SUPPORT WITH LANGUAGE AND WRITING TASKS
In today's digital world, where AI and technology shape our everyday lives, we have access to a variety of tools that can help students improve their language and writing skills. This blog post provides a comprehensive guide to help students create essay topics, learn new vocabulary, translate instructions, and improve their own content. We present various prompts and strategies that help teachers and students overcome academic challenges with creative and structured approaches. Through the deliberate use of technology, we can enable students to reach their full potential and take their writing skills to new levels. Whether it's promoting critical thinking through essay topics, expanding vocabulary, or translating instructions into your native language, this blog post shows how to overcome these challenges with ease.
1. FIND ESSAY TOPICS
Essay topics are a crucial element in developing your students' critical thinking and writing skills. In this section, you'll learn how to develop effective essay topics that are tailored to your students' diverse needs and backgrounds.
Idea of a prompt for essay topics:
You are an experienced educator and writer with expertise in writing essay assignments that elicit strong writing and critical thinking in your students while demonstrating their understanding of the course material. Your job is to provide [NUMBER] essay topics for my [GRADE AND SUBJECT] students on [TOPIC]. Essay topics should be appropriate for a variety of skill levels and student backgrounds. Be sure to include a title for the assignment, instructions for students to select one of the essay topics, and clear expectations for students about how to write the essay. Your task is then to create a tabular formatted assessment matrix against which the students will be assessed.
Example prompt:
You are an experienced educator and writer with expertise in writing essay assignments that elicit strong writing and critical thinking in your students while demonstrating their understanding of the course material. Your task is to provide 5 essay topics for my 9th grade English students on "A Raisin in the Sun." Essay topics should be appropriate for a variety of skill levels and student backgrounds. Be sure to include a title for the assignment, instructions for students to select one of the essay topics, and clear expectations for students about how to write the essay. Your task is then to create a tabular formatted assessment matrix against which the students will be assessed.
Additional prompting strategies:
Create personalized essay topics based on students' interests and backgrounds, especially if you have students write narrative essays.
If you have additional specifications, include them in the prompt. For example, it might look like this: “...offering 3 essay topics for my 9th grade English students reading A Raisin in the Sun; essay topics should relate to race and gender.”
Use the chatbot to create reflection questions after students complete the essay assignment.
2. TRANSLATE INSTRUCTIONS FOR DAZ STUDENTS INTO THE MOTHER LANGUAGE
For students learning German as a second language, understanding assignment instructions in their native language is crucial. This section provides you with guidance and strategies for translating assignment instructions to facilitate the learning process.
Idea of a prompt for a DAZ teaching translator:
You are an experienced German as a Second Language teacher who is skilled at translating classroom instructions for students from diverse language backgrounds so that they can successfully complete academic tasks. Your job is to act as a [TEACHER PERSONA] and translate the instructions enclosed in quotes below into [STUDENT'S MOTHER LANGUAGE] developmentally appropriate for a [DAZ STUDENT PERSONA AND CLASS] to better help them understand what of expected of them to complete the task.
“[INSERT TASK INSTRUCTIONS]”
Example prompt:
You are an experienced German as a Second Language teacher who is skilled at translating classroom instructions for students from diverse language backgrounds so that they can successfully complete academic tasks. Your job is to act as a 5th grade teacher and translate the instructions included below in quotes into Spanish that are developmentally appropriate for a native Armenian speaker in 5th grade to better help them understand what of them is expected to complete the task.
“Please rank the ten countries below by population from lowest (10) to highest (1): Brazil, Colombia, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Ghana, Portugal, Chile and Argentina.”
Additional prompting strategies:
Expand the scope of the prompt to meet the needs of different DAZ students in your classroom. For example, you could use this prompt as a follow-up to your first prompt:
Now translate the same text for the French and Arabic students in my class and mark each instruction in German.
Ask the chatbot to adapt the content of the task and the instructions so that they are more attuned to the DAZ student's home culture. Example:
Now further customize the task by selecting 5 countries from the geography of the student's home country to order by population, and recreate the task and instructions for each of the language cultures represented.
Let the chatbot help you simplify your language first before translating it if necessary. Using clear and concise language will be particularly helpful to your students.
3. IMPROVE YOUR OWN CONTENT
Improving your own content can significantly increase its understandability and impact. Here you will learn how you can make texts more concise, grammatically correct and more appealing in order to effectively achieve your communication goals.
Idea of a prompt to improve your own content:
You are an experienced [INSERT APPLICABLE ROLE] and excellent writer, particularly adept at [INSERT APPLICABLE EXPERTISE]. Your job is to improve the following [TYPE OF CONTENT] in quotes by [CHANGING THE TONE / FIXING THE GRAMMAR / MAKE IT MORE CONCISE / MAKE IT MORE INTERESTING]. Be sure to keep the main points of the [CONTENT]. Here is [CONTENT]: “”.
Example prompt:
You are an experienced school administrator and excellent writer, particularly adept at crafting thoughtful, clear emails that communicate important school news to families effectively and thoughtfully. Your job is to improve the following email draft in quotes by correcting the grammar and making it more concise. Make sure to stick to the main points of the email. Here is the email draft: “”.
Additional prompting strategies:
Model this prompt with your students and have them ask the chatbot to improve their content.
Ask the chatbot to lengthen your content instead of making it concise. For example: “...the following application letter by correcting the grammar and ensuring that it has at least 500 words.”
Let the chatbot give you a variety of options to improve your content so you can choose what works best for you.
Ask the chatbot to add resources to support the topic of the content, in addition to making the content more engaging or substantive.
4. CREATE VOCABULARY LISTS
A well-developed vocabulary is essential for academic success. Here I'll show you how to create vocabulary lists that efficiently expand your students' vocabulary and help them challenge themselves.
Idea of a prompt for a vocabulary list:
You are an experienced educator and reading specialist. You have specific expertise in teaching vocabulary acquisition and use so that students can efficiently expand their vocabulary and successfully challenge themselves. Your task is to create a vocabulary list with [NUMBER] words for students at [GRADE LEVEL] with [READING LEVEL]. Your job is to center the list on the topic [TOPIC] and avoid controversial words, inappropriate words and proper names. Your job is to provide two versions: one with just the vocabulary words and one with the words and definitions in clear, student-friendly language.
Example prompt for a vocabulary list:
You are an experienced educator and reading specialist. You have specific expertise in teaching vocabulary acquisition and use so that students can efficiently expand their vocabulary and successfully challenge themselves. Your task is to create a vocabulary list of 15 words for 4th grade students at reading level M. Your job is to keep the list centered on the topic of coral reefs and avoid controversial words, inappropriate words and proper names. Your job is to provide two versions: one with just the vocabulary words and one with the words and definitions in clear, student-friendly language.
Idea of a prompt for a vocabulary list with quiz:
You are an experienced educator and reading specialist. You have specific expertise in teaching vocabulary acquisition and use so that students can efficiently expand their vocabulary and successfully challenge themselves. Your task is to create a vocabulary list with [NUMBER] words for students at [GRADE LEVEL] with [READING LEVEL]. Your job is to center the list on the topic [TOPIC/UNIT] and avoid controversial words, inappropriate words and proper nouns. Your job is to provide two versions: one with just the vocabulary words and one with the words and definitions in clear, student-friendly language. Then your job is to create a vocabulary quiz with [NUMBER] questions in [QUIZ TYPE] format with an answer key for the teacher.
Example prompt for a vocabulary list with quiz:
You are an experienced educator and reading specialist. You have specific expertise in teaching vocabulary acquisition and use so that students can efficiently expand their vocabulary and successfully challenge themselves. Your task is to create a vocabulary list of 20 words for 6th grade students between reading levels U-W. Your task is to center the list on the topic of ancient world cultures and avoid controversial words, inappropriate words and proper names. Your job is to provide two versions: one with just the vocabulary words and one with the words and definitions in clear, student-friendly language. Then your job is to create a vocabulary quiz with 20 questions in cloze format with an answer key for the teacher.
Additional prompt strategies:
Use the chatbot to create personalized vocabulary lists for students with different reading abilities.
Instruct the chatbot to create vocabulary lists based on student interests and topics or lessons.
Create different sentence starters for your vocabulary list.
Let the chatbot help your students create flashcards to help them learn their vocabulary. We have a prompt for it!
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