(I’m republishing my favorite posts from the second half of 2023. You can see them all here)

 

ArtsyBee / Pixabay

 

I tried out a lot of different Artificial Intelligence ideas with my students in the final months of school this page year.

You can read about all of them at MY BEST POSTS ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE CLASSROOM.

After all those experiments, and after reading about what other teachers have done, this is the guidance I’m thinking of giving my IB Theory of Knowledge students when they write their essay (feedback on how to make it better is welcome!).  Based on guidance from IB, I think this process would be acceptable to them, but still need to check on that.  Even if, for some reason, is not, I think this process is a workable one in general for essay writing in most classes that are using prompts not listed in I Asked Artificial Intelligence To Recommend Student Writing Prompts That Can’t Be Easily Helped By AI – Here Are 14 Of Them:

If you are going to use ChatGPT to help you write your essay, here are the steps that I would like you to take:

1.Use it to help you create an outline.  These instructions can be found at NEW GUIDANCE I’M GIVING MY STUDENTS ON CHATGPT USE – WE’LL SEE HOW IT GOES.

 

2. Use it to improve the grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure in your draft. First, paste this prompt into ChatGPT, followed by pasting your draft essay into it (Note that the expectation is that you have written at least 600 words – more is even better – on your own before you submit it to ChatGPT):

Please make grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure improvements to the following essay.  After each paragraph, explain why you made those changes and how they improve the essay.

It is possible that, in response to this prompt, ChatGPT may just type out an essay with its changes and not include the reasons behind the corrections.  If that’s the case, then paste this prompt into it:

Can you type each paragraph and after each one explain the changes that you made in it?

You will also need to get its corrected version without its explanations, so you can then type this prompt:

Please type a version with all the corrections, but not including your explanations.

Then, in a document titled “Draft Essay Corrected For Grammar And Punctuation”:

  • Paste your original draft
  • The ChatGPT paragraph-by-paragraph version with its corrections and explanations
  • The corrected ChatGPT version without its explanations.  This should also include any changes that you have made to it because you don’t like or agree with its corrections.  Do not assume that all of its modifications are correct.  In particular, please make any changes that you don’t believe reflect your “voice,” especially modifying any brand new sentences it appears to have inserted into the essay.
  • A few sentences you write at the bottom sharing at least two points you have learned from ChatGPT’s modifications that you can apply to your future writing.

 

3. Use it to improve the content of your essay. First, paste the version of your essay that has been previously corrected by ChatGPT for grammar, punctuation and sentence structure after you paste this prompt into it:

The following essay has been written to respond to this prompt: [paste the prompt]. Please provide additional examples and evidence to strengthen this essay. After each paragraph, explain why you made those changes and how they improve the essay.

Again, it is possible that, in response to this prompt, ChatGPT may just type out an essay with its changes and not include the reasons behind the corrections.  If that’s the case, then paste this prompt into it:

Can you type each paragraph and after each one explain the changes that you made in it?

Then, in a document titled “Draft Essay Including Content Suggestions From ChatGPT”:

  • Paste your draft essay that has been corrected by ChatGPT for grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure
  • The ChatGPT paragraph-by-paragraph version with its content corrections and explanations
  • After each paragraph, and after each of ChatGPT’s explanations, a short commentary from you (in a different color) saying:
    –  if you agree or disagree with the changes and, if so, why
    –  a list of changes that whose accuracy you need to confirm
    –  If you are agreeing with its changes, saying if you are going to quote it in your final essay or if you are going to put it in your own words.
  • A few sentences you write at the bottom of the document sharing any lesson you have learned from ChatGPT’s modifications that you can apply to your future writing.

 

4. Use it to proofread the grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure of your final version.

After having made all the changes in your draft, including either deciding to either attribute quotations to ChatGPT or putting things in your own words, you can repeat the earlier step of having it review your essay for grammar, punctuation and sentence structure.  You should have included what you learned in that earlier step in writing this final version.

Create a document titled “Final Essay Corrected For Grammar And Punctuation” and include the same four points as described earlier:

  • Paste your “final” version
  • The ChatGPT paragraph-by-paragraph version with its corrections and explanations
  • The corrected ChatGPT version without its explanations.  This should also include any changes that you have made to it because you don’t like or agree with its corrections.  Do not assume that all of its modifications are correct.  In particular, please make any changes that you don’t believe reflect your “voice,” especially modifying any brand new sentences it appears to have inserted into the essay.
  • A few sentences you write at the bottom sharing any new points you have learned from ChatGPT’s modifications that you can apply to your future writing AND/OR how you applied in the final version what you learned from its first corrections.

 

NOTE: If you quote from ChatGPT, cite it like you would any other reference.   There does not yet seem to be agreement how to cite use of ChatGPT in other ways, yet.  So, for now, if you use ChatGPT in the way outlined in this guidance, you can say “ChatGPT was used for editing assistance with teacher guidance and supervision.”

 

 

Well, this is my latest thinking.  I think this maximizes student learning in what I’m hearing is being called “hybrid writing.”  Again, let me know how I can make further improvements!