12.4 Creating Your Own Prompt Starters

Creating your own Prompt Starters lets you save prompts that work well for your teaching, so you can reuse them and share them with colleagues.

How to Create a New Prompt

• In the Prompt Starters section, look for a "Create New Prompt" or "+" button.
• A form will open with several fields to fill in:
  • Prompt Title: A clear, descriptive name (e.g., "Year 5 Fractions Worksheet Generator")
  • Prompt Text: The actual prompt you want to save
  • Subject: Select the relevant subject area
  • Level: Choose the year level(s) this prompt is for
  • Category: Tag it with the type of task (lesson planning, assessment, differentiation, etc.)
  • Visibility: Choose "Just for me" or "Share with school" (see next section)
• Fill in all the fields clearly.
• Click "Save" or "Create Prompt."
• Your prompt is now saved and appears in your "My Prompts" section.

Writing Effective Prompts

Good prompts are clear, specific, and easy to adapt. Here's how to write them well:

Be specific about what you want:

• Instead of: "Make a worksheet"
• Try: "Create a 10-question worksheet on adding fractions with different denominators for Year 5, including worked examples and answers"

Include the year level and subject:

• This helps CurricuLLM give age-appropriate, curriculum-aligned responses
• Example: "Design a Year 9 Science lesson plan on chemical reactions"

Mention outcomes or curriculum links if relevant:

• Example: "Create three assessment questions for Year 7 English persuasive writing, linked to relevant curriculum outcomes"

Specify the format you want:

• Do you need a list, a table, a rubric, or a lesson plan?
• Example: "Make a 4-level rubric for assessing Year 10 History essays"

Using Placeholder Text

Placeholders make prompts flexible so you can adapt them for different topics, levels, or contexts:

How to use placeholders:

• Write your prompt with brackets around parts you'll change later.
• Common placeholders:
  • [topic] for the subject matter
  • [year level] for the student group
  • [number] for quantities
  • [format] for the type of output

Example with placeholders:

• "Create a [number]-question quiz on [topic] for [year level], including multiple choice and short answer questions, with answers provided."

Using the prompt later:

• When you click this prompt, it copies to your chat box with the placeholders still visible.
• Before submitting, replace the bracketed text with your specific details.
• Example: "Create a 15-question quiz on photosynthesis for Year 8, including multiple choice and short answer questions, with answers provided."

Examples: Good vs Unclear Prompts

Unclear: "Help with maths" Clear: "Generate 5 word problems on multiplication and division for Year 4, with solutions"

Unclear: "Make an English lesson" Clear: "Create a 50-minute Year 7 English lesson plan on persuasive writing techniques, including starter activity, main task, and plenary, with linked outcomes"

Unclear: "Assessment thing" Clear: "Design a Year 6 Science assessment on the water cycle, with 3 short-answer questions and 1 diagram-labeling task, including a marking guide"

Best Practices for Prompt Design

• Start with action verbs: "Create," "Design," "Generate," "Make," "Write"
• Include success criteria: What should the output include?
• Think about reusability: Will this prompt be useful more than once?
• Test your prompt: Try it out before saving to make sure it works well
• Add helpful details in the title: So you can find it easily later

Teacher Tips

• Keep a running list of prompts that work well during your teaching week.
• After you've used a prompt successfully in a chat, consider saving it as a Prompt Starter.
• Review and refine your prompts over time as you learn what works best.
• Don't worry about making prompts perfect, you can always edit them later.

Everyday Example

Creating Prompt Starters is like saving recipes in a cookbook. When you make a dish that turns out well, you write down the recipe so you can make it again. Over time, you build a collection of reliable recipes (prompts) that save you time and give consistent results. You can also adapt recipes (use placeholders) for different occasions or ingredients.