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Session 4. Using AI to Accelerate Planning
Objective. Use an AI tool to draft one routine planning artifact, then review and edit it, and record what you changed and why.
A good prompt saves you an hour; a vague one costs you an hour of fixing. In a school with a 45-minute lesson, one projector and 36 students, a generic answer from a chatbot is not much use. This session shows how to give the AI the facts about your class that only you know, how to ask again instead of starting over, and how to keep a small set of prompts that you reuse every week.
Key ideas
Good first tasks
- A lesson outline, a set of practice items, a parent letter, a differentiated version of a text.
- Routine, text-based work where you already know what good looks like.
- Start small: one artifact, not a whole term.
Anatomy of a useful prompt
- Role and audience: 'You help a Grade 5 teacher in Uzbekistan…'
- Task, context and limits: objective, time, materials, class size, what students already know.
- Format: table, numbered steps, word limit. Ask it to flag anything it is unsure about.
Review before you use
- Accuracy: are the facts and examples right?
- Fit: does it match the objective, the level, the curriculum and the time you have?
- Reality: do you have the equipment and space it assumes?
- Inclusion and tone: does it suit all your learners?
The edit log
- Write down each change: what was wrong, what you changed, why.
- The log shows professional judgement and helps you write better prompts next time.
- If the AI output needs no edits, you probably did not read it closely enough.
The prompt, review and edit cycle
Context is what the AI does not have
A chatbot knows nothing about your room. It does not know that you have 36 students, one projector, no lab equipment, a mixed-ability class, or that the topic comes from page 42 of the approved textbook. When you leave these out, it fills the gaps with a typical lesson from somewhere else.
Write the facts in the prompt: grade, language of instruction, minutes, materials, what students already know, and what you do not want. Say what to do as well as what to avoid, for example: use only paper and pencils, rather than do not use technology. Give an example of the format you want if you have one.
Ask again: the second prompt is the real work
Treat the first answer as a rough draft. Follow-up requests are usually cheaper than a new prompt: make the explanation three sentences, replace the example with one from a village school, add two check questions after the main activity, remove the group work because the room is crowded.
When a prompt works well, save it as a template with blanks for topic, grade and time. Over a term you build a small personal library. Keep the prompt, the final text and your edit log together, so the next draft starts from what you learned. Reading and correcting still takes time, so plan for it.
Examples from the classroom
Fractions at Navruz
Scene. Malika teaches Grade 4 in an Uzbek-medium school in Bukhara, 28 students, 45 minutes. Her first prompt, a lesson on fractions, gives a generic pizza lesson. She adds: sharing sumalak among 8 guests, only paper and pencils, students know halves, 10 minutes of practice. The second draft fits her class. She changes one question that needs 12 guests and logs it.
Insight. Specific context turns a generic draft into a usable one. Your edit log shows what you still had to add.
The missing equipment
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 8 physics in a village school near Samarkand. The AI plan for electric circuits asks for a multimeter and 10 bulbs per group. The school has two batteries and four bulbs. In the follow-up prompt he lists exactly what exists, asks for a demonstration with groups of 9, and for a worksheet prediction task. The new plan fits the room.
Insight. Check reality: does the plan assume equipment and space you do not have? Then tell the AI the real limits.
A letter in two languages
Scene. Dilnoza asks for a short letter to parents of Grade 2 about reading at home, in Uzbek and Russian. The Uzbek draft sounds stiff and uses long official phrases. She asks for 80 words and a friendly tone, then reads it aloud to a colleague, who fixes two words. The Russian version is checked by a Russian-medium teacher before sending.
Insight. AI language can be correct but unnatural. A fluent colleague is the best final check for tone and register.
Common pitfalls
- Accepting the first answer because it looks complete and well formatted.
- Writing a very short prompt, then blaming the tool for a generic lesson.
- Pasting student names, marks or other personal data into the prompt for convenience.
- Skipping the edit log, so the same missing details cost you time again next week.
Generate, Refine, Log
- Choose a real task: a 45-minute lesson outline on a topic you teach next week. If you cannot use an AI tool now, use the offline 'First-Pass Plan' in your Activity Kit.
- Write the prompt using role, task, context, limits and format. Run it. Do not accept the first answer.
- Review with the four-part checklist. Mark every problem.
- Edit the plan so you would teach it, and fill in the edit log.
- Swap with a colleague: can they find a problem you missed?
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- How much time did drafting save, and how much did reviewing take?
- What did you have to add that the AI could not know?
- What would you change in your prompt next time?
Reflect
- Which weekly planning task do you most want to speed up?
- What knowledge about your students would you need to put in a prompt?
- What would convince you an AI-drafted plan is ready to teach from?
Try it tomorrow
- Write a prompt for one real lesson with grade, language, minutes, materials and prior knowledge, and compare it with a one-line prompt.
- Use at least two follow-up requests to improve the draft instead of starting again.
- Save your best prompt as a template with blanks and share it with one colleague.
Further reading and links
AI gives you a first draft in seconds. Reading, correcting and owning it is still your job.