From the Field: This Month's Focus
I was meeting with Career and Tech teachers recently, and we kept coming back to one issue: their students need access to expert-level technical texts, but many aren't ready for the reading load. Instead of replacing the core text, we explored how to utilize AI to create 'on-ramps' to it—by generating leveled versions with targeted vocabulary support, ensuring every student can engage with the same critical content.
The Actionable Playbook
The Strategy
Use an AI model to differentiate a high-level technical text and automatically generate a "student-friendly" vocabulary guide to accompany it.
The Tool
Any quality LLM (like ChatGPT, Claude, or Google's Gemini).
The Prompt
"Act as an instructional coach for a [Insert Your CTE Program, e.g., Welding, Culinary Arts, Health Science] program. I need to make this complex technical article accessible to all my students.
Original Text: [Paste your technical manual excerpt, article, or safety guide here.]
Tasks:
Leveled Text: Rewrite this text at an 8th-grade reading level. Break down long paragraphs into shorter, digestible chunks and simplify complex sentence structures.
Explicit Vocabulary: From the original text, identify the 5 most critical Tier 3 (technical) vocabulary words. For each word, provide a simple, 'student-friendly' definition and a 'real-world' example relevant to my class."
You may want to include:
The grade level of your students and the grade level they are reading on.
The vocabulary you want to focus on.
Why this Works
Builds Access, Not Detours: This approach doesn't shy away from complex, industry-standard material. It provides the scaffolding needed for all students to access it.
Prioritizes Relevance: The vocabulary task connects abstract technical terms (Tier 3 words) to the hands-on work students are already doing in the lab or shop.
Frees You to Teach: This 60-second task saves you hours of sourcing or creating materials, letting you focus on checking for understanding and facilitating the hands-on skills.
One Quick Tip
Need to simplify safety procedures? Paste your lab's official (and often dense) safety guidelines and ask: "Rewrite these safety rules as 5 simple, clear 'Always/Never' commands for a 9th grader."
Food For Thought
If the primary barrier to complex content (the reading level) were removed, which of your students might surprise you with their high-level technical thinking?
All the best,
Rachel
PS: Reach out with your stories of how AI is elevating your ability to teach. Get ahold of me on the socials!
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