Keynote Speaker

AI Alchemy: From Tool to Transformation, Leadership Workflows, Student Learning, and the Future-Ready Reset

Welcome to the realm of innovation with 2022 NYS Principal of the Year, Mark Erlenwein, as he pulls back the curtain on the enchanting world of AI in school leadership. Discover how tools like ChatGPT can automagically streamline high-impact work like observation reports, amplify productivity, and unlock new lanes of creativity in day-to-day leadership. You’ll explore practical, principal-ready workflows, adaptive AI strategies that better support neurodiverse learners, and real student-built examples from Staten Island Technical High School that show how AI can move from “cool tool” to authentic learning and future readiness.

We’re living through a structural shift moving at hyper speed: AI is rewriting the job market in real time and quietly removing many of the entry-level “first rung” roles that historically helped young people build experience and momentum. Schools can’t treat that as background noise. The response is a strategic realignment: deepen pathways (PBL / CTE / WBL), expand industry-aligned micro-credentials, strengthen oracy and human-centered competencies, and move toward assessment models that value iteration, process, and real-world performance over compliance and recall.