The title of this blog post may make you feel like an actual person is walking alongside you – as you re-enter the school building in the coming days or weeks! The truth is, Generative AI has so many possibilities to ASSIST educators, it is no longer an option to ignore it.

Those first few days back can be very stressful and while Generative AI (GenAI) can’t set up your classroom for you – it CAN design a welcome letter, back-to-school night presentation or set up a solid seating chart! Generative AI just tipped it’s hat forward, did a little dance and walked in as your new, powerful, strong ALLY {*cue the visual in your mind} – helping to navigate the complexities and many tasks in preparation of a new school year.

It’s Time to Train Your GenAI Ally!

Generative AI (GenAI), with its ability to process information rapidly and generate human-like text, offers a wealth of possibilities for educators. Let’s explore how this technology can revolutionize your back-to-school preparation in the coming weeks.

Streamlining Classroom Management

Seating Charts: First and foremost, our student’s privacy is of utmost importance. When writing prompts or asking your LLM of choice to assist you with a task- DO NOT INCLUDE IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION! Use initials or first names only! The key is not to provide any of these LLMs your personal information or anyone else’s – be strategic in the precision of your prompt! When designing a seating arrangement for your classroom, you need to consider each of your student’s learning styles and ensure that they are seated to succeed. You can provide a general overview of your class such as: “Create a seating chart for a Spanish 2 class of 25 students, considering language proficiency levels and learning styles.” or provide a specific parameters to include a fairly anonymous student list, classroom layout, student preferences such as: “Arrange my students in a 5×6 seating chart in a table format, considering the following preferences amongst my Spanish 2 students- special seating requirements include: AG needs to sit near the front, BB and CH do not work well together, DP needs to also sit near the front near AG, HD is chatty and should not sit near GR, AG or JV, PR requires a door nearby.” Using a LLM like Gemini makes it easy to export into Google Sheets for future reference and or/adjustments in the future.
Attendance: Avoid the traditional roll call in those first few days of school. Instead consider a fun, easy warm up for your students to introduce themselves to the group. This will allow students to say their own {preferred} names AND it gives you a chance to hear how they would like their name pronounced. As someone who dreaded the roll call – class after class – it always felt like nails on the chalkboard when they mispronounced my first name {or sometimes made a joke about “never winning an Emmy“} A student’s name is tied to their identity and it is so critical to ensure that they are made to feel welcomed and valued in those first few days together. You can ask your LLM of choice to provide a variety of fun ways to introduce one’s self on the first few days with this prompt, “It is the first few days of school and you are a Spanish teacher, getting to know each of your new students. You would like for students to quickly go around the room to state their name and introduce themselves by selecting ONE word that best describes themselves, their interests, their summer vacation, etc. Come up with a list of at least twenty different fun introductory topics for students to highlight something about themselves using just one word.“

Building Community and Engagement

Welcome Letters: Wondering how to jazz up your “welcome back” letter? AI can help draft a general welcome letter that you can customize. Try this prompt: “Write an engaging, kind and sincere welcome letter to Spanish 2 students emphasizing the importance of language learning in today’s globalized world. Outline the course’s focus on conversational fluency, cultural competence, and critical thinking skills. Clearly communicate expectations regarding class participation, homework completion, and assessment methods. Include a brief overview of key course themes or units to generate excitement and anticipation. Limit to 500 words.”
Syllabus Development: While your expertise is invaluable in crafting a meaningful syllabus, AI can assist in generating initial drafts. Head over to Canva (snag your free educator account if you don’t have one yet!) and browse through their array of templates. You can also provide your LLM of choice, your course goals, learning objectives, and grading policies, and it can create a basic outline. “Write a syllabus for a Spanish 1 course focused on conversational skills, with a grading breakdown of 20% daily preparation, 60% evidence of learning through the modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive, presentational, and 20% Integrated Performance Assessments”
Get-To-Know-You Icebreakers: Building strong relationships with students and building a community in your classroom from the start is crucial. Generative AI can provide a variety of icebreaker ideas tailored to your class level and interests. For example, “Create 5 icebreaker activities for a French 3 class focused on getting to know one another, discussing summer vacation and personal interests.” Check out this Would you rather? (English / Spanish) resource created thanks to Canva + Bulk Create.

Enhancing Back-to-School Night

Ideas for Back to School Night: If you are looking to change up your upcoming Back-to-School night presentations with parents & guardians, why not ask your personal assistant to help brainstorm new ideas? Try this: “Provide at least three different back to school night activities (no more than 3 minutes) each that I can facilitate with my group of parents and guardians from my German 2 High School Class.“
Presentation Slides: It’s easy to create a captivating, informative slideshow! There are many AI slideshow tools out there to help educators, such as Canva, SlidesAI, Almanack.ai or Gamma. Provide AI with key points and desired visuals, and it can generate a basic framework – it provides a wonderful starting point that you can refine and make your own. For example, “Create a PowerPoint slides outline for a Spanish 1 back-to-school night presentation highlighting course goals, materials, and assessment methods.”

Tips for Using Generative AI (GenAI)

It’s essential to use GenAI wisely and begin training. You can ask your LLM of choice – “Ask me 20 questions to better understand my role in education.” Once your LLM poses the questions and you reply thoughtfully, it will have this very insightful information moving forward.

Here are additional tips when prompting your LLM of choice:

Provide Clear Instructions: The more specific your prompts, the better the AI’s output. Strategic precision is key.
Review and Edit: AI-generated content is a starting point or a first draft. Always review and refine to ensure accuracy of what is created and alignment with your teaching style- make modifications to better fit your needs.
Maintain Authenticity: Use AI as a tool to enhance your work, not replace it. Avoid blindly copy/pasting.
Ethical Considerations: Be mindful of copyright and plagiarism issues when using AI-generated content. Cite AI

By harnessing the power of generative AI, language teachers can reclaim valuable time and focus on what truly matters: connecting with students, ensuring that classrooms are a source of joy and designing incredible learning experiences with language acquisition at the core.

Remember, it’s essential to maintain our human connections in our classrooms. Your passion for language learning and your ability to connect with students are qualities that no AI can replicate.

Looking to dive in deeper with GenAI?

Here is where I would LOVE to continue to help support your AI literacy journey as a language educator! I have set up a membership-based learning community exclusively for language educators: The AI Innovator Community for Language Educators (with monthly GenAI workshops, access to five asynchronous courses, a quarterly newsletter with insights, private Innovator community discussion space), I also share often within our Team Lo Logramos FB community, and designed a variety of courses.

Take advantage of this partnership between Lo Logramos Consulting and Language Teaching Lab – Get a $5 off discount when you use the code LTL5 at checkout, exceptions may apply

Lo Logramos does accept School POs, so feel free to reach out! team.lologramos@gmail.com

Headin’ Back-to-School with GenAI