Class 03 — Prompting, Practiced on Real Homework

Date: TODO · Slides: TODO

Objectives

• Write clear, useful prompts with goal, context, constraints, examples, and format.
• Improve an AI response through iteration instead of accepting the first draft.
• Choose an appropriate output format.

Agenda (60 min)

Time	Block
0–5	Warm-up: best documented AI mistake from last week’s homework (anonymous).
5–15	Mini-lesson: prompt anatomy — goal, context, constraints, examples, format; assigning a role or audience; asking AI to question you before answering; breaking complex tasks into steps.
15–30	Drill: vague → strong. Take a terrible prompt (“write about the civil war”) and rebuild it in two iterations on a real assignment each student has this week.
30–45	Prompt relay: teams of 3 improve the same request over 3 rounds, pasting the previous team’s best prompt forward.
45–55	Compare artifacts: first prompt vs. final prompt vs. first output vs. final output. What actually changed?
55–60	Exit ticket: the one prompt component you’ll never skip again.

Key terms

• Iteration — the prompt is a draft, not a command.
• Role / audience framing — “explain to a 10-year-old” vs “grade this like a rubric.”
• Constraints — length, format, tone, what NOT to do.

Seven-Question connection

Q1 (purpose) and Q6 (real value) — a strong prompt is how you make AI improve the work rather than just speed it up. From today, the prompt log starts: every entry shows first prompt → revisions → results.

Homework / log entry

One log entry from this week’s real homework: the task, first prompt, one revision, what you verified, and which questions mattered.

Teacher notes

• This is the pivot class — everything in Classes 4–9 assumes log habit exists.
• Keep all examples school-relevant; careers versions come in Class 7 and will feel like a natural extension.