# Teaching — LearnAI Sign in to personalize prompts with your name and role. It's free. Sign In ## Playbook: LearnAI for Teachers and Educators Your reference for using an AI assistant in teaching, curriculum, and student support. Ready-to-run prompts for lesson planning, differentiation, assessment, and parent communication. ## What This Guide Is Not This playbook focuses on practical role-specific applications rather than habit formation. This is a teaching toolkit — the specific ways an AI assistant can save you time and enhance your practice, and the prompts that work. ## Where to Practice These Prompts Every prompt in this guide works with any AI assistant — ChatGPT, Claude, GitHub Copilot, Gemini, or whatever tool you prefer. The prompts are the skill; the tool is just where you type them. Pick the one you’re comfortable with and start today. You don’t need a specific tool to benefit. You need the habit of reaching for AI when the work is genuinely hard — not just when it’s repetitive. ## Core Principle for Educators Teaching is about understanding where students are and meeting them there. an AI assistant’s highest value is reducing the time you spend on tasks that don’t require your expertise — so you have more energy for the work that does. The key pattern: be specific about your students. Grade level, prior knowledge, learning differences, class dynamics. The more context an AI assistant has about your actual classroom, the more useful the output. ## The Seven Use Cases ### 1. Lesson Planning When to use: Designing instruction for a concept, unit, or skill. Prompt pattern: ``` Help me plan a lesson: Subject: [content area] Grade level: [specific grade or range] Topic: [what you're teaching] Standards: [relevant standards if applicable] Time: [class period length] Prior knowledge: [what students already know] Create a lesson plan that includes: 1. Learning objective (clear, measurable) 2. Hook / engagement activity 3. Direct instruction sequence 4. Guided practice 5. Independent practice 6. Formative assessment check 7. Closure / synthesis ``` Follow-up prompts: ``` Add differentiation for students who need more support. ``` ``` Add extension for students who need more challenge. ``` ``` This is too much for one period. What would you cut? ``` Try this now: You teach 8th grade social studies. Your next unit is on the Civil Rights Movement. You have students reading at 4th through 10th grade levels, three students with IEPs, and 47 minutes per class period. Paste those constraints into the lesson planning prompt and ask for a differentiated lesson arc. The output will suggest tiered activities and primary source selections — you adapt them based on what you know about your students. ### 2. Differentiated Materials When to use: Adapting content for different learners. Meeting IEP accommodations. Challenging advanced students. Prompt pattern: ``` Help me differentiate this material: Original content: [paste the text, problem set, or activity] Grade level: [intended level] Students who need adaptation: - [describe the students and their needs] Create: 1. A simplified version (same concept, reduced complexity) 2. A scaffolded version (supports for struggling learners) 3. An extended version (deeper challenge for advanced learners) 4. Visual or graphic organizer version ``` Follow-up prompts: ``` A student with [specific learning difference] is struggling. What additional supports would help? ``` ``` Create a word bank / sentence starters for ELL students. ``` ``` Make this accessible for a student reading 2 grades below level. ``` ### 3. Assessment and Rubric Design When to use: Creating formative and summative assessments. Designing clear rubrics. Prompt pattern: ``` Help me create an assessment: Topic: [what you're assessing] Type: [formative / summative / diagnostic] Format: [quiz / project / essay / presentation / performance task] Standards: [what you're measuring] Time: [how long students have] Create: 1. Clear directions 2. Assessment items aligned to standards 3. A rubric with specific criteria and levels 4. Common misconceptions to watch for 5. Options for student choice if appropriate ``` Follow-up prompts: ``` Create an answer key with explanations. ``` ``` Add a self-assessment checklist for students. ``` ``` What feedback comments would help a student at each rubric level? ``` ### 4. Feedback and Comments When to use: Providing meaningful feedback on student work at scale. Prompt pattern: ``` Help me write feedback on student work: Assignment: [what students were asked to do] This student's work: [summarize or paste key excerpts] Strengths: [what they did well] Areas for growth: [where they need to improve] Tone: [encouraging / direct / growth-focused] Write feedback that: 1. Starts with a specific strength 2. Identifies the most important area for growth 3. Provides a concrete next step 4. Uses student-friendly language for grade [X] 5. Stays under [X] sentences ``` Follow-up prompts: ``` This student is easily discouraged. Make it more supportive while still honest. ``` ``` Write 5 variations of this feedback for different students with similar issues. ``` ``` Create targeted praise comments I can use for [specific skill]. ``` ### 5. Parent Communication When to use: Emails, conference prep, progress updates, behavior communications. Prompt pattern: ``` Help me communicate with a parent: Context: [what's happening] Student situation: [academic / behavioral / positive update] Parent relationship: [new / established / challenging] Goal: [what you want to accomplish] Tone: [professional / warm / concerned / celebratory] Write a [email / phone script / conference talking points] that: 1. Opens with connection 2. States the situation clearly 3. Focuses on student growth 4. Invites partnership 5. Proposes next steps ``` Follow-up prompts: ``` The parent might get defensive. How do I frame this more carefully? ``` ``` I need to document this conversation. What should my notes include? ``` ``` Write a follow-up email after a conference. ``` ### 6. Classroom Activities and Engagement When to use: Creating engaging activities, discussion prompts, group work structures. Prompt pattern: ``` Help me design an engaging activity: Topic: [what you're teaching] Goal: [what students should learn or practice] Class size: [number of students] Time: [how long you have] Energy level: [need to activate / need to focus / review] Create an activity that: 1. Gets all students participating (not just volunteers) 2. Has clear instructions and structure 3. Includes built-in accountability 4. Has a clear debrief or synthesis moment 5. Can be adapted if time runs short ``` Follow-up prompts: ``` Make this work for small groups of 3-4 students. ``` ``` Add a movement component — students have been sitting too long. ``` ``` What discussion questions would deepen the thinking after this activity? ``` ### 7. Curriculum Mapping and Unit Design When to use: Planning a unit, sequencing instruction, aligning to standards. Prompt pattern: ``` Help me design a unit: Subject: [content area] Unit topic: [the big idea] Duration: [number of weeks / class periods] Standards to cover: [list them] Prior units: [what students have already learned] Culminating assessment: [how you'll measure success] Create a unit outline with: 1. Essential questions that drive inquiry 2. Lesson sequence with key concepts in order 3. Formative assessment checkpoints 4. Key vocabulary and scaffolds 5. Connection to student interests or real world ``` Follow-up prompts: ``` Where can I integrate cross-curricular connections? ``` ``` I have a field trip / guest speaker. How do I build it in? ``` ``` What prerequisite skills should I pre-assess? ``` ## What Great Looks Like After consistent use, you should notice: less time on planning with more time on teaching, better differentiated materials without starting from scratch, faster and more specific feedback at scale, and clearer communication with parents. The goal isn’t for an AI assistant to teach your students — it’s for an AI assistant to give you time back for the work only you can do. ## Practice Plan Day Focus Time Day 1 Plan one lesson using the lesson planning prompt — notice what you would have missed 30 min Day 2 Differentiate one piece of existing material for your range of learners 30 min Day 3 Write feedback on a set of student assignments using the feedback prompt 25 min Day 4 Draft a parent communication for a situation you’ve been putting off 30 min Day 5 Review the week’s prompts — save your three best with /saveinsight 25 min ### Month 2–3 Shift from guided exercises to independent workflows — build templates, integrate AI into your real projects, and create reusable prompt libraries for repeating tasks. Track Your Growth ``` /saveinsight Lesson planning: [description] ``` ``` /saveinsight Differentiation strategies: [description] ``` Continue your practice: adapt one prompt to a current challenge, then review the result before using it. Academic Integrity Be thoughtful about how AI use intersects with your classroom expectations: - Model appropriate AI use for students - Consider how you’ll handle student AI use on assignments - Be transparent with colleagues about your own AI use - Focus AI assistance on your teacher work, not on replacing student learning Your expertise is what makes the learning happen. LearnAI skills for this discipline bootstrap-learning knowledge-synthesis documentation-quality-assurance ai-writing-avoidance proactive-assistance Completed this playbook? Show the world you've mastered AI for teaching. Add your verified certificate of completion to LinkedIn. [Add to LinkedIn](#) [Share as Post](#)