ChatGPT for Teachers — 10 Tips to Become a Prompting Pro

12 Tech Tips of Christmas 2025 – Evolve EdTech

Well, welcome back everybody — and welcome to Day Eight of the 12 Tech Tips of Christmas! I can’t believe we’re already up to Day 8. At this point, the series is moving faster than a Year 9 class when the bell goes for lunch.

Today’s tip is a big one. It’s something that can help you significantly — especially if you’re an AI fan (or even just AI-curious).

AI is part of our world now, and as educators, we don’t need to fear it… but we do need to master it.

So today, we’re diving into a tool I use regularly to support my day-to-day workload as a teacher: ChatGPT

First Things First: AI Is an Assistant, Not a Replacement

Let’s clear this up straight away.

At Evolve EdTech, we’re big on this message:

AI won’t replace you. AI can be your teaching assistant.

ChatGPT is a system. It’s not a teacher. It doesn’t know your students, your school context, or the complexities of your classroom unless you tell it.

So if you’re using ChatGPT in education:

• Check the output

• Proofread everything

• Confirm it’s contextually appropriate

• Make sure it aligns with your curriculum and policies

Used well, it can make you more efficient and creative. Used blindly… it can create more work. (No one needs that.)

What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an AI-powered tool that helps educators work smarter, faster and more creatively. It can generate:

• text

• ideas

• explanations

• learning activities

• feedback

• scaffolds

• drafts of communication

…based on the prompts you give it.

And here’s the key:

Your prompt determines the quality of the response.

A vague prompt = a vague output.
A detailed prompt = a far more useful result.

6 Ways ChatGPT Can Help Educators (Quickly)

Before we hit the 10 prompting tips, here are a few ways ChatGPT can support teachers and education staff across roles.

1) Streamline planning and preparation

Lesson ideas, worksheets, scaffolds, comprehension questions — it can generate drafts quickly.

2) Save time on admin and communication

Emails, newsletters, Google Classroom posts, permission notes, rubrics… it can clean up your “word waffle” into something clear and professional.

3) Support differentiation and accessibility

Scaffolded versions, extension options, simplified texts, supports for diverse learners and EAL/D students.

4) Enhance feedback and assessment

Comment banks aligned to rubrics, model responses, peer feedback prompts, formative comment starters.

5) Spark creativity and engagement

Warm-ups, role plays, revision games, challenges, escape rooms, discussion starters.

6) Personalise learning experiences

Tailored explanations, targeted practice questions, revision tasks for specific skills.

That’s six… and that’s just the toe-dip in the ChatGPT pond.

Now let’s get to the good stuff.

10 ChatGPT Tips for Educators

1) Be specific with your prompts

The more detail you provide, the better the output.

Include things like:

• year level

• subject

• topic

• text type

• complexity

• what you want included (questions, examples, scaffold, etc.)

Example prompt:
“Create a Year 8 Geography activity on erosion that includes a short explanation, a diagram prompt and three comprehension questions.”

2) Give ChatGPT a clear role to play

Roles shape tone and depth.

Try roles like:

• curriculum designer

• marking teacher

• literacy coach

• differentiation specialist

Example prompt:
“Act as an English teacher and give formative feedback on this paragraph using plain-language comments.”

3) Provide models and examples for better accuracy

ChatGPT works best when it can see the structure you want.

You can paste in:

• a scaffold

• a rubric

• a sample paragraph

• your preferred formatting

Example prompt:
“Use the structure of this SEAL paragraph to create a new example based on The Hunger Games.”

4) Use ChatGPT to refine what you’ve already written

This is one of the best time-savers.

Ask ChatGPT to:

• improve clarity

• reduce repetition

• simplify language

• strengthen explanations

• adjust tone

Example prompt:
“Rewrite this Google Classroom post so it’s clearer and more student-friendly.”

5) Treat ChatGPT like a collaborator

Don’t accept the first version like it’s the final draft.

Ask for:

• alternative versions

• different tones

• more detail

• simpler wording

• a shorter version

Example prompt:
“Add beginner, intermediate and extension options to this activity.”

6) Differentiate quickly for diverse learners

This is where ChatGPT can really reduce workload.

You can ask for:

• scaffolded version

• standard version

• extension version

• adjusted reading level

• extra supports

Example prompt:
“Create three versions of this task: scaffolded, standard and extension.”

7) Build prompt templates to streamline workflow

If you do the same jobs regularly, create reusable prompts for things like:

• marking comments

• lesson structure

• rubrics

• feedback starters

• announcements

Example prompt:
“Generate 10 reusable prompts for providing specific, strengths-based feedback on student essays.”

8) Align tasks to syllabus outcomes

This is particularly handy for unit planning and assessment design.

Paste in your outcomes and ask ChatGPT to check alignment and suggest improvements.

Example prompt:
“Here are the NSW Stage 5 English outcomes. Does this assessment task align? Suggest changes if needed.”

9) Repurpose content into multiple teaching formats

Turn one concept into lots of classroom-ready formats.

Example prompt:
“Turn this 150-word text into a multiple-choice quiz, a short-answer task and a warm-up question.”

10) Save time on admin and communication tasks

Let ChatGPT draft the bones of the message — then you adjust for your school context.

Example prompt:
“Draft a short permission note for a Year 7 local excursion written in a professional but friendly tone.”

Want to Level Up Fast? Watch Our Free Prompting Workshop

If you want to go from “I tried ChatGPT once and it was weird” to “I can prompt like a pro”, check out our free workshop:

Say It Right, Get It Right: How to Prompt ChatGPT Like an Expert

You can access the recording via:
evolveedtech.com/free stuff

It’s designed to help you sharpen your prompts and get outputs that actually match what you need as an educator.

Wrapping Up Day 8

That’s Day Eight of the 12 Tech Tips of Christmas done and dusted — and we’ve got four more days to go. Wild.

If you haven’t already:

• check out the earlier episodes

• subscribe to the Evolve EdTech YouTube channel

• give the video a thumbs up so more educators can find our community

Thanks for joining me today. I’m Tristan Herron, Future-Ready Teaching Specialist at Evolve EdTech — and I’ll catch you tomorrow for Day Nine.

Until then, stay safe… and happy prompting!