English Language Arts

|

3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th

Interview about Roald Dahl’s life and career

In preparation for reading 'James and the Giant Peach', give students more context about the author by having them interview AI Roald Dahl.

Screenshot of student conversation with the Roald Dahl AI next to the book cover of James and the Giant Peach.
Screenshot of student conversation with the Roald Dahl AI next to the book cover of James and the Giant Peach.
Screenshot of student conversation with the Roald Dahl AI next to the book cover of James and the Giant Peach.

Teaching goals

With inquisitive 3rd graders reading imaginative stories such as those by Roald Dahl, it only feels fitting to have students be able to satisfy their curiosity through a natural and free-form Q&A session with an AI version of Dahl. This teacher created a tutor to enable students to ask about Dahl’s life as a pre-reading activity to better understand the author and his works.

To target the information students will learn about Dahl, the teacher here linked to Dahl’s website and explained the context around why the students are learning about Dahl’s life:

Learning objective:

Students are preparing to read James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. They don’t know anything about Dahl yet. Help them learn about Dahl’s life and career.

About Roald Dahl | roalddahl.com

Extra customization

To set the language level of the AI Roald Dahl, teachers can use the grade level selector when setting up the assignment to give the AI context about the age of their students.

Inputs for setting up this tutor with a cursor selecting the level of US Grade 3.

For younger students, enabling Flint’s text-to-speech and speech-to-text can help make the conversation both feel more realistic and make it more accessible to students who may be struggling with reading comprehension or typing skills.

Input and output methods being set to enable both writing/reading and speaking/listening.

The teacher used the live preview to get a sense of scope of knowledge covered and complexity of language. They then used the revise feature to adjust how the AI is responding to be more concise.

Example student session with shorter responses from the AI after a revision request of "make responses shorter".

Student experience

This assignment could be done in the typical fashion with students chatting with AI 1:1, but it can also be completed as a group or whole class assignment. Both modes have pros and cons:

1:1 interviews of Dahl

This will give you as a teacher more insight into each students’ critical thinking and questioning skills. Each student will be able to ask all the questions that cross their mind and, with the conversation transcripts, you as the teacher can see how each student carried out the interview.

Screenshot of student session transcript and the AI generated feedback for it, including strengths, areas of improvement, and a follow-up tutor based on this student's session performance.

Class-wide Interview

You can host a class-wide interview by projecting Flint on a smart board and interviewing the AI Dahl as a class. We’ve seen teachers use this technique to moderate the conversation and manage the expectations of students as they interact with AI. This could be a good introduction to how Flint and AI in general work in order to prep students for following AI assignments.

Extra customization

To set the language level of the AI Roald Dahl, teachers can use the grade level selector when setting up the assignment to give the AI context about the age of their students.

Inputs for setting up this tutor with a cursor selecting the level of US Grade 3.

For younger students, enabling Flint’s text-to-speech and speech-to-text can help make the conversation both feel more realistic and make it more accessible to students who may be struggling with reading comprehension or typing skills.

Input and output methods being set to enable both writing/reading and speaking/listening.

The teacher used the live preview to get a sense of scope of knowledge covered and complexity of language. They then used the revise feature to adjust how the AI is responding to be more concise.

Example student session with shorter responses from the AI after a revision request of "make responses shorter".

Table of Contents

Teaching goals

Teaching goals

Teaching goals

Extra customization

Extra customization

Extra customization

Student experience

Student experience

Student experience

Features highlighted

Try this template

English Language Arts

|

3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th

Interview about Roald Dahl’s life and career

Screenshot of student conversation with the Roald Dahl AI next to the book cover of James and the Giant Peach.

Teaching goals

With inquisitive 3rd graders reading imaginative stories such as those by Roald Dahl, it only feels fitting to have students be able to satisfy their curiosity through a natural and free-form Q&A session with an AI version of Dahl. This teacher created a tutor to enable students to ask about Dahl’s life as a pre-reading activity to better understand the author and his works.

To target the information students will learn about Dahl, the teacher here linked to Dahl’s website and explained the context around why the students are learning about Dahl’s life:

Learning objective:

Students are preparing to read James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. They don’t know anything about Dahl yet. Help them learn about Dahl’s life and career.

About Roald Dahl | roalddahl.com

Extra customization

To set the language level of the AI Roald Dahl, teachers can use the grade level selector when setting up the assignment to give the AI context about the age of their students.

Inputs for setting up this tutor with a cursor selecting the level of US Grade 3.

For younger students, enabling Flint’s text-to-speech and speech-to-text can help make the conversation both feel more realistic and make it more accessible to students who may be struggling with reading comprehension or typing skills.

Input and output methods being set to enable both writing/reading and speaking/listening.

The teacher used the live preview to get a sense of scope of knowledge covered and complexity of language. They then used the revise feature to adjust how the AI is responding to be more concise.

Example student session with shorter responses from the AI after a revision request of "make responses shorter".

Student experience

This assignment could be done in the typical fashion with students chatting with AI 1:1, but it can also be completed as a group or whole class assignment. Both modes have pros and cons:

1:1 interviews of Dahl

This will give you as a teacher more insight into each students’ critical thinking and questioning skills. Each student will be able to ask all the questions that cross their mind and, with the conversation transcripts, you as the teacher can see how each student carried out the interview.

Screenshot of student session transcript and the AI generated feedback for it, including strengths, areas of improvement, and a follow-up tutor based on this student's session performance.

Class-wide Interview

You can host a class-wide interview by projecting Flint on a smart board and interviewing the AI Dahl as a class. We’ve seen teachers use this technique to moderate the conversation and manage the expectations of students as they interact with AI. This could be a good introduction to how Flint and AI in general work in order to prep students for following AI assignments.

“Flint did a great job at editing my students' pieces and helping them find specific areas of their writing they can work to improve. It freed me up to meet with students one on one and talk about their writing, knowing the rest of my students were doing the same and getting constructive feedback on their work from Flint.”

Andi Bo headshot

Andi Bo

3rd grade English teacher at Harker

"After finishing our narrative writing unit, I uploaded my editing checklist into Flint. The students loved showing the AI their piece, and talking with it about the strengths and areas of growth in their writing. I have never seen my students so engaged in editing. I had initially put a 30 minute time-limit on the assignment, but my students begged me to extend it. Wow!"

Kerri Clifford headshot

Keri Clifford

English teacher at Harker

"Flint has given my students a conversation partner with whom they can discuss ideas, receive feedback, and refine their thinking. After a recent essay, one of my students said that the essay drafting tool in Flint was like having me there throughout the writing process. Flint is providing a framework where AI functions as an assistant for, rather than a replacement of, students' writing."

Stephen Addcox headshot

Stephen Addcox

English teacher at Westminster

Spark AI-powered learning at your school.

Start a trial to get free access to Flint for any number of teachers and administrators at your school.

Book a demo

Watch the video

Spark AI-powered learning at your school.

Start a trial to get free access to Flint for any number of teachers and administrators at your school.

Book a demo

Watch the video

Spark AI-powered learning at your school.

Start a trial to get free access to Flint for any number of teachers and administrators at your school.

Book a demo

Watch the video