Lesson Plan: Writing

31 Jul 2024

The conversation about using AI in the classroom is evolving. Recognizing that AI has already become commonplace in many classrooms, teachers are exploring ways they can use the technology to help students think critically and creatively. In this lesson plan, you’ll encourage students to use AI as a thought partner in the writing process, and then you’ll ask them to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.

Note: As always, preview this lesson prior to assigning! You might need to make modifications depending on your access to technology and your school’s AI policies.

Lesson Steps

Brainstorming opener: Let the class know that today they’re going to experiment with using AI to help them write. Depending on how (or whether) you’ve incorporated AI in your classroom, this may be a surprise to them! Divide the class into pairs and have them spend a few minutes discussing the following question with their partners.
- Before you start a writing assignment, what steps do you usually take to set up your essay?
- If you were going to use AI to help you write that essay, what would you ask it to do?
Experimenting with AI: Next, have students open up ChatGPT or a similar AI tool. Tell them that they are going to use AI to help them generate a plan for writing a short essay. Give them the following prompt to put into ChatGPT (make sure to adjust the prompt to fit your class demographics):

I am a student in a ninth-grade classroom and must write a short essay on a topic of my choice for an assessment. I can write about any topic I find compelling. You are an expert on the topic I choose and will help me focus my work. Please use the Socratic Method to help me create an outline. Ask one question at a time. Make sure I respond thoroughly before moving to the next question. After approximately 10 questions, please synthesize my responses and provide pathways for my writing.

Have students continue to interact with AI and respond to the questions. Remind them that the more detailed their responses are, the better the suggestions they’ll receive.
Then, ask them to review the suggested pathways provided at the end of the sequence. Encourage them to tweak the pathways they receive until they get something they’re satisfied with. They can do this through responses such as, “That’s great, but can you provide suggestions that are more ___________ [evidence-based, aligned to a certain community].” Or, “That’s not quite right, can you try again?” Again, the more detail they provide, the better the responses they’ll receive.

Evaluating AI: Ask students to critically review the outline provided and answer the following questions:

Which section of the outline do you feel is the strongest? Why?
Which section of the outline do you feel is the weakest? Why?

Incorporating AI: Then, ask students to use the AI-provided outline to write a short introductory paragraph to their essay (three to five sentences) .
Closer: Finally, have students respond to the following questions based on their experience using AI in the writing process:

What’s one way ChatGPT helped make this writing process easier?
What were the limitations or challenges you encountered using ChatGPT in this way?
Would you use a strategy like this to help you with your writing in the future? Why or why not?
What are important things to keep in mind when using AI to help with writing? Consider things like credibility, creativity, ethical considerations, limitations or anything else that came up for you in this exercise.

If time allows, have students share their reflections in a class discussion.

If you’re looking for more support for student writing, check out the Writing Topic Page for additional writing resources. Have a great idea for incorporating AI into your classroom? Head to the OER Project Teacher Community to share it with fellow teachers and to check in on what your colleagues are testing out with their students.

Cover image: Digital literacy, by OER Project, CC BY 4.0.