I'm going to focus more on the student thinking aspect of this project. I was lucky enough to go to a workshop about Gemini this week and had a great conversation with a PLN friend from another part of Ohio. We got to talking about using AI in the classroom and he referred to teachers concern about students still DOING the thinking and how we tackle that. I shared an overview of the activity I did with John Spencer's writing prompts and how I feel activities like this can help teacher avoid AI generated content.
Sure, my students 100% could have fed the video into an AI tool and it would have spit something back out. BUT ... here's the key to where I believe students wouldn't reach for AI ...
#1 - they had 100% choice in which prompt to respond to
#2 - they had 100% choice over the tool/design they used for their final project
#3 - I required them to converse with peers about the expectations of the prompt
#4 - I required them to converse with peers about how they'd be graded, down to how many points each rubric element was worth
#5 - peer feedback was built in to the project timeline
#6 - they graded themselves with an explanation before I did and reflection was required
The student choice on their topic wasn't super new to them, but they struggled when they were allowed to choose their tool. We had an entire conversation around what tools are available and what might work or not work for each prompt. Talking through that helped quite a few of them ... some still needed more guidance, but it helped.
I saw struggle - and perseverance - kick in with the conversations around the expectations. It was shocking to ME how tough it was for them to really understand what the prompt was asking them to do. I realized how little practice they have ever had with this. They are so used to being told exactly what to do and how to do it.
THE toughest part of this activity was when it came down to them talking about the grading rubric. I told them this project was worth 50 points. THEY needed to decide where they felt these points should be assigned --> what was the criteria and how many points. Wow! The complete randomness they assigned points really opened my eyes. Either they think teachers have some magical training in rubric math or they have zero clue 😁 .
I know a lot of teachers have students reflect on their work, but doing it in addition to them grading themselves was enlightening. They didn't just choose points, they had to explain their point value. Quite a few of them were harder on themselves than I would have been.
When I think about this, it feels like a very overwhelming project, but honest and truly it wasn't. I posted links in our LMS for the prompts, had the conversations planned, provided the generic "what is required for your prompt" half-sheet, and the rubric worksheet ready, but otherwise, it was work and think time in class. If they chose to - or felt they needed to - they could work on it outside of class.
Lots of student thinking - lots of AI proofing - but this was a project the kids very much enjoyed! I had to "close the chapter" on this project for a lot of them because they wanted to continue working on them ... while it made me very happy, sometimes we have to recognize we can fiddle and adjust and never feel "done".
If you are interested in the student components I've talked about, I've added them to my Templates for Teachers blog where I share all the items others can make their own copies and use "as is" or make modifications and customize. You can find it here: John Spencer Writing Prompts activity
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