Schools and districts can use AI tools to draft up designs for systems like assessment, professional learning, and graduate portrait implementation that align to their student-centered visions of learning.
Example Prompt: Building Career-Connected Learning in Elementary Schools
-Explain who you are.
-Describe what output you want.
-Include details about your school or district community.
>I am a district leader and we need to figure out how to integrate career-connected learning in the elementary school. My district serves a socioeconomically diverse student population. We have 7 elementary schools ranging from 100 students to 450. We want our students to see what is possible within their community and beyond. We want to create a design that includes community members coming into the school and sharing about the work they do and how they acquire. We want the kids to get excited about potential jobs. We want them to be able to list their 3 possible careers of interest. We want them to connect this learning to their hope. Develop aspirations. And see the value of learning and school pursuing their aspirations. We want to create a career-week. And we want to have students see the connection between school and their possible futures. Create a design that does this for each of our elementary schools. |
Example Sequence of Prompts: Portrait of a Learner
-Explain who you are, what output you want, and include details about your school or district community.
-Feed the AI tool with the attributes, dispositions, and competencies of a graduating senior from your portrait.
>As a school district, we have created a portrait of a learner, which are the skills and dispositions we want each of our students to develop and our graduates to graduate with upon their graduation. I am going to share with you in the next set of inputs those expectations and aspirations and then ask you how I could develop a district-wide plan to assist our students in developing these skills and dispositions. And some of these plans can simply be attentive to engaging students in typical content in more innovative ways. |
>The first skill set and/or aspiration is character, which includes the following: Understanding that you are unique Being respectful to others Knowing when to compromise Know when not to compromise Demonstrating perseverance Taking care of yourself and others Demonstrating digital citizenship Be bold and have courage Be trustworthy and dependable |
>The second skill and/or disposition is the ability to communicate well, which includes: Speaking clearly Listening carefully Understanding your audience Using appropriate gestures and facial expressions Using technology appropriately and safely Choosing the correct tone for the correct situation Monitor for miscommunication Use your voice-advocate |
>The 3rd skillset and/or disposition is the ability to collaborate well, which includes: Being productive on a team Valuing different perspectives Getting to know people on your team Understand when it is time to lead, and when it is time to be a supporter Be open minded Be approachable Be humble and accept criticism Sharing your ideas |
>The 4th skillset or disposition is the ability to critically think, which includes: • Being able to “think outside the box” to solve problems • Using your imagination • Knowing and using different strategies appropriate to the task • Think for yourself • Consider the source of information and determine if you trust that source • Monitor for misunderstanding • Identify biases, even your own |
>The 5th skillset and/or disposition has to do with life skills, which includes: Being able to have a plan, but be flexible with the plan as needed Be on time Make careful decisions Make healthy choices Being self-reliant Being independent Sticking to tasks Making good financial decisions |
-Prompt the AI tool to develop rubrics for ongoing assessment and self-assessment to track and guide the growth of each learner, using language that aligns to each grade level.
>Provide me with a rubric students could use to self-assess the development of these skillsets and/or dispositions as they pursue them overtime while in our school system |
>Can you rewrite this rubric detailing and referencing the subcomponents for each area I provided you earlier |
>Can you provide me with this same rubric but what it might look like for a 5th grader |
>Can you create this same rubric but for graduating 12th graders |
>How could educators use this rubric with their students in a process of self-assessment and reflection as they work toward these competencies? |
-Create a system of portfolio development and presentations of learning to serve as evidence of growth and achievement of the attributes, dispositions, and competencies.
>We are going to ask our 5th graders to create a portfolio of learning which provides evidence of their having pursued and developed these skill sets and/or dispositions. Can you create a table listing what could be provided as evidence of having achieved each of these skill sets and/or dispositions |
>Design what a 30-minute presentation of learning could look like using a students' portfolio of evidence presented to their family. What could serve as a script for this presentation along with expectations for the presentation |
>Create a version of this I could give a 5th grader to help him or her develop and effectively engage in their presentation of learning |
>Create the same but for a graduating 12th grader |
>Can you outline a PowerPoint slide deck that could be used by a 11th grader to present their pursuit and achievement in each of these expected areas of growth, providing evidence of achievement but also acknowledging specific areas for growth and how they plan to pursue these areas of growth |
-Develop a system of expectations and professional development for all educators to ensure that educators throughout the system have support to implement the profile in these ways.
>How could high school teachers assist and support students' development in these areas in their everyday classes, such as in biology, algebra, and English language arts, and social studies |
>As a 10th grade advisor to 20 students in the school, what could I do to proactively support my advisees in the development of these skills and/or dispositions |
>If I were to create a 1-hour advisory for each week with 20 students, how could I design it around the development of my advisee's development of these skills |
>How could I support my teachers in developing lesson plans that incorporate these skills and evidence of students' attaining these skills |
>Can you create a 3-month long professional development plan to assist and support my teachers to incorporate development of these skills in their lessons and student projects |
-Develop ideas for family, community, and business involvement and draft invitations requesting their support.
>How could I use community members and/or organizations to assist and support our students' development of these skills and/or dispositions |
>Write me a 300-word email to parents about our plans to assist and support every one of our students in the development of these skills and dispositions and why we believe pursuit of these skills and dispositions instrumentally benefit their child in pursuing their desired future and work/careers |
>Rewrite in 150 words |
>Add in the 300-word email how the district and school leaders with classroom educators and community partners will be developing a district-wide plan to ensure each student will be supported in the development of these skills and dispositions, inclusive of ways to make the learning activities learner-centered incorporating ongoing assessment and student reflection |
>Write a 150-word invitation to parents to serve on an advisory committee to help develop an assessment process to evidence students' development of these skills and dispositions using student portfolios of evidence and regular student presentations of learning |
>Can you write a 150-word email invitation to local business and industry partner to help us consider activities and experiences we could engage our students in to better prepare them better for the world of work, specifically the workforce you hope to be able to employ |
Try It
Work with your community to identify a school/district system that needs to be more aligned to student-centered learning. Using the examples above as a guide, prompt the AI tool of your choice to design structures and practices that promote student-centered learning. Use followup prompts to iterate the design to get closer to your vision.
Prompt the AI tool to draft an invitation to members of your school or district community to review the results and provide feedback. *Don't forget to include students in your school/district redesign work! You can't be student-centered without them!
Continue working with your school or district community to test these new systems and gather data that can be used to improve them. Rely on AI tools as a resource as needed.
This toolkit was developed in partnership with Chris Unger, who retains the copyright to the intellectual content provided here.
Photo at top courtesy of Northern Cass School District.