AI in the Classroom:
A Practical Teacher’s Manual
This site is built around the free book AI in the Classroom: A Practical Teacher’s Manual by Wissam Nasr, a New York City special education ELA ICT teacher. The book shows you, step by step, how to use AI in practical, ethical, and effective ways — with ready-to-use prompts, templates, and examples you can try right away. This site also has supporting resources, such as specially tailored virtual assistants for teachers, saving you hours of time.
Every tool here — from the Prompt Library to the Black Magic virtual assistants — connects directly to the book. You can learn a strategy, then apply it immediately with the resources on this site.
Whether you’re a new teacher looking to save time, an experienced teacher curious about AI, or a special education or ELL teacher wanting better ways to support all learners, this site is for you. The goal is simple: help you work smarter, teach better, and get your time back.
The book is styled as a reference manual. It is designed so you can pick it up, read a chapter, and use it immediately. It starts with Getting Started with ChatGPT, showing you how to set up, write strong prompts, and avoid common mistakes. Next, it introduces the WISSAM Framework, the author’s data-driven method for aligning lessons with standards, integrating AI, and tracking results.
You’ll learn how to turn AI-analyzed class data into targeted lessons, and how to individualize instruction for ELLs, special education students, and learners at different levels. The book also covers writing IEPs with AI, from drafting to refining high-quality plans. Throughout, visual examples show exactly what AI can generate, helping you see the possibilities at a glance.
Other sections show you how to plan lessons, assess your own teaching, create assessments, and streamline grading and feedback so it’s clear, specific, and efficient. The book closes with strategies for preventing AI misuse—spotting potential cheating, stopping it early, and teaching responsible AI use.
What You’ll Find on This Website
The Book – AI in the Classroom: A Practical Teacher’s Manual is free.
Prompt Library – Chapter-by-chapter prompts with context, tags, and step-by-step use cases for planning, assessment, grading, SPED/ELL, and ethics. Copy them straight into ChatGPT.
Literacy Skills Lesson Library – Generated copies of individual literacy skill lessons (e.g., citing evidence, sensory details, integrating quotes) with multi-level differentiation and sample lessons, plus a link to the full library.
Black Magic GPT Virtual Assistants – Classroom-focused GPT tools (e.g., Text Modifier 32-step suite, Literacy Skill Lesson Generator, IEP Drafter, IEP Compliance Reviewer)
What You Can Do Here
Learn the basics with the free book – Download AI in the Classroom: A Practical Teacher’s Manual for step-by-step guidance on using AI in teaching.
Adapt any text with the Black Magic: Text Modifier – Simplify, scaffold, or customize lessons for different reading levels, ELLs, or IEP needs using the 33-step modification menu.
Build literacy lessons with Black Magic: Literacy Skills – Create complete, multi-level, standards-aligned lessons for any skill, or scan a text to see which skills to teach.
Write IEP sections with Black Magic: IEP Drafter – Turn your notes and assessment data into clear, compliant Present Levels of Performance for academic, social, and physical domains.
Check IEPs with Black Magic: IEP Compliance Reviewer – Scan your draft against NYC DOE compliance guidelines and get a clear “Present”/“Not Present” report with evidence.
Find pre-made lessons in the Literacy Skills Lesson Library – Browse and adapt sample lessons, then follow the linked Google Drive resources for more examples.
Use ready-made prompts in the Prompt Library – Copy a chapter-aligned prompt and paste it into ChatGPT with your class details to get instant, classroom-ready drafts.
Target lessons to real student needs – Use tools that start with student performance data to address specific skill gaps.
Work consistently as a team – Share Prompt Library entries, Black Magic outputs, and Lesson Library materials so every class gets the same high-quality instruction.
Why the book is useful
If you’re a teacher, school leader, or policymaker, AI in the Classroom: A Practical Teacher’s Manual was written for you. The author is a practicing New York City teacher who understands the realities of education today — heavy workloads, large skill gaps within a single class, constant pressure to meet standards, and the growing need to prepare students for a world shaped by technology. This book is both a step-by-step, practical guide for using AI right now and a thoughtful look at where AI is taking education in the years ahead. Its goal is to give you more than ideas; it offers concrete, ethical, and inclusive ways to make AI work for you, with strategies and tools that have been tested in real classrooms.
Inside, you’ll find practical guidance for using AI to free up your time without sacrificing quality. The book shows you how to automate repetitive but necessary tasks — like creating leveled texts, writing rubrics, designing differentiated activities, and drafting IEP components — so you can focus more on connecting with students, giving meaningful feedback, and leading engaging lessons. Each chapter includes ready-to-use prompts, real classroom examples, and simple workflows you can put into action the same day, whether you’re adapting a text for multilingual learners, generating interactive assignments, or organizing student data to guide instruction.
At the same time, the manual addresses the bigger questions surrounding AI in education, including academic integrity, equity, and responsible use. It offers clear, policy-ready frameworks with sample disclosure statements and proactive strategies to prevent misuse, helping you feel confident about introducing AI into your teaching practice. Above all, it is designed to help every learner succeed by making content more accessible, integrating accommodations seamlessly, and creating lessons that challenge all students appropriately. With this book, you’ll be prepared to keep human connection at the heart of your teaching while letting AI handle the heavy lifting — and to navigate the larger changes AI is bringing to the world of education.
AI in the Classroom:
A Practical Teacher’s Manual
Why This Book Stands Out
This book is filled with first-ever, classroom-ready ideas. It shows you how to turn any story into a dynamic, interactive reading experience where students’ choices shape the narrative, or bring literature to life instantly using DALL·E to create custom storyboards. You’ll learn how to use “master prompts,” long, detailed instructions that act like mini-programs, to automate complex tasks such as lesson planning, differentiation, grading, and generating feedback. It also introduces purpose-built Black Magic Virtual Assistants that can adapt any text in 33 different ways, generate multi-level, standards-aligned literacy lessons, draft a complete and compliant IEP in minutes, or review an IEP for gaps using DOE quality guidelines.
Beyond instruction, the manual shows how to use AI to create practical teacher tools like one-page student snapshots and accommodation spreadsheets, then cross-reference them with lesson plans to deliver highly individualized instruction. You’ll see how to integrate accommodations automatically into lesson plans, design personalized assessments for individual students, and have AI provide detailed, targeted feedback across all types of writing, from essays and poetry to history papers, even tracking growth at the sentence level.
It also presents powerful new approaches to teacher self-reflection, such as recording a lesson, transcribing it, and using AI to analyze participation patterns, questioning techniques, and differentiation strategies. The book addresses challenges directly, offering practical, classroom-tested solutions for preventing AI misuse and cheating, along with a ready-to-use policy and ethics toolkit that includes acceptable-use guidelines, sample student disclosure statements, and privacy-first workflows.
No other resource connects so many parts of the teaching process into one AI-supported system, from planning to personalization, from special education to policy. It is both a hands-on guide you can use immediately and a forward-looking blueprint for the future of teaching, keeping human connection at the center while letting AI handle the heavy lifting.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Teaching in the Age of AI
1.1.1 Introduction: Why Educators Need an AI Playbook for the Classroom
1.1.2 Transforming Teaching with ChatGPT: Practical Benefits for Student Learning
1.1.3 Practical Everyday Classroom Tasks Supported by AI Tools
1.2.1 How AI is Redefining Writing Instruction
1.2.2 Adapting Writing Instruction to the Realities of AI
1.2.3 From Spoken Ideas to Polished Essays: Rethinking the Writing Process
1.2.4 Supporting Reluctant Writers Through AI-Enhanced Dialogue
1.2.5 The Power of Dialogue-First Writing Instruction
1.3.1 A New Paradigm for Assessment: Verbal Communication and Immediate Feedback
1.3.2 How AI Supports Richer Classroom Discussions and Reflection
1.4.1 From Passive Reading to Interactive Engagement: Literacy in the AI Era
1.4.2 The Importance of Dynamic Reading Experiences
1.4.3 Personalizing Literacy: Creating Interactive Narratives with AI
1.4.4 Bringing Stories to Life Using DALL-E: Visual Literacy in the Classroom
1.4.5 Making Literacy Instruction Accessible for All Students with AI Tools
1.5.1 Conclusion
Chapter 2: Getting Started with ChatGPT
A Procedural Guide
2.1.1 Introduction: Getting Started with ChatGPT
2.1.2 How to Log In and Set Up Your ChatGPT Account
2.2.1 Key Principles for Writing Effective ChatGPT Prompts
2.2.2 A Detailed, Step-by-Step Method for Crafting Clear and Precise Prompts
2.2.3 Using Meta Prompts to Control ChatGPT’s Style, Format, and Depth
2.2.4 Leveraging ChatGPT’s Prompt-Generating Capabilities for Optimal Results
2.3.1 Why Uploading Documents and Images Increases ChatGPT’s Response Accuracy
2.3.2 How to Upload and Reference Documents for Improved ChatGPT Responses
2.3.3 How to Upload and Reference Images for Enhanced ChatGPT Accuracy
2.3.4 Reducing AI Hallucinations and Errors through Uploaded Reference Materials
2.4.1 Recognizing and Addressing 23 Common ChatGPT Output Errors
2.4.2 Conclusion
Chapter 3: Structuring Instruction Through Standards, AI, and Metrics: WISSAM Model
3.1.1 Introduction: Leveraging Standards, AI, and Data
3.2.1 Inside the WISSAM Model: Integrating Standards, AI, and Whole-Language Instruction
3.2.2 The Value of the WISSAM Approach
3.2.3 Five Reasons to Adopt AI-Supported, Data-Driven Instruction
3.3.1 The WISSAM Model Explained: How AI and Data Guide Instruction
3.3.2 Step 1: Gathering and Organizing Data to Inform AI-Enhanced Instruction
3.3.3 Step 2: Analyzing Standardized Assessment Reports to Pinpoint Student Skill Gaps
3.3.4 Step 3: Targeting Individual Literacy Skill Needs Based on Assessment Reports
3.3.5 Step 4: Creating AI-Enhanced Instructional Resources to Address Student Skill Gaps
3.3.6 Step 5: How to Prompt ChatGPT for Detailed Literacy Skill Explanations
3.3.7 Step 6: Structuring High-Quality, AI-Enhanced Mini-Lessons Based on Literacy Data
3.3.8 Step 7: Creating a Centralized Instructional Skills Library
3.3.9 Step 8: Cross-Referencing Lessons with Student Management Needs
3.3.10 Step 9: Adjusting Text Complexity and Accessibility
3.3.11 Streamlining Text Adaptation: 32 Effective ChatGPT Prompts
3.3.12 Step 10: Enhancing Teaching Quality with Digital Transcription and AI Analysis
3.4.1 Collecting and Leveraging Local Classroom Data for Instruction
3.4.2 Step-by-Step Guide for Turning Local Data into Targeted Instruction
3.4.3 Transforming Student Essays into Instructional Data with ChatGPT
3.4.4 Sample AI Analysis: Identifying Common Student Writing Issues and Solutions
3.4.5 Conclusion
Chapter 4: Using Skills Data to Inform AI-Enhanced Curriculum and Instruction
4.1.1 Introduction: Transforming Student Data into Strategic Instructional Practices
4.1.2 Step 1: Using Data-Driven Insights to Structure a Literary Unit (Animal Farm)
4.1.3 Step 2: Strategically Aligning Literary Texts to Identified Skill Gaps
4.1.4 Step 3: Structuring a Curriculum Unit Around Skill Mastery Goals
4.1.5 Step 4: Creating Differentiated Texts to Address Skill Deficiencies
4.1.6 Step 5: Developing Activities to Scaffold Targeted Skill Development
4.1.7 Step 6: Developing Innovative, Personalized Lessons Aligned with Data
4.1.8 Step 7: Using Ongoing Formative Assessments for Real-Time Instructional Refinement
4.1.9 Step 8: Reflective Instructional Practice: Adjusting Lessons to Student Needs
4.2.1 Conclusion
Chapter 5: Addressing Special Needs Students Through Individualization
5.1.1 Introduction: Individualizing Instruction with AI
5.2.1 Using AI to Identify Student Accommodation Needs
5.2.2 How to Use Your Quick-Reference Accommodations Spreadsheet
5.2.3 The Impact of Easy-to-Use Accommodation Guides
5.3.1 Data-Driven Personalization: Using AI to Suggest Personalized Accommodations
5.3.2 Creating and Utilizing Quick-Reference Student Snapshot Charts for Instruction
5.3.3 How to Build Clear Student Snapshot Tables
5.3.4 Integrating Snapshot Charts into Lesson Planning
5.4.1 Conclusion
Chapter 6: Drafting and Reviewing High Quality IEPs
6.1.1 Introduction
6.2.1 Step-by-Step Guide to Drafting IEPs Using ChatGPT
6.2.2 Using GPT Daily in Special Education
6.3.1 Conducting IEP Compliance Reviews with GPT
6.3.2 Making IEP Compliance Reviews Easy with GPT
6.3.3 Step-by-Step Guide: How to Set Up GPT for IEP Reviews
6.3.4 Example: A Complete GPT Compliance Review
6.3.5 Conclusion
Chapter 7: Using Digital Transcribers and AI for Enhanced Instruction and Teacher Self-Assessment
7.1.1 Introduction: Practical Uses of AI-Powered Digital Transcription in Education
7.1.2 Key Reasons to Use Digital Transcription
7.2.1 Real Examples of Classroom Transcripts
7.3.1 Am I a Good Teacher? How to Use Digital Transcription and AI Analysis for Teacher Self-Assessment
7.3.2 Teacher Self-Assessment Prompt Using Transcript
7.3.3 Real-World AI Teaching Evaluation Example
7.3.4 Acting on AI Feedback to Improve Teaching
7.4.1 Innovative Ways to Use Digital Transcription
7.5.1 My Practical Uses of Digital Transcribers and AI in my ICT Classrooms
7.5.2 Conclusion
Chapter 8: Creating Assessments Using ChatGPT
8.1.1 Introduction: Creating Effective Assessments with ChatGPT
8.1.2 Generating Quizzes, Tests, and Rubrics with ChatGPT
8.1.3 Practical ChatGPT Prompts for Assessments
8.2.1 Individualized Assessments
8.2.2 Step-by-Step Guide to Personalizing Assessments
8.2.3 Simplified Master Prompt for Personalized Assessments
8.2.4 Tips for Personalized Assessments
8.3.1 Conclusion
Chapter 9: Grading Essays and Providing Feedback Using ChatGPT
9.1.1 Introduction: From Grading Stress to Meaningful Feedback with ChatGPT
9.1.2 Blending Human and AI Feedback
9.1.3 Human and AI Feedback: Pros and Cons
9.2.1 Quick Prompts for Creating Rubrics
9.3.1 Three Prompts for Argumentative Essay Feedback
9.3.2 Going Deeper: Detailed Evaluation for Argumentative Essays
9.3.3 How to Precisely Evaluate Complex Arguments
9.4.1 Systematic Assessment of Creative and Reflective Essays
9.4.2 Master Prompt: Comprehensive Personal & Creative Essay Evaluation
9.4.3 Poetry and Literary Craft: Evaluating Mastery of Literary Devices
9.4.4 Master Multi-Step Prompt for Comprehensive Literary Device Analysis (ChatGPT)
9.5.1 How to Evaluate Social Studies Writing Effectively
9.5.2 Feedback for History Essays: A Structured Method
9.5.3 Master Prompt: Comprehensive Social Studies Long Essay Evaluation
9.5.4 Beyond History: Integrating Critical Literacy Skills
9.5.5 Master Prompt: Comprehensive Literacy Skill Integration Evaluation
9.6.1 Sentence-Level Evaluations and Feedback: Measuring Writing Growth
9.6.2 Effective Sentence-by-Sentence Evaluation Method
9.6.3 Revised Draft Comparisons: Clearly Tracking and Individual Student’s Writing Progress Over Time
9.6.4 Conclusion
Chapter 10: AI and Academic Dishonesty: How to Prevent It, Understand It, and Detect It
10.1.1 Introduction: AI and Academic Dishonesty
· 10.1.2 Redefining Cheating: Why Students Really Cheat
· 10.1.3 Structural Solutions: Addressing the Real Causes of Cheating
· 10.1.4 Practical Strategies to Ensure Curriculum Accessibility
· 10.2.1 Recognizing AI Misuse by Students
· 10.2.2 How Students Use ChatGPT to Cheat: 20 Common Methods
· 10.3.1 Detecting AI Cheating
· 10.4.1 Establishing Boundaries, Policies, and Best Practices for AI Use
· 10.4.2 Conclusion
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Chapter 11 [In Progress]: How ChatGPT Empowers Individuals with Visual Impairments
· 11.1 Seeing Through AI: Visual Impairment and ChatGPT
· 11.2 Beyond Sight: Enhancing Perception with Real-Time AI Scene Descriptions
· 11.2.1 Capturing Life: How ChatGPT Brings Photography Alive for the Visually Impaired
· 11.2.2 Guided Steps: Interactive Directions, Benefits, and Boundaries
· 11.2.3 Finding the Right Words: Structured Prompts for Clear Scene Narration and Directions
· 11.3 Navigating Tomorrow: AI's Role in Mobility and Independence
· 11.3.1 AI You Can Wear: Exploring Wearable Technology for Seamless Navigation
· 11.3.2 Between Promise and Reality: Practical Insights into AI-Assisted Travel
· 11.4 From Exams to Everyday Life: Building Comprehensive Accessibility with ChatGPT
· 11.4.1 Standardizing Clarity: Consistent and Reliable Visual Descriptions via AI
· 11.4.2 Painting with Words: Crafting Detailed Scripts for Precise Visual Understanding
· 11.4.3 Precision Matters: Ensuring Accuracy and Human Oversight in AI Descriptions
· 11.5 Empowered by AI: Unlocking a More Accessible Future