GUEST BLOGGER Allison Paludi: 3 Reasons I’m Using a Chatbot in My Classes

(NOTE: This post originally appeared in MiddleWeb on 7/17/23.  I’m grateful to Allison Paludi for writing it and to John Norton and Susan Curtis, editors of MiddleWeb SmartBrief, for giving me permission to repost it for TLC Blog readers.  PS, if you don’t already subscribe to MiddleWeb’s excellent free newsletter, what are you waiting for?)

Skeptical. That was my first reaction when I heard about ChatGPT. No way would I cave in to some creepy technological “advancement” everyone was talking about. Why would I rely on artificial intelligence to create materials when it doesn’t know my students like I do?

Then – bring on March. A full month of no breaks in the teaching cycle, test prep galore, and way more coffee than is healthy to be consumed.

I caved and began my journey into AI’s uses in my classroom.

Reason #1: Lesson Brainstorming. Heavy on the BRAINSTORMING.

My class reads The Giver as their last novel of the year. We cover thematic ideas of censorship, control, and power. I found it ironic that this became the first unit I attempted to use a chatbot as a thought-partner.

As an educator who has also written curriculum, I felt stagnant in this last unit. I’ve taught it three years in a row and wanted to spice it up, try new activities, and infuse fresh paired-texts. I started in the never-ending Googling of things, and then gave in. Let’s try this ChatGPT thing.

I began with a broad entry: What tasks can 6th graders do while reading THE GIVER? I was about to assign a book for my students to read over the course of 3 weeks and wanted them to really read it and actually enjoy it. Yes, I could have had them summarize, answer basic comprehension questions, write their own questions, but I wanted something different.

ChatGPT came back, swiftly, with 6 options. From characterization, to theme identification, to creative writing, and even research options. I used its recommendations to inform my activity pack which I then disseminated to my scholars. Students had three weeks to read, complete two activities, and come ready to engage in our novel discussion.

In my three years of teaching this powerful text, this was the most rewarding. I had a mixture of creative sequels, vocabulary journals, research on thematic topics like censorship and control, and character analysis.

Reason #2: Differentiation – making my lessons applicable to all.

Although I teach 6th graders, most of my students are reading below their average grade level. My school-given texts tend to be at or above grade level, so I have to find ways to make material accessible for all my learners.

For instance, I asked ChatGPT to write a dystopian story for middle schoolers. When I realized that was too broad, I refined my request: Write a 500 word dystopian story for readers at an 800 Lexile Level.

Then, I asked it: Write a 500 word dystopian story taking place in Newark, New Jersey for 800 Lexile Level.

I’ve even unpacked my units with it – gathering summaries, creating culminating projects of choice, and generating vocabulary from texts. Not only has this been informative for schema building, I’ve really been able to harness engagement from all learners. ChatGPT is my new recipe for differentiation.

Reason #3: I need a thought-partner.

There’s no doubt. Being a teacher right now is HARD. Between staff shortages, lack of adequate pay, and just extreme burn-out, it has been a struggle to stay excited about wanting to teach.

In my five years at the charter school where I work, I’ve always felt intellectually challenged – either by co-workers, content, or my classes. This past year I’ve unable to meet with my ELA Department due to our coach now teaching, so a lot of the brainstorming and creation of materials falls solely on my own sometimes weary brain.

As a result, ChatGPT has become my go-to thought partner. And the new AI platforms coming out – Diffit, Forefront, etc. – have become additional tools to add to my AI toolkit.

Final thoughts

By no means does ChatGPT produce the best quality work. In fact, even the dystopian stories I asked it to generate were sub-par. However, it does serve as a launching pad into a whole realm of opportunity to make my material more engaging.

Time saver, for sure. Teacher-replacer, however, not so much. Just as I encourage my students to be critical consumers of what is placed in front of them, I, too, have to use my discretion for what may be helpful or what may actually be harmful. But thought-starter? Definitely.

Allison Paludi is in her seventh year in education. She is currently the 6th Grade ELA teacher at Great Oaks Legacy Charter School in Newark, New Jersey. At her campus she helped establish PLCs with her ELA Department as well as lead the 5th and 6th grade level teams.

PS:  For more AI support, check out The Literacy Cookbook’s A.I. TIPS page. The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools.  As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS).

EXPANDED A.I. Resources on The Literacy Cookbook Website!

I’m excited to report that I’ve expanded The Literacy Cookbook Website offerings from one “A.I. Tips” page to a whole section!  Here’s a snapshot with links:

A.I. TIPS

We’re living in a WILD NEW WORLD, with AI (artificial intelligence) chatbots and other tools that can be used for good or ill.  This section is devoted to sharing ideas about how to use AI to make your job easier and help strengthen students’ reading, writing, speaking, and listening.  I’ve added pages so people can dig more deeply into each topic.  Of course I will continue to add resources and explain them.

Click on the page links below to see responses to the questions.

ChatGPT:

·      What is ChatGPT?

·      How do we sign up?

·      How can ChatGPT save us time?

·      How can we use ChatGPT effectively in the classroom?

·      How can we share ChatGPT responses?

·      Any cautionary notes?

AI Tools:

·      What AI tools should we check out?

AI Policy:

·      Why do we need an AI policy?

·      What should our AI policy include?  Got any sample materials?

·      How should we cite AI?

AI Professional Development:

·      What are some PD options to support our staff?

AI Resources:

·      TLC Blogs

·      Videos

·      Books

·      Professional Groups/Resources

PS—Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions!

PPS: The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools.  As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS). 

ONE WAY TO ADDRESS SOCIAL MEDIA WITH STUDENTS AND PARENTS: The Social Dilemma

A few weeks ago, a dear friend and her family came to visit me.  When the weather took a turn, we taught her twin 11-year-old girls a card game which we played happily for hours.  But I noticed something.  About every 45 minutes, one daughter would say she “had to go to the bathroom” and would disappear until her mother called her to come back.  The girl wasn’t sick—at least, not in a gastrological way.  She was taking her tablet into the bathroom to watch YouTube influencers.

The addictive power of social media platforms should be obvious to anyone who joins them.  Indeed, when TikTok first appeared, I spent 90 seconds watching video after video, sucked into the vortex, then pulled back and actually said out loud, “Oh, hell no!” and deleted the app from my phone.  But I’m a middle-aged adult.  I have a lot going on in my life.  I can see how distractions could derail important work.

Teenagers and pre-teens, by contrast, lack that perspective—literally.  Their prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain that helps us process and direct our attention based on our goals—is not fully developed.  They truly don’t have the brain capacity to make good decisions about enticing technology.  Plus, their friends are all into it.  And of course they love the instant gratification. 

After dinner one night, my friends and I decided to watch The Social Dilemma, a Netflix documentary in which former employees of Facebook, Google, Pinterest, etc. explain how technology platforms affect our behavior.  These platforms are designed INTENTIONALLY to capture users’ attention in order to generate ad revenue.  Or as one speaker puts it, “If there’s no charge for the product, YOU’RE the product.”  They use our data to create digital models of us so they can customize the features that draw us in.

Along with interviews, the film dramatizes the problem by showing a family in which the teenage son’s phone addiction leads him into trouble.

As we watched, the girls groaned: “This is terrible!  I don’t know if I even want to have a phone anymore!”  The bathroom-goer exclaimed, “I’m not like that!  I’m not!” And then she left the room, returned with her tablet, and started playing an online game while we watched the rest of the movie.  I am not making this up.

On the bright side, afterwards, we had a very productive conversation.  Both the girls and their parents were concerned about what they had just witnessed.  When the parents explained why they needed to be more vigilant about monitoring device usage going forward, the girls were upset (well, one in particular), but on some level they understood.

If you are a parent or an educator, I HIGHLY recommend this movie.  In fact, I urge school leaders to host screenings for parents and children this fall.  The filmmakers are happy to support that endeavor with resources for anyone who is interested.

Here’s the trailer.  Check it out.  Seriously.

PLANNING FOR A.I. IMPLEMENTATION: Strategic Support for Leaders

If you’re looking for ideas about how to implement A.I. tools such as ChatGPT, Bard, Khanmigo, and Diffit in your school, I can help! (PS—Diffit is great for differentiation!)  I’m excited to share this 30-minute presentation I delivered to a group of school leaders a few days ago!

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KGEHtmrXP4

This presentation addresses the following questions:

1. How can ChatGPT (and Bard, Khanmigo, and Diffit) save teachers and leaders time?
2. How can we use ChatGPT and other A.I. tools most effectively in the classroom?
3. How should we begin in planning for A.I. implementation?
4. What are some PD options to support your staff?

It also provides a few quick, powerful demos of ChatGPT, Bard, Khanmigo, and Diffit.

I’m also including a PDF of the slides:

planning-for-ai-implementation-ppt-2Download

Many thanks to the folks at NJ Public Charter Schools Association for inviting me in and sharing the video.

For additional resources on A.I., please check out the “A.I. TIPS” page on The Literacy Cookbook Website.

Take a look and see what you think.  Please reach out if you would like to speak with me about PD offerings (see contact info on slides).

PS: The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools.  As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS). 

A.I. TIPS: The AI Classroom

It is sweet and fitting that the person who referred me to this amazing, timely book, The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein, was my amazing, brilliant 5^th grade teacher, Mr. Arthur Wolinsky.  Art “retired” in the way that most insatiably curious educators retire: he continues to work and teach people in other ways.  So it was no surprise to hear that he is currently determined to figure out how we can harness and maximize the potential benefits of artificial intelligence for the good of civilization.

This book, published in April 2023 (a few weeks ago), is as up-to-the-minute as you can get.  It mentions, for example, the “recent” release of Bard and Chat GPT 4.  Although I’m sure we will soon see a deluge of online resources explaining how to use such tools, I must say that for the foreseeable future (if there IS such a thing), this book is money well spent.

I found myself dog-earing so many pages as to be pointless because there are SO MANY practical tips.  Two I will use right away are 1) the PREP strategy, 4 steps for crafting effective prompts to drive Chat GPT to produce what you want, and 2) the EDIT strategy, 4 steps for evaluating the results and ensuring they are accurate.

In addition to two fascinating case studies on how several teachers have already used Chat GPT with their middle school classes for writing instruction and 11^th graders for Digital Marketing classes, this book also explains how you can save time with Chat GPT for 23 different purposes:

1. Questions
2. Lesson Tasks
3. Discussion Prompts
4. Full Lesson
5. Design Thinking Lesson
6. Grading and Feedback
7. WAGOLLS and WABOLLS (What a Good One Looks Like and What a Bad One Looks Like)
8. Creating How-to Guides
9. Reusable Templates
10. Risk Assessments
11. Extract Key Words and Create Definitions
12. Differentiated Tasks
13. Task Rubric
14. Curriculum Intent Document
15. Your Own Teaching Coach
16. Student Report
17. School Assembly
18. Student Debates
19. Because, But, So Tasks
20. Talk to a Historical Figure
21. Anticipate Misconceptions
22. The YouTube Lesson
23. 18 Quick Prompts

Bottom line: If you’re an educator, this book could save you LOTS of time.  PS: Thanks, Art!  For everything!!!

PS: I’m curating resources (videos, articles, books) to answer these questions and more on The Literacy Cookbook Website, on a new page called “A.I. Tips.”

Take a look and see what you think.  Let me know if you have ideas about how to effectively harness the power of these tools (Email: literacycookbook at gmail.com)

PS: The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools.  As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS). 

TLC RESOURCES: A.I. Tips for Educators

The number of articles about A.I. (artificial intelligence) multiplies daily.  It’s clear that this new technology is ALREADY changing our lives, and we need to learn as much as we can in order to harness it effectively.

If you haven’t seen them yet, I highly recommend watching these two videos ASAP:

• “The A.I. Dilemma” on YouTube (March 9, 2023).  1 hour.
• “The Amazing A.I. Super Tutor for Students and Teachers” by Sal Khan, TED Talk, TED 2023 (April).  15 mins.

I have SO MANY QUESTIONS.  Here are just a few:

• How will A.I. affect teaching and learning in the short term and long term?
• How can A.I. help teachers work more efficiently and effectively?
• How can we train educators ASAP to use the emerging tools?
• How can we use A.I. in the classroom to differentiate, customize, and accelerate learning?

I’m curating resources (videos, articles, books) to answer these questions and more on The Literacy Cookbook Website, on a new page called “A.I. Tips.”

Take a look and see what you think.  Let me know if you have ideas about how to effectively harness the power of these tools (Email: literacycookbook at gmail.com)

PS: The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools.  As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS). 

ONE WAY TO SOLVE READING PROBLEMS with ChatGPT

One challenge educators face when trying to provide effective reading instruction is that their bookshelves are overflowing with “lower-level” texts that look like this: “The bear likes to draw [see picture of bear drawing].  The bear likes to paint [see picture of bear painting].  The bear likes to skate [see picture of bear skating].”

Texts like that don’t teach students to read.  Students simply memorize the phrase “The bear likes to” and look at the picture.  THEY ARE NOT ACTUALLY READING.  The ineffective “3-cueing” approach, which directs students to “look at the picture” is sadly still prevalent in many schools.  (For more on this problem, see this TLC post on the national reading problem.)

Fortunately, many educators have recognized this problem and are implementing more robust phonics instruction so that students can learn to sound out words (decode), a fundamental skill needed for fluent reading.  (For more on the equally fundamental process of comprehension, see The Literacy Cookbook “Comprehension 101” page.)

Unfortunately, schools don’t have enough “decodable” texts—phonics-based texts without pictures—to support their phonics lessons.

I was in one of those schools yesterday, noodling on this problem, when I discovered a mind-blowing solution: ChatGPT can generate AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OF CUSTOMIZED DECODABLE TEXTS!!!

Here’s just one example:

I entered: “Can you write a 100-200 word decodable text using short vowel sounds for 1st graders?”

Here’s the response (which arrived in 5 seconds):

***

Sure! Here’s a short decodable text using short vowel sounds for 1st graders:

Max and Sam had a big plan. They would go to the pond and catch some fish. They took their rods and went on their way. The sun was hot and they felt the heat. They walked for a while and soon saw the pond. It was big and blue and had some ducks. They cast their lines and waited. Soon, Max got a bite and pulled up a fish. Sam was glad and they both had fun. They caught five fish and then went home.

In this text, I used short vowel sounds in words like “Max”, “Sam”, “plan”, “pond”, “hot”, “walked”, “blue”, “cast”, “got”, “fish”, and “home”. This text should be easy for 1st graders to read and understand.

***

All I can say is: WOOHOO!!!  Please tell your friends!!!

PS: The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools.  As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS). 

How to Make Interactive Read-alouds TRULY INTERACTIVE

One consequence of the pandemic in K-12 these days is that we are working with a high percentage of struggling readers.  As I discussed in this post about our national reading problem, there are three main reasons for that: 1) Ineffective reading instruction has prevailed in the field for decades; 2) During the pandemic, parents had less access to tutors to help their children; and 3) It’s nearly impossible to teach young children how to read on Zoom.  Students who were supposed to be learning how to read during the pandemic are now in grades 3-6 and having a really hard time with comprehension (and in many cases also with decoding).

What can we do to maximize learning and strengthen students’ comprehension?

First, we need to stop doing things that don’t work:

• Assigning whole-class independent reading or making that a “center” will result in students staring into space, fake-reading, or—as I’ve observed in some elementary classrooms—rolling around on the carpet for 20 minutes.  #CompleteWasteOfTime
• Calling on students to “popcorn read” is also problematic.  While a select few might read fluently and with appropriate tone and expression, most will stagger through the text, boring and torturing everyone present.

Reading aloud while students read along COULD work, but we must do it INTERACTIVELY.  Too often, teachers direct students to “open to page ___,” then begin rambling on and on.  I call this “podcasting.”  If you’re stuck in traffic on the NJ Turnpike, you might enjoy it.  But if you’re a child who needs to learn HOW to comprehend, not so much.

How can we make read-alouds more interactive?

As the drawing below illustrates,* students need to know that STRONG READERS QUESTION THE TEXT RELENTLESSLY.  Teachers must MODEL how to question the text.  I’ve explained in this post about the most important Common Core Reading Standard why asking the 5Ws and H questions (a 2^nd-grade reading standard) is critical to comprehension.  Students who cannot ask and answer “How” and “Why” questions in particular will not rise to the level of inference.

*Note: For more information on the comprehension process (including video explainers), check out the TLC “Comprehension 101” page.

Modeling how to question the text is important, but as soon as possible, students must ASK THEIR OWN QUESTIONS.  For a systematic way to do this, check out this post about the QIEE (Question-Inference-Evidence & Explanation) approach.

Asking students to Stop-and-Jot a note about their questions or thoughts will also enable you to see how much they’re grasping.  Circulating with a clipboard will send a message that you expect everyone to do the work and you’re verifying that.  When students have notes, they tend to be more confident about sharing their ideas.  Also, you’ll want to remind them that they can use their notes later in response to a writing prompt.

Engaging students in frequent Turn-and-Talks (“What questions do you have now?  Tell your partner!”) followed by Cold-Calling will have more impact than merely calling on raised hands.  For more suggestions about strengthening students’ speaking and listening habits, check out this post on 12 ways to get students speaking and listening.

To give students independent reading practice, stop periodically and invite them to read a paragraph/page with a question in mind.  E.g., “Let’s read the next page to find out why she did that!”

To give students oral fluency practice: do the same thing, except now one student reads to a partner.  Maybe one partner reads the first paragraph and the other reads the next.  The silent partner should try to answer the question.

When used consistently, these techniques should increase student engagement, build motivation, and strengthen comprehension.

Please reach out to me if you have any questions! (Email: literacycookbook at gmail.com)

PS: The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools.  As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS). 

Harnessing the Power of New AI Tools: The Future Is Here

One night in 1991, my father, a college administrator, called me at grad school and asked me if I was sitting down.

“I’ve seen the future!” he said.  “There’s this thing called The Internet.  It’s AMAZING.  It’s going to change everything.”

He was right.  It did.  People who were born into a world with Internet have no idea what it was like before.

I am starting to feel that way today about the AI tools that are emerging.  I don’t know all of the ways that we will use them—or how our students will use them—but I am excited to see what emerges.

Here are two tools to investigate:

1. ChatGPT: This tool is incredibly versatile.  For example, you can enter: “Got any creative ideas for a 10 year-old’s birthday?” or “Can you plan my trip to Scotland in May?”  For educators, here’s just one approach: Enter a question or an assignment—even stipulating a grade level or asking it to “add some errors”—and see the text it produces.  I know some folks are worried about the potential for students to cheat, but we can’t just start stamping “PLAGIARISM” on everything.  We need to figure out how to design/redesign assignments to ensure that they require critical thinking and personalized responses.  Also, I’m intrigued by the idea of teachers seeing “this is the level your students should be writing on” as it might lead to more rigorous expectations.
   
2. Pressto AI: This is a generative AI tool made just for teachers, for use with classes.  One helpful feature is that it generates writing prompts for whatever grade level or genre(s) you select.  I entered “Role of Snowball in Animal Farm” for 8^th grade and got these suggestions:
   • Write an essay about the role of Snowball in George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm. Discuss how he serves as a symbol for political revolutions and what his character arc reveals about leadership and power dynamics. Explain why his presence is essential to the story, and discuss how his actions shape each major event in the book.
   • Imagine yourself as Snowball, one of the main characters in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Write a diary entry reflecting on your role and experiences leading the rebellion against Farmer Jones and how things changed when Napoleon took control.
   • Imagine you are Snowball, one of the leaders in Animal Farm. Write a story from your perspective about the challenges and successes you experienced while trying to lead all the animals and achieve an equal society on the farm.

Take a look and see what you think.  Let me know if you have ideas about how to effectively harness the power of these tools (Email: literacycookbook at gmail.com)

PS: The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools.  As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS). 

CLOSE READING STRATEGIES: Literature Edition

Following up on my previous post, CLOSE READING STRATEGIES: Nonfiction Edition, this post focuses on strategies to use with literature.

A few skills cross over from nonfiction:

1. Ensure students can ask and answer the 5Ws and H questions.  Again, this is a second-grade reading standard—possibly the most important standard of all.  If you can’t ask and answer HOW and WHY questions, you won’t be able to INFER and EXPLAIN.  For a full explanation of The Comprehension Process Staircase, which shows how strong readers ask questions RELENTLESSLY, see the TLC “Comprehension 101” page.  And check out the “5Ws and H Organizer Model” below.
   
   
2. Before reading a text, invite students to analyze a related image in order to build their background knowledge and help them generate questions that they genuinely care about—which, guess what? The text will answer!  For a detailed explanation of this approach, see this TLC Blog post: “APPROACHES TO THE COMMON CORE: Quadrant Analysis as a Way to Boost Comprehension.”
   
   
3. For test prep purposes, make sure students can turn the writing prompt into a question so they take notes on that question.  See this TLC Blog post: “PARCC Prep: Literary Analysis Writing Lesson Cycle, updated 1-28-20.”  Lesson 1 is all about turning the prompt into a question.
   
   
4. Remind students again that GOOD READERS QUESTION THE TEXT RELENTLESSLY and launch analysis of a new text or a particularly thorny section with the “QIEE” (Question-Inference-Evidence & Explanation) organizer, explained in this TLC Blog post: “The #1 CLOSE READING SKILL.”

In addition, here are a few strategies specific to NARRATIVE texts:

1. Teach the “DDAT” characterization method.  In order to analyze characters, it’s important to know that writers use Direct description, Dialogue, Action, and Thought to reveal character.  For a fuller explanation, see this TLC Blog post: “The Overlooked Skill of Skimming.”  And see the “Characterization Methods-DDAT” download below.
   
   
2. Teach students how to use the “What’s Important” organizer.  When we ask students to summarize stories or chapters, they tend to provide too many details and not enough key points.  Strong readers use a handful of key questions to guide their quest for what is important.  For a complete explanation, see this TLC Blog post: “Approaches to the Common Core: TEACHING WHAT’S IMPORTANT.”
   
   
3. Teach students how to infer themes.  Figuring out messages and lessons from texts doesn’t have to be complicated.  See my simple three-step process in this TLC Blog post: “Literary Analysis Task: How to Infer Themes from a Text (CCS#2).”

PS: The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools.  As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS). 

5Ws and H organizer MODELDownload

Characterization Methods-DDAT