^{Themes: Lesson planning, Teaching Strategies
Audience & Subject: Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12; Literacy}

Introduction

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT to personalize learning and improve educational outcomes in classrooms has been a topic of growing interest among educators (Luckin et al., 2016; Popenici & Kerr, 2017).  AI applications have shown promise in addressing key challenges in education by augmenting teacher capacity, providing differentiated instruction and timely feedback, and identifying students at risk, thus potentially reshaping K-12 education to better meet the needs of both teachers and students (Murphy, 2019). This chapter explores some practical applications of AI to enhance lesson and activity planning, streamline assessment processes, accommodate diverse needs, and boost student engagement in intermediate and senior Language Arts/English classrooms.

General Guidelines

The following are 5 suggestions for leveraging the power of AI tools in the classroom:

1. Utilize AI tools for idea generation, creating engaging and interactive lessons, and providing rich questions.
2. Integrate AI tools as a means of differentiating instruction and accommodating diverse student needs.
3. Employ AI tools to design formative and summative assessments that align with Ontario curriculum expectations.
4. Provide opportunities for students to use AI to enhance their learning by setting specific parameters for its use.
5. Emphasize the importance of ethical considerations and critically evaluating AI-generated content when using AI tools with students.

Activity: Engaging with AI Tools

Overview

In this activity, you are invited to explore the features and capabilities of an AI tool such as ChatGPT to understand its functionalities and begin to apply them in authentic classroom learning situations that are relevant to your teaching practice.

Description

AI tools such as ChatGPT can be used to generate lesson outlines, activities, rubrics, and learning materials tailored for diverse student groups. You may also wish to explore the creation of exemplars of various levels of student work or ways of differentiating instruction using AI-generated texts. You will first need to create a free ChatGPT account at https://openai.com.  You can then begin to craft specific prompts that relate to your current teaching practice. You may wish to experiment with generating lesson plans, assessment tools, and discussion prompts to see firsthand how AI can support your teaching needs. Some suggestions for starter prompts are listed here; you may wish to customize them to your own classroom themes, topics, and student needs by adding specific details.

• Lesson Plan Development:  Generate a week-long lesson plan focused on understanding poetic devices. Each day should include a specific device, activities for practice, and assessment methods.
• Rubric Creation:  Create a rubric for evaluating a persuasive essay that includes criteria for thesis clarity, argument development, evidence usage, and grammatical accuracy.
• Thoughtful Questioning:  Develop a set of interactive questions for students to answer while reading ‘The Hate U Give’ or ‘From Where I Stand’ that will help them think critically about the themes of justice and racial inequality.
• Assessment Question Bank: Provide a list of 10 assessment questions for a unit on one of Shakespeare’s plays that test comprehension, interpretation, and creative application, etc. and reflect all levels of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy.
• Thematic Unit Ideas: Suggest a thematic unit based on the concept of heroism across different literary genres, including suggested texts, key questions, and project ideas.
• Differentiated Instruction Strategies: Offer strategies for differentiating a lesson on narrative writing to accommodate students with varying writing abilities.
• Cross-Curricular Project Proposals: Propose a cross-curricular project that integrates English Language Arts and Canadian history, focusing on how literature reflects historical contexts from the 20th century.
• Student Feedback Templates: Generate a template for providing constructive formative feedback on students’ analytical essays, focusing on strengths and areas for improvement.

Some tips for effective prompts include the following:

• Be specific: Provide detailed instructions and parameters for the AI to follow, such as grade, overall/specific curriculum expectations, learning goals and success criteria, and achievement chart information.  Do you want critical thinking questions, content questions, or both?  Don’t be afraid to go back and ask for tweaks or modifications.
• Ask for more: If you want the chatbot to brainstorm several higher-order thinking questions on a topic or create case studies, ask for more than you need so you can choose the ones you like best.
• Break it down: Give it one task at a time instead of asking it to do many things at once.
• Provide context by assigning it a role: “You are a Grade 7 Language teacher and you want to design literature circle activities based on an overarching theme of anti-bullying. Provide 10 rich activities. Now add 5 more that use free tech tools that will enhance learning. Ensure that there are activities for reading, writing, oral communication and media literacy. Provide a selection of appropriate texts on the topic in a range of reading abilities.  Be sure to include fiction, non-fiction and graphic novels.”

      Key Benefits

• Provides hands-on experience with AI tools to boost confidence in integrating technology into the classroom;
• Deepens understanding of how AI tools can enhance lesson planning and student engagement;
• Saves time in lesson design and preparation;
• Enhances the relevance and engagement of lesson content;
• Customizes learning according to the diverse needs of the classroom; and
• Streamlines the process of creating time-consuming tasks such as assessment tools.

Possible Challenges

• Overcoming initial technical difficulties and learning curves with new software;
• Addressing hesitations or skepticism about the effectiveness of AI tools in educational settings;
• Ensuring that AI-generated materials align with curriculum expectations; and
• Acknowledging potential biases in AI outputs.

Resources

• OpenAI ChatGPT  https://openai.com
• 30 AI tools for the classroom ditchthattextbook.com/ai-tools/

References

Luckin, R., Holmes, W., Griffiths, M., & Forcier, L. B. (2016). Intelligence unleashed: An argument for AI in education. Pearson Education.

Murphy, R. F. (2019). Artificial intelligence applications to support K–12 teachers and teaching: A review of promising applications, opportunities, and challenges. RAND Corporation. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep19907

Popenici, S. A., & Kerr, S. (2017). Exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on teaching and learning in higher education. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 12(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41039-017-0062-8

About the author

name: Stephanie Thompson

Stephanie Thompson, B.A., B. Ed., M.A. is an Associate Teaching Professor and teaches several courses in the B.Ed. and B.A. programs at Ontario Tech University. She previously taught at the Junior and Intermediate levels in the Durham District School Board. Her research interests include digital storytelling and critical digital literacy. She has been involved in several action research projects exploring social justice topics, adolescent identities, bullying, and the effects of media on young adults. She enjoys exploring new and emerging technologies, such as AI, to add to her teaching toolbox and sharing her discoveries with her students.