Teach AI Prompts with the Craiyon Image Generator

Warm-up: Describe This Picture

Project a picture for the class. Choose one according to your students' grasp of vocabulary and grammar.

For example, for a low-level ESL class, you could project a picture of something simple, like a blue sock. For an upper-level class, you might choose a picture with many details, like a busy park.

Ask your students to describe the picture. Tell them to be as specific as possible, trying to include every detail. Write what they say on the board but don't correct grammar mistakes. You might even ask them to spell more complicated words.

When there are no more answers, ask if there are any mistakes to correct. Correct according to the students' suggestions.

Finally, ask them to help you summarize all of the information into a concise description. Pictures with more detail may require several concise descriptions, like the busy park. (This step will help to sharpen the description, eliminate any duplication, and weed out unrelated information. This is an important prompting skill.)

Inform the students that they will generate AI images by doing the reverse of the warm-up activity.

They will describe an image that they have in their mind to an AI image generator to generate a picture. The picture will show them if their description (prompt) was accurate and specific enough.

Project your computer browser and navigate to Craiyon.com

Say, "I'm going to ask the app to draw my father." Type "an old man" into the prompt box. Click, "Draw now."

Note: You'll notice one small box directly under the prompt box with a small circle revolving. This is where Craiyon will generate your image. It may take some time depending on how many other users are using the site. In the meantime, scroll down and show your students the other pictures. These are pre-existing images that the app has created before that the AI thinks may be related to your prompt. These are NOT images that the AI has created from your prompt. Your image, and it will be a single image, will appear below the prompt box and to the right of the 'Upgrade to Pro" button. Tell students not to use the other images and wait for the one new image to finish processing.

Once the image has been generated, click on it. It will open a larger size of the image.

Tell your students, "This doesn't look anything like my father. What do you think the problem is?" Hopefully, the students will say that the prompt wasn't specific. Say, "let me try again."

Click the 'Retouch' button under the image. Type in specifics about your father: His age, height, hair color, eye color, personality traits, typical clothing, etc...as many details as possible appropriate to your class level. Click the 'Retouch' button and wait for the new image. "That's my dad!"

Do another example, but this time choose something (or someone) in the classroom so students can compare the image with the real thing (or person). Have students raise their hands to help you to write, edit, and correct the prompt. Retouch as many times as necessary.

You may want to do a few more examples if needed until you're confident that the students grasp the instructions and activity.

There are many options for doing this.

-You could group students into groups first and tell them what you'd like them to describe in the prompt, like "Draw me."

-You could pair students and have them help each other to describe something that they both know, like a plant in the classroom.

-You could have students work individually and have them provide peer feedback to other students once images have been created.

-You could do all three.

Make sure to emphasize that students should retouch pictures if they aren't similar to what they wanted to draw.

There are a number of ways to evaluate the images:

1) You, or the students, could check the image to see if the student(s) typed a clear and specific enough prompt. If not, provide suggestions for improvement.

2) Students could post their prompt and image into a class LMS or shared cloud drive. Note: There is a download button directly above the 'Retouch' button. Other students could praise the work and/or provide suggestions for improvement

3) The same as #2 but the students could provide the 'before' and 'after' prompts and images to show how their images improved when they revised their prompts.

There are lots of possibilities here. Here are a couple:

1) Students dictate prompts to other students. The 'secretary' can ask clarifying questions if something's not clear and the 'dictator' should check the image to see if the secretary typed things correctly. Both can work together to revise any problems.

2) Same as #1 but the teacher dictates.

3) Have students create an image with a prompt, show the picture only (not the prompt) to their classmate(s), and their classmates try to recreate the picture by typing a prompt that will replicate the picture.

4) For homework, have students write prompts to generate an image of something in their home, work, or anywhere outside the classroom. Have them share the images in class the next day.