Teaching with AI: lesson prep in an hour instead of an evening

You're an experienced [history] teacher in a US middle school, and
you're preparing teaching materials for me. This applies to every
conversation in this project:

Class: [7B], [24] students, each period is [45] minutes, [2] periods
a week.
Classroom setup: [projector, wifi, students without tablets, whiteboard].
Class level: [description — e.g. a wide spread of ability, five
students read below grade level, three are well ahead, two students
are English language learners].
Accommodations: [e.g. two students with IEPs — shorter instructions,
extra time].
Textbook: [publisher, title, grade level].

How I like materials written:
- instructions for students in short sentences, one instruction =
  one sentence
- no addressing students as "kids" or "everyone" — keep it neutral
- give a time estimate in minutes for every activity
- note what I need to physically prepare for each activity

Rules:
- work from the materials in the project (curriculum standards, unit
  plan, textbook)
- if you're not sure about a fact, date, or name, write VERIFY —
  don't guess
- never invent citations from academic literature
- don't write finished grades or evaluations of students — that's
  my call

You have two of my worksheets in this project. Describe my style so
that someone could use the description to make more like them:

1. How do I phrase instructions (sentence length, how I address
   students, verb-first phrasing?)
2. How long are the tasks and how many do I put on one sheet
3. What types of tasks come up again and again, and which do I
   never use
4. What does my header look like and what's in it
5. What do I do differently from what's typical in commercial
   materials

Write it as a guide for someone who has to produce a worksheet in
the same spirit. At the end, list 3 things you can't tell from
those two samples that I should fill in for you.

My unit plan gives me [3] class periods total for the topic
[topic name]. Expected outcomes from the curriculum standards:
[paste the outcomes].

Propose a breakdown into individual lessons. For each lesson give:
1. A lesson title and main goal phrased as what the student can do
   by the end (active verb, measurable)
2. Key terms I'll introduce in that lesson (max 5 per lesson)
3. What that lesson builds on from earlier material
4. What's usually hardest for students at this point, and why
5. How I can tell in 3 minutes at the end of the lesson whether it
   landed

At the end, note what won't fit into 3 lessons and what I should
deliberately cut or leave as an overview only.

I'm attaching photos of pages [78-80] of our textbook, which I'm
covering on Tuesday.

First, tell me what you see on the pages: main text, images, tables,
exercises, summary. Where the text is illegible, say so and don't
guess at it.

Then propose 6 activities based on these pages:
- 2 for an opening hook (max 5 minutes, no materials needed)
- 2 for working with the text directly in the textbook (students
  search it, not copy from it)
- 2 for checking understanding (pairs or small groups)

For each activity: a name, the time it takes, the exact wording I
can read aloud to students, what I need for it, and how I'll know
the activity worked.

Activities must come from what's on the pages. Don't add anything
that isn't there — and if you do suggest something extra, label it
BEYOND THE TEXT.

Go through this material for students and list, in a table, every
claim that can be checked: dates, names, numbers, titles, definitions,
anything phrased as "it's generally accepted that."

Columns: claim | where in the text | how confident (confident /
fairly confident / uncertain) | where I should verify it.

Don't claim it's true. Just list what I need to check, ranked from
riskiest to least risky.

[paste the material]

Plan a lesson on [topic] for [7B] using my context in the project.
The structure and timing are fixed:

- warm-up, 5 minutes
- instruction in chunks, 15 minutes (split into 2-3 parts, with a
  quick comprehension check between them)
- practice, 18 minutes
- wrap-up, 5 minutes
- buffer, 2 minutes

Lesson goal: [what the student can do by the end].
Builds on: [what we covered last lesson].

For each block, give:
1. What the teacher does (concretely, not "explains the material")
2. What students do
3. Exact wording I can read aloud
4. What I need to prepare in advance
5. What to cut if the block runs long

At the end, add three sentences I can say at the start of class to
tell students what's coming and why.

I need 8 warm-up ideas for the topic [topic], for [12-13]-year-old
students. Each one must:
- take no more than 4 minutes including discussion
- need no materials beyond the whiteboard
- work even for students who know nothing about the topic yet
- lead into a question that direct instruction will answer

Different types: a provocative statement to vote on, a number to
estimate, a riddle, an image to describe, a real-life situation, a
comparison of two things, a word to unpack, a myth to debunk.

For each one, give: the exact wording of what I'll say, how to
respond to typical answers, and a one-sentence bridge into
instruction.

Split instruction on [topic] into 3 chunks of roughly 5 minutes each.

For each chunk:
1. The core content that has to land (3-5 sentences I could read
   word for word)
2. One analogy from the world of [12]-year-olds — not from
   economics or history, but from what they actually know: games,
   sports, siblings, school, phones
3. One concrete example, ideally something local/familiar
4. A comprehension-check question I can ask the whole class and use
   to tell whether I can move on (not a yes/no question)
5. The most common misconception students have at this point, and
   one sentence that breaks it

Write it so I can print it and keep it on my desk.

Propose 5 ways to close a lesson on [topic], each under 5 minutes:

1. Exit ticket — 2 questions answerable in one sentence, one
   checking understanding and one checking what's still unclear
2. Student summary — instructions for summarizing the topic in
   their own words
3. Application question — where this material shows up outside school
4. A quick whole-class check with no writing (thumbs, fingers,
   cards)
5. A homework task that builds on today, max 15 minutes of work

For each option, say what the result will tell me and what I'd do
with it next lesson. For the exit ticket, add how I can grade 24 of
them in 5 minutes during the break.

Produce a worksheet on [topic] for [7th grade] in three versions.
The content and the goal are the same across all three — only the
level of support differs. Length for each version: [15] minutes of
work.

VERSION A (supported):
- instructions broken into numbered steps, one instruction = one
  sentence
- the first item fully solved as a model
- an answer bank or word bank offered for items
- shorter texts, key terms in bold
- 3 check-in questions at the end that anyone who completed the
  sheet can answer

VERSION B (standard):
- matches the curriculum's expected outcomes
- a mix of item types: fill-in-the-blank, working with a text, one
  open-ended item

VERSION C (extension):
- same content, but items requiring application, comparison, and
  justification
- one item with no single correct answer, where students argue a
  case
- no "more of the same"

Give an answer key for each version on a separate sheet. For
open-ended items, note what must be in the answer for it to count.
Don't label the sheets A/B/C anywhere students would see it — call
the versions [Blue / Green / Orange sheet].

For the topic [topic], prepare 6 activities for students who finish
regular work early. Conditions:
- each one is self-contained; the student can do it without me
  explaining anything
- instructions fit on a postcard-sized card
- takes 5 to 12 minutes
- needs no internet, nothing beyond a notebook and the textbook
- the result can be shown to the class or used in a later lesson

Types I want represented: a justification task ("why"), a
counterexample task ("when does this not hold"), writing a question
for classmates, retelling from a different perspective, connecting
it to something they know from elsewhere, a small lookup task in
the textbook.

For each one, give the exact wording for the card, and one sentence
for me: what the student gets out of it beyond the regular task.

For the topic [topic] in [history, grade 7], propose cross-curricular
links. I'm only interested in ones I can use directly in class, not
formal mentions for paperwork.

For each of these subjects [geography, language arts, math, art,
civics], propose one connection:
- what's specifically covered in that subject and how it relates
- an activity, 5-10 minutes, that shows the link
- one question that opens the connection

Then suggest how to weave in the cross-curricular theme [e.g. media
literacy] so it doesn't feel forced.

At the end, give 2 ideas for a short collaboration with a colleague
from another subject — what I'd propose to them and what it would
involve for both of us.

In 10 minutes I'm covering [science] for [8th] grade. I don't teach
this subject. Last topic covered, per the gradebook: [topic]. I
have [a whiteboard and a projector], students have [a textbook and
a notebook]. I don't know exactly how far they got, and I don't
want to get ahead of their regular teacher's instruction.

Give me a lesson plan that:
- doesn't introduce new material, just practices and reinforces
  what they already have
- works even if half the class is absent or missing a textbook
- doesn't require me to understand the subject in depth
- keeps the students who already know the material engaged too

Structure: 5 minutes opening and finding out where they are, 15
minutes group work, 15 minutes going over it together, 10 minutes
a review game or quiz.

For each block, give exact wording I can read aloud, and for the
quiz, give both questions and answers. Add 3 questions I can ask at
the start to find out where they actually are, and what to do if it
turns out they're somewhere completely different.

Prepare 5 all-purpose backup lessons for middle school, usable in
any subject and grade level, for when I'm covering a class with no
prep time.

Conditions: 45 minutes, no materials beyond the whiteboard and
notebooks, works for 10 or 30 students, requires no subject
expertise, has a clear structure so the class doesn't fall apart.

Choose from: working with a text and building an argument, writing
questions, a structured debate, solving a mock scenario, a group
presentation, logic puzzles.

For each lesson: a title, a goal, block-by-block timing, exact
wording to read aloud, group rules, and what to do if the activity
falls flat after five minutes.

Write it so a colleague who knows nothing about the class could
pick it up and run it.