5 ways Microsoft Copilot can help you finish your school term strong

Discover prompts for educators to manage last-minute tasks efficiently and keep students engaged as the term winds down.

The weeks before a term ends and break begins are filled with opportunities for growth and creativity. Final assessments, lesson prep, and keeping students engaged as they eagerly anticipate the coming break presents creative challenges for educators. Whether you're a classroom educator, special education or learning support educator, paraprofessional, or librarian, Copilot helps you streamline your workload and keep students focused and engaged as the term winds down.

Copilot offers innovative and efficient ways to manage last-minute tasks and create dynamic classroom activities-which can be especially helpful during these transitional times of year. Explore these prompts to discover how Copilot can help you boost learning and create efficiencies to finish the term strong.

1. Create sentence starters for student self-assessments

Offering time for students to reflect on their growth amidst end of term tests can encourage self-assessment, help them set goals, and provide valuable insights for your planning. Sentence starters are a great way to guide students in reflecting on their successes, challenges, and areas of improvement.

Copy and paste the following prompt into copilot.cloud.microsoft. You can adjust the prompt as needed to fit your age or grade level.

Create 12 sentence starters for fourth graders to reflect on their academic progress, successes, and challenges during the first half of the school year. Group them into three categories: Academic Progress, Successes, and Challenges.

Easily customize your sentence starters by adjusting the prompt. For example:

• Ask Copilot to create sentence starters in a fun way-like imagining students as superheroes reflecting on their "learning superpowers" and "areas to strengthen."
• Tell Copilot to create full sentences with blanks, offering Multilingual Learners of English (MLEs) extra support with clues to help complete the sentence.

Copilot can assist you in providing ways to enhance student self-reflection that encourage student agency of their learning and offer you insights into their progress.

2. Develop tiered assignments for frustration-free practice at home

When breaks arrive, families often seek additional assignments to reinforce learning at home. Creating tiered assignments can help meet the diverse learning needs of your students. Copilot simplifies this process by quickly generating differentiated, engaging assignments for home practice. You can offer students personalized and enjoyable activities, even during breaks, without spending extensive time on planning.

Here's an example prompt for creating a differentiated assignment for a middle school math class studying linear expressions. Consider how you might adjust the prompt to work for your subject area.

Create a fun winter break activity for seventh graders to determine if linear expressions are equivalent or inequivalent. Include 3-5 tasks using real-world applications, like comparing prices or deals on items, and demonstrate why this skill is important. Design a three-tiered assignment with tasks at varying difficulty levels, incorporating both equivalent and inequivalent linear expressions. For each task, provide 3-5 practice expressions.

Here are some ideas to customize your assignment further:

• Have Copilot create clear instructions that guide students to select a tier with problems that they can confidently solve with minimal help.
• Ask Copilot to create a scenario where students act as "math detectives," using linear expressions to solve mysteries-turning tasks into a fun narrative where students follow clues to solve real-world problems.

Copilot saves time and helps you get started by generating ideas to help you create adaptable resources for various subjects and student needs.

3. Recommend your students' next favorite book

School breaks often include passive activities like watching TV and playing video games. Offer students options for their free time by recommending books that match their interests. Simply share a student's interests, preferred genres, or authors with Copilot for suggestions on personalized reading recommendations.

A book recommendation prompt might start off like this:

Recommend 10 science fiction novels for a tenth-grade student who is interested in computer science, featuring a strong female protagonist. Include diverse authors and the title of the book, author, and a short summary paragraph laid out in a table.

Follow up Copilot's response with additional expectations that personalize the book recommendations for individual students. For example:

• Create a "choose your own adventure" book list, where students pick based on their mood: "Feeling adventurous? Try this book. Want a futuristic escape? Check out this one!"
• Ask Copilot to add discussion questions or reflection prompts for each book to foster critical thinking, like: "How does the protagonist's journey mirror real-world challenges?"

Copilot helps you quickly generate personalized learning ideas, making it easy to tailor activities to student interests and increase engagement.

4. Generate fun pictures for engaging writing activities

As students count down the days until break, encourage engagement with fun and creative learning experiences. Copilot helps by generating eye-catching visuals, enhancing activities and sparking inspiration.

Here's a prompt to create an image with Copilot:

Create a whimsical winter woodland scene where animals like foxes, rabbits, and hedgehogs are dressed in stylish human winter clothes. The scene should be snowy with tall, frosted trees and a path winding through the forest. The animals should be engaged in various activities like ice skating, having a tea party, sipping cocoa, and reading books.

Adding specific details will help Copilot generate a more accurate and vivid image. Customize the image with these ideas:

• Direct Copilot to provide detailed instructions for a creative writing assignment that uses the generated image. For example, "Write a story about your adventure in this enchanted forest. What secrets of the forest do they share with you? How do you join in their winter festivities?"
• Ask Copilot to generate an image in a completely different style such as a cartoon or a futuristic digital piece to inspire more creative writing responses.

Easily create interesting images with Copilot for your lessons to capture students' attention and inspire creativity.

5. Draft a letter that shows families how to use Copilot

Copilot is a great tool for families, too. Enlist Copilot's help to draft a winter break letter that shows caregivers how to generate ideas for fun activities or ways to recharge over school break using Copilot.

Try this prompt to get a starting point for your letter:

Draft a warm letter that thanks families for supporting their students during the first part of the school year. Highlight the importance of balancing relaxation with continued practice of classroom skills. Include a section explaining Microsoft Copilot with simple steps for using it on the web. Provide 3-5 prompt starters for creating fun, educational at-home activities.

Make sure to customize the prompt so that the letter reflects what you hope students will do over break. For example, you could:

• Have Copilot come up with prompt starters in a particular subject area like math, language arts, science, or social studies, giving families targeted ways to continue skill building.
• Ask Copilot to come up with prompt starters for family activities that encourage cooperation and collaboration, like "Plan a science experiment together."

Quickly draft personalized communication with Copilot, making it easier to create messages that support families and save time during busy periods.

Integrate Copilot into your daily classroom routines

Copilot is here to support you as school breaks approach. Use the prompts in this post as a starting point and adapt them for your unique classroom needs. If you're new to Copilot and want to learn more about how to get started, check out these resources to start making the most of your AI-powered assistant:

Not heading into a break? Copilot can still be a valuable, everyday tool in your classroom. Explore these posts for more ways to integrate it into your daily routines:

Discover the endless possibilities of using Copilot as your AI classroom assistant today!

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