THE PREP PERIOD

Quick tips, tools & tricks you can take to the classroom on Monday

5-Week Series on Prompting for Students | This week's tip comes from AI for Education​

Week 3: Create Flashcard Content

Welcome to week 3 of this 5-week series on prompting for students! This week we're talking flashcards. AI is a great tool for helping us take a first pass at work or for getting tedious tasks done quickly. However, when it comes to study materials I don't think AI alone is going to do the trick. For one thing, research tells us hand-writing notes is shown to be more effective than typing notes when it comes to retention.​

So how can this tip on AI-generated flashcards be made a bit more meaningful? Let's take it a step further and make it a fun way to infuse AI literacy and fluency into your content:

1. Students use the suggested prompt structure above to create flashcards.
2. Students analyze and evaluate each flashcard against their textbook, notes, or other materials to check for correct context, rich content, and accuracy.
3. For insufficient or poor results, students can determine how they may need to refine their prompt, repeating the apply and generate phases of the Bloom's for AI framework.
4. Students create hand-written final versions of their flashcards.

Here, students get the opportunity to work with and evaluate AI output as a means of familiarizing themselves with content and preparing study materials.

LOUNGE READS

The AI headlines that matter for your classroom

A handful of practical stories this week showed teachers and districts building real things - AI literacy programs in rural Ohio, a homegrown AI coaching tool for lesson feedback, and a new guide for English teachers navigating AI in writing class.

Teacher Magazine

​Expert insights – AI as a tool for assessment feedback​

How AI can improve student learning through immediate and personalized feedback.

"Dr van der Kleij shared 3 exciting opportunities: the capacity to provide instant and on-demand personalised feedback to learners; tools offering insights for teachers into patterns in student behaviour and learning... and new ways of learning with AI..."

Education Week

​English Class Faces an AI Shakeup. A New Guide Helps Teachers Respond​

A new practical guide helps English teachers rethink writing assignments in the age of AI.

"The organization stresses that this framework for AI in English/language arts is a rough draft put together with broad input—but the group wants educators to offer their feedback on it."

Government Technology

​How Rural Ohio Students Used AI to Build Their Own Reading App​

Rural Ohio students built an actual reading app using AI, showing what student-led AI projects can look like.

"As the project went on, students began to see AI differently: Rather than viewing it as something that they would use to avoid work... they experienced AI as a tool that could help them create things they otherwise would not build."

SARAH'S PICK

Education Week

​A Homegrown AI Coach Critiques Teachers on Their Lessons. How It's Working​

A Seattle-area school district built its own AI tool that gives teachers specific, private feedback on their lesson plans. I was certainly skeptical of this headline at first... robots giving me feedback on my lesson plans would have elicited a pretty epic eye roll from me after 10 years of experience.

One thing that did not bring out the Liz Lemon in me as a teacher was when I had the rare the chance to collaborate with other educators (my favorite 💓).

There were some opportunities to do this: trainings, staff meetings, team meetings, quick lounge chats, but certainly not daily opportunities to dive in deep on every lesson plan and compare notes.

I mean that would have been awesome. I had some great colleagues (shout out to Baldwin Elementary) who were real masters at their craft. If I could have bottled up their expertise and popped it into a lesson plan critiquing machine I probably would have.

Enter LessonLens. This tool was built by and for teachers in their own district and trained on their own standards and priorities, which means the feedback is actually relevant and generated by teachers they know and work with. Teachers can upload videos of their lessons and select which guidelines they'd like to be measured against. The responses are private and not part of performance reviews.

This is definitely a cool idea.

The district does contend that LessonLens still has some flaws. It's not really a master teacher now is it?

What I love about it is that it's informed by master teachers from their own district.

And while we can't have our expert teaching buddy in the room with us every time we need feedback, it's exciting to know that new tools that can help fill these gaps are being built by real experts.

What would have to be true for you to trust an AI feedback bot?

I'd say, for me, beside being built by educators, it should also not seek to replace in person, peer-to-peer feedback. I much prefer systems that allow teachers to spend more time in each others classrooms. I'd say that's where AI-reduced administrative burden can be helpful, carving out more time in the day for in-person interactions, learning, and relationship building.

All in all, I'd say this is an encouraging bit of progress. I founded Aldeya precisely because I believe that AI should be something that happens with educators rather than to them.

Building tools with educators should have always been the play. I'm happy to see that AI is making that a reality.

If your district offered you an AI coaching tool tomorrow, would you use it, and what would you need to know about it first?

A NOTE BEFORE YOU GO...

I'm glad you're here! If something resonated this week, hit reply and tell me. If you know a fellow educator who would find this useful, forward it their way. The village grows when educators share with other educators.

Never hesitate to send me an email if you're looking for some human-forward, AI thought partnership!