, a programmer and you know how to, how to- Do coding and all that kind of stuff, then there's an entry point.

If you are a 62-year-old teacher who's been teaching for a long time and you want to try something new, there's an entry point for you as well. And that's the part to me that is, that's so great about this is that you can enter at any point, and you don't have to have any previous qualifications to be successful with it.

**Matthew Karabinos:** No, I, I mean, and I'll use me as an, as an example here. Um, I always feel like I have to prove myself at my job because technically speaking, nothing in my resume, um, speaks to educational technology, you know, instructional technology. I have a master's degree in elementary education. have, you know, a bachelor's degree in developmental psychology.

So none of that's really technical at all. Um, but you know, the thing that I did and the thing that I learned, you know, from our mutual friend

**Jethro:** Yeah.

**Matthew Karabinos:** that I learned was, like, share what you're through and what you're learning and what you're doing. So when I started a TikTok channel, Mr. K All Day, um, and then I got more active on LinkedIn, I started sharing what I was learning, what I was going through, what I was creating, what I was doing, and that became my portfolio.

**Jethro:** Yeah.

**Matthew Karabinos:** I go to sit down in an interview for this job, I don't have the, the degree, I don't have the cert- you know, certificates, the certifications, um, but I have the experience, and here's the ex- and I can show you the experience. Here it is. you know, so that I'm a prime example of that. You, you don't have to be this tech background person. The, the biggest thing that I have o- of a tech background is that I'm a millennial.

**Jethro:** Yeah. But here's the other asset that you have, Matt, that's even more valuable, is that you are curious.

**Matthew Karabinos:** Oh, you said my

**Jethro:** yeah, and that is the key here because if you're just curious about how things can work or can be better, that is the entry point. And it is not, it is not difficult to get there. Uh,

**Matthew Karabinos:** No

**Jethro:** just need to be curious.

And so instead of approaching things with a, what can AI do for me? Uh, how can it make my life better? Just be curious about it. And curious means, I wonder if this will work. I wonder if it won't work. I wonder if I can do this. I wonder if I can do that. And then experimenting and trying, and that's what makes, uh, makes it so powerful is that ability to enter at any point and be able to, to experiment.

That's powerful.

**Matthew Karabinos:** Yeah. and you, without even realizing it, you, you stumbled into the framework that I created for my organization and my school districts and my region. I actually have it hang- hold on, I

**Jethro:** Oh, let's see it. Let's see it.

**Matthew Karabinos:** So of course, it's probably gonna be backwards, but it's called the CURVE framework.

I

**Jethro:** it doesn't look backwards to me.

**Matthew Karabinos:** Oh,

**Jethro:** Yeah.

**Matthew Karabinos:** Well, it looks backwards to me. Anyway, so the first word of the CURVE framework is curiosity. So when you were talking about being curious, uh, it's perfect. It's perfect. And I s- I use this at all my trainings to kind of base I do things, and I say, "This is a mindset. is how you can approach AI." Anything you wanna do with AI, anything that you are trying to work with, create, anything, if you approach it with this framework, be able to work through and find a solution, find a path. Um, so I think, like, your point is so spot on. I'm obsessed with the TV show Ted Lasso,

**Jethro:** Great show.

**Matthew Karabinos:** "Be curious.

Be curious, not

**Jethro:** Yeah.

**Matthew Karabinos:** Um, I had it plastered all over my classroom. Um, I had it much... It's everywhere. everywhere for

**Jethro:** Yeah.

**Matthew Karabinos:** And so that, I like to live my life like that, and I think that's a really good way to live your life, so you know, being curious. So the fact that you said that right there, I was like, "Huh, how perfect was

**Jethro:** Yeah. Yeah, that is perfect.

**Matthew Karabinos:** was that.

**Jethro:** Okay. Well, uh, this was a short introductory episode. Uh, make sure that you stay tuned to this podcast. Matt's gonna be releasing something every week, and we look forward to, uh, staying in touch with you. If you've got ideas for guests, uh, please reach out. We'd love to hear you.

There's a little way to contact on the, on the website and, or go follow Matt on TikTok, Mr. K All Day, right?

**Matthew Karabinos:** Mr. K all

**Jethro:** Yep. So go check him out and, uh, connect with him there. And I'm @JethroJones on all the socials, so look forward to staying in touch with everybody, and looking forward to a new season of whatever this podcast is gonna be called.

**Matthew Karabinos:** whatever this show will be called.

**Jethro:** All right, thanks everybody. We'll see ya. Thanks, Matt.

**Matthew Karabinos:** Thank, thank you