Unexpected AI Tools for Teachers Who Coach Clubs

If you coach a school club—debate, drama, science olympiad, yearbook, robotics, coding, Model UN, even chess—you probably didn’t say yes for the paperwork. Like me, you wanted to support kids finding their passions outside the gradebook. But let’s be honest: club advising in 2025 is real work: scrambling for resources, keeping teens motivated, late-night emails about t-shirt designs, and somehow running everything when there’s no official curriculum to guide you.

This year, I was determined to find out: Can AI tools make club coaching less overwhelming and more exciting—for students and for the nearly-voluntold teacher running it? Here are the unexpected AI helpers that gave my after-school time (and sanity) back, tested across three very different clubs. They go beyond the usual lesson planning, and will surprise veteran advisors and new club sponsors alike.

1. Debate, Drama, and Robotics: Planning Sessions with Kuraplan

I thought Kuraplan was just for lesson plans, but it turned out to be a lifesaver for club coaching. Inputting “Debate Club” or “Drama Workshop” as my topic, I generated weekly meeting outlines—icebreakers, skill drills, even competition prep—with spots to add student-led activities. For robotics, I used it to map out a 6-week build schedule (with built-in buffer weeks for the inevitable wiring or coding fails). Kuraplan isn’t magic, but it gave me structure to riff on, so I could finally spend meeting time supporting student leaders instead of winging it.

2. Yearbook & Newspaper: Brainstorming Themes with Gamma

Every year, our yearbook committee spends weeks stuck in “theme paralysis”—what if it’s too cheesy? Too modern? Gamma surprised me: we threw in five adjectives students wanted (bold, playful, community, etc.), and Gamma generated slick slide decks to pitch three unique theme options, each with color schemes and example page layouts. Suddenly, our creative process demo felt like a professional design sprint—and students took ownership of the finished product. We’ve also used Gamma to story-map the flow for our club musical and improvise TV-newscast presentations for Media Club.

3. Model UN & Chess: Custom Quiz Packs with Jungle

For beginner-heavy clubs (hello, Model UN newbies and chess rookies), nothing is tougher than building background skills from the ground up. Jungle let me create high-quality quiz packs, chess puzzles, and flashcards on countries, parliamentary procedure, or even “how to avoid four-move checkmate.” Students self-tested in pairs before tournaments—but the real win was that older students started making their own decks for mentoring the newcomers. Post-competition reflection: “Let’s make a quiz on mistakes we actually made at regionals!”

4. School Play, Variety Show, Talent Night: Custom Scripts with People AI

Rehearsals bog down when students freeze improv scenes or struggle with new material. We brought in People AI for writing “scene starters” and short dialogues: students gave a prompt ("a detective questions a pastry chef about missing doughnuts"), and the AI acted out a quick, in-character exchange they could riff on. We also used it to rehearse announcements, practice interview skills, and brainstorm host scripts for talent show MCs—students gained confidence, and no one dreaded “dead air” at performances.

5. Robotics & Coding: Explaining Concepts with Sizzle

I'm not a computer science teacher, so when our robotics team got stuck debugging code or tweaking a design, I was as lost as they were. Sizzle to the rescue: students snapped pictures of error messages or typed out their logic, and the AI broke down possible issues step by step. It wasn’t about getting “the answer,” but giving us language to Google the real fix together or brainstorm new algorithms—helpful for beginner hackathons, too.

6. Music, Talent Show, or Dance Club: Creating Custom Backing Tracks with Suno AI

Every club talent show I’ve run, someone asks: “Can you find a karaoke version of this totally obscure song?” Suno AI radically sped things up. Kids entered their genre and style, Suno generated copyright-free backing tracks—no more scouring sketchy corners of YouTube. We also used Suno to create mood music for drama show scenes, and sample beats for our new a cappella group to riff on. Even non-musical clubs got into the act, making theme music for science fair projects and school news intros.

7. Yearbook, Art, & DIY Clubs: Easy Image-to-Book Creation with Magicbook

Our yearbook advisor discovered Magicbook by accident: students snapped photos throughout the year, uploaded them, and the AI suggested layouts and captions. Even better—students from Art Club built short digital anthologies of their in-progress sketches, turning them into portfolio books for college apps with barely any adult help. Magicbook made it far less intimidating for students to “publish” their creative work and share it at open house events or parent nights.

Final Thoughts: Embrace the Chaos—But Get Help

Clubs are where school memories are made, but they’re a lot for one teacher to run. My best advice:

• Let students take the lead: The best AI tools here empower kids to plan, test, and create—don’t hoard them for yourself.
• Iterate: Try one tool with a new event or project. Odds are, you’ll find an unexpected use or hack for your club’s unique personality.
• Celebrate failure: Some AI-generated ideas are duds. We laughed at the worst ones together, and it became part of the fun.

You don’t need to run a “high tech” club to use AI—just a willingness to let students experiment. My clubs are more student-driven (and more memorable!) than ever. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll have time to enjoy the next talent show without sweating the last-minute scripts.

What’s worked for your club? If you’ve got a secret AI hack for afterschool, please share—I’ll trade you for my debate theme playlist or our club’s best Magicbook blooper reel!