AI Tools for Writing Teachers: Trending Topic

What’s Happening: In the past year, artificial intelligence (AI) tools have surged. Whenever I open a social media app on my phone, I’m introduced to a new flashy tool that I’m intrigued to try. This can quickly get overwhelming, especially if, like me, you begin to swirl down a rabbit hole of exploration. With this in mind, I’m bringing you six tools with different purposes and uses within a classroom of writers. They range from lesson planning to revision at your students’ fingertips. Explore now or save for later.

What it is: BRISK for teachers is a tool that allows you to explore potential ideas for feedback on student writing, create content for writing lessons, and adapt existing articles or passages to a certain reading level.

How it Works: In my seventh-grade classroom, we have explored the importance of community and belonging. We’ve written some argument paragraphs, and I found that students struggled to incorporate strong word choices to enhance their argument. Using Brisk, I created an exemplar essay that I could pick and choose from as a mentor text for students who needed a model.

What it is: EDU.gpt is like the teacher’s lounge you always dreamed of. There are multiple categories by grade level, content, or even different tech tools. It’s like having your own personal faculty of coaches and assistants.

How it works: Choose the area you want assistance and then type in your prompt to the chat. One way I’ve used this is with my students who have accommodations.

I used Mr. Focus Foster to ask for ideas related to strategies when breaking down writing prompts for students with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). This prompt generated a list of six strategies I could try immediately.

What it is: ALMANACK is a lesson planning tool that can quickly create slides and presentations.

How it Works: This past week, I wanted to create a lesson on independent and dependent clauses. Almanack created a slide deck with the content I wanted, plus images.

Here is the exact prompt I put in: “Create a resource for seventh-grade students helping them understand what a clause is, including things like dependent clause, independent clause, and coordinating conjunctions. Then, create examples where students have to label the type of clause and create some of their own.” Almanack generated slides that were both informative and interactive. I made any necessary revisions, and here is what I got: Link to my slide deck.

Go Deeper: As I narrowed down my list for this post, I landed on six tools I’ve loved this year. If you want to explore the three I didn’t dig into above, click the links below.

What’s Next: Since hitting “publish” on this post, there is bound to be something new. If you have a favorite AI tool for teachers or students, share it in the comments, along with a link to the resource. There is so much out there, and undoubtedly more to come.