Ask for comments on writing and verify a source claim. Follow Carla's demonstration, pause to make your own attempt, and compare your check with the result.
Your activity / Right here
Bring a notebook. Begin below.
The activity is included on this page. Work on paper or in your own document; keep your first attempt and the evidence you checked.
AI Lab: Editor Mode and a History Source Check
Use only an AI tool your instructor approves and that allows users your age. Check its minimum age and parent-permission rules first; an adult's permission cannot override an 18+ limit. Follow your school's rules, and do not share personal information. Practice work only. About 30 minutes.
Part A: Editor mode
1. Type your Think First paragraph and add your Writing and Research Rules.
2. Ask for up to five comments, comments only.
3. Mark each comment Keep, Change, or Reject, with a reason for each.
Part B: History source check
4. Choose a short primary source your instructor provides, such as a letter or a speech. Write down its title, its author, and its date.
5. Give the AI the source's title, author, and date, plus an approved public link or a short excerpt your instructor approves. Ask it to summarize the document. Then read the real document yourself.
6. Fill in a source check sheet:
| Question | The primary source | The AI summary |
|---|
| Sourcing: who, when, why? | | |
| Context: what was happening? | | |
| Close reading: one key quote | | |
| What the summary added, dropped, or changed | | |
| Corroboration: what a second source says | | |
7. Verify: For every difference, check a second reliable source, such as your textbook or a source your instructor approves. Log each AI error in your AI Audit Log.
8. Record your AI use: which tool you used, what you asked, and what you kept.
Own It
No AI. About 15 minutes.
Rewrite your paragraph by hand, with only the changes you chose. Read both versions out loud. Which one sounds like you? Write a two sentence disclosure note for your revision. Then finish this sentence about the history source:
"The AI summary got __________ wrong, and I know because __________."
Portfolio piece: your voice sample (original and revised) and your source check sheet.
Context File Upgrade
Add this section to my_context.md or to your English and history class files.
## Writing and Research Rules
- My outline and draft come first. You never write or rewrite my sentences.
- Comments only: quote my sentence, name the issue, ask me a question.
- Ask me for the assignment's AI level before you help. If I do not know it, tell me to ask my teacher.
- Never invent quotes, sources, or page numbers. If you are not sure, say so.
- For history, point me to primary sources to check. Your summaries are not evidence.
- In any role play, label everything as fiction.
Skeptic's Corner: Who Said It?
These statements are exercises to classify and check. Do not assume every statement is true.
Label each statement: Fact, Idea, Rob's Story, Made-Up Example, Rule, or Prediction.
1. "In a 2023 study, seven AI detectors wrongly labeled more than half of the TOEFL essays as AI-generated, on average."
2. "The AI level for this essay is Level 2, AI Planning." (From an assignment sheet.)
3. "Your voice is evidence of your thinking."
4. An AI playing a famous president says, "My favorite breakfast was always pancakes."
5. "AI detectors will be perfect within five years." (A claim you might see online.)
6. "Mike switched his AI to comments only."
Read the video transcript
Read along, pause, or return to an idea. This transcript follows the selected lesson video.
I'm Carla, an AI avatar.
Before we open the AI, what do I want?
I want my paragraph clearer, and I want it to still sound like me.
Here is the plan.
First, I check the rules.
This assignment allows AI feedback,
not AI writing.
If it said No AI, I'd close the laptop right now.
Step one, Role.
You are an editor.
You give comments.
You never write or rewrite my sentences.
Do not do anything yet.
Step two, Objective.
My goal is a clearer paragraph that still sounds like me.
Confirm and wait.
Step three, Context.
This is a practice paragraph for English class,
and my teacher allows feedback, not AI writing.
Then I paste in my paragraph.
Nothing personal in it.
Step four, Task Instructions.
Give me up to five comments.
For each one, quote my sentence,
name the issue, and ask me a question.
Do not suggest replacement wording.
Here are the comments.
Step five, Audit the AI Output.
For each one I ask: is it true, and does it fit my purpose?
Comment one quotes my first sentence and asks what I mean by stuff.
Fair.
That word is vague.
Keep.
Comment two asks whether my second sentence belongs in
this paragraph.
I think it does.
It's the heart of the paragraph.
Reject, with a reason.
Look at comment three.
It slipped in a rewritten sentence.
That breaks my rule, so I reject it and remind the AI.
I mark each comment Keep, Change,
or Reject, and I write a reason for each.
Then I revise by hand.
Every new sentence is mine.
Notice what the AI never did.
It never wrote a sentence for me.
The comments pointed.
I wrote.
I read both versions out loud.
The new one is clearer, and it still sounds like me.
That's the test.
Now history.
My teacher gave us a short primary source,
a real document from the time we're studying.
I give the AI the document's title,
author, and date, plus the approved link my teacher
shared, and I ask for a summary.
Then I read the real thing, slowly.
On my source check sheet I compare them.
Who made the document, when, and why.
What was happening at the time.
One key quote.
What the summary added, dropped, or changed.
And what a second source says.
Those are the moves historians use.
The summary gave the document a stronger tone than the
words on the page.
Close reading caught it.
I check a second source, my textbook,
and log the difference in my AI Audit Log.
That difference matters.
If I had quoted the summary in an essay,
I would have put words in a real person's mouth.
Why check the summary at all?
Because a summary can drop a line,
add a claim, or change the tone,
and still sound sure.
The source is my evidence.
I quote the primary source, never the summary.
Last, I record my AI use and write my disclosure:
which tool, what I asked, what I kept,
and what I rejected.
My disclosure is two sentences, and it goes at the end of
my paragraph.
The AI read my paragraph.
The voice on the page is still mine.
Your turn: editor mode, then your own source check.
And keep your drafts.
Before you use an AI tool
Follow your course or institution's rules. Use an instructor-approved tool that permits your age, and meet any required consent conditions. Keep names, contact details, school records, and other private information out of prompts. Use fictional examples when you can.
Learning without an AI account
Follow the demonstration, pause before each answer, and do the reasoning on paper. Discuss what you would ask, how you would check it, and which decisions would remain yours.
About the characters and voices
This course uses AI-created characters and synthetic voices. Carla is an AI avatar. They help tell the story; they are not real students sharing testimonials.
Designed for high-school and community-college learners. Choose examples from your classes, work, and everyday life. Keep your completed work in your course portfolio.
