Pedagogy before prompts: What educators are teaching us about AI

What does good AI-integrated instruction actually look like? This poster presentation argues that pedagogy must be at the center of AI decisions in K-12. Drawing on classroom observations, teacher artifacts and interviews with professional development providers from an ongoing study in a large urban Southeastern district, it examines what happens when instructional goals, not tool adoption, drive AI integration. In these classrooms, teachers used Gemini for Education, NotebookLM and Canva's AI as scaffolds while peer collaboration, guided practice and direct feedback drove learning. Students researched with AI, then showed their math reasoning; generated survey questions with AI, then calculated confidence intervals by hand; and debated whether they would trust a robo-advisor with their finances. Explore what made these lessons work, current approaches to professional development and implementation barriers. Leave with a pedagogy-first framework and reflective questions for auditing AI professional development in your school or district.