Summary
When working with puzzles, discovering the importance of individual pieces helps to determine the whole picture. In this lesson, students dissect a writing prompt into individual components and use AI tools to break prompts down. Students practice determining the importance and purpose of the whole prompt. Students independently write a prompt to apply their knowledge and check for understanding.
Essential Question(s)
How does breaking down a prompt help one answer it effectively?
Snapshot
Engage
Students compose a puzzle using a variety of methods.
Explore
Students transfer puzzle composing skills to put together an ACT prompt and use AI tools to dissect it.
Explain
Students discuss the components of a good writing prompt and how it creates an effective response.
Extend
Students create their own writing prompt from a list of topics.
Evaluate
Students feed their prompt into an AI site and determine how effectively the bot writes an essay based on the prompt.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Puzzle Packets (one per group, see note below)
Prompt Surgery handout (attached; one per student)
Prompt Card Sort packets (attached; one per pair)
Prompt Map handout (attached; one per pair)
Prompt Practice handout (attached; one per student)
Sample Response 1 handout (attached; one per student)
Sample Response 2 handout (attached; one per student)
Preparing the Lesson
30 Minute(s)
Engage - Puzzle Packets
For the Engage portion, you will need multiple copies of the same puzzle for each group. These puzzles can be as simple as printed paper versions or more intricate like wooden puzzles. Place the pieces of each puzzle in sandwich bags. Add a brief description of the puzzle to slide 6 and add the image of your chosen puzzle to slide 7.
Explore - Card Sort Packets
For the Explore portion, print and cut out Prompt Card Sort based on classroom needs. We suggest laminating for longevity and durability. Consider placing the cards in plastic bags or paper clipping them together.
Engage
20 Minute(s)
Use the Lesson Slides to facilitate this lesson. Transition through slides 3-4 to review the essential question and lesson objectives in as much detail as you think necessary.
Assign students to small groups of 4-5. Pass out the Puzzle Packets you created and show slide 5. Explain that during the first round, students will work on completing the puzzle without any directions. Start the timer. Repeat for each round using slides 6-7. Explain to students that each slide gradually reveals more of the directions.
After each group has completed their puzzle, display slide 8 and ask for volunteers to provide feedback on their experience using the discussion questions as a guide.
Explore
30 Minute(s)
Arrange students into pairs and pass out the packets of Prompt Card Sort and a Prompt Map for each pair. Then display slide 9 and introduce students to the Card Sort instructional strategy. Explain that students will rearrange the cards so that they create a prompt using the Prompt Map as a guide.
After they rearrange the cards, pass out the Prompt Practice handout to every student and move to slide 10 to review how the prompt should look using the image. Facilitate a class discussion about the process that students took using the provided discussion questions. Consider writing their answers on the board for later use. By the end of the exercise, students should understand that parts of a writing prompt are like a puzzle. The prompt is composed of certain pieces with certain jobs and once those parts are assembled and understood, students can understand how the whole prompt works.
Move to slide 11 and have students write out the steps they would take to answer the prompt. When all groups/students have correctly rearranged their prompts and written out their steps, transition to slide 12. Tell the students that they will now compare the steps they wrote out with AI by using Goblin Tools. Walk students through the steps on the slide for accessing and using the web app.
As students work to access the site, explain that Goblin Tools is meant for neurodivergent audiences. This means that the chili peppers they see can help the AI know how detailed their breakdown of topics needs to be. On the “Magic ToDo” tab, students can also select “break down more” if they wish to see the steps in more detail.
After students have compared their steps to the AI, move to slide 13 and have a discussion about the process and what students noticed about the AI’s response.
Explain
40 Minute(s)
Transition through slides 14-17 to review what each part of a writing prompt entails. Provide as much detail and examples as you feel necessary. Then give each group of students four different colored highlighters and the Sample Response #1 handout and Sample Response #2 handout. This handout offers two essays written from the earlier prompt. Move to slide 18.
Explain that students will annotate the prompt responses and determine which prompt is written by a human and which prompt was generated by AI. Instruct students to use the instructional strategy Categorical Highlighting when annotating the essays. The task is to identify which parts are the Introduction and which parts address the Audience, Type, and Goal/Perspective. Instruct students to highlight and annotate how the essay is addressing the prompt. Allow students time to work.
After students have completed annotating the essays, proceed to slide 19. Have each group discuss whether the essays they read accurately respond to the writing prompt. Then have each group predict which essay was written by AI. Ask them for evidence for their claim. After each group shares their thoughts, move to slide 20 and reveal which essay was the one written by AI. Highlight common occurrences that happen with AI generated essays like specific language used or repetitive sentence structure. For example, if the essay prompt called for citation of evidence, highlight the fact that AI sometimes generates fake quotes and citations. In this case, the AI didn’t fully answer the prompt.
After your class discussion, ask students what transition or keywords they noticed for each of the four sections. Use the space on slides 21-22 to take note of their answers. Note: Be sure to erase these answers at the end of each class.
Extend
40 Minute(s)
Proceed to slide 23. Pass out to each student the Prompt Surgery handout. Students will now work to create their own writing prompt based on the given template. Their writing prompt should contain the four elements discussed in the Explore: Introduction, Audience, Type, and Goal/Perspective. Unhide slide 24 to share possible topics, or as a class, brainstorm your own list. Allow students time to work. If needed, display the notes you took earlier on slides 21-22.
Evaluate
30 Minute(s)
Once students have completed their writing prompt, proceed to slide 25, and introduce students to the instructional strategy Critique the Bot. Instruct students to go to an AI site and feed their prompt into the generator using the tips on the slide. Once students read the essay that has been AI generated from the prompt they created, have them critique how the bot did using the Prompt Surgery handout as a sort of rubric.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Card sort. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/147
K20 Center. (n.d.). Categorical highlighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/192
K20 Center. (n.d.). Critique the bot. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/3491
K20 Center. (n.d.). Goblin tools. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/3864