Teachers have the unique opportunity to connect with students through their lessons; however, this connection can be challenging given the wide range of student backgrounds, cultures, demographics, and experiences. Reflecting on my own schooling, I can recall many textbook lessons where the visuals and media lacked diversity, which made the content feel less inclusive. According to Drexel University School of Education (2025), fostering an inclusive classroom means intentionally addressing and removing stereotypes and biases related to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, learning style, or ability. This approach helps ensure that students who may have once felt different are welcomed and valued as integral members of the classroom community.

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When prompted to create and develop an innovation proposal in the Disruptive Innovation in Technology class, I knew that I needed to highlight and emphasize the importance of understanding and implementing demographics into lessons and to create a more effective way to track it. My innovation plan literature review aims to incorporate artificial intelligence to track demographics accurately in the content created by the educational technology company I work for which will translate to more diversity in the classroom lessons. For more information on my innovation plan please view my implementation outline. Understanding where their students come from and getting to know their students allows the students to feel more cared mor and creates a learning environment (Yamauchi et al., 2016, p.467).

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Therefore, to have effective innovation and initiative, it is vital to provide teachers with engaging and meaningful professional development to understand the why. When teachers understand the purpose behind the implementation and professional development it allows Cohen (2017), suggests “And if a teacher doesn't recognize or agree with the purpose behind a change, that change effort is doomed to mediocre implementation at best.”