7 AI-Compatible Practices For the Classroom
Since November 2022, when ChatGPT exploded onto the scene, plenty of teachers (including myself) have been using the term “AI-Resistant Practices” in looking for activities, tasks, assignments, assessments, and project-based learning experiences that would not be easily answered by Artificial Intelligence.
In my last article I shared 10 different AI-resistant practices you can use in the classroom. But, only focusing on AI-resistant activities, leaves many learning experiences out of the classroom.
There are plenty of times we’ll want students to be using AI at some part of the assignment or task. See my previous post about The Traffic Light Strategy for some examples.
We need activities and learning experiences that are compatible with an AI world, and make sense now that students, and adults, have access to these AI tools.
For example, giving students 20 math questions to do for homework, and having them do it at home with all AI tools available (that can show their work and steps) is not really AI-compatible.
As a sidenote, many students who had parents, or tutors, helping them with their homework had an advantage in doing this work for years.
However, having students screencast 2-3 math problems, share how they are solving them on the screencast, and explain each step till they get an answer (right or wrong) is much more AI-compatible (something https://snorkl.app/ does really well). So, let’s dive into some REAL examples of how we can make learning compatible with an AI world!
7 A.I. Compatible Practices That Work Right Now
#1: 11-Minute Essay
Chances are if you teach writing (and most subjects and grade levels do) you’ve used some version of this before. I love the versions of the 11-Minute Essay shared by Erika San Miguel and Gretchen Bernabei on their websites.
Here’s how they break it down:
This is the basic structure for every 11-Minute Essay:
Essentially, the minutes are broken down like this:
✅ Students react to the truism = 1 minute
✅ Students connect their belief about this truism to something they've read = 3 minutes
✅ Students connect their belief about this truism to something they've seen in a movie or show = 3 minutes
✅ Students connect their belief about this truism to something they've personally experienced = 3 minutes
✅ Students elaborate on the significance of this truism = 1 minute
My favorite thing about the 11-Minute Essay is that it really only requires two things:
Students must write in short, timed bursts.
Students must be given a structure in which to write.
Here is a great list of visual prompts and truism’s that Gretchen Bernabei created.
This works for two reasons. First, the writing is happening in front of you in the classroom and in a time-constrained period. Second, after the initial burst you can use A.I. to edit, revise, adapt if need be. The teacher can work with the students and use AI as a tool, or not use it depending on your purpose of the lesson.
#2: Project-Based Sprints
Project-Based Learning is a fantastic way to run AI-resistant and AI-compatible experiences in and out of the classroom. The reasons I love “Sprints” as a truly AI-compatible practice is two-fold.
First, a Project-Based Sprint is about the learning process (not the final product). Students research, create, and iterate in short, time-constrained bursts.
Second, a Project-Based Sprint can leverage A.I. for research help, feedback, ideas, and quick prototyping. It can serve as a creative learning partner during the sprint (which is one of my favorite use cases for artificial intelligence in the classroom).
I’ve written about this approach extensively, but a simple way to start at Project-Based Sprint is by using the three step process below:
#3: Guided Bot Conversations/Discussions
For HS teachers this has been one of my favorite examples of integrating AI into your writing assignments, by the IB English Guys
Leverage Your Personal Learning Assistant
Sure, we could refer to LitCharts, Sparknotes, or some other website to learn more about the play. That gives us a nice overview. But what do you really want to know and discuss? It’s time to take control of your own learning and leverage ChatGPT as your personal learning assistant.
Instructions:
Enter the following prompt or similar into ChatGPT.
“I am an IB English student. I just read the Prologue and Episode 1 of Antigone for homework. I would like to have an academic conversation that helps me understand the key elements of these sections. My teacher asks that this conversation last 15 minutes and provide comprehensive coverage of the content and form of the text. Please begin.”
Engage in a meaningful conversation for 15 minutes.
Refer to your teacher’s model conversation 1 and model conversation 2 to better understand the possibilities and power of generative AI and personalized education.
Consider targeting:
Reading comprehension
Character development
Emerging themes
Dramatic elements
Dramatic structure
Link the conversation in your Learner Portfolio after 15 minutes.
Note: This link and conversation is an important part of your learning evidence.
Use the reflection sentence stems and write a meaningful reflection on key learnings from the session.
Upload the reflection to your Learner Portfolio.
#4: Defend Your Learning
Let's say students are doing science or math homework. They have questions to answer and should explain or show their work.
Maybe it's a Lab Report or a few Word Problems. In either case, we typically would hand these to the teacher, who would grade the final product, turn it back to the students, and move on to the next assignment or activity.
This isn't just how my classroom works. It's how most classrooms work, and many curricula and scope/sequences are built on this premise.
Now that artificial intelligence tools exist to help students master these types of assignments in no time, it can become difficult for a teacher to really understand whether or not the students have a solid understanding, or if they are using AI tools to assist.
Here's where we can use "Defend Your Learning".
This is my favorite way to use this strategy. During the assignment or homework, students will use Loom (or any other screencasting tool) to record their work and explain/defend their steps, answers, and thinking.
The benefit of this strategy is that we get to see and hear what the students are thinking and their process.
It can also be “AI-Resistant” because the explanation and defense are done by the actual students in their voice.
Better yet, when students share their defense with their peers they can get comments, emoji responses, and feedback right inside the Loom video that is sent to their email.
Teachers can comment as well, or respond with a video of their own as a follow-up!
#5: Real-Time Feedback
SchoolAI is quickly becoming my favorite artificial intelligence tool for teachers and students to use.
Imagine the power of ChatGPT, but with real guardrails you can set as a teacher, a focus for the AI powered chat and feedback that you’ve crafted, and the ability to see the entire conversation between students and SchoolAI bot!
That’s what it is like to run a SchoolAI “space”, in which students interact with a AI powered chat that you’ve built from scratch, or you can use one of the free pre-made “Spaces” from SchoolAI.
The fastest way to get started is to create an account and log in. Then navigate to the “Sidekick” option. There are more detailed ways to create your own Space, but Sidekick is the easiest way to go about it.
After setting up some specific guidelines for Sidekick, you can make the bot work in ways that you want for that class at that time:
The best aspect of SchoolAI is how it can be used alongside any meaningful learning task as a Guide, providing real-time feedback.
Create your Sidekick or Space to be an “AI Assistant” to help students navigate the project-based experience, help with research, collaborate on ideas, give feedback on each step, and serve as a mentor.
As a teacher, you are able to pop in and out of conversations, go talk with students based on the feedback they are getting, and manage it in ways you never could if they were using ChatGPT or another LLM tool.
Check it out and let me know how it goes!
#6: Bot-Assisted Creative Tasks
Curipod is easily one of my favorite AI tools for educators.
If you have ever used Nearpod, Peardeck, or even Kahoot - then Curipod is something you’ll really enjoy (and it will save you a ton of time).
Curipod is free for educators and has a ton of functionality.
It helps you plan and deliver interactive (key word) lessons on any topic. Whether you want to make a full interactive slide presentation (like a Nearpod or Peardeck), or create an Exit Ticket - Curipod has you covered.
I was recently working with a 2nd-grade classroom, and we used Curipod to assist the students in creating their own “Fairy Tale Story”.
First, I used the “Co-Write A Fairy Tale” prompt on Curipod, and set up a lesson for the students to join with a code (or link in their LMS/Google Classroom).
Next, we focused on the the theme of “Friendship” (something they had been spending time on in the classroom).
Students had time to enter in key details about their main character (most chose themselves). We also prompted them to add some details about the scene, plot, and anything else that they liked.
Note: They did not need to write in full-sentences. This was words or phrases and we walked around the classroom helping during this process.
Afterwards we had the “co-writer A.I.” turn their details into a Fairy Tale story. This is where things got exciting!
The students could see how their details formed the base for the story, and were able to read (or be read to) all about their tale.
Next, we had students draw a picture of one of their favorite scenes with crayons, colored pencils, and paper.
Finally, we took those pictures, uploaded them to ChatGPT and asked it to turn the picture into a anime, cartoon, or Pixar scene depending on the students’ preference. The end results were awesome!
Final Thoughts and #7: An A.I. Collaborative Task
The worst thing we can do right now is act like AI doesn’t exist or impact the learning in our schools and classrooms. Thankfully, most folks have accepted this new era we are living in.
But, as Matt Miller has said, “How do we teach now that we know this exists?” I’m hoping a few of the ideas above resonated with you and maybe can spark some new ways to engage learners.
The big shift I see happening in 2024 and beyond is teachers beginning to master when/where to use A.I. depending on the learning purpose/goal. This is something I spend a lot of time on in my workshops — how do we craft an intentional learning experience that uses A.I. as a collaborative tool in the process.
I’ll end with an example that I share worked for me as an instructor:
Day 1:
Class comes in and I tell them we are “RED” for the next 15 minutes. They are going to brainstorm topics for their next written assignment/essay based on the text we just read. Their goal is to come up with a few unique ideas for a thesis and outline.
After I pair them up with a partner to get some feedback and choose two ideas they want to flesh out into an outline. For this task students will be in “YELLOW” and can use A.I. if they need it as long as they run it by me first.
We end the day with every student having two outlines fleshed out and ready for a rough draft.
Day 2:
Students start the day again in “RED”. They have a 30-minute Hemingway style writer’s workshop where they are taking one of the outlines and creating a rough draft. No editing, no revising. Just writing for 30 minutes as a brain dump using the outline as a guide.
We end with a speed-date peer review where they share their outline and rough draft with a few of their peers and see what other folks are writing as well to get some ideas.
For HW we are going to be in “GREEN”. They are going to take these rough drafts and turn them into a Final Draft using SchoolAI. They’ll have to share tomorrow how the A.I. helped, what went well, what didn’t go well, and what their process looked like.
Day 3:
Students come in and immediately are put into small groups. They are going to share their final drafts and with the SchoolAI save feature, show their process they went through to use A.I. to help them and reflect on it.
Note: You’ve never seen kids talk more about their writing than when they are able to talk about how A.I. helped or didn’t help. It has been the best kind of “peer review” I’ve seen in 20 years.
Final 30 minutes of class we are back in “RED”. Now they are going to take their final drafts and add their own unique voice back into the paper. Highlighting what makes it sound and feel like they wrote it vs an A.I. bot.
Day 4:
We spend the beginning of class in “RED” continuing from the previous day, then finish in “GREEN” so they can run their papers through Grammarly to check for spelling and grammatical errors before turning in their assignment.
Their final piece is to be in “RED” and write a reflection on the process and their use of A.I. to hand in with the paper that shares their whole process of use.
How are you using A.I. for good in your classroom? Please share!
