Teachers have been freaking out about students using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the classroom, but have we thought about the power of AI for teachers? We are worried students are going to use it to write essays and forgo learning. What if we, as teachers, start using it and sharing how we’ve been using it? We totally have the power to influence our students to use AI as a tool with purpose!
I have been playing with AI, mostly ChatGPT, this past semester, and I have been loving it! It’s time to share what I have discovered so you can use it to boost lesson planning efficiency. You will save time and put your energy towards personalizing lessons for the needs of your students. The Power of AI for Teachers for lesson planning purposes is revolutionary!
Why Teachers Should Leverage the Power of AI
This past school year has been a real struggle for me emotionally because I’ve been adjusting to life with 5 kids under 8, while simultaneously taking on a new prep for our school’s dual language program. Balancing the demands of teaching and managing a large family took a toll on my energy and left me with little time for myself. The dual language program, with its unique challenges of finding quality resources and translating lessons, added another layer. It consumed precious hours at home, robbing me of much-needed rest and time with my family.
However, towards the end of the year, I discovered a game-changer: AI. Through the use of ChatGPT and the teacher-specific AI tool called Twee, I found a way to revolutionize my planning and regain control over my time. The Power of AI for Teachers is amazing! Rather than spending countless hours on planning that resulted in sleepless nights, I used the power of AI to streamline the process. With ChatGPT, I could generate lesson plans and quickly make adjustments to fit my classroom and students. The time and energy allowed me to focus more on my family and my mental health.
Now, I want to help you unlock the potential of AI in your own classroom. Trust me, you want this in your life. To get started, let’s explore what ChatGPT and Twee are and then I’ll let you know exactly how I used them. Let’s revolutionize your planning, prepping, and teaching with AI!
What is ChatGPT AI?
Chat GPT is a type of artificial intelligence. According to Burns, Laskowski, and Tucci, “Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems.” Read more about AI from a tech lens here. ChatGPT itself is an advanced language model of AI. Basically, it’s a type of artificial intelligence that is highly sophisticated! This model in particular has been trained on a vast amount of text data from the internet, allowing it to generate human-like responses to prompts or questions.
Chat GPT is designed to understand context, generate meaningful responses, and provide informative and helpful information. It can answer questions, provide explanations, assist with problem-solving, offer creative ideas, and engage in discussions on a wide range of topics. Chat GPT operates based on the information it has been trained on up until its knowledge cut off, which is September 2021 in this case.
ChatGPT AI is Not Perfect
ChatGPT launched at the end of November of 2022 and had 1 million users within its five-day launch. Unbelievable!! It is a very powerful tool. While it can be used for so many things, we do have to remember that it is still an AI model and has limitations. It may occasionally produce incorrect or nonsensical answers. Therefore, critical evaluation of its outputs is crucial, especially in an educational context. Check out this TedTalk about Why AI Is Incredibly Smart and Shockingly Stupid by Yejin Choi for more insight on the pros and cons of AI.
Start Using ChatGPT Now
How do you sign up for ChatGPT? Easy! Click here to sign up with your email address or sign up through Google, Microsoft, or Apple. It’s an easy process so you can get to the fun part quickly! It is a free resource at the moment, but Sam Altman from OpenAi tweeted, “we will have to monetize it somehow at some point; the compute costs are eye-watering”. I am going to make sure to get all the use I can before it does become monetized!
4 Ways to Use ChatGPT for Boosting Lesson Planning Efficiency
- Scope and Sequencing
Scope and sequencing for my new class was taking most of my time planning this year. I had district guidelines of what to teach and a little background info, but I had no idea where to start, where to go, or how to get there. I wish I had discovered I could use AI for scope and sequencing in August!
How did I use ChatGPT for this? Simple! I put in my topic, the standards I wanted to hit, and how long I wanted to take to teach it. It generated a simple plan for me to follow! It was a lifesaver. The first unit I used it on was the Japan and Korean history and culture unit. Having the guidelines made it so much easier to know what I was teaching and what resources I should look for.
2. Ideas for teaching
Another area I used ChatGPT for the classroom was getting engaging ideas to add to my lesson plans. You can ask ChatGPT to generate a certain amount of activities around a certain topic then pick and choose what you’d like to use from that list.
You can also be as specific as you want for the prompts you give ChatGPT. For example, you could ask for 5 simulations to use to teach Ancient Greek History or hands-on activities for teaching types of matter. I found asking for a certain amount of things allowed me to choose something to my liking while having ideas left over.
3. Feedback on your plans
I used to co-teach as the language specialist at my school and the thing I miss most from it is collaborating with colleagues. I absolutely love being able to talk through a lesson plan to make adjustments and get feedback. Well, ChatGPT can do this! It can offer feedback, alternative approaches, or ask thought-provoking questions to help you refine your plans and encourage reflective practice.
4. Creating a rubric or assessment
I also used AI in the classroom for efficiency in rubrics and assessments. Again, in the prompt, I would input my standards and ideas and ChatGPT would spit out a great starting point for my rubrics. This was such a time-saver! I see AI as a personal assistant to my teaching. It doesn’t always produce perfect work, but that’s where my intelligence comes in. I get to tweak what it gives me to fit the needs of my own classroom.
ChatGPT also gives ideas for assessments for when you need to spice things up! Tired of the project you’ve done for several years? That’s okay! ChatGPT can pull up a list you can choose from. You could also get specific with your prompt to provide differentiated assessments for students.
Teacher Planning Prompts to Try on Chat GPT
Ready to try ChatGPT out for yourself? The Power of AI for Teachers can be used with these prompts. Use them to guide you or give you inspiration! Remember, to be specific and use your standards to get the best results.
Math
-Give me 10 multi-step equations, problems and answers.
-Write 5-word problems that use the Pythagorean theorem in real-life scenarios.
-Create a study guide for the end-of-unit test that covers standard _________.
-Write an end-of-unit project that my students can do covering the topic of ________.
-Give me 3 levels of differentiated math problems that review standard ______________.
Social Studies
-Write a summary at a 4th-grade level about the American Revolution.
-What are some simulation games I can play that teach about Ancient Egypt?
-Create a timeline about the events that occurred during the ___________.
-What would be a hands-on activity I could use to teach about _______________.
-What are the main vocabulary terms I should focus on while teaching this standard: __________.
Science
-What types of experiments can I do in class to explore the topic of _______?
-What would be the best science lab to teach these standards: ________,______, and ______?
-Create a list of vocabulary and definitions for my unit about ________.
-Can you give me a list of science projects students could do about the topic of _______.
-Give me a summary of these two subjects related to each other: _______ and _______.
ELA/SLA
-Write an essay about ________ so my students can analyze the purpose of the text.
-Generate a set of writing prompts that I can use based on the book “___________”.
-Give me the definitions of this set of terms at a grade level of _____: *insert set of terms*
-Write a script that will help my students understand dialogue during a conflict.
-What are some ideas to help my students learn about ___________?
What is Twee?
Let’s switch gears a little to talk about Twee, which provides “AI tools for English teachers to create English as a Foreign Language lesson plans fast and with minimal effort”. Twee has tools that will help generate lessons and materials for reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, and vocabulary. I got in on the free early access beta plan so I suggest you RUN to sign up as well! I love how Twee gives you ideas and prompts to use to guide your planning. It’s a step up from ChatGPT for teachers. Here is an info video about Twee if you want to get more into depth asap!
4 Ways to Use Twee’s Power of AI for Teachers Lesson Planning
Let’s switch over to Twee now! Twee’s AI is specifically tailored to teachers. I LOVE that they give you ideas to keep using after your initial prompt. What I mean by this is if you ask it to give you 10 ABCD questions, it will generate them then tell you “Don’t Stop!” and prompts you to choose from more options like “open questions” or “fill in the gap questions”. I could spend hours on Twee just exploring. The plus side to that is that I would end up with so much work done for me. 😅🙌
Want to know another plus side of Twee?! You dual language teachers are going to love this…you can input Spanish text and get resources back IN SPANISH! It wasn’t first like this which is why I am so excited about it. After inputting a text in Spanish I would have to translate the questions and prompts it provided me because they were in English, but not anymore. It will provide Spanish questions to your Spanish texts. Not all the features do this yet, but I anticipate that it’s coming. The Power of AI for Teachers will help all teachers, no matter the content or language.
Twee’s Teacher AI Tools
- Creating text
You’re reading that right…you can create texts in Twee! You can even choose the genre, text level, and specify if you want to use target vocabulary. I know, I know…it’s a dream right! I gave a prompt in Spanish, however, the text it generate was in English
Here is an example:
Once you have these texts, you need to try these Reading Strategies for Comprehension for Middle Grades – 5 Simple Reading “Games”. Students love these games. The example I showed above is a review of the topic so you can totally get longer texts (and at different levels!!)
- Generate questions based on text
You can also use your own text and have it generate questions. It can generate open- ended questions, ABCD questions, True/False, and even titles for texts! For this example, I also used a Spanish prompt and it generated back in Spanish. 🤌🏽
A way to use these questions in a more engaging way than on a worksheet or test is to put them onto task cards. Once you have your task cards, choose one of these Five Ready-to-Go Task Card Games for Any Classroom. There is minimal prep because of Twee and these ready-to-go games. Double win!!!
- Writing and speaking prompts, plus essay topics
When you’re ready for students to put in some more work beyond text comprehension, Twee can help generate writing and speaking prompts. I love that these help students dig deeper into learning.
I find the essay prompts especially helpful because I struggle to come up with a wide range of prompts. You can even select the level type of simple or advanced. It provided prompts for personal essays or general ones.
- YouTube video Questions
It would have taken me a while to even think to connect AI with videos, but luckily, Twee already has that set up for us! You can have Twee take the video and convert it to text, create questions based on a video, and write summaries for videos. They also provide a wide array of ideas on how to use these. This is the teaching prompt it gives as a listening comprehension strategy:
What a GREAT way to practice listening comprehension! The Power of AI for teachers goes beyond planning and will help us be better teachers by creating creative and meaningful lessons.
Use the Power of AI in the Classroom but remember…
AI is a tool and should not take over your lesson planning completely. You are the heart and soul of your classroom so make sure you are adding personalized touches, meeting the needs of all students, and having fun! It is important to remember that Chat GPT and Twee are tools that support teachers, not replacements for human expertise and judgment. It is very important to critically evaluate the information provided by AI, fact-check when necessary, and adapt the suggestions to meet the unique needs of their students and educational context.
I hope this intro to AI in the classroom is useful to your future planning and prepping. It has saved me so much time and research. The combination of Chat GPT and Twee empowers teachers to efficiently research, plan, and prep which ultimately enhances the quality of education. I was able to focus on the fun part of lesson planning like customizing it, making it language friendly, and relatable to my students! This overview of ChatGPT and Twee is meant to guide you so you can use AI for lesson planning, sequencing, and certain types of prepping. The power of AI for teachers can easily be used in any classroom to boost lesson planning efficiency.
