Learn And Play

The November newsfeed heralded the arrival of AI essay writing. AI (or Artificial Intelligence) essay writing recruits online software that sifts through information and generates a thoughtful written analysis.  Enter a prompt, and AI can turn out a reasonable essay on everything from utilitarianism to the Krebs cycle…for free.

In truth, AI authorship hardly qualifies as “news.” There is nothing new about it: AI has been generating blog content for online businesses for some time and is largely responsible for the current glut of meaningless search engine results. Enter a query about stain removal, and the top matches feature links to vacuous 1,500-word essays filled with advertisements and zero practical information. That’s AI.

That said, given the right prompts, AI software can truly deliver some lovely, thoughtful college-level writing.  Of course, such a claim should require evidence, so we submitted increasingly specific prompts to a free online AI writer and

What Kids Can Do For Themselves

Children should move past simple statements that make them feel better at the moment, like “I can do hard things,” and should also tie that to specific examples of what they have done in the past and what they can do in the future. Teaching your students to focus on the “why” and rationale behind their affirmation will help develop children into individuals who can self-reflect healthily and teach them how to build up their self-esteem. Providing specificity allows children to see their individual values for themselves. For example, if a child says about herself, “I am smart,” and repeats that affirmation over time, does she really do anything to support and develop her character? What happens when she is challenged by a child smarter than her or one that performs better on certain tasks? Instead, consider if that child drilled down to something

Uses of the Frayer Model

The Frayer Model is useful for any child that benefits from a visual when learning new content. While any student can utilize this model, graphic organizers help support students like English Language Learners who may benefit from explicit examples and images to help them learn new English words. In addition, students with a limited vocabulary, lower reading skills, or special needs can also benefit from the visuals provided by the Frayer Model. Students can learn content-specific terminology to help them master lesson activities and complex vocabulary within your classroom.

The applications of the Frayer Model span content areas and are not only applicable to the English Language Arts classroom.

In math class, you can utilize Frayer Model not only for definitions “a triangle is…” but for equations like “the area of a triangle is….”

You can utilize the Frayer Model for important historical moments or