Teacher-Built AI: The Story of Pear Start

For many educators, the rise of AI in education brings more questions than answers. They’re told these tools will revolutionize learning, but too often, they’re left to figure it out alone. They end up navigating platforms that lack the rigor, nuance, and classroom awareness of real teaching demands.

In conversations with teachers across the country, we’ve heard a common theme: while many are curious about AI, they also feel overwhelmed by its rapid rollout and under-supported in learning how to use it effectively. They’ve seen promising tools become time-wasters, and they’re wary of solutions designed by people who’ve never taught a day in their lives. For many, AI feels like just another edtech trend, one that risks adding to their workload rather than easing it.

At Pear Deck Learning, we knew that couldn’t be our story.

That’s why we approach things differently, with teachers involved in every decision as we develop, test, and launch new tools across our platform. 

This isn’t new for us. For years, we’ve partnered closely with educators to co-develop tools that reflect the realities of the classroom. Now, as AI becomes a bigger part of education, applying that same collaborative process is more important than ever.

Built with educators, with the proof in the platform

You’ve likely heard plenty of EdTech companies say their tools are “built with educators.” But what does that actually mean? In many cases, it’s limited to a post-launch survey or a single focus group, far from true co-creation.

At Pear Deck Learning, teacher partnership isn’t a phase. It’s the foundation of how we build. Through our Innovation Incubator program, we’ve brought more than 200 educators across 35 states into the heart of our product development process, not just as beta testers, but as collaborators. Many of these educators work in Title I schools, ensuring that the needs of under-resourced classrooms are represented every step of the way.

That means Pear Start, our AI-powered lesson planning and instructional tool, wasn’t just built for educators. It was built with them, from day one.

Teachers in the Incubator didn’t just give feedback after the fact. They helped define early use cases, pressure-test assumptions, and directly influence which tools were prioritized. That input led to some of Pear Start’s most impactful features. 

“Could it work to have a Pear Deck or Pear Practice be built into the lesson? That way, it  wouldn’t need to be searched for or generated separately. I like being able to save them for future use. It would save a lot of time.”
— Caryn Terry, 1st Grade Teacher, Indiana; Innovation Incubator Teacher, Feedback from December 2024

That feedback became Pear Start’s Transform feature, which allows teachers to instantly turn any Pear Start lesson plan into a fully built Pear Deck, Pear Practice, or Pear Assessment with a single click. No switching tools. No copy-pasting. Just ready-to-teach materials, automatically aligned to the content they already created.

Watch how the Transform feature works:

By early 2025, we started hearing something new from our Innovation Incubator teachers: they weren’t just saving significant time with Transform, they trusted the quality of what it produced. That combination—speed and instructional value—was rare. And it became clear we weren’t just streamlining workflow. We were delivering classroom-ready materials in one go.

But it wasn’t always clear it would get there.

Pear Start began as a small internal experiment, quietly launched with no guarantee it would grow beyond a limited pilot. At the time, it was just one idea among many, an early-stage concept with an uncertain future.

What changed? We opened it up to our Innovation Incubator teachers, and they showed us what was possible.

Their feedback turned a prototype into a platform. Their insight and trust helped us focus on what really mattered. And when Transform started delivering real instructional value, not just automation, it was clear just how powerful a differentiator Pear Start had become. We weren’t just streamlining workflow. We were delivering classroom-ready materials in one go.

“The content is great. And I’m not a worksheet person at all. But whatever your algorithm is, it’s creating a variety of DOK levels and generating really great questions, which is awesome.” — Casey Steinert, Teacher on Special Assignment: Elementary Educational Technology, Upland Unified School District

Fine-tuning what works for teachers

That same teacher-driven feedback process led to the development of tools in Pear Start, such as:

• A behavior intervention plan builder
• A YouTube question generator
• A choice board creator
• A professional development content builder
• A test-dependent question generator

And it wasn’t just about building new tools, it was about refining how they work. From teacher feedback, we added the ability to attach standards to prompts, carry over standards into generated decks, practices, and assessments, and even automate default Transform settings so teachers don’t have to manually adjust each time. Teachers also requested the ability to attach files from Google Drive, making it easier to build lessons from the resources they already use.

As sixth-grade teacher and Incubator participant, Jasmine Soldani put it:

“One of my favorite things about Pear Start is you can really tell in the small details that teachers were involved in creating the tools. I like that everything is so integrated. It makes it easier to connect things I’ve already made with new resources.”

If it doesn’t work for teachers, we rethink it

Building with teachers doesn’t just help us create the right features. It also shows us what not to prioritize.

Some of Pear Start’s AI tools we initially thought would be popular, like Student Writing Exemplar and Text Rewriter, ended up with lower usage than expected. These tools were originally requested by educators, which made the results even more surprising. But instead of writing them off, we’re reexamining why they didn’t land.

Was the tool’s value unclear? Did the name not match its purpose? Were teachers unsure when to use it?

Given that these were requests from the field, we don’t see this as a failed idea. Instead, it’s a sign that we need to revisit how we present these tools, whether that’s through renaming, repositioning, or offering more context for when they’re helpful.

On the flip side, some tools that weren’t heavily prioritized in early development, like Pear Start’s Historical Figure Explainer, have quickly become teacher favorites. That’s the beauty of building side by side with educators: the feedback loop is constant, and the product evolves in real time.

Other surprises revealed deeper insights. An Incubator teacher shared:

“Lately, I have become opposed to most AI-based content. However, I do appreciate having tools for mundane use, such as vocab lists, that would be the same no matter who writes it.”

That kind of feedback helped sharpen our focus. It reinforced something we’ve always believed: great teaching can’t be replaced, but it can be supported. Pear Start is designed to keep teachers in control, offering time-saving support while ensuring that everything it generates can be customized and adjusted. Educators can edit content directly within the platform, tailor it to their students, and stay closely connected to the material.

What teachers are saying about Pear Start

This kind of deep collaboration doesn’t just shape the product, it builds trust. When teachers see their feedback turned into real features, they know they’re being heard. And that makes a difference not only in how Pear Start is built, but in how it’s received.

Lauren Smith, a second-grade teacher in Texas, explained:

“The responsiveness is really encouraging. There are features in Pear Start now that weren’t there a couple of weeks ago. It feels safe, responsive, and constantly evolving to meet our needs.”

Kara Cook, an Innovation Incubator participant, added:

“I was really excited when I requested a tool that I was like, oh, this would be really nice, and within maybe three days, I heard back it had been added.”

Beyond shaping product development, teachers say Pear Start is already transforming their day-to-day. It replaces disconnected workflows, simplifies planning, and gives them more time to focus on students.

Jasmine Soldani noted how Pear Start compares to other tools:

“Creating materials from Pear Start instead of Magic School AI definitely makes things easier. It's already integrated, a big plus for schools with limited funding.”

She also emphasized the workflow benefits:

“Pear Start lets me do everything in one place. I can upload a standard, generate slides, and get a full interactive lesson. That saves me time and helps me respond to what my students need right then and there. Now I can let Magic School go because Pear Start is specifically designed for education.”

Beth Sawyer, a STEAM teacher and science coach, agreed:

“We’re always short on time. Pear Start lets me create a lesson plan, and then automatically creates a Pear Deck for me, as opposed to doing it all myself.”

Lauren Smith called out one small but powerful timesaver:

“The export to Google Docs feature? Game changer. It replaced what I was doing in ChatGPT and saved me the headache of formatting everything afterward.”

A platform grounded in real teaching

Pear Start also helps address one of the most persistent problems in education: tool overload. With so many disconnected platforms, teachers often spend more time managing tech than teaching.

Elizabeth Jorgensen-Best, a fourth-grade teacher from Virginia, explained:

“My colleagues are overwhelmed by the number of tools we have, and Pear Start makes it feel more user-friendly because everything’s interconnected.”

Lauren Smith echoed the value of consistency:

“It builds consistency, and students know the features. Even if it's new, it's still a friendly platform.”

The Innovation Incubator: Real collaboration, not lip service

When we asked teachers what they valued most about being part of the Innovation Incubator, their answers said it all:

• Having their voice heard, and seeing the impact
• Participating in long-term product visioning and planning
• Early access to new tools and the chance to shape them
• Knowing their perspective made a real difference

This is what it means to build with teachers, not just by listening, but by building trust, sharing ownership, and creating space for educators to directly influence the tools they use every day.

Teaching-forward AI, built together

Pear Start exists because teachers made it happen.

They shared what wasn’t working in the AI tools they tried. They told us what they actually needed. They flagged what felt clunky, unclear, or unfinished. And then, they kept showing up, to help us get it right.

Today, those efforts are paying off. Early teacher users report saving up to 5+ hours per week using Pear Start and Instant Lesson Packages. And 90% say they plan to use Pear Start weekly next school year.

We’re proud of the platform we’ve built, and we’re even prouder of the partnership behind it. Because when teachers are truly at the table, better tools follow.

Teachers: Join the waitlist for Pear Start.

School Administrators: Request early access to Pear Start for your school. 

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