APRIL 2025 "Writing with Chat" Kimberly Guzman, Alan Pujol, Daniella Gutierrez, and Estefani Gordillo

Creative Ways to Improve Writing with AI

Hello, readers 😊. This article will go over some of the strategies that a tutor could use to incorporate fun into learning. In the content, tutors will describe in detail how to use AI as an interactive tool for learning during a tutoring session. If given an opportunity for the activity, students will learn practical strategies for improving writing through creative writing and participating in different writing styles and prompts; along the way, they can engage in playing games to improve their understanding of the complexities of English.

Use AI Wisely: AI has become even more accessible to students and understanding it as a learning tool rather than a substitute for academic writing is critical. It is important that students understand as an automated writing tool. Having an opportunity to interact with both a tutor and AI content can foster a healthy balance of learning to become a better writer.

Some Suggested Ways Tutors Can Use AI :

A la Onion -AI creates a satirical headline as prompt for a student to write. But remember that we are here to assist and not do it for you; we are here as support just like the Reedley College Reading and Writing Center.

Creating Quizzes- “Which is Which” Students identify both correct and incorrect items from an AI Generated List. AI can be prompted to create lists of different types of content for identification.

Group Story Chain- AI gives a sentence to start a story

Emoji Story Telling- AI gives random string of emojis, student creates a story based on them

The title “A la Onion” is a reference to The Onion, a well-known satirical news outlet that is famous for its humorous and thought-provoking headlines. The incorporation of the reference for the written activity establishes the connection to the themes of satire and irony. Many of these elements could be further explored in a tutoring session as an opportunity. This activity presents an engaging and educational opportunity for students to develop their writing skills, critical thinking, and understanding of rhetorical strategies with an activity that would take less than 20 minutes.

At first glance, one might question why AI should be incorporated into an activity that demands the creativity and engagement of students. Should the students generate their satirical headlines or the tutors? Although that is an option, AI should be acknowledged for its use as a tool in this activity. Let’s be frank: coming up with an original, witty, and satirical headline on demand is a challenge on its own, especially when it comes to unfamiliarity with the genre of writing. Meanwhile, AI-generated headlines could provide a springboard of inspiration, providing students with a variety of college student-appropriate options. In a structured tutoring session, time is often limited; thus, AI-generated prompts allow students time to focus on writing with a direction that struggling to make up. From that on, it could be a satirical activity. Not to mention that this activity also provides an opportunity to discuss what role AI may have in contributing to writing, creativity, and media. Tutors could facilitate a conversation about the use of AI and how it could impact the integrity of writing if misused.

This exercise could be done in a group or one-on-one tutoring session. The general steps to the activity would go as follows.

1.     The tutor would have a list of AI-generated satirical headlines that are college-level appropriate.

2.     Give an 8-minute writing window to develop a small piece of writing based on their satirical headline.

3.      Students will then share their pieces of writing and engage in a discussion that revolves around acknowledging the satirical elements used, how ethos, logos, and pathos have played a role in their strategy, and an overall reflection on the activity and writing.

With this activity, students are given a creative approach to writing in an entertaining way while also using a structured method that could be familiar to them. A la Onion could engage students and foster discussion about satire, media literacy, and evolving acknowledgments for the growth of AI.

Creating Quizzes

A common challenge we often see with tutees is improper sentence structure. Students come in with assignments that are full of fragments and or run-on sentences. If this is you, don’t be embarrassed, I am often guilty of doing the same! That’s why I

chose to talk about it for my portion of the Tutor Expo presentation.

Our group is focusing on how to use AI as a tool for fun tutoring

sessions. My idea was to use AI to generate a mix of, run-on, fragment, and correct

sentences. Basically, I am making a quiz for my tutee (s). Now, quizzes don’t sound fun. BUT, I can assert with confidence that this is a fun quiz-if done right. I actually stole the idea from a professor on campus who did this in their class. What makes this fun is when you present it as a competition- so ideally this is done during a group session with a prize for incentive.

 Creating a small quiz like this can also be applied to other areas where a Tutee may be struggling in their work. Perhaps a student is continually formatting their in-text citations incorrectly or is struggling with creating strong topic sentences. Or maybe they are struggling with the new vocabulary being covered in one of their courses.  Quizzes  can be good way to engage with the tutee, talking about why the different options are better or worse/ right or wrong. This can help create a memorable moment that will help students retain information.

Group Story Chain

For many students, writing can feel like carrying a hundred pounds on their shoulders, burdening their minds. This causes them to feel overwhelmed and exhausted at the mere thought of writing, making it a daunting task. They find themselves at a loss for words. Writing an essay is daunting when one has too much to say or feels stricken with writer’s block. However, there are other creative and fun ways for students to express their minds! One of the many ways to engage the mind creatively is using a group story chain. In a tutoring session, Chat GPT generates a sentence to commence a story chain.

Below is an example of a story starter by Chat GPT:

"As the clock struck midnight, the group of friends gathered around the bonfire, unaware that their next adventure was about to begin with a strange, cryptic message washed up on the shore."

Once the starter is generated, students are responsible for creating two sentences each to finish this story. Through this, students can creatively express and immerse themselves in storytelling. Students can explore different genres such as horror, mystery, action, or thriller. The possibilities are endless. Although the purpose of this exercise is to ultimately explore how writing can be fun, this exercise engages students in various ways. First, the group story chain presents a different writing setting that is creative instead of more academically focused prompt. When it comes to writing, being able to generate ideas is important. In a more relaxed setting, students’ minds can flourish creatively. It also exposes and familiarizes them with writing. Another important aspect of this activity is that it actively engages students’ minds in the process of writing as they anticipate the next addition to the story. Awareness of self is a key aspect of this as each student is also becoming keenly aware of their ability to shape a story and their importance in collaborating. As a result of this, they can gain confidence in their creative abilities. Additionally, they can also gain the inspiration necessary to begin a more serious or academic paper.

Ultimately, this fun activity can be used as a launch pad for students to begin any more daunting writing task. Although the focus is strictly on writing, other tutors can find this useful. If tutoring in another language, tutors can have AI generate a prompt in the preferred language. They can adjust this activity to another language where students actively engage their vocabulary and ability to formulate sentences in another language. ESL students can also improve their language skills in a more relaxed and creative setting in contrast to their usual content for learning. Math tutors can create alongside AI a mathematical problem with a story; students can take turns solving the problem. Due to its collaborative quality, it can also be used in other settings that extend beyond writing. It actively engages the mind, while still fostering one’s skills. In conclusion, the group story chain is a simple, yet effective way that one can improve their confidence in their skills in a more creative way.

What is Emoji Storytelling?

Emoji storytelling allows students to have fun and feel in control of their writing. Chat gives a random string of emojis for this particular activity, and students write a short story. This activity allows individuals to open new ideas and terms they may not have thought of before, removes pressure from needing the RIGHT ideas, and most importantly, teaches one to learn how to communicate through their writing.

Example:

"In a world where magic and mystery reign supreme, a young adventurer sets out on a journey to discover the secrets of an ancient castle. Guided by a very mysterious wizard, they must navigate treacherous landscapes and overcome magical obstacles. What hidden truths will they uncover within the castle's walls? Will there perhaps be unimaginable quests that require to uncover a dark secret for the ancient castle? As the wizard and the young adventurer travel a tremendous distance, they soon realize that the calm path is not so calm. A ferocious dragon greets them midway their journey and offers them hospitality with that mighty fire running through its mouth. In a world where magic and mystery reign supreme, what more can we expect to come from such journey?"

Explanation:

You can see from this example that I am able to be creative and imaginative when making up a random scenario that took me around five minutes only! Isn’t that cool?

This is a great way to an encourage a person to think outside of the box and express themselves by using visual cues. When a person tries thinking more visually, as demonstrated in this practice, learners are enabled to be creative. It give a writer another way to think about and to synthesize complex ideas or concepts. This activity may also help writers learn to ‘use what you have.’ The writer can start by using what they know to build their piece of writing. That's what writing starts with.

It can’t get more fun or more simple than that. 😊

When writing a paper, we often encourage our students to think about the content and to find some kind of a personal connection with that content through experience, or values. Using Emoji Storytelling is a great way to get those associations started.