Welcome to Level 2! Now that you know how to run a basic prompt, it's time to learn how to guide your assistant. Think of these tools as "knobs and dials" you can turn to get exactly what you want on the first try.
Don't settle for boring worksheets or dry text. Tell the AI exactly how to be creative to boost student engagement.
Guide the AI toward specific features you want it to explore, extract, or highlight so it doesn't give you a generic wall of text.
You don't have to rewrite a prompt from scratch if the AI doesn't get it right the first time. Talk back to it! Let's look at how to fix a classroom seating chart prompt in real-time.
What you type: Create a seating chart for my class: Sam, Alex, Jordan, Taylor, Morgan, Casey, Jamie, Riley.
Why it fails: The AI doesn't know your classroom setup. It will just give you a straight, alphabetical list.
How we fix it: Talk back to the AI and give it rules.
The updated conversation: Create a seating chart for the students listed above. The students should be seated at tables of four. Don't seat Sam and Jordan next to each other.
How we master it: Add a creative theme to finish the job.
The final conversation: Create a seating chart for the students listed below. The students should be seated at tables of four. Don't seat Sam and Jordan next to each other. Give each table a unique theme like Famous Scientists and name the individual seats after them.
The Strategy: Directing Creativity
The Prompt: Act as a highly enthusiastic, creative Kindergarten teacher. Write a list of 5 interactive, hands-on learning challenges focused heavily on the concept of [INSERT TOPIC, e.g., counting up to 10 or identifying shapes]. Frame the entire lesson as a fun [INSERT THEME, e.g., Dinosaur Egg Hunt or Outer Space Mission] where students have to move around the classroom together to find clues.
The Strategy: Targeting Specific Features
The Prompt: I need you to create a vocabulary worksheet for my 3rd-grade reading class based on the topic of [INSERT TOPIC, e.g., weather patterns or ecosystems]. Generate a 1-paragraph explanation of this topic, and then extract exactly 4 target vocabulary features from it. For each of those 4 words, provide a student-friendly definition and a fill-in-the-blank practice sentence.
The Strategy: Iterating / Talking Back
The Prompt: This is a two-part conversation!
Step 1: Tell the AI: "Create a seating chart for a classroom project using these student names: [INSERT 5-8 STUDENT NAMES]."
Step 2 (Talk Back): Once the AI gives you a standard list, reply with: "Now, rearrange them so they are seated at tables of four. Do not seat [INSERT STUDENT NAME 1] and [INSERT STUDENT NAME 2] next to each other. Give each table a unique theme like [INSERT THEME, e.g., Tech Inventors or Famous Scientists] and name the individual seats after items in that group."
The Strategy: Directing Creativity
The Prompt: Write a creative, engaging explanation of [INSERT BIOLOGY CONCEPT, e.g., cell organelles or photosynthesis] that is tailored specifically for 9th-grade students. Ditch the clinical textbook definitions and use a highly relatable analogy, like comparing the concept to a [INSERT ANALOGY THEME, e.g., bustling city, an amusement park, or a smartphone factory]. Make it fun and easy to visualize.
The Strategy: Targeting Specific Features
The Prompt: Create a list of 5 multiple-choice reading assessment questions about the literary work [INSERT BOOK OR STORY TITLE]. Mark the correct answer using a checkmark emoji. Rather than asking simple plot summary questions, ensure these questions specifically target the literary feature of [INSERT ELEMENT, e.g., character development, foreshadowing, or symbolism].
The Strategy: Targeting Specific Features & Formatting
The Prompt: Create a detailed grading rubric for a High School History project focused on [INSERT ASSIGNMENT, e.g., creating a digital timeline or a mock historical trial]. Structure the rubric so that each row is graded on a strict 1 to 4 scale. I need you to specifically target and create separate assessment rows for these three features: [FEATURE 1, e.g., primary source citations], [FEATURE 2, e.g., historical accuracy], and [FEATURE 3, e.g., visual organization].
The Strategy: Iterating / Talking Back
The Prompt: This is a two-part conversation!
Step 1: Tell the AI: "Give me 5 real-world examples of how the economic concept of [INSERT CONCEPT, e.g., opportunity cost or inflation] impacts daily consumer choices."
Step 2 (Talk Back): Once it gives you a technical list, reply with: "That is a bit too academic. Rewrite those same 5 examples, but make them highly relevant, casual, and relatable to a high school teenager's budget, focusing heavily on items like [INSERT ITEMS, e.g., fast food prices, video games, or clothing brands]."
The Strategy: Targeting Specific Features
The Prompt: Write a short, engaging parallel dialogue in Spanish and English between two people having a conversation at a [INSERT SETTING, e.g., busy market or airport check-in]. Guide the AI toward a specific grammatical constraint: the entire conversation must only use [INSERT TENSE/RULE, e.g., present-tense verbs or reflexive verbs] and must incorporate vocabulary related to [INSERT VOCAB TOPIC, e.g., fruits and vegetables or travel items].
The Strategy: Directing Creativity
The Prompt: Act as an innovative studio art mentor. Write a list of 5 highly creative, "out-of-the-box" project prompts for advanced high school art students exploring the core medium of [INSERT MEDIUM, e.g., watercolor, charcoal, or digital design]. The prompts should push them to mix conflicting artistic styles, specifically blending [ART STYLE 1, e.g., classical Renaissance] with [ART STYLE 2, e.g., modern street art or surrealism].
The Strategy: Targeting Specific Features
The Prompt: Create a structured meeting or presentation agenda for a high school business class project about [INSERT TOPIC, e.g., pitching a new business idea or analyzing a marketing campaign]. We need to focus on three specific features: [FEATURE 1], [FEATURE 2], and [FEATURE 3]. Ensure the timeline allocates exactly [INSERT TIME, e.g., 5 minutes] for each topic and leaves precisely 10 minutes at the very end for audience questions.
The Strategy: Iterating / Talking Back
The Prompt: This is a two-part conversation!
Step 1: Tell the AI: "Write a short, multi-step morning routine checklist for a student struggling with [INSERT AREA, e.g., executive functioning or transitioning between classes]."
Step 2 (Talk Back): Once you see the response, reply with: "This has too much text for the student to process at once. Reduce each step down to a maximum of [INSERT NUMBER, e.g., 4 or 5] words, use bold lettering for the action verbs, and add a [INSERT EMOJI, e.g., star or check-box] emoji at the start of every single line."
The Strategy: Targeting Specific Features & Summarizing
The Prompt: Summarize the lengthy text regarding [INSERT TOPIC, e.g., department meeting notes or state curriculum updates] that I am going to paste below. Condense the text into brief, succinct bullet points so I can log them in my official records. Your summary must specifically highlight and extract these two features: [FEATURE 1, e.g., shared assessment practices agreed upon] and [FEATURE 2, e.g., next-step action items with upcoming deadlines].
Copy any of the regular text examples above, open up one of the free AI platforms linked below, and change the subjects or topics to match your current classroom needs! Turn the dials and see what your assistant can do.