Commencement season is a joyful time for the graduates who’ve earned their degrees and are stepping into the next chapter of their lives, and for the families who supported them through late-night study sessions, changed majors, and hard-earned personal growth. There’s pride in the air and a sense of promise.
The Class of 2025 is leaving college and entering a world very different from the one I stepped into when I graduated. If there’s a word that defines the present moment, it might be uncertainty. The economy shifts with every tweet. Political norms no longer exist. Even core ideas like truth, trust, and expertise feel fragile. Change, it seems, is the new constant.
And while many professions are feeling this strain, I believe teachers face some of the most urgent and complex challenges.
Today’s new educators are entering a profession being reshaped in real time by artificial intelligence, ideological battles over curriculum, and unanswered questions about how learning actually happens. Artificial intelligence can now draft essays, assess student writing, and simulate one-on-one tutoring. The nation is embroiled in debates over what students should be allowed to read and what history they should learn. And just as these challenges intensify, the federal government has slashed the funding and centers that allow researchers to seek answers to these very questions.
For new teachers — and even for those with years in the classroom — it can feel disorienting. A colleague recently asked me: If you had the chance to give a commencement speech to a class of future teachers, what would you say at this moment in time?
I’ve thought about that question a lot. Here’s what I would tell every new teacher stepping into this moment of upheaval and possibility.
Good afternoon, graduates, families, faculty, and friends.
It is such an honor to stand before you today — a day that marks not just the end of one journey, but the beginning of one that truly matters. You’re not just becoming teachers. You’re becoming mentors, guides, protectors of curiosity, and champions of possibility. And you are entering the classroom at a moment of unsettling transformation – in technology, in public trust, and even in what it means to “know” something.
So what do I say to you, the newly minted teachers in the Class of 2025, who are stepping into this storm of change?
Let me offer you three pieces of advice to carry with you as you embark on your teaching career.
You Are The Human Center In A Tech-Driven World
AI is already changing the classroom. Tools like ChatGPT can generate essays, give feedback, and even help build lesson plans. Ed tech platforms promise to personalize learning at scale, while many school districts have yet to provide the guidance, training, and support you will need to both harness these powerful new tools and prevent them from being misused.
But amid the excitement — and the hype — let’s not forget what AI can’t do.
It can’t notice when a student’s silence signals something deeper.
It can’t sense the shift when the light bulb goes off and a student’s curiosity kicks in.
And it can’t be the trusted adult that so many children need in their lives.
That’s what teachers do. That’s who teachers are.
Technology, when used wisely, can help teachers be more effective. But it must never replace the human connection at the heart of learning. No algorithm can replicate the power of a teacher who believes in a student, challenges them, and helps them see themselves in new ways.
As the pace of change accelerates, the teacher’s role becomes even more essential, not less.
Think Critically — And Demand Evidence
Education has always had its trends, buzzwords, and silver bullets. But in recent years, the flood of new products and promises — especially in AI — is practically overwhelming. The problem isn’t that innovation is bad. The problem is that too much of it arrives without any evidence that it works.
We have decades of education research that tells us what works and what doesn’t. For example, the idea that students learn best when taught according to their “learning style” has been thoroughly debunked. Meanwhile, the science of reading — based on decades of cognitive research – has been shown again and again to dramatically improve literacy outcomes, particularly for young readers.
But this evidence does not always make its way into teachers’ hands and is often ignored or bypassed in favor of easier, shinier, or more marketable ideas.
That’s why, as new teachers, you should trust independent and third-party research over marketing, be skeptical, and ask questions. Use reliable public resources, like the What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guides or the Evidence for ESSA database, to separate the proven from the fads and to identify those practices and products that are grounded in research, not just good marketing. And ask product developers for the evidence and research behind what they are selling to you.
The stakes are too high to fall for fads.
Use Trusted Tools — And Become Part Of The Research
Technology can be transformative when it’s chosen wisely and used well. High-quality ed tech can free up teacher time, provide differentiated support to students, and open up new pathways for engagement. But not all tools are created equal, and the wrong ones can waste time, frustrate teachers, and even set back student learning.
That’s why it’s important to lean on evaluations from respected organizations like ISTE and Digital Promise, which assess ed tech products for safety, usability, data privacy, and — crucially — effectiveness. If it’s not vetted, it doesn’t belong in the classroom.
But we also need more teachers like you to be part of the solution. Across the country, education researchers are studying how to make learning more equitable, effective, and engaging, and they need partners in real classrooms to test, refine, and improve their ideas.
Many of these researchers are based at flagship public universities. Reach out to researchers in your community. Ask if your classroom can be part of a study or a pilot program. You don’t need a PhD to contribute to the science of teaching and learning, just a willingness to share what’s working, what’s not, and what your students need.
These kinds of research-practice partnerships are crucial. They bring together practitioners and researchers in a way that benefits everyone, especially students.
The Work Ahead
You are entering a profession full of promise and uncertainty. You will have to navigate rapid technological change and politics, and you may lack the resources you need to give your students what they deserve. But you will also have more tools, more insight, and more opportunity than any generation before them, if supported well.
As a nation, we must recommit to funding the research that shows what works. We must protect the space for honest inquiry and continuous learning. And we must trust teachers not just as implementers, but as investigators and innovators.
Because no matter how advanced our tools become, the most powerful force in any classroom will always be you, a teacher who knows their students, trusts the evidence, and keeps humanity at the heart of learning.
