How to Prompt Like A Pro

The way you ask matters. The better you build your prompt, the better your response will be.  Here are some tips and techniques to help you get started.

You can also use the Prompt Coach Agent to help perfect your prompts:

Prompt Coach

❔  What is Prompting?  ❔


Prompting is how you communicate with AI. A prompt is an instruction or question you give to a an AI tool.  Think of it like giving directions-clear specific directions will give better results.

Why does it matter?

A strong prompt will save you time, reducing the amount of editing and get more useful output.

 💡 Some Quick Wins  💡


Prompts you can copy and paste to use:

2 Prompt Methods to Try:

The PREPARE prompt method and the CRAFT method are two different sets of steps you can follow to build strong prompts.

Prompting with the PREPARE Method:

Click here for a printable PDF version.

P

Tell the bot what you would like it to do: “Create an image…”  “Write a paragraph…”  “Respond to…”

P

Give the AI Chat bot a role “You are a graphic designer…”, “You are a teacher in a high school with 30 students in your class…”

P

Give clear, detail oriented instructions “Mention this webpage…” “Add three pictures of…”

P

Length, tone, format… “It should be 3 sentences long, on letter sized paper, under 300 words, in a casual tone…”

P

Ask AI to clarify any questions before it continues. “Ask me any questions you have about the task before you begin…”

Rate

Ask it to rate its own response. “Rate your response on how engaged students will be a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest.”

Rate

Add an expression of your emotions and explain why it is important to you. “This is really important to me as it will help me in my job please do your best.”

Prompting with the CRAFT Method:

Click here for a printable PDF version.

Craft Prompting method

An Example of a Detailed Prompt:

You are a teacher for students grades k -3. You need to teach a technology lesson. Give me 5 different ideas for lessons to use teach them. Take into account that they are all 3 grades in one class. The lesson should be one hour long. They have laptops and iPads The last lesson you taught them was how to use scratch junior. There are about 18 kids in the class. Please ask any questions to clarify before you start. Rate your lessons on a scale of 1-5 depending on how much fun they will be for the students. This is really important to me as I would like the students to really learn a new skill and have fun while doing it rather than being frustrated.

Prompting Tips:

If your prompt isn’t getting the results that you would like, try these:

Give Examples Give an example that will show AI what you are looking for.

Double Down – If you are not getting one specific part of your prompt answered, repeat the same part one or more times.

Order Matters – try rearranging your sentences in your prompt and see how it changes the outcome.

Give it an out – In your prompt ask AI to tell you if it does not know the answer or understand your request. This should help prevent hallucinations.

Be Specific – The more it knows the better the response will be.

Try some of these for fun: 😀

Create a game (you can even ask it to make it in Word or PowerPoint…):

I want to create a Monopoly-style board game for my students that explores the following assessment criterion: The Importance of the Food Chain in Marine Ecosystems. The game will  help students understand the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers, as well as the impact of environmental changes on marine food chains. Players will acquire and manage different marine species, face ecosystem challenges, and strategize to maintain a balanced and thriving oceanic environment. 

Create an escape room:

I want to create an escape room for my sixth-grade students to explore the history of the Roman Empire, aligning with the LOMLOE evaluation criteria for Castilla y León. The game will consist of five challenges, each centered around a key historical figure from the Roman Empire. Completing each challenge will reward students with a number, which they will need to unlock the final password and successfully ‘escape.” The challenges will encourage critical thinking, historical analysis, and problem-solving, while covering essential content such as the expansion and influence of the Roman Empire, the contributions of key figures, political and social structures, and the interpretation of historical sources and artifacts. By integrating collaborative learning with an engaging, gamified approach, students will deepen their understanding of Roman history in an interactive and immersive way. 

These ideas are from Alberto Herraez

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