5 Ways AI Can Go from Scary to Helpful

AI will not replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who don’t.

-Ginni Rometti

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The Digital Elephant in the Room

I realize that AI is a bit of a hot topic, and we all have mixed feelings about it. I would like to start by addressing the so-called “digital elephant in the room” and by sharing my own opinion on the inclusion of AI in the educational world.

First, I do want to admit that I am a bit biased, as I am one of my district’s Educational Technology Mentors, meaning it is my job to help teachers incorporate technology into the classroom, both with students and behind the scenes. Having said that, I whole-heartedly believe that any new piece of technology can and should be used for the benefit of teachers and students. Like it or not, technology is here to stay, and in my humble opinion, our main job as educators is to help prepare our students for their future careers, which will include some use of AI.

Now that you know a bit about my background, I can share how I believe AI can assist us in our day-to-day teacher life. There are about SO MANY platforms that you can use and multiple ways to incorporate AI, but today, we are going to specifically look at using AI to improve our literacy centers.

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In a previous post, I examined how to combine phonics and fluency into one literacy lesson. Today, we are going to learn how to save our prep time using AI to generate resources that can literally be for any grade level!!!

The only downside? It does take some time to play around with the prompts and turn the passages into adorable worksheets. That’s where I come in! If you are looking for an even faster way to get these differentiated resources, check out these ready-to-print resources:

Decodable Books for ALL YEAR – Grade K and Intervention

October Differentiated Fluency Passages – Primary Grades

Phonics Fluency Passages for ALL YEAR – Primary Grades

Back to School Nonfiction Passages – Upper Grades

Halloween Nonfiction Passages – Upper Grades

Holidays Around the World Nonfiction Passages – Upper Grades

halloween nonfiction passage resource

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So Many Options, So Little Time

Before we get into specific uses and prompts, let’s chat about our options. ChatGPT seems to be a fan favorite, but there are so many other choices! Admittedly, I use ChatGPT for my personal life, whether researching vacation spots, brainstorming recipes, or evaluating my diet and exercise routine.

However, in the educational world, there are a lot more options to consider. I have found two other contenders to be best suited to help assist teachers.

• Gemini:
• Notebook LM: With Notebook LM, you can actually create a “digital filing cabinet”. Spreadsheets, websites, and documents can be uploaded into this filing cabinet and then referred to in the prompts. This is incredibly helpful when analyzing test results, assessment data, and units of study. You can also use it to suggest next steps for intervention base don recent assessments.

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Differentiated Passages

The first and most helpful way to use AI is to instantly differentiate your passages. You can create any text, based on any subject or topic, written in any language, and written at any reading level. I kid you not!

Now, they tricky part is to know how to ask AI for those passages. This is where the skill comes in…be specific and also, don’t be afraid to ask again! Take a look at the table below to see how I took basic requests for AI and improved them to get a better result.

Original	Improved
Write me a text for my 4th graders.	Write a nonfiction text at a 4th grade level about the effects on of the California Gold Rush on Native Americans. BONUS: Specify how many words, the Lexile level, and/or what vocab words to include.
Create an interesting story about jelly fish.	Create a story about a baby jellyfish who explores the ocean and learns the importance of perseverance. Include three rising actions where he encounters challenges navigating friendships and problem solving.
Write a text at both a 4th grade level and a 5th grade level.	Write a nonfiction text about how animals adapt in the deep ocean. Write one version at a 4th grade level and another version at a 5th grade level. Make sure to make the 5th grade version longer and include more difficult vocabulary.

Leveled Comprehension Questions

Creating questions is a breeze with AI. The key here is to have AI generate a variety of questions, including multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and open-ended questions. Keep Depth of Knowledge in mind! You can either create different worksheets for different students, thus making differentiation easy, OR you can create one worksheet and gradually increase the difficulty.

TIP: If you have students who are struggling with the more difficult questions, have them only do the lower level questions independently and then the higher level questions when they get teacher support in a small group intervention lesson.

Original	Improved
Write comprehension questions based on the passage.	Based on the passage, write ten questions varying in difficulty: (Level 1) multiple choice questions based on explicit information, (Level 2) fill-in the blank questions using new vocabulary words, (Level 3) open-ended questions that require the reader to make inferences and give opinions.
Write comprehension questions with a variety of difficulty levels.	Based on the passage, write six questions, two each from a different Depth of Knowledge level.

Kid-Friendly Vocabulary Lists

Sometimes is it difficult to anticipate which vocabulary words are going to be challenging for our students. The beauty of AI is that you ask! You can take any given passage and ask which vocabulary words will be difficult for a student who reads at a 2nd grade level or a 5th grade level, for instance. The benefit to this is that you can structure small group intervention lessons based on this information. You can also ask which words may be difficult for a student whose primary language is (fill in the blank). Honestly, the possibilities are endless!

Again, I have played around with ChatGPT and tested a few prompts:

Original	Improved
Write a vocabulary list based on the passage.	Based on the passage, create a list of key terms that would be challenging for a 2nd grade student.
Write a definition for each key term.	Write a definition for each key term that a 2nd grade student would understand.
Write a list of words from the passage and their definitions.	Create a list of key terms that would be challenging for a MLL (multi-language learner) whose primary language is _______. Translate those words and write definitions in both _______ and English.

Targeted Writing Prompts

Incorporating writing everyday is an absolute must! Although journal writing, or free writing, is a great way to incorporate student choice, sometimes students need a bit more guidance (especially when working at an independent writing center).

This is when easy to access writing prompts are incredibly helpful! The beauty of using AI to generate these prompts is that you differentiate them. You can create a writing prompt for each leveled passage, thus allowing students to access the assignment at their own individual levels.

Here is how to ask AI to create these leveled writing prompts:

Original	Improved
Create four different writing prompts for the text.	Based on the text, write four leveled writing prompts: (Basic) requires students to recall information, (Moderate) requires students to comprehend information from the text, (Difficult) requires students to interpret information or draw a conclusion, and (Enrichment) requires students to form an opinion based on the text.
Give me three narrative writing prompts.	Give me three narrative writing prompts for my 5th grade students that will help them use sensory language.

Enriching Extension Activities

You can even differentiate your extension activities! I highly suggest turning these options into a choice board for early finishers. If turning them into a choice board, I recommend specifically asking AI to create a variety of extensions, including an art option, a writing option, and a game option.

Here are some example prompts:

Original	Improved
Create three extension activities.	Create three leveled extension activities: one for a grade 2 reading level, one for a grade 3 reading level, and one for a grade 4 reading level.
Create ideas for a choice board of extension activities.	Create six ideas for a choice board of extension activities: two creative writing ideas, two art projects, and two research projects.

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Although this blog post focused on writing AI prompts, that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the possibilities with AI. Next month, we are going to do a deep dive into some of my favorite online programs that use AI. Stay tuned, and get ready to have your minds blown!

Until then, I hope that you are feeling a bit more comfortable using AI to ease the burden of planning and prepping for your classroom. Thanks for reading, and remember to keep learning!

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