Homework 1: Student Agency, Personalized Learning, and Generative AI

As educators, we know what research says about the benefits of student agency and personalized learning.  In fact, any of you who have worked 1:1 with a great teacher or tutor understands the power of instruction that is “just right” for your learning needs.  Students, that’s why we’re going to think outside the box for tonight’s homework.  We are going to experiment with some new ways to make ChatGPT your personalized learning assistant during this unit.

Part 1: Making Meaning of the Prologue and Episode 1

We spent our class time today building community and exploring key background and contextual elements to enhance our understanding of Antigone.  Tonight, instead of completing a reading assignment and answering a series of questions that your teacher has prepared for you, we’re going to try something innovative.  It’s time for you to take control and drive your own learning.

Instructions:

  1. Read the Prologue and Episode 1 from start to finish…enjoy the ride!
  2. Listen to the recording while reading if you wish.
  3. Jot down any questions you have in the margins while riding and/or after completing the ride.
  4. Re-read the text carefully and write down big ideas in the left margin.
  5. Underline “impact words and phrases.”
  6. Jot down notable authorial choices in the right margin.
  7. Use ChatGPT to answer your initial reading questions from the margin and support your understanding.
  8. Consider prompts such as:

“I am a high school IB English student.  My teacher asked us to read, analyze, and interpret the Prologue and Episode 1 of Antigone.  I have some questions about the text.  Can you please tell me…”

  1. Take a photo of your annotations and upload it to your Learner Portfolio.

Part 2: Leverage Your Personal Learning Assistant

Sure, we could refer to LitCharts, Sparknotes, or some other website to learn more about the play.  That gives us a nice overview.  But what do you really want to know and discuss?  It’s time to take control of your own learning and leverage ChatGPT as your personal learning assistant.

Instructions:

  1. Enter the following prompt or similar into ChatGPT.

“I am an IB English student.  I just read the Prologue and Episode 1 of Antigone for homework.  I would like to have an academic conversation that helps me understand the key elements of these sections.  My teacher asks that this conversation last 15 minutes and provide comprehensive coverage of the content and form of the text.  Please begin.”

  1. Engage in a meaningful conversation for 15 minutes.
  2. Refer to your teacher’s model conversation 1 and model conversation 2 to better understand the possibilities and power of generative AI and personalized education.
  3. Consider targeting:
  • Reading comprehension
  • Character development
  • Emerging themes
  • Dramatic elements
  • Dramatic structure
  1. Link the conversation in your Learner Portfolio after 15 minutes.  
  • Note: This link and conversation is an important part of your learning evidence.
  1. Use the reflection sentence stems and write a meaningful reflection on key learnings from the session.
  2. Upload the reflection to your Learner Portfolio.

Lesson 2: Collaboration, Discussion, and Deepening Our Understanding

Welcome to our second lesson on Antigone!  We hope you enjoyed leveraging generative AI to personalize your homework and maximize learning.  Today, we’ll focus on human interaction and collaboration as we build our understanding of this Athenian tragedy and improve our critical thinking and writing skills.

Part 1: Debrief and Share

One of the benefits of leveraging generative AI to personalize learning is that we all had vastly different experiences while interacting with ChatGPT last night.  Let’s pair up with a friend and share our learnings from last night’s homework.

Instructions:

  1. Open your Learner Portfolio and quickly skim your homework.
  2. Join a partner or form a triad.
  3. Take turns sharing your insights from the Prologue and Episode 1.
  4. Add new learnings to your Learner Portfolio.
  5. Engage in a whole-class discussion with your teacher to share big ideas, emerging themes, and character attributes.

        

        What’s worth talking about?

  1. Add new content to your Learner Portfolio as needed.

Part 2: Preparing for a Guided Discussion

Now that we’ve shared some learning, it’s time to deeply explore Sophocles’ ideas and consider how dramatic elements shape meaning for the audience.  After some preparation time, we’ll engage in a guided discussion about the content and form of the play.  You will NOT use AI for this portion of the lesson.

Instructions:

  1. Open the guided discussion questions.
  2. Choose TWO questions from both the Prologue and Episode 1.
  3. Record your responses in your Learner Portfolio.
  4. Use bullet points rather than complete sentences.
  5. Include textual references from the play to support ideas.
  6. Connect responses to our world today.

Part 3: Collaborating and Learning From Our Peers

It’s great that we all have diverse backgrounds that allow us to read and interpret this play differently.  Now that we’ve done some deep thinking about the play, let’s engage in a guided discussion with our peers and deepen our understanding.  

Note: Your teacher will remain mostly quiet during the guided discussion but occasionally interject to “steer” thinking toward important aspects of the play that students might have missed.

Instructions:

  1. Move desks into a circle to facilitate discussion.
  2. Begin the guided discussion with the following prompt:

        What’s worth talking about?

  1. Remember to listen carefully, build upon the ideas of your peers, and refer to the text for evidence during the discussion.
  2. Focus on big ideas, emerging themes, and other interesting dramatic elements.
  3. Consider how Sophocles makes choices to shape meaning for the audience.
  4. Connect to the real world.
  5. Relax and let the conversation flow in a natural way.

Part 4: Showing Learning Through Academic Writing

Nice - we’ve just had a robust discussion, and you’ve guided your own learning!  Now it’s time to put our thoughts into writing and improve our ability to communicate in an academic way.  Each of the following prompts will help you demonstrate how Sophocles makes deliberate choices to shape meaning and challenge his audience to ponder key questions and themes.  Remember: you will write with a pen and may not use ChatGPT for this section.  We want to know what you think, not the bot.  Let’s get started.  

Instructions:

  1. Read the following prompts and choose ONE that is engaging for you.

  • Creon's Authority:
  • How does Creon's assertion of his royal authority in the Prologue and Episode 1 reveal themes of power and law? Refer to specific lines or passages, and analyze how Sophocles' language choices shape the meaning of these themes.

  • Antigone's Moral Dilemma:
  • What does Antigone's decision to bury her brother, against Creon's edict, reveal about the conflict between personal conscience and civic duty? Discuss specific examples from the text, and evaluate how the author's characterization and dialogue illuminate this theme.

  • The Chorus's Role:
  • How does the Chorus in the Prologue and Episode 1 comment on or contribute to the emerging themes of fate, family, and justice? Incorporate particular references from the text, and discuss how the author's use of the Chorus as a literary device adds depth to these themes.

  • Symbols and Imagery:
  • What symbols or imagery in the Prologue and Episode 1 are used to represent the themes of death, honor, and defiance? Refer to specific examples, and evaluate how Sophocles' choice of these symbols shapes the reader's understanding of the themes.

  • Contrast Between Characters:
  • How does the contrast between Antigone's convictions and Ismene's hesitations in the Prologue and Episode 1 highlight the theme of individual versus societal expectations? Draw from the text, and discuss how Sophocles' portrayal of these characters helps to explore this theme.
  1. Write a one-paragraph academic response demonstrating the elements of academic writing we’ve discussed in class.
  2. Remember to highlight your response:
  • Topic sentence including a rich idea
  • Textual references
  • Authorial choices
  • Sophocles/audience relationship
  1. Take a photo of your finished writing and upload it to your Learner Portfolio.
  2. “Turn in” your Learner Portfolio for feedback when finished.
  3. Refer to the teacher sample for guidance.

Note to teachers for feedback:

When giving students feedback, we recommend the following:

  1. Praise what the student has done well.
  2. Ask further questions to stimulate thinking.
  3. Identity ONE skill for improvement in terms of academic writing.
  4. Ask students to enter their paragraphs into ChatGPT.
  5. Suggest some ChatGPT command prompts to practice the desired skill.
  6. Review the teacher model to understand better the possibilities of using generative AI as a 1:1 personal learning assistant.

For example:

  • I would like to improve integrating textual references into my responses as evidence.  Can you help me work on this skill?

  • I would like to improve my writing by adding more nuance and detail to my analysis.  Please help me.

  • Can you please help me add sentence variety and voice to make my writing more persuasive?