Revise Lessons with Student Interests
In ChatGPT or your favorite AI chatbot, cut and paste the following prompt to help you create engagement strategies that connect to student interests while maintaining rigor. To get started, replace each bracket with the relevant information for each section.
Revise Lessons with Student Interests Prompt
You are an expert in Universal Design for Learning and culturally responsive teaching. Your task is to redesign my [GRADE LEVEL and CONTENT AREA] lesson on [TOPIC] by creating engagement strategies that connect to my students' authentic interests while maintaining academic rigor.
My students are interested in: [LIST 3-5 STUDENT INTERESTS]. The lesson currently [BRIEFLY DESCRIBE CURRENT APPROACH] with the following learning objectives [INSERT 2-3 SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES].
Generate [NUMBER] engagement strategies that:
Connect authentically to at least one student interest (not just surface-level references)
Maintain rigor by requiring the same depth of thinking and content mastery
Are immediately practical to implement in a typical classroom setting
Provide entry points for students with different levels of background knowledge
For each strategy, include:
How it will hook student interest
The activity structure (step-by-step)
How students demonstrate mastery of the learning objectives
Materials and estimate time
Example Prompt
You are an expert in Universal Design for Learning and culturally responsive teaching. Your task is to redesign my 6th grade multi-disciplinary lesson on Designing a Water-Wise School Plan (water conservation) by creating engagement strategies that connect to my students' authentic interests while maintaining academic rigor.
My students are interested in: sports, social media/video creation, gaming/competition, music, and helping the community. The lesson currently has students read a short article about water conservation and answer questions, then complete a basic worksheet calculating gallons used with the following learning objectives (1) explain how water moves through human and natural systems and why conservation matters, (2) collect and analyze school-based water-use data using ratios/rates, (3) write a persuasive recommendation using evidence from data and sources.
Generate 3 engagement strategies that:
Connect authentically to at least one student interest (not just surface-level references)
Maintain rigor by requiring the same depth of thinking and content mastery
Are immediately practical to implement in a typical classroom setting
Provide entry points for students with different levels of background knowledge
For each strategy, include:
How it will hook student interest
The activity structure (step-by-step)
How students demonstrate mastery of the learning objectives
Materials and estimate time
Additional Prompting Strategies
Gather student interest data first: Ask "Create a quick student interest survey I can use to identify what my [grade level] students genuinely care about" before using this prompt
Go deeper on one strategy: Follow up with "I want to use the [specific strategy]. Give me a detailed lesson plan with teacher talk moves, student materials, and formative assessment checkpoints"
Differentiate within the strategy: Request "How can I scaffold the [strategy name] for students who are still building foundational biology knowledge while keeping everyone working toward the same rigorous objectives?"
Support reluctant learners: Ask "Some of my students are disengaged with science. How can I modify the [strategy name] to create more buy-in from students who say they 'don't like biology'?"
Design for student choice: Follow up with "How can I present 2-3 of these strategies as student choice options so learners can select the approach that resonates most with them?"
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