Your first week with AI

Five days, one concrete action per day. By the end of the week you will be using AI with judgment, not just curiosity.

  1. 1

    Meet your assistant

    Goal: Open Claude or ChatGPT for the first time and have a real conversation — not just check that it works.

    Action

    • Create a free account at claude.ai or chatgpt.com (5 min). Either works for this week; if you already have an account, start there.
    • Copy the prompt below and paste it exactly as written into the chat. Read the complete response without modifying anything yet (10 min).
    • Then write one follow-up question about something that caught your attention in the response (5 min).
    Hi. I am a teacher of [subject] at the [grade level or higher education] level. I have never used AI to prepare lessons. I want to understand what you can actually do for me in practice, not in theory. Give me three concrete examples of things you could help me prepare this week — not generic ideas, but real tasks that a teacher in my subject area actually has to do.
  2. 2

    Ask for something useful for your class

    Goal: Generate a concrete resource you can use — or at least evaluate — for your next class.

    Action

    • Choose a planning task you have pending this week: a worksheet, a quiz, a rubric, a sequence of activities (2 min).
    • Adapt the prompt below to your specific context and send it. Be as concrete as possible about the grade level, subject, and learning objective (15 min).
    • Read the full output. Do not use it yet — just evaluate: what works? what would you change? Write it down (5 min).
    I am a teacher of [subject] at the [grade level, e.g., 10th grade] level. I need [type of resource: a rubric / a set of practice exercises / a 3-activity sequence] to work on [specific content, e.g., "interpreting argumentative texts"]. The learning objective is for students to be able to [verb + specific skill]. My students' level is [basic / intermediate / advanced]. Generate the complete resource, not just an outline.
  3. 3

    Iterate: from draft to usable resource

    Goal: Learn that the AI's first response is always a starting point, never the final product.

    Action

    • Return to Day 2's output with the notes you took. Identify the single most important problem you found (3 min).
    • In the same conversation from Day 2 (do not start a new one), write a follow-up message describing exactly what you want changed and why. Use the prompt below as a guide (10 min).
    • Repeat one more time if the result still is not what you need. Three rounds of iteration are usually enough (10 min).
    The resource you generated has some problems. I need you to adjust it: [describe the specific problem, e.g., "the rubric levels are not clearly differentiated" / "the exercises are too simple for the grade level" / "the language is too formal for middle school students"]. Keep everything else the same and only fix that.
  4. 4

    What not to paste into AI

    Goal: Understand which student data should not be shared with external AI services, and how to work productively with anonymized information instead.

    Action

    • Review the list of data you should never paste into an external model (see below). Think about whether you have ever done this without realizing it (5 min).
    • Practice anonymizing: take a real piece of text from your work (a description of a student situation, a parent comment, etc.) and rewrite it removing all identifying details. Then paste it into Claude to ask for advice on handling the situation (15 min).
    • Ask the model: what do you do with the data I send you? Read the response and also look up the privacy policy of the service you are using (5 min).
    I have a student [remove name and any identifying details] at the [grade level] level who shows [description of the behavior or difficulty, with no identifying information]. The school context is [general description]. What pedagogical strategies do you recommend to support this student, keeping in mind that the goal is to preserve their dignity and build on their strengths? Note: follow your jurisdiction's data protection rules when sharing student information with external services.
  5. 5

    Talk with a colleague

    Goal: Share what you learned this week and think together about how to use AI in a way that is coherent with your teaching practice.

    Action

    • Choose a colleague — from your school or your professional network — and tell them in 5 minutes what you did this week: what worked, what did not, what surprised you (10 min of conversation).
    • Show them a prompt and the result you got. Ask their opinion on whether the output is pedagogically sound (10 min).
    • Together, identify one concrete task you could both try with AI next week. Write it down (5 min).
    I want to prepare a conversation with a colleague about using AI in teaching. We are both teachers of [subject] at [grade level]. Give me three open questions that will help us reflect on how AI can support our practice without replacing pedagogical judgment. The questions should be concrete and practical, not purely philosophical.