Metaphors, Cultural Wisdom, and Leadership

January 6, 2025
Luis Hernández

Category: AI in Education, Cultural Experiences, Cultural Tech, Culturally Responsive Teaching, EdTech, Teaching Strategies

AI-Generated Audios

Last semester, during an activity for one of my doctoral classes in Instructional Technology and Leadership, I was asked to explore metaphors and identity. Reflecting on this brought me back to my years as a bilingual teacher here in Texas, where I taught primarily Spanish-speaking students and worked alongside colleagues teaching Vietnamese-speaking students. Our district had a large Vietnamese student population, and as a team, we focused on creating a culturally inclusive environment.

One activity that stood out was a cultural exchange, where students from different backgrounds shared stories, values, and proverbs. From this, I remember a Vietnamese proverb: “lá lành đùm lá rách,” meaning “the good leaves protect the torn ones.” This proverb highlights compassion, community, and mutual support, reminding us that just as a healthy leaf might shield a torn one, we are encouraged to support those who are struggling. It embodies a collective responsibility, which resonated deeply in our diverse school environment.

This proverb became a powerful framework for teaching empathy and inclusivity. It encouraged students to see themselves as part of a community where each person plays a role in uplifting others. In Vietnamese culture, “lá lành đùm lá rách” also signifies humility and selflessness, urging individuals to help without seeking recognition. These lessons shaped not only the classroom culture but also students’ understanding of their roles in a broader, interconnected world.

Reflecting on this experience, I’ve realized how essential it is to create a classroom environment that fosters belonging, where culture and language are not just respected but embraced. Technology, especially AI, can play a transformative role in enhancing this cultural exchange and inclusivity. For instance, using AI tools like Adobe Firefly, I visually represented the essence of “lá lành đùm lá rách” by generating an image of hands gently holding leaves. This visual aid helped bring the proverb to life, serving as a meaningful reminder of the community’s role in supporting one another. I’ve previously written about using Adobe Firefly in the classroom, exploring its potential to create engaging and culturally relevant visuals that enhance learning experiences.

Incorporating tools like text-to-image generators such as Adobe Firefly offers educators a way to create inclusive, culturally relevant visuals that reflect the diversity of their students. Imagine a classroom adorned with AI-generated posters and illustrations depicting proverbs and values from around the world, fostering an environment of mutual respect and curiosity. These materials not only engage students but also affirm their identities, creating a safe space where they feel valued and inspired to learn.

Coincidentally, before diving into this class activity, I had written a blog post on resilience and leadership inspired by Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated expedition to Antarctica. After watching a National Geographic documentary on the subject with my kids, I reflected on Shackleton’s journey, which, despite ending in failure, stands as a powerful example of leadership. His deep understanding of each team member’s needs and unwavering commitment to their well-being embody the same spirit as “lá lành đùm lá rách.” Shackleton demonstrated that true leadership isn’t defined by personal achievement but by supporting others, particularly in times of hardship.

Somehow, as an immigrant in this country, the past few months have made me even more aware of the importance of these values.The wisdom of “lá lành đùm lá rách” and the resilience demonstrated by Shackleton resonate profoundly with my personal journey and the challenges faced by many who start anew in a foreign land. Navigating a different culture, language, and set of expectations requires empathy and resilience, not only from us as individuals but from those who choose to offer their support.

Now, more than ever, I see how the values of community, empathy, and shared responsibility can build bridges across differences. These qualities enrich our personal and professional lives and are essential for creating spaces where everyone feels respected, valued, and empowered to contribute. By embracing cultural wisdom and innovative tools like AI, we can create learning environments where students not only learn from one another but also grow together as part of a vibrant, diverse community.

Four Years of Building Verónica

Verónica, the AI tutor inside our courses and apps, has four roles: study buddy, evaluator, smart tutor, and a source of insight for the people who teach. Four years after we started building her, we spent October mapping every place she runs and rereading the research on tutoring, feedback, retrieval, and model-based scoring. This post takes each role in turn: what other researchers’ work asks of it, how we built it, and where we draw the line between what they have shown about AI tutors and what we have measured about ours, which is not yet a systematic study.

An educator and an adult learner smile as they review work together at a table, with a friendly AI tutor glowing on the laptop beside them.

How We Use AI, and Why Our Digital Credentials Require Evidence

When we talk about our work with educators, at conferences and with universities, two questions come up: how do we use AI, and what does our digital credential actually prove? We answered both in writing, in two new pages on our website. The first is a note from our founder, Luis J. Hernández, on how an educator came to build with AI and where we draw the line. The second explains why our digital credentials are issued only when a learner shows the skill, and why that matters for learners and the institutions that prepare them.

A single objectives card pinned on an elementary classroom wall, with a stack of cards for the rest of the week on the teacher's desk.

One Objective on the Wall. Five Levels in the Room.

Principals want the ELPS posted, but one classroom holds students at five proficiency levels. How do you post one objective for all of them? We answered with something teachers can print and use, the Objectives Card in the ELPS Online Helper: one content objective, one language objective, and a strip showing what meeting it looks like at each level. Here is what it does, what we added after seeing how teachers used it, including a week planner and cards for lessons taught in Spanish, and why it matters in a dual-language classroom.

Layered translucent glass panes suspended in dark blue space, each etched with glowing abstract letterforms from a different writing system, overlapping and interlocking where the panes cross.

Verónica Speaks Twelve Languages. The Hard Part Was the Rules.

Verónica, the AI tutor inside our courses and apps, now responds in twelve languages. Arabic, Telugu, Tamil, and Korean joined because districts and teacher preparation faculty kept describing the families they serve. Adding the languages was never the hard part, since these models were multilingual from the start. The hard part was the rules: which characters even count as letters, whether the page or the person gets to decide, and when a tutor should hold the target language instead of following a student into English. Here is what broke, what we changed, and why it matters.