Welcome to the New Era

Teaching CS today is a mix of fundamentals, ethics, creative problem solving, and—yes—knowing when to let AI assist, and when to ask it to sit quietly in the corner. For new teachers, this can feel like trying to board a moving train…while building a track in front of it.

But here’s the good news: CS education has always been about change. That’s what makes it thrilling. Sure, AI has added new challenges (and opportunities), but if you can teach loops and conditionals, you can teach about AI, too.

What Actually Matters

The truth is, we’re not just teaching syntax or how to build a chatbot. We’re teaching students to ask better questions, to think critically about what machines should do…and not just what they can do. We assign them projects to help them learn, not to see how well they can prompt Claude.

So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a deep breath. You don’t need to be an AI expert to teach CS in the age of AI. You just need to stay curious, model thoughtful tech use, and give students the tools to think for themselves.

Quick Tips for New CS Teachers in the AI Era:

  • Play with the tools: Try out AI coding assistants. Get to know how they work and where they fail. Your students already are.
  • Talk about ethics: Bring AI bias, privacy, and intellectual ownership into your classroom conversations.
  • Focus on process over product: We want students to experience all the steps from idea generation, to debugging, to succeeding at writing their code.
  • Provide guardrails: Now that AI is within the reach of your students, they’re going to use it. Make sure to provide them with some examples of “approved” techniques, as well as some examples of techniques that are frowned upon.

TL;DR

Yes, it’s a weird time to start teaching computer science. But it’s also the perfect time—because what students need most isn’t someone with all the answers. It’s someone who knows how to navigate uncertainty and who is willing to invite them along as a copilot.

And let’s be real: if you’re brave enough to take on teaching CS now, you’re probably exactly the kind of person this field needs.