At this point, we've probably all had AI create a weekly meal plan, write a birthday poem, and created some pretty fun images. If you haven't, stop what you're doing and head to ChatGPT or Ideogram.ai to just play. Want to get some really awesome responses, from AI? Be sure to read my last post on Prompt Engineering.
Today's post is going to take us beyond the basics of using AI for one-off prompts here and there, into a more intentional partnership with AI to increase your efficiency and effectiveness by incorporating it into your daily systems and workflows. When you ask teachers what they need more of, other than money, time is their number one answer. By leveraging AI as an assistant and partner, teachers can take back HOURS of their time each week. Keep reading to learn how!
A system, in the context of educational workflows, is a structured set of procedures or routines designed to help you accomplish tasks more efficiently. Think of it as an organized method for handling recurring tasks, like grading assignments, planning lessons, or managing communications with parents. When you develop a system, you're creating a repeatable process that can save you time and reduce decision fatigue. For busy educators, these systems become essential, allowing you to streamline your day-to-day responsibilities and focus more on teaching and connecting with your students.
So let's brainstorm a list of possible systems that would help an educator become more efficient:
Classroom Management
Lesson Planning
Grading and Feedback
Data Tracking
Parent Communication
Substitute Planning
Student Work Collection
Resource Organization (Digital and Paper)
Reward Systems
Personal Time Management
🧑🏫💭📋Take a minute and reflect on how you approach each of these tasks. Do you have a system in place or do you "just wing it" when you have time for it? If you're in the latter camp, I would strongly urge you to take some time to develop a system, or a workflow, that would help you be more efficient and manage your time better.
AI is a great partner for this! Consider collaborating with AI to brainstorm what these systems may look like, what the steps in each system would be, how much time each would take, suggestions for efficiency, etc. I have created a list of prompts below that may help you get started.
Classroom Management Workflow Prompts
"Provide me with a step-by-step plan for establishing clear expectations and consequences in my classroom that align with my school’s policies and the developmental needs of [grade level] students."
"How can I design a system for consistently collecting and recording behavior data in my classroom, ensuring that I capture both positive and negative behaviors throughout the day?"
"Suggest a system for tracking and rewarding positive behavior in my [grade level] classroom, including how to communicate this system to students and parents."
"What are some ways I can efficiently handle classroom disruptions in a way that minimizes loss of instructional time while still addressing student needs in my [subject area] class?"
Follow Up Prompt: "What are some effective techniques for reinforcing classroom rules and expectations during the daily routine without interrupting the flow of instruction?"
"How can I schedule regular check-ins or reflections on classroom behavior with students, using the data I’ve collected to guide these conversations?"
Lesson Planning Workflow Prompts
"What steps can I take to streamline the process of researching new lesson ideas and resources, ensuring I have access to high-quality materials tailored to my [subject/grade level]?"
"How can I incorporate opportunities for reflection and feedback into my lesson planning process, allowing me to continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of my lessons?"
"How can I create a template for lesson planning that allows me to efficiently outline objectives, activities, assessments, and differentiation strategies for my [subject/grade level] lessons?"
Parent Communication Workflow Prompts
"What is an effective schedule for regular parent communication throughout the school year, including key times to reach out such as before/after major assessments or events?"
"What are the most effective methods (e.g., email, phone calls, newsletters) for communicating with parents in my [grade level/subject area], and how can I choose the best method based on the message?"
"How can I efficiently track and follow up on parent communication regarding student progress, behavior, or other concerns, ensuring that no important issues are overlooked?"
"What is the best approach for setting boundaries around parent communication, including how to manage expectations for response times and after-hours communication?"
As I said in the Prompt Engineering post, it is very important to not take the first response AI gives you and move on. AI chatbots are made for chatting! Have a conversation about the outputs where you ask for clarification, more ideas, templates, and step by step instructions. Once you have an idea of how you want to structure your daily systems, I recommend documenting your system so that you can refer back to it until the workflow becomes second nature. The next step is to put AI to work as an assistant to actually complete the tasks within your workflow. By doing this, we're dealing a double blow to the amount of time you spend completing your teacher tasks. If you're wondering how this might look, I have created a sample AI-assisted lesson planning workflow
Want to see this workflow in action? Check out this example of lesson plan development for a 7th grade math class on the topic of operations and equivalent expressions.
It is important that I take a minute here to caution you about AI hallucinations. This is when AI just makes something up, and happens more than you think. When correctness matters, ALWAYS proofread and verify the output of AI. I'm going to go out on a limb here to say that when lesson planning, designing materials, and creating assessment activities, correctness is going to matter. Therefore, you should ALWAYS check what AI has created before just copying and using.
I want to close this post by sharing several AI tools that you may find useful assistants and partners once you have developed your workflows. Most of these tools have a freemium and premium option, and because AI in education is such a new and quickly developing frontier, access and features for these tools may change from day to day and week to week.
AI Tools Developed For Teachers:
AI Tools Educators Might Use for Content Creation
Just For Fun AI Tools Lauren Thinks You Should Know About
I would dearly love to see the systems and AI-assisted workflows that you develop. Sharing is caring, so if you take the time to create these, be sure to share them with your colleagues at work and on social media! If you do, please tag me, @iTeachTeachersTech on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Twix (Twitter/X). I'd also appreciate any thoughts you have on developing systems and workflows, so feel free to share those in the comments box below! Be sure to check back soon for the next AI series post!
AI Series:
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AI Disclaimer: Blog post title and images created in collaboration with ChatGPT.
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