AI in the Classroom: Teaching Students Who Have ChatGPT in Their Pocket

I teach [language arts] at [middle school] and want to
anonymously find out, in my [9th grade] class, how students
are actually using AI tools.

Prepare a short anonymous survey, max 10 questions, that
takes five minutes to fill out on paper or a form.

Requirements:
- questions must be worded so that admitting something isn't
  admitting to a wrongdoing — nothing that accuses or triggers
  defensiveness
- ask about specific situations ("the last time you...," "for
  what kind of assignment"), not general attitudes
- find out: what they use, for what, how often, what they think
  about it, what they'd like to learn, what worries them
- no question that could identify a specific student in
  hindsight
- add instructions for how to go over the results with the
  class in a way that doesn't feel like an interrogation

Also add two questions that tell me whether students even know
a model can make things up.

I teach [language arts], class [9th grade], [24] students.
I want to work out simple AI-use rules with them for my
subject. Not a school policy — a one-page agreement they'll
actually read and understand.

Build the draft like this:
- three tiers of assignments: no AI / AI with disclosure /
  AI freely, with 3-4 concrete examples from my subject
  for each
- what disclosure looks like: a two-sentence formula, write
  3 sample versions
- what happens if the rule is broken — graduated, starting
  with the mildest consequence (redo the work, not a penalty)
- two sentences on WHY the rules exist, in language for
  [fifteen-year-olds], without moralizing

Add a 25-minute lesson plan for going over the agreement
with the class: what to say, what to ask students, where to
leave room for them to change the rule, and where I actually
can't budge.

Write it short and free of bureaucratic language.

I teach [language arts], [9th grade]. Here's an assignment
I use that students are now having AI write for them:

[paste the exact assignment wording]

Rewrite it into three variants that resist a language model
generating the work:
1. a variant built on the student's personal experience
2. a variant built on local or classroom context (something
   that happened here, which the model knows nothing about)
3. a variant that grades process — list which intermediate
   deliverables the student should turn in, and in what order

For each variant, write:
- exactly what it grades (which skill)
- why the model can't do it for the student
- where it's more work for me to grade
- how a student could get around it if they tried hard enough

Take that last point seriously — I don't want to fool myself
into thinking anything is bulletproof.

Break this assignment into stages I'll collect one at a time.
Assignment: [description, e.g., a two-page book report],
time allotted: [3 weeks], class periods per week: [4].

Suggest:
- 4-5 intermediate deliverables I'll collect on specific class
  days (exactly what, how many minutes of work, handwritten
  or digital)
- for each, what it reveals about the student's understanding
- for which stages it makes sense to allow AI, and which not,
  and why
- how to grade the deliverables quickly — I have 24 students
  and want max 30 minutes per stage

The stages need to fit together so the final piece grows out
of them. I don't want five unrelated extra tasks.

Here's an essay turned in by student [S], [9th grade],
subject [language arts], the assignment was [describe the
assignment]:

[paste the essay text]

Prepare 8 questions for a two-minute defense of this specific
essay. The questions must:
- target the content of THIS essay, not the topic in general
- ask about the author's choices (why this example, why this
  order, what did you consider and reject)
- include at least two questions about the meaning of a
  specific word or sentence used in the text
- be the kind an author can answer in ten seconds, while
  someone who just turned the text in can't

Don't say whether you think AI wrote the text. Just the
questions. For each, note what a good answer would reveal
about their understanding.

You are a patient tutor for a [9th grade] student.
Topic: [factoring a quadratic trinomial].

Rules that apply the whole time:
- You don't solve problems for me. You guide me with
  questions so I arrive at the solution myself.
- You explain one step, then ask whether I understand it,
  and wait for my answer. You don't move on before that.
- If I answer wrong, you don't give me the correct answer —
  you ask a different way or give me an easier example.
- You speak briefly, max 5 sentences at a time, in plain
  language, no jargon.
- If I miss it three times, tell me which topic I should
  review, in one sentence.

Start by giving me one simple example and asking where I'd
begin.

I'm a [9th grade] student. I wrote this argument on the
topic [topic]:

[paste your own text]

Be a factual opponent. Don't correct my spelling and don't
praise me.

1. Find the three weakest points in my argument and explain,
   for each, why it's weak.
2. Write what someone with the opposite view would say — in
   its strongest form, not a weak caricature.
3. Ask me three questions my text doesn't answer.
4. Finally, write what actually holds up in my argument.

Don't rewrite my text and don't suggest wording. I'll rewrite
it myself.

Prepare a worksheet for a [45-minute] class.
Subject [history], [8th grade], topic [the Industrial
Revolution]. I have [24] students, [4] of whom need a
shorter version and [3] can handle harder problems.

I want:
- 3 versions of the worksheet (standard, shortened, extended),
  same topic, same goal, different difficulty
- 5 tasks in each version, at least 2 requiring independent
  judgment, not fact recall
- one task that can't be solved by searching or by AI, because
  it requires working with an attached text
- an answer key with what to accept as partially correct
- a time estimate for each task

Only use facts I can easily verify, and for dates and numbers,
tell me what I should double-check.

Prepare a lesson plan ([45] minutes) for [9th grade] where
students hands-on discover that a language model makes things
up while sounding exactly as confident as when it's right.

I want:
- 3 types of questions this reliably shows up on (e.g., a
  question about something that doesn't exist, a detail of
  local history, a quote from a book) — for each, explain WHY
  the model gets it wrong
- the exact wording of the questions students will ask, and
  what they should write down
- instructions for verifying the results — where and how to
  look it up
- 4 questions for a closing discussion that lead to the rule
  "what I always have to verify myself"
- what to do if the model's answer happens to come out correct

Also include a one-sentence summary for me: how to explain to
[fifteen-year-olds] in a single sentence why this happens.

Prepare a [25]-minute activity, [9th grade], subject
[language arts]. Goal: students discover firsthand that a
model can invent a source that doesn't exist and write it up
so it looks credible.

Steps I want covered:
1. What students should ask the model to produce a list of
   sources on topic [topic] (exact wording).
2. How they verify the sources — concrete steps, where to look
   (library catalog, search engine, publisher's website).
3. A table they fill in: source, exists / doesn't exist /
   exists but different, how I found out.
4. What to do when a source exists but doesn't say what's
   attributed to it.
5. Wrap-up: 3 rules they take away from the lesson, phrased
   in their own words.

The activity has to work even for students who've never used
AI before.