I've been toying with the idea of writing a post about ChatGPT for quite some time. Yet, I held back because I didn't want to merely sing praises of this remarkable tool or overwhelm you with an endless list of teaching prompts (seriously, who has the patience for those lengthy lists?).
I wanted to offer you a practical, step-by-step guide to genuinely streamline your day-to-day teaching tasks. A straightforward approach that yields tangible results. After meticulous planning and months of refinement, I'm confident I've achieved it!
The ChatGPT cheatsheet for teachers provided below will not just boost your efficiency. It will challenge and reshape your very perception of what being efficient means!
7 ChatGPT Prompts Every Teacher Needs
(That Will Help You Reclaim 5+ Hours a Week)
Before delving into the cheatsheet, let's first touch upon what ChatGPT is, how you can access it, and why being clear on what you need help with is now more important than ever.
So, What is ChatGPT?
Just in case you've been living under a rock for the past six months... ChatGPT is OpenAI's state-of-the-art language model. For the rest of us earth-dwellers, it's become a game-changer in understanding and generating human-like text based on the prompts it receives. This makes it a formidable tool for a range of tasks, from fielding questions to creating content.
How to Access ChatGPT
To get started with ChatGPT, visit https://chat.openai.com/ and sign up. There's a free tier available, as well as a premium option. I personally use the paid version and find it immensely valuable, but the choice is entirely yours! Using the guide I've provided, you can achieve impressive results even with the free tier!
The Art of Prompting
While it's entirely possible to dive in and enjoy hours-long fascinating conversations with the bot, the focus of this post and the guide I’ve created is to actually SAVE you time. I'm going to demonstrate the teaching tasks that can be streamlined by the bot and how to converse with it to get the results you're seeking, all with the aim of combating that all-too-familiar burnout.
Capturing Your Unique Teaching Voice
The first thing you want to do is teach the bot as much as you can about being you! The goal is for the bot to generate content that mirrors your unique voice and style. This means familiarizing it with your teaching tone, voice, and communication nuances.
Start by gathering examples of your work: a few paragraphs from a lesson introduction, feedback you've given to students, or interactions with parents or colleagues. Once you've collected these, proceed with the prompt below...
I want you to learn and emulate my unique teaching tone, voice, and communication style. Below are a few samples of my writing and communication from different teaching contexts. After studying them, please respond to the subsequent questions in a manner that mirrors my style.
Writing Samples:
- Sample 1: [Insert a paragraph from a lesson introduction or explanation.]
- Sample 2: [Insert feedback or comments you've given on student work.]
- Sample 3: [Insert communication excerpts with parents or colleagues.]
Style Assessment Questions:
- How would you emphasize the significance of a positive classroom ambiance?
- Share your perspective on the integration of technology in today's education.
- Distinguish between formative and summative assessments.
Guidelines:
- For the writing samples, consider using transcriptions from your lectures, representative lesson plan notes, emails or communications that reflect your tone, or written feedback on student assignments.
- After inputting your samples, ChatGPT will craft responses to the style assessment questions. Tailor these questions to align with your teaching subject or educational philosophy.
- The resulting responses should echo the style and tone of your samples.
- For a more accurate emulation, provide feedback on the bot's answers, share additional samples, or pose more style assessment questions. The richer the context and the more examples you give, the more adept ChatGPT becomes at mirroring your style.
Always start with the "Learn my tone, voice, and writing style" prompt. This ensures ChatGPT consistently mirrors your unique style in its responses. Now, consider an example of a teaching task that ChatGPT can seamlessly streamline...
Scenario #1: From Classroom Recording to Online Lesson Summary in Just a Few Clicks
Goal: Transform in-person lessons into accessible online summaries, aiding students in reviewing content more efficiently.
First, obtain a free transcription of your lesson at https://riverside.fm/transcription
Next, use the ChatGPT prompt provided below:
Act as an indispensable assistant to a teacher. Your objective is to take transcriptions of in-class lessons and, from each transcription, formulate an online lesson summary or plan.
Your summary should emphasize the lesson's main concepts, significant points, assigned homework, and any hands-on activities or demonstrations. Students should use this summary alongside lesson recordings for efficient content review.
Context:
- Classroom Lesson Transcription:
- [Insert the transcription of the lesson here, ensuring it captures the entire content you wish to summarize for online posting.]
- Expected Output:
- Lesson Title:
- [Title based on the main topic of the lesson]
- Learning Objectives:
- [Briefly state what students are expected to learn or achieve by the end of the lesson]
- Key Concepts Covered:
- [Concept 1]
- [Concept 2]
- [Concept 3]
- [And so on...]
- Important Points or Examples:
- [Highlight any critical points or examples discussed during the lesson that students should pay special attention to.]
- Homework or Follow-up Activities (if any):
- [Mention any assignments, readings, or tasks assigned during the lesson]
- Additional Notes:
- [Any other remarks, like reminders about upcoming tests, projects, or other important dates]
- Lesson Title:
Guidelines:
- Insert your classroom lesson transcription into the prompt.
- Use ChatGPT to generate an organized lesson summary.
- If the summary isn't up to your expectations, offer ChatGPT a sample of an online lesson summary you prefer to guide its outputs.
Curious about more ways ChatGPT can streamline your teaching tasks? Imagine effortlessly crafting your weekly classroom newsletter or receiving tailored suggestions to enhance your lessons. Access our guide to explore prompts tailored for 5 additional scenarios, each promising to save you hours every week with just a few clicks.
The true potential of ChatGPT is not just in its ability to answer questions or expedite research; it's in our capacity to tailor it as our very own personal assistant. Envision a tool that can execute tasks to the same caliber as you on your best days!
Eager to further harness the power of AI for other tasks? Join our Facebook group for educators, share your ideas, and let's collaboratively push the boundaries of what's possible.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
