Dr Leon Furze

This is the fourth post in a series exploring how generative artificial intelligence can be used as part of the writing cycle. If you haven’t already, check out the previous posts on purpose, exploration and ideas.

In the writing cycle that we wrote about in Practical Writing Strategies we break out “skills” as separate from the other stages, but of course there’s always going to be some overlap. You could use also these exercises as part of the exploration of mentor texts or alongside students’ discussions of their ideas. But, especially for students who are developing writers, it can be useful to spend some time on explicit instruction of skills and techniques.

Often this will be because you’re teaching a particular style, form, or genre of text. For example, you might be talking about the Sublime in gothic fiction, or looking at the concept of the lede in a newspaper article. Or, the work might be more related to technical skills instruction. For example, you might have students exploring grammar in context, comparing the impact of simple and complex sentences structures on pace and tension. Whether it’s alongside other parts of the writing cycle, or as a discrete handful of lessons, GenAI tools can be an incredibly useful addition to the classroom.

In this article, I’m focusing the explicit instruction of skills at a specific point in time during the writing cycle. This period of time might vary from a single lesson to a half dozen lessons or more over the space of a few weeks. In the PWS writing cycle this happens after students have discussed the purpose audience and context, had an opportunity to explore mentor texts, and started to generate their own ideas.

By this point, students will likely have completed some original draft work. If students have completed drafts, then the skills work that you undertake might be tailored based on specific areas of improvement in their draft writing.

Conferencing as a classroom structure

In any case, the classroom structure we recommend in the skills stage is conferencing. I’ve written posts before about conferencing, and even how generative artificial intelligence can be used in the context of a classroom conference. You should check out those early articles for a more in-depth overview of the process. In Practical Writing Strategies, and in my own teaching practice, I use a simple outline by Cris Tovani in her book, So, What Do They Really Know?

The key here is that generative AI facilitates conferencing by allowing the teacher to focus on individuals or small groups of students while the rest use the technology to continue to explore and extend their skills.

As with all the posts in this series, the emphasis is on using GenAI to support the expertise of the teacher and not to supplant their knowledge and skills.

Activity 1: Skills Drills

Dichotomies in education are rampant, and generally unhelpful. A popular one in the English classroom is whether skills should be taught via immersion in text, or explicit instruction. Some will argue that the only way to learn technique, generic conventions, or sophisticated control of language is through constant exposure to rich texts and discussion and analysis of same. Other will call that out as a privileged view, and stress the need for explicit instruction, repeated exercises, and carefully structured approaches to teaching language.

I’m always amazed by how many dichotomies we like to throw up in education. Why does everything always have to be one or the other? With these exercises, students are exposed to both methods: deliberate analysis of quality texts and exposure to great authors, and focused skills work.

• Step 1: Students can use feedback from the teacher, or by generating feedback on a short piece of writing with AI. This feedback should be related to a piece of recent draft writing.
• Step 2: Students pass that feedback to GenAI using a prompt like the one below.
• Step 3: The resulting exemplar writing, activities, and further reading can be used by students in any way they choose, attending to the areas they are most interested in.

This is feedback on a recent piece of my draft writing. <copy/paste feedback>. Based on the feedback create three exemplary pieces of writing which demonstrate the skills highlighted, then create 5 exercises to help me develop the skill, then use online search to identify some passages of text which demonstrate this skill.

Activity 2: Skill Chat

This activity leverages two things about generative AI chatbots: they always work better in back and forth conversations, and unlike human teachers, they never get waylaid helping other students. Essentially this activity provides some structure for students to have a scaffolded chat with a generative AI chatbots like Microsoft Copilot which will steer them towards specific skills to focus on in a given writing task.

• Step 1: Go back to the annotations completed in the exploration stage using the mentor texts. From those earlier discussions create a classroom list of conventions or features for the types of texts that you are working on. For example, if you’re writing short gothic fiction, you may have used mentor texts ranging from short stories, to extracts of Victorian Gothic, to snippets of contemporary Australian Gothic texts like Robbie Arnott’s Flames or Rosalie Ham’s The Dressmaker. You might have identified features like the oppressive atmosphere, or isolated locations, or descriptive passages written with complex sentence construction to control pace and tension, and so on.
• Step 2: Using this list as a basis, use the prompt example below to extend with other possible aspects to focus on.
• Step 3: Once the AI has generated a more complete list you can select one area to focus your attention using either internet connected chatbot like Copilot or Google Gemini, or traditional internet search. Locate a resource to support and refine that skill.

This is a list of <conventions/features/etc.>. Suggest some additions to this list.

Activity 3: Listening Skills

A common English as an Additional Language (EAL) assessment, and one which features in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) English and EAL curriculum, is the listening task. There are a few ways to complete this activity, depending on which model you have access to.

• Step 1: Identify a suitable video on YouTube, Vimeo or a similar platform. This should be a video discussing skills related to your writing task. For example, a video discussing a particular language feature, structure, and so on.
• Step 2: Either use a model with the capacity to integrate videos (e.g., Google Gemini can access YouTube videos) or use a copy/paste of the transcript of the video. Videos on YouTube generally have AI generated transcripts available in the video options. Ted talks on the Ted website also have transcripts.
• Step 3: Use a prompt like the examples below to generate listening skills activities from the video or its transcript. For non EAL students, these can also serve as comprehension questions for the same video.

Use this video <link>/<copy/paste transcript> to generate 5 listening activities

You might also specify in the prompt the kinds of questions or skills to target.

Next week I’ll be discussing the collaboration stage of the writing cycle and how GenAI can be used in editorial capacities, and to improve collaboration between students.

Practical AI Strategies is available now from Amba Press

Activity 4: Voice Coach

This activity is adapted from Practical Writing Strategies.

In school, students often try to imitate the standard “voice” of texts delivered by teachers. They reach for the language and the words that might make them sound ‘academic’ or ‘professional’. A writer’s voice is like a singer’s voice: unique. It is the sum of everything that goes into their style. A distinctive vocabulary, a preference for a particular sentence structure or it could be unique takes on issues. Ultimately, voice is the writer’s personal style coming through in their writing.

• Step 1: Begin by discussing with the class what it means to have a ‘writer’s voice’. This is the unique perspective and style that a writer brings to their writing.
• Step2: Read through a mentor text from the exploration stage and discuss the style of writing. What are the features that stand out? Is it easy to read? Confusing? Any key words or phrases that stick out?
• Step 3: Encourage students to think about their own experiences, interests and values as they begin to write, and ask students to brainstorm a list of words and phrases that they feel comfortable using in their own writing. These should be words or phrases that reflect their own voice and style.
• Step 4: Pass this list to a Generative AI model with a prompt like the one below, which asks for suggestions and recommendations of voice and style based on the brainstorm.
• Step 5: As your students write, ask them to be mindful of their tone and attitude, and the suggestions for how to develop the personal voice and style. Encourage them to be authentic and genuine in their writing, rather than trying to sound like someone (or something) else.

Here is a brainstorm of ideas and words that relate to <topic>, with some ideas based on <mentor text>. Using this brainstorm, suggest some skills or techniques I could incorporate into my writing to help develop my unique voice and style.

Conclusion

Whether you choose to develop skills through immersion in texts, or explicit instruction (or a mixture of both), GenAI can be a helpful tool. In a conferencing setting, it can also create resources that students can use for self-paced learning while the teacher works with individuals and small groups.

If you have questions or comments, or you’d like to get in touch to discuss GenAI consulting and professional development, use the form below: