Using Bard in Creating Grammar Lessons for ELA

I'm back in an ELA classroom part-time at ASP for G6 and G7. I'm loving being with students everyday in the role of teacher, rather than principal. I enjoy the challenges and struggles of administration, but being in the classroom is always more fun. Our current textbook for ELA is from HMH and it is a good book, but sometimes I feel like not doing certain work online. Grammar is something I feel works better offline for me. Giving students time to practice reading examples of sentences and then creating their own examples without the distractions of the online world can be a good break from digital life. The grammar lesson for this particular unit is dealing with Simple, Compound, and Complex sentences. The HMH lesson was good, but I thought — let's see how Bard handles the idea.

I typed in the following prompt: Explanation for 7th grade students about simple sentences with 10 examples of simple sentences. The results were this lesson about Simply Sentences. I was pretty happy with the results and the style, so I used the prompt two more times, but changed it to Compound Sentences and Complex Sentences. I'll be teaching these lessons next week, so I will return to provide my experience with the students.

Update 12.19.23

I used the lessons with both of my middle school classes and it went quite well. Students asked many questions about how I used AI to create the lessons. It lead to natural discussions about ethical use of AI technology. We wrote our practice sentences together in class. We will be working on Argumentative Essays after the holiday, so they will be expected to use Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences correctly in the essay.

#12DaysLearning Day 7 -- Would you rather monitor a standardized test or grade a set of essays

Day 7 -- Would you rather monitor standardized tests or grade a set of essays?
First let me just say, "Eeeewwwww! Who came up with this idea? Yuck!" With that said, I was an English teacher before becoming a coach, so for me the essays are totally fine. In fact, I even enjoy grading essays to a certain degree. Furthermore, anything is better than the mind numbing job of monitoring standardized tests.

You can see my other days here: Day 6, Day 5, Day 4, Day 3, Day 2, Day 1

Back in the Classroom Again

Last year I started feeling a little disconnected from regular classroom teachers because I was ending my second year as a full-time EdTech specialist at Korea International School, which meant that I had been completely out of the classroom for two years. The classroom is my laboratory, where I experiment and test different hypotheses. Without that environment, I felt that I was loosing touch with what really works in a classroom setting. How can I recommend something that I haven't done in a real class? I approached my IT Coordinator, Ben Summerton (@bensummerton) and explained my frustration and concern. He was very supportive and pointed out the many contributions that I make to the EdTech team and, as a former classroom teacher, he understood exactly why I was feeling the way I was feeling. He asked me how I felt about being in a classroom situation as well as continuing in EdTech. We came up with the proposal that I could teach one 75-minute block class on the rotating high school schedule and budget in 45 minutes for prep time as well. This translated into me being in the classroom two to three times a week with one or two shorter prep periods.

We then pitched it to the high school principal, Don Drake, who was ecstatic to have me in the classroom again in his building. The English department needed some redistribution of class loads and my Creative Writing course would help with that problem. Although it has meant some extra work for me, it has been totally worth it thus far. I'm very happy to be back with students on a regular schedule in an actual teaching role. I am also advising two clubs and still continuing my EdTech duties -- offering PD in the Fish Bowl, supporting teachers with iTunes U course development, supporting the G4 team with an iPad implementation, co-planning and co-teaching lessons, and helping teachers with Schoology. The plate is full, but I'm loving it. It feels great to be respected enough by my administrators to be given an opportunity to explore, change, and grow. Plus, it is great being with students in an elective Creative Writing course that allows us the freedom to explore and learn together.