Thank you for having me. I hope to shed some insights on how you can use ChatGPT to co-write your school graduating certificates (SGCs).

Yup, know that the key word is “co-write”. I want to front this with the most important takeaway I hope you will have today.

ChatGPT is the generalist because it has algorithms that make it predict the popular words used. So it can be considered an expert in writing. However, please remember that you are the specialist. You know your students best. You have been through thick and thin with them for two years. You have specific knowledge of the key strengths you wish to highlight to potential employers and school administrators.

I got this insight from reading “The Art of Positive Discipline”. The author said that although we adults know more about the world than our children, our children have first-hand knowledge of the world they live in. So they are the specialists. Likewise, don’t dismiss yourself because you think your English is not good.

This brings me to the pain points I hope to eliminate for you in this workshop. When it comes to writing, people dread it. They don’t know what to write. When they have an idea of what to write, they don’t know how to put their idea across. And when they force themselves to string a sentence together, they worry about how people will perceive it. Maybe the words are too simple, not bombastic enough. Maybe the sentences sound dreadfully juvenile.

I’d like to impart you a writing lesson from my Secondary 4 English teacher.

The K.I.S.S principle Keep it simple, stupid

What’s considered an excellent SGC? To me, it means that when people close their eyes after reading your SGC and can form a clear mental picture of your student, it means that you have sold your student effectively.

Now that I allay your anxiety about writing, let's embark on the first step. Gather all the necessary ingredients. My colleague has already told you to obtain information of a high-progress student in your class. I trust that you have also set up a ChatGPT account based on my step-by-step guide.

Without further ado, let's start cooking with ChatGPT. By the way, I'm using a cooking analogy for my sharing because I am using the details of a hospitality student to show you guys how I used ChatGPT to craft her SGC.

A couple of things for us to take note. First, we need to de-identify students. Remember the ICT talk we had during assembly a few weeks ago? So, we must be careful not to reveal any personally identifiable information (PII). In the context of SGCs, this means that we don't type our students' full names, schools and classes into ChatGPT.

There are many LLMs out there, including Copilot AI and Gemini. The reason why I prefer ChatGPT is that you can store the chats so that you can continue to work on your students' SGCs as and when you receive new information. Pro tip: give your students nicknames so that you can find the SGC you want to work on quickly.

So this is the prompt I used for the paragraph on Personal Qualities. In simple language, describe Sleeping Beauty in 70 words. Emphasise traits of resilience and friendliness, which helped her win the Student of the Term Award in Term 1 of 2023 for exemplifying the school's SHINE values. Your text should be written in a formal tone and understood by an average 14-year-old.

According to SingStat, about 40% of the Singapore population don't have post-secondary qualifications. This means that the KISS principle is relevant for the general public. Also, American adults are often thought to have the reading ability of a 7-to-8th grader. Hence, that's why I kept the age to 14 years.

Including the age is important. Otherwise, ChatGPT will churn out bombastic text that is just too much for the average reader to absorb effectively.

Including the formal tone is important. Otherwise, ChatGPT will give you a text that is overly casual.

So in order to get a paragraph that prospective employees and school administrators will find relatable, you must include "simple language", "formal tone" and "average 14-year-old" in your prompt.

Today is a school holiday, but I am hard at work because I need to teach my colleagues how they can leverage ChatGPT in the writing of their graduation certificates for their students. English teachers in my country need to vet these certificates, so the more thorough I teach them, the less pain English teachers have to suffer later on in the year. LOL