The average K-12 teacher works 49 hours a week. About a quarter of that time is uncompensated. Most teachers I know didn’t choose this field to spend evenings generating quiz questions, rewriting instructions or creating elaborate rubric spreadsheets to fit a state-mandated standard.
AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini won’t change these realities. But when you’re overwhelmed, they can help you streamline some of the most tedious aspects of your work. They can free up your energy for what only a human teacher can do. And AI assistants can actually push us to be more creative. They can help us overcome teaching ruts, nudging us to revitalize aspects of our teaching that are growing stale.
AI assistants have arrived at a time when teachers need support to do their best work. In a national survey by the RAND Corporation, just 24% of teachers reported being satisfied with their total weekly hours worked, and 66% said their base salary was inadequate.
AI tools won’t make up for unfair compensation. But they can help us save time and create a better work/life balance. They can also help us do better work.
A 60-second guide to prompting
The first step to making the most of AI is understanding how to use prompts. A prompt is a natural language instruction to an AI assistant. It doesn’t have to include technical or formal language. You don’t even have to use full sentences.
Prompts are tool agnostic, so you can use them with whichever AI assistant you have access to. I recommend the free or paid versions of Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT, but you can also use free AI tools that run privately on your own laptop, like Jan.ai or Msty.ai.
As the teacher, you guide an AI assistant like Claude or Gemini with relevant context. For prompts to work well they have to be detailed, including specifics and context. Generic prompts yield generic responses.
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It helps to iterate on AI output with follow-up prompts. Ask for more specificity or detail. Adapt the response for your students, don’t use it as is. Part of retaining your agency in the process is making sure you build on whatever outputs an assistant generates. You’re the director. It’s much like you were adopting an open-educational resource. The advantage, though, is that this material will be more tailored to your students and teaching approach.
Knowing how to use prompts effectively can mean the difference between AI that’s actually helpful and AI that’s gimmicky. The prompts below are designed to provide you with a creative boost. They each illustrate a practical way to use AI in support of thoughtful, pedagogically-sound teaching. You don’t need any special technical skills or subscriptions. You can copy, paste, and customize them to suit your subject matter.
Setting up a project
If you want to use prompts more efficiently, create a Claude or ChatGPT Project, or a Gemini Notebook. That’s a folder where you provide a summary of context about your students that the AI assistant can reference whenever you ask for support. You can also upload past materials, syllabi, lesson plans, curriculum guidelines, Common Core State Standards, or whatever else would be helpful context for the AI assistant.
You can also provide detailed instructions in the project for how you’d like the AI to assist you. You’re training the AI assistant and teaching it your preferences. Once you set up a project, you won’t have to repeatedly type in the same context. I set up projects for each of the classes and workshops I teach.
The Prompt Collection
The Bell Ringer
Start class with a spark
The first five minutes of class set the tone for everything that follows. A short, well-designed opening activity can draw students in. Engaging openers are especially valuable on Mondays, after vacations or when you’re pivoting to a new topic. The challenge is coming up with fresh ones regularly.
Goal: Generate a bunch of quick activities you can use at the start of a class session, adapted for your subject and your students.
Prompts: “I teach [subject x] to students in [grade level x]. We’re studying [specific topic xyz. Be as detailed as possible about your subject and context. Include a sentence or series of phrases of context about your particular class and teaching style, or any special needs or context for your students. No need to make it formal].”
“Generate five bell-ringer activities I can adapt to open a [xx] minute class. Each should take no more than [x] minutes, require no materials, and either activate prior knowledge or help students reflect on what they’ve just learned. Include one that’s discussion-based, one that’s written and one that’s a game or visual/creative task. [Or adapt these examples to reflect your subject matter. For example, one of the options could be a logic puzzle or an artistic challenge].”
Prompt Example
I teach U.S. History to 10th graders at a public school in San Diego. We’re starting a unit on the civil rights movement. We’re focusing on the tactics used in nonviolent protest: sit-ins, freedom rides, and marches. My students respond well to visuals and storytelling, but some of them are slow to settle into our morning class sessions.
Generate five bell-ringer activities I can adapt to start class in an engaging way. Each should take no more than five minutes, require no handouts, and either activate prior knowledge or get students thinking about why ordinary people take extraordinary risks. Include one that’s discussion-based, one that’s written, and one that involves an image or short video clip I can pull up on the projector.
The Real-World Hook
Answer “Why does this matter?” before students even ask
When you’re juggling administrative meetings, multiple preps and paperwork, it can be hard to give extra attention to helping students relate to a given learning unit. This prompt helps you brainstorm connections to contemporary music, art, film, TV, cultural trends or other subjects of interest to students.
Goal: To generate five ways to show your students how the topic you’re teaching is relevant to their lives, each with a two-sentence hook you can use to open discussion.
Prompt: “I’m about to begin a unit on [x topic] with [x grade level] students. [Provide a sentence of additional context and a few additional details about your students’ interests]. Generate five ways to connect this material to something students at [x] grade level may likely be able to relate to. This can include sports, the arts, social media trends, pop culture, music or other contemporary issues. For each connection, suggest a two-sentence hook I can adapt to help jumpstart a class discussion.”
Prompt Example
I’m about to start a unit on percentages and ratios with 7th graders. I teach in a suburban middle school in Ohio. Many of my students follow football and basketball. Many also spend a lot of time on social media. A few are really into cooking and video games.
Generate five ways to connect percentages and ratios to things 7th graders actually care about. This can include sports stats, social media follower counts, video game scoring, food recipes, or other relatable subjects. For each connection, suggest a one-sentence hook I could use to kick off a class discussion.
The Bad Example Generator
Turn common mistakes into teachable moments
Showing students examples of common mistakes can help them avoid those pitfalls. But we can’t embarrass students by showing examples of their weakest work. Fortunately, AI assistants are excellent example generators. They can come up with nearly any kind of error you specify, saving you hours you might otherwise have spent creating intentionally bad work.
You can adapt this prompt to include any kind of error you want your students to avoid. These can include experimental design mishaps in science or mangled math formulas. If you’re teaching essay writing, showcase logical fallacies or ad hominem arguments.
Here’s an example of a table of common writing traps I generated with the help of an AI assistant.
Goal: Produce five realistic examples of a specific error type, unlabeled, so students can identify, discuss and learn from the flaws.
Prompt: “I’m teaching [x subject/topic] to [grade level x] students. [Provide an additional sentence of specific context about your class, the learning goals you’re focusing on, and/or the lesson you’re preparing.] Generate five examples of paragraphs with [ad hominem arguments / circular reasoning / weak thesis statements / misleading use of statistics / or pick any other weakness] related to [x topic]. Make sure each example is realistic and plausible. These should be the kinds of errors students at this grade level might actually make. Don’t label what’s wrong. I’ll use these for a class activity where students identify and explain the flaws themselves. [You can also task the AI with annotating or explaining these errors to help you walk students methodically through these common flaws.]”
Prompt Example
I’m teaching persuasive writing to 11th graders at an urban high school in Chicago. We’re working on how to build a strong thesis and how to use evidence effectively. My students sometimes make claims without backing them up. Or they rely repeatedly on one or two weak sources.
Generate five examples of weak thesis statements on the topic of social media’s effect on teenagers. Make each one realistic. These should sound like something an 11th grader might actually write. Don’t label what’s wrong with each one. I’ll use these in a small group activity. Students will discuss the weaknesses in these statements and work on strengthening them.
The Scaffolding Prompt
Make instructions clear for every student
Complex instructions often trip up students. Simplifying language can help, along with breaking guidance into smaller steps. This prompt helps you clarify instructions for an existing assignment, handout or any other activity. It’s particularly useful if you have students with learning differences or if your class has a wide range of readiness levels.
Goal: Reframe an existing handout or assignment so it’s clearer and more accessible, especially for students who need extra support.
Prompt: “Here is a [handout / assignment / resource] I give students: [paste or upload the handout]. Help me reframe this for students who face [specific challenges or context that impact some of your students]. I particularly want this to be more accessible for students who need extra support. Break the instructions into smaller, numbered steps. Replace any abstract language with concrete, specific directions. Point out any parts I should clarify. Suggest a brief example for each major step and any illustrations or images that might help me make this more visually engaging. Maintain the academic expectations I have for the work. The goal is clarity, not simplification.”
Prompt Example
I’m attaching a lab worksheet I give students. I need this to work better for my 4th grade science class. We’re in rural New Mexico. Several of my students have IEPs, a few are English language learners, and their reading levels vary a lot.
Help me create alternative versions of this worksheet that might be easier to follow for students who need extra support. Break the instructions into short numbered steps. Replace abstract instructional terms with plain, everyday language, but don’t change the vocabulary words, which I need students to learn. Add a concrete example for each major step. Flag any parts that might confuse a 9-year-old. Suggest one or two simple illustrations that could help. Don’t water down the scientific thinking. Don’t alter my expectations. The goal is clarity, not dumbing this down. I’ll edit it afterwards to make sure it fully represents my instructions.
The Review Game Generator
Create engaging questions efficiently for learning games
Coming up with a long list of review questions can take hours and designing multiple plausible wrong answers for every question can be exhausting. An AI assistant can help, quickly turning existing handouts, lesson plans or fact sheets into engaging questions. It can help you customize questions for your subject matter and student level.
Goal: Generative 15 multiple-choice review questions, tiered by difficulty, formatted for whatever learning game you prefer.
Prompt: “I’m finishing a unit on [x topic] with my [grade level x] students. I’m preparing an end of term review session, so I’m trying to come up with some good questions to help students practice [a particular skill or area of knowledge]. Generate 15 trivia questions based on the following key concepts: [list concepts or paste notes or upload a handout]. Suggest a series of multiple-choice questions, each with a correct answer and three plausible wrong answers. Vary the difficulty—five easy, five medium, five challenging. Flag the correct answer for each. Also suggest some true/false, fill-in-the-blank, and open-ended questions for variety.”
Prompt Example
I’m wrapping up a unit on the causes of World War One with my 8th graders at a middle school in suburban Texas. Here are the key concepts I want to review: the alliance system, nationalism, militarism, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the role of imperialism, and how a regional conflict became a world war.
Generate 15 multiple-choice questions based on these concepts. Format each question with one correct answer and three plausible wrong answers that reflect common student misunderstandings. Make five questions straightforward, five moderately challenging, and five that are a little tricky. Add a few bonus questions that require students to connect ideas. Flag the correct answer for each question. I want to use these for a classroom Jeopardy game.
The Fresh Angle Search
Bring new life to familiar content
Some topics get stale, especially when you’ve taught them the same way for years. To liven up an old lesson, it can be helpful to gather new sources, examples, statistics, case studies or unexpected angles.
Use Perplexity, a free, AI-powered search engine that provides citations alongside its results. The links it provides ensure you have an evidence trail you can use to verify its responses and to dive deeper. Digging into Perplexity’s concise search summary is more efficient than sorting through hundreds of blue Google links.
Goal: Find five recent or unexpected real-world examples of a concept you’re teaching, including perspectives from outside the U.S. and connections to students’ current interests.
Prompt: “I teach [x topic] to [grade level x] students. [Provide additional context here about the topic or learning outcomes you’re focused on]. I’m looking for interesting material [or whatever other description you prefer] to make this subject more engaging for students. [Include any additional context about your students’ interests]. Find me five recent, unexpected or counterintuitive real-world examples of [x concept] that might surprise or intrigue students. Include also several real-world details to help add nuance for students who think they already understand the concept. And suggest several new analogies I can use for students who don’t yet understand this concept. Include international examples, and at least one that has an element of humor.”
Prompt Example
I teach introductory biology to 9th graders at a public high school in Phoenix. We’re finishing a unit on ecosystems and food webs, and I want to make it feel less textbook and more real.
Find me five recent, unexpected, or counterintuitive real-world examples of ecosystem disruption that might surprise students who think they already understand this concept. Include one example from outside the United States, one from the last two years, and one that connects to something teenagers are likely to know about or care about, like a sport, a food, or a place they might actually visit.
The Skeptical Student Prompt
Prepare for the hardest questions before class starts
You never know what odd questions might arise when you teach a new topic. AI assistants can help by generating all sorts of potential questions. That prep can help you avoid unpleasant surprises in class, so you’re ready for nearly anything students might toss at you.
Goal: Generate 10 challenging questions a skeptical student might ask me about this lesson.
Prompt: “Here is a [lesson plan / reading / concept] I’m teaching: [paste or upload material, mentioning the grade level and any other relevant context]. Give me a list of potential student questions about the relevance of this new topic and about real-world applications. Include also a mix of other unusual or surprising questions curious students might ask. If these high school students doubt this material is relevant, what might they ask, and what aspects in particular might they question. Generate 10 challenging questions students might ask. Include questions that challenge the relevance of the topic, the reliability of my sources and the assumptions behind my explanations.”
Prompt Example
I’m teaching the attached lesson next week on supply and demand. Imagine you are a skeptical 12th grader who thinks economics has nothing to do with your life.
Generate 10 tough questions you might ask during this lesson. Include at least two that challenge whether this concept actually works in real life, two that push back on whether the examples are realistic, and two that ask why any of this matters to someone who isn’t planning to work in finance or study business in college.
The Blind Spot Audit
Find your own blind spots before students do
During a typical week, we don’t always have time to trade peer feedback on lesson plans or syllabi. But we can still benefit from getting input on our materials. AI assistants can critically evaluate your materials for clarity, accessibility, inclusivity or other blind spots. You always have the option of ignoring the observations. I find that many of the weaknesses the AI assistant points out are ones that benefit from a fix.
Goal: Identify specific places in your lesson plan or syllabus where I might have an unconscious bias, where my instructions may be unclear, my examples may not reflect student diversity or my assessment criteria might be confusing. Or point out unnecessary jargon.
Prompt: “Here is my [lesson plan / syllabus / unit overview]: [paste or upload document]. Take the perspective of a critic with expertise in inclusive pedagogy and student-centered design. Identify parts of my plan that may not work for someone with physical differences such as a vision, hearing or mobility impairment. Also point out places where an unconscious bias might be influencing the way I’m presenting this topic. Point out places where examples or explanations I’ve included might not make sense to my diverse students. Show me places where my assessment criteria could be made more clear. Note any other sections of the material that might not be inclusive, accessible or relatable for students. Be direct. Include the location of each issue so I can explore potential fixes. I want specific critique, not general praise, and I want you to explain each observation in detail.”
Prompt Example
I’m attaching a unit overview I’m planning to use for a 6th grade reading and writing unit on personal narratives. I’d like an independent critique from the perspective of someone with extensive experience in inclusive teaching and middle school literacy.
Identify places where my instructions might confuse a student who is new to this kind of writing, or who struggles with open-ended assignments. Identify places where my examples or readings might not reflect the range of backgrounds in my classroom. Point out places where I could make my grading criteria clearer before students start writing. Be direct and specific. Tell me exactly where the issues are so I can find them quickly. I want honest, concise feedback, not compliments.
The Differentiation Prompt
Adapt one assignment for three distinct student levels without tripling your prep time
In many classrooms, students arrive at varying levels of readiness. Creating three versions of the same material is one of those things that turns a 40-hour week into a 53-hour one. Tasking an AI assistant with suggesting adaptations of your material ensures that your newly differentiated materials will remain anchored in your own ideas and teaching goals.
Goal: Produce two alternative versions of an existing assignment: one with additional scaffolding, and one with stretch challenges for advanced students.
Prompt: “Here is an [assignment / assessment] I give students: [paste or upload material]. Generate two versions of this: one for students who need additional scaffolding and more explicit guidance, and one that adds stretch challenges for advanced students. Preserve the core learning objectives. Summarize the suggested changes and explain their rationale, so I can decide how to adapt these alternatives for my students.”
Prompt Example
Here is a problem set I give students at the end of our unit on proofs: [paste assignment]. I have three pretty distinct groups in my 10th grade geometry class. Some students are still shaky on the basics. Most are roughly where I’d expect them to be. And a handful are ready for something harder.
Create three versions of this assignment. The first should add more step-by-step guidance and a worked example for students who need extra support. The second should stay close to the original but fix anything that’s confusingly worded. The third should add three harder extension problems for students who finish early and want a challenge. Keep the same core learning goal across all three versions. Add a quick note explaining what changed and why, so I can decide how to use each version.
The Rubric Builder
Help students understand how you’ll assess them.
A well-designed rubric does two things: it clarifies your expectations before students start working, and it gives them a roadmap for revising. Developing rubrics from scratch is tedious. It requires formatting small batches of text into boxes in complex tables. This prompt generates a structured first draft in table format. You can then refine it before sharing it with students. To start, specify the elements of the student work you’ll be evaluating, and describe your criteria.
You don’t have to use full sentences or formal language. Just describe what constitutes excellence for this assignment, what satisfactory work looks like, and what evidence signals to you that a student may need more skill practice. Developing these rubrics with AI assistance is an iterative process. Revise initial outputs by adding your own details and refinements.
Goal: Generate a rubric with three performance levels and five criteria you’ve specified, written in specific, concrete language, without vague phrases like “good use of sources.”
Prompt: “I’m assigning [describe assignment] to [grade level x] students. [Provide any additional relevant context]. Generate a rubric with three performance levels: Excellent, Proficient and Developing. Include five criteria relevant to this assignment: [list criteria, e.g., argument clarity, use of evidence, originality, structure, mechanics]. For each criterion and each level, write two specific sentences describing what that performance actually looks like. Avoid vague language like ‘good use of sources.’ Be concrete. Put this rubric into a table, then await my input for potential edits”
Prompt Example
I’m assigning an argumentative essay to my 8th graders. They have to pick a local issue, take a position, and back it up with at least three sources. Some of my students have never written a formal argument before.
Generate a rubric with three performance levels: Excellent, Proficient, and Still Developing. Include these five criteria: clarity of argument, quality of evidence, use of sources, organization, and writing mechanics. For each criterion at each level, write one specific sentence that describes what the work actually looks like. Skip vague phrases like ‘uses sources well’ or ‘writing is clear.’ Make it concrete enough that a student reading this before they start writing knows exactly what they’re aiming for. Put it in a table, then ask for my edits.
The Case Study Collaborator
Generate fictional scenarios to spice up discussions
Case studies help spark lively discussions. They’re useful whether you’re introducing students to ethical questions or trying to help students relate to a historical situation. They can also be useful for bringing a business decision or a scientific discovery to life. Creating cases from scratch can be exhausting. So this prompt helps you build fictional but realistic scenarios customized to your subject matter and student context.
Goal: Create a fictional case study to illustrate a tension relevant to your subject, set in a context students can relate to, ending with three discussion questions.
Prompt: “I teach [x subject] to [grade level x] students. [Provide an additional sentence of context or specifics to ensure the case studies are relevant and useful.] We’re exploring [x concept or issue. Include as much detail as possible about what and how you’re approaching the topic and your learning goals]. Create a fictional but realistic case study involving [type of character, institution, or situation relevant to your subject] that illustrates the tension between [value A] and [value B]. Set it in [context relevant to your students—a school, a local community, a specific industry]. The scenario should be complex enough that reasonable people could disagree about the right response. End with three discussion questions that I can adapt to push students to apply the concepts we’ve been studying.”
Prompt Example
I teach environmental science to 11th graders at a high school in a small city in Michigan. We’re wrapping up a unit on water access and environmental justice, and I want to end with a discussion that gets students to apply what they’ve learned to a realistic situation.
Create a fictional but realistic case study about a small city council deciding whether to approve a new manufacturing plant near a residential neighborhood with a history of water quality problems. The scenario should involve tension between local jobs and environmental risk. Make it complex and nuanced enough that reasonable people on both sides have legitimate concerns. End with three discussion questions that push students to use evidence, consider multiple perspectives, and take a position they can defend.
Disclosure: Two kinds of prompts appear in this piece. I developed the templates with brackets based on my teaching experience. The filled-in examples showing how teachers might customize each template were drafted with help from Claude, an AI assistant. Using AI to help generate these examples let me stress-test and customize each template across different subjects and grade levels and confirm that the prompts produce useful results. I reviewed and edited every example.
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