By Jim Betz
I was thrown a curveball recently when I tried a brand new lesson with a second-grade class that involved AI. The general idea of the lesson involved groups of kids devising a basic outline for a tall tale, then entering it into ChatGPT to generate a story on a second-grade reading level.
As a demonstration, I modelled developing a character for such a tale, and on a whim chose to base the character on myself: the story of a librarian who could shelve books at lightning speed. We were pleased with the results, and asked ChatGPT to create an illustration for the story.
Jim Betz is a media specialist working at a primary (K–2) school in Georgia. He previously taught art and computer science, but loves being in the library because it lets him use art and technology in creative ways with the kids.
