AI for Classroom Writing 

In these six short videos, Sarah Levine, Assistant Professor at the GSE, and PhD student Chris Mah discuss five ways ChatGPT can be used to support middle and high school students' writing. Each video comes with a combination of key takeaways (ideas, questions, or activities) to consider for the classroom. These short videos cover the following:

• How can AI help students “get unstuck” and start writing?

• How can AI be used to create detailed outlines for students and teachers?

• How can AI act as a “sparring partner” to help students write arguments?

• How can AI be used as a “sentence thesaurus” to support revision?

• How can AI support student writing by providing feedback?

• Closing thoughts about the use of AI in the classroom

How can AI help students “get unstuck” and start writing?

Key Takeaways 

Try this 

• Use ChatGPT to help students organize their ideas. Students often know what they want to say, but don't know how to say it. AI can help get the writing process started.

Things to think about 

• AI-generated responses can provide students with different tactics to get started. For example, it can suggest an anecdote or scenario to motivate writing. 

• Some coaching may be needed to help students write and modify their ChatGPT prompts. To get better results, craft detailed and specific prompts. For example, ask for "a brief outline" or "three examples" or "use 8th grade vocabulary" to generate the desired output. 

How can AI be used to create detailed outlines for students and teachers?

Key Takeaways 

Try this

• Ask ChatGPT to provide students with a detailed outline, including headers and subheaders. Students will need to modify the outline so it is useful to them and reflects their ideas.

Things to think about 

• ChatGPT will likely produce more content than needed. This can allow students to work on their topic organization by rearranging the AI-generated online.  

• Teachers can also create outlines for their students, asking AI for more or less scaffolding as a means of differentiation.

Activity 

• Teachers can use AI-generated outlines as a point of discussion. Small groups of students can discuss different types of outlines and debate which ones provide the best organization for a writing topic and why. 

How can AI act as a “sparring partner” to help students write arguments? 

Key Takeaways 

Try this  

• Use ChatGPT as a debate partner for students writing argument essays. This solves the problem of students writing into a void by giving them rebuttal responses to help craft their argument. 

Things to think about

• By providing arguments and rebuttals, AI requires students to use different skills that focus less on generation and more on revision and editing.

• Students can keep the "argument" going by rewording AI prompts to engage in a back-and-forth as they continue to revise their written argument.

• Using AI as a debate partner will require students to develop an awareness of how they can use AI as a tool as opposed to responding or surrendering to AI-generated "ideas".

How can AI be used as a “sentence thesaurus” to support revision?

Key Takeaways 

Try this 

• Use ChapGPT as an extension of a thesaurus to generate sentences. For example, if students input a paragraph, they can get suggestions for a concluding sentence.  

Things to think about 

• Asking AI to generate sentences based on their writing can get students in the habit of critiquing, editing, and revising sentences as they work.

• AI-generated sentences can give students time to reflect on how their words and sentence structure affect the reading audience.

Activity 

• Print out little strips of paper with four or five different concluding sentences generated by AI. Have students sort them to determine which are most effective, least effective, and then discuss why.

How can AI support student writing by providing feedback?

Key Takeaways 

Try this 

• Use ChatGPT as another reader that gives students feedback on their writing. For example, students can ask AI if their writing needs clarification.

Things to think about 

• Teacher time is limited, and peer feedback among middle and high school students is often superficial as they struggle with similar writing challenges. AI feedback may illicit a richer engagement with the material. 

Closing thoughts about the use of AI in the classroom

AI, like ChatGPT, can help students become more self-aware as readers and writers. With a thoughtful approach, AI can be an effective tool for student writing. At the same time, students must be critical, if not skeptical, of AI-generated content. This technology will inevitably become part of the education landscape. As educators, we want to be as transparent as possible about what it can and cannot do. This is a learning process. 

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