Use cases
English language artsEnglish
Browse AI use cases from English teachers.
14 of 14 guides shown
English Language ArtsEnglishHigh schoolKey Stages 4 and 5
How to amplify student voice in the classroom
How to amplify student voice in a writing assignment: start from the student's own answer, ask about the draft instead of fixing it, and have the student make every change. Shown with a free Of Mice and Men claim paragraph activity where Sparky never writes for the student.
English Language ArtsEnglishHigh schoolKey Stages 4 and 5
How to teach Frankenstein
A Frankenstein lesson plan where students back every reading of the novel with a line from the text. In a free Flint activity, each student builds a five-track playlist from their own music, and a song that fits the mood but not the moment goes back to the chapter.
English Language ArtsEnglishMiddle schoolKey Stage 3
How to teach Greek and Latin roots
Greek and Latin roots with examples, and a free Flint activity: students build words from root tiles and invent one for their own hobby. Sparky draws the invented word exactly as its parts say, and sends a wrong guess back to a word the student already built.
English Language ArtsEnglishHigh schoolKey Stages 4 and 5
How to teach hexagonal thinking
How to run hexagonal thinking before a Macbeth seminar: fill a deck with the play's key ideas, have students link the cards and write a reason on each link, and turn the strongest links into seminar questions. Sparky reads each board and sends a reason like "both dark" back to the play.
English Language ArtsEnglishMiddle schoolKey Stage 3
How to teach independent and dependent clauses
Independent and dependent clauses explained, with the comma rule, and a free Flint activity: students build sentences from clause tiles about their own weekend, and a clause that can't stand alone gets a question back instead of the answer.
English Language ArtsEnglishElementaryPrimary
How to teach inference
What making inferences means and how students back an inference with clues from the text, with a free Flint activity: each student photographs a page from their own book, and an answer with no clue sends the student back to one sentence on that page.
English Language ArtsEnglishMiddle schoolKey Stage 3
How to teach reading comprehension in middle school
How to teach reading comprehension in middle school with three strategies: start from what each student understood, ask for the line in the text that shows it, and push one step past the plot. Shown with a free Flint activity on "The Tell-Tale Heart".
English Language ArtsEnglishHigh schoolKey Stages 4 and 5
How to teach rhetorical analysis
How to teach rhetorical analysis: students name the appeals in a narrated ad Sparky makes about their own interest, then check whether its statistic is true. A student who calls the expert's endorsement logos gets sent back to the expert's line, and a student who believes the statistic watches Sparky check it against three sources.
English Language ArtsEnglishElementaryPrimary
How to teach story elements
How to teach story elements so students see how they connect: each student gets a story about something they love, moves it to a new setting, and works out what happens to the problem and the solution.
English Language ArtsEnglishMiddle schoolKey Stage 3
How to teach The Gift of the Magi
How to teach The Gift of the Magi, from Della's character to the irony of the ending. In a free Flint activity, students find the text Della would never send, prove it with a line from the story, graph her hope, and explain why the narrator calls Della and Jim wise.
English Language ArtsEnglishHigh schoolKey Stages 4 and 5
How to teach The Great Gatsby
How to teach The Great Gatsby with a speaking activity: after chapter 4, students talk out loud with Sparky playing Jay Gatsby. A student who believes his medal and his Oxford photo hears Gatsby repeat his own San Francisco line, and a student who catches the lie gets asked why Gatsby would need to invent himself.
English Language ArtsEnglishElementaryPrimary
How to teach the parts of speech
How to teach the parts of speech with a word sort in place of parts of speech games: each student sorts words from their own book, and a word in the wrong bin goes back to its sentence.
English Language ArtsEnglishMiddle schoolKey Stage 3
How to teach the RACE strategy for constructed response
The RACE writing strategy step by step: restate the question, answer it, cite evidence and explain it. With a free Flint activity where Sparky checks the answer, the evidence and the explanation one part at a time, and the rubric scores each part.
English Language ArtsEnglishElementaryPrimary
How to teach verb tenses
How to teach verb tenses with a picture story in place of a verb tense worksheet: each student captions Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, and a made-up past form like "maked" goes back to a verb the student already got right.
