How to Model Effective AI Use in Classrooms
Source: Mike Kentz Substack
Author: Mike Kentz
Original source: https://mikekentz.substack.com/p/how-to-model-effective-ai-use-in
Private backup: the full article text is archived in the private repository at archives/articles/mikekentz-substack-com-how-to-model-effective-ai-use-in.source.md. It is not published on the public Quartz site.
Summary
Mike Kentz argues that prompt-engineering acronyms and starter frameworks are insufficient because effective AI use is context-specific, iterative, and language-based. He proposes teaching AI interaction through writing pedagogy: students compare stronger and weaker chat transcripts, annotate them, discuss what makes one better, and co-create criteria for better use. This treats AI chats as a new genre of text rather than a technical trick. Kentz also notes unresolved questions about transcript design, facilitation, transfer beyond humanities, multimodal systems, and agentic AI.
Big ideas
- AI literacy has to be taught inside real subjects
- Students need to bring the purpose; AI should not supply it for them
- Learning still needs some struggle, even when AI can make things easier
- AI tools should be judged by the work they will actually do
Claims
- Prompting AI is a literacy practice, not just a technical trick
- AI conversations can become assessments when students have to think visibly
- AI chat transcripts can be taught like texts
- AI literacy only works when it is connected to subject-area knowledge
Key evidence and examples
- Kentz compares prompt acronyms to sentence stems: useful starts, but not foundations for skilled communication.
- He adapts writing-class routines—comparison, annotation, discussion, voting, and rubric-building—to AI chat transcripts.
- Students identify stronger AI use by noticing specificity, context, nuance, iteration, and the quality of follow-up moves.
- The article reports versions tested across middle school, high school, college, and a Grade 12 classroom pilot.
Education relevance
Very relevant for AI literacy, writing pedagogy, and teacher professional learning because it gives educators a classroom routine for moving beyond prompt sheets toward visible, discussable AI-use practice.