Instructron Unstructured: Episode 4

From Diagnostic Data to Daily Routines and AI Guardrails

Back-to-school is officially real: two weeks in, and those first nine days have felt like a marathon. Nothing says "welcome back" like hours of diagnostic testing: grueling reading and math screens, 32 new personalities, routines to build from scratch - and worse, that endless feeling of “How do I reach every student?”

As Joe puts it:

"Nothing says welcome back to school like hours upon end of test questions that purposely get to the bottom… because they're trying to calibrate where the kid is."

This year, we’re using Instructron to make the transition smoother - not just for us, but for our students. Here’s how it’s helping with the real stuff teachers face, right now.

New This Week: Accountability, Safety, and Small Groups

Student Accountability (while you run small groups)

Teachers everywhere ask: “What are the kids doing when they're not with me?”

"We want to make sure independent work is meaningful. That's where Instructron comes in, because now students get feedback, some kind of coach walking them through something."

With Instructron, we plug in the standard we’re working on, personalize the passage or activity (“If they're into K-pop demon hunters, we can do that!”) - and while we pull a group for reading, the rest of the class stays engaged, gets immediate nudges from Tronnie, and doesn’t just zone out on a worksheet.

Small Group Routines at Scale

Our district wants daily small reading groups—same as primary grades, but with 32 kids per teacher. We’ve always flexibly pulled groups after a quiz, but regular, standards-driven group work is now the expectation. Instructron’s group/assignment tools help us form and manage groups, plus automate meaningful independent work for everyone else.

Teacher Control over AI (Opt-Outs and Discipline)

"If you think a specific student shouldn’t have access to AI, or there is an opt-out program, then you can actually disable their access."

• AI can be disabled for specific students - whether due to family opt-out, student misuse, or as a consequence.
• Those kids still practice, still get pre-made feedback and teacher coaching, just no AI generations and chat access.
• Teacher stays fully in control.

"If a student is writing things that are inappropriate, then maybe we let them know, I'm going to disable this, and then let's work towards understanding the right and wrong way to prompt a coach."

Real-Time Safety: AI Guardrails and Teacher Alerts

This was the first week in the new school year where we can pressure-test our new safety features for student chats. We’re seeing:

• AI (“Tronnie”) immediately nudges kids to stay on task: “Let’s keep working!”
• Any chats with flagged or concerning language (“I hate you,” "dummy," or anything on our no-no list) are captured for teacher review.

Teachers get clear, visual red flags in their dashboard:

"As a teacher, you can go in and view the chat. You can mark the red flags as reviewed. It's still early days, but it'll help a teacher manage 30+ kids - and spot patterns before things escalate."

If you need info for a parent, counselor, or admin, you’ll have a clear, time-stamped record - no guesswork, no hoping you “catch it in time.” We’re planning live popups and email notifications as next steps.

Our Approach (and a Few Reminders)

• Teacher voice still drives everything built (and fixed) in Instructron

"We have kids ourselves. I wouldn’t put my child on a platform that I felt wasn’t safe. We’re building this with that in mind."

• AI is there to help, not hand out answers or replace you.
• Privacy is design-level: no emails, students always anonymous by default.
• Opt-in/opt-out control at every stage - nothing is ever forced.

Get Involved!

• Not on Instructron yet? Try it free for 14 days.
• Use code TOPFLOOR20 for 20% off your first year.
• Feedback or feature requests? DM us (@teaminstructron on Instagram), email [email protected], or use the new in-app chat feature!

See you back next week with what’s new from the classroom and the codebase!