Teaching English With AI
High school students working in a small group on marked-up paragraphs with their teacher

Sample Lesson: Can You Improve an AI Paragraph?

Grade level

High school English

Length

Approximately one class period

Main goal

Students will evaluate and revise AI-generated literary analysis.

Learning Objective

Students will identify weaknesses in an AI-generated paragraph and revise the paragraph using a stronger claim, accurate evidence, clear explanation, and more natural language.

Materials

  • A short story, novel, or play students have already read
  • An AI-generated analysis paragraph
  • Highlighters or colored digital text
  • A revision sheet
  • A short reflection question
Students marking up a printed paragraph with colored pens

Step 1: Create the AI Paragraph

Before class, use an AI tool to generate a weak analysis paragraph about a character or theme from the class text.

Teacher Prompt

Write a weak literary analysis paragraph about how a character changes in the text. Include a vague claim, weak evidence, an unclear explanation, and repetitive wording. The paragraph should be appropriate for students to revise.

Step 2: Read and Mark the Problems

Students read the paragraph in small groups. They mark the claim, evidence, and explanation using different colors.

They should also identify information that might be inaccurate or unsupported.

  • Is the claim specific?
  • Does the evidence actually support the claim?
  • Is the evidence accurate?
  • Does the paragraph explain why the evidence matters?
  • Does the writing sound natural?
  • What important idea is missing?

Step 3: Revise the Paragraph

Students rewrite the paragraph using their own knowledge of the text. They should improve the claim, replace weak evidence, add context, and clearly explain the connection between the evidence and the main idea.

Students may not ask AI to complete the revision for them.

Step 4: Compare the Versions

Groups share their revised paragraphs. The class discusses how different groups improved the same AI-generated paragraph in different ways.

This shows that writing involves human choices and that there is not always one perfect answer.

Step 5: Reflection

Students answer:

Reflection Question

What did the AI paragraph do poorly? Describe one important decision your group made that improved the paragraph.

How Students Are Assessed

Students are evaluated on whether they can recognize weak writing, use accurate evidence, explain their revision decisions, and produce a paragraph they understand.

The goal is not simply to create a better final paragraph. The goal is to show the thinking that made the revision better.

Why This Activity Works

This lesson uses AI without allowing it to replace student writing. Students practice analysis, fact-checking, revision, collaboration, and reflection.

Woo and the other researchers emphasize that students should evaluate AI output and decide whether to edit, use, or reject it. The human writer must keep full control over the composition (Woo et al. 185).

In this lesson, AI provides something for students to question. The students still provide the judgment and learning.