Impact Stories
Behind the Yellow Jacket: Meet Omar Habhab
Source: City Year Blog Post
JAN 29, 2025
From saving time on lesson prep to creating personalized reading materials that excite his students, Omar shares how ClassGenius is a game-changer for his classroom. With its ease of use and ability to bridge resource gaps, it’s helping him bring more equity, engagement, and fun to learning.
"We work long hours, and lesson prep can be tough, but ClassGenius saves me so much time—I can prep for all my groups in just 10 minutes. Plus, the students love it! They’re way more engaged when the reading includes their names or topics they enjoy. It also helps bridge opportunity gaps. Many of our students don’t have access to books that interest them. With ClassGenius, I can create engaging, curriculum-aligned passages tailored to them."
Behind the Yellow Jacket: Meet Thanaa Muhammad
Source: City Year Blog Post
MAR 26, 2025
As a City Year AmeriCorps member, Thanaa Muhammad is committed to helping her 5th grade students grow. But supporting a diverse group of learners isn’t always easy, especially when the standard materials don’t fully meet their needs. Through City Year’s professional development on AI-powered tools like ClassGenius, she’s been able to create fun, relatable, and personalized learning experiences. From making math concepts click to strengthening vocabulary and sparking important conversations about stereotypes, ClassGenius AI has helped her bridge learning gaps, get her students excited about learning, and become a more effective educator.
"ClassGenius makes abstract concepts click for my students. One of the first things I made with ClassGenius was an assignment about comparing fractions. My students loved it. They said, “No more math homework, please. Just give us these!” They didn’t even realize they were learning math because it was so fun and engaging. Having access to ClassGenius, and the training to use it well, has been a huge help. I feel more confident in my teaching. Instead of scrambling to put materials together, I can focus on actually working with my students."
Behind the Yellow Jacket: Meet Christian Rodriguez
Source: City Year Blog Post
JAN 23, 2025
As an AmeriCorps member with City Year San José/Silicon Valley, Christian Rodriguez is making a real difference in his fifth-grade classroom with the help of ClassGenius AI. From creating personalized stories that turn his students into heroes to teaching powerful lessons in fairness and teamwork, Christian is using storytelling to inspire both academic growth and social-emotional learning. Discover how he’s helping his students thrive—in and out of the classroom.
"I use ClassGenius every day to create personalized stories, and my students are begging to be featured in the next sequel! Suddenly, they love reading. The tool has also helped me support their character growth. Instead of directly telling students, ‘Don’t do this,’ I use ClassGenius to create stories where they see themselves as role models. It’s a subtle, engaging, and effective way to help them develop essential interpersonal skills. And it sticks with them. It really works!"
Behind the Yellow Jacket: Meet JM Lee
Source: City Year Blog Post
FEB 6, 2025
At City Year, AmeriCorps members work alongside students to develop essential literacy skills. For JM, a 4th-grade Student Success Coach, keeping students engaged in reading while juggling limited resources has been a challenge—until he started personalizing materials with ClassGenius. By creating fluency passages tailored to his students’ interests, he’s seen a noticeable shift in how they connect with reading.
"The school provides materials, but I run out of them pretty quickly. Instead of scrambling to find something new, I can generate passages that fit exactly what we’re working on. That saves me a ton of time! It also gives me the flexibility to create fun, fresh stories without having to ask or wait for additional resources, which are often limited and not as relatable.. That’s been a huge help! Plus, I have full control over what I create: I can adjust the content, the tone, the difficulty level, make it more relevant to my students, and keep them engaged in ways that pre-made materials just can’t."
Behind the Yellow Jacket: Meet Kaela Villaruel
Source: City Year Blog Post
MAY 7, 2025
During her time as an Americorps member with City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley, Kaela Villaruel is sparking a love of reading in her first-grade students at Belle Haven Elementary with help from ClassGenius AI. From superhero adventures starring her students to creative road trip escapades involving talking giraffes, Kaela is using storytelling to fuel both literacy skills and imagination while meeting school district goals. Her City Year experience has also helped shape her future, one dedicated to supporting students’ growth and well-being.
"Every day they ask, ‘Do we have a new story today?’ It’s made them a lot more excited to read, and I’ve noticed they’re reading more and at a faster pace."