{"id":"ind-tch-tiered-reading-questions","audience":"teachers","category":"studying","technique":"format","title":"Write tiered reading questions labeled by level","free":false,"task":"You're making reading questions for a short passage, with tiers so every student can start somewhere. Write exactly 6 numbered questions: 2 starting with \"Recall:\", then 2 with \"Inference:\", then 2 with \"Connect:\". Every Recall and Inference question must be answerable from the passage alone, and include no answers, under 100 words, plain text. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.","materialLabel":"The passage (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"PASSAGE - Grade 5 Reading - \"The Lighthouse Keeper's Garden\" (fictional, written for class)\n\nOn the rocky island of Tern Point, Abby Lund kept the lighthouse lamp burning every night. Nothing grew on the island but grass and moss, because salt spray covered everything. Abby missed the tomatoes from her mother's farm.\n\nOne spring, she found an old washtub on the beach. She filled it with soil she carried from the mainland, one bucket per supply trip. She built a wall of driftwood around it to block the wind and spray.\n\nBy August, the tub held six tomato plants. Only two plants gave fruit, small and sour. Abby saved the seeds anyway. \"Next year,\" she wrote in her logbook, \"a bigger wall.\"\n\nFishermen passing at night saw the lamp. In the daytime, they started noticing the garden too.\n\n---\nTeacher note: questions for my 4th period, mixed reading levels. Vocabulary words this week: spray, mainland, logbook.","rules":[{"type":"numberedItems","count":6},{"type":"maxWords","max":100},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"No fixed shape","why":"The AI writes 10+ questions under headings, often with answers.","fix":"Be exact: \"Exactly 6 numbered questions, 2 per tier.\"","checks":["numberedItems","plainText"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for \"under 100 words\" and it often lands well over.","fix":"Cap each part instead: \"each question under 12 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Not labeling tiers","why":"The AI mixes question types, so you can't hand the right tier to the right student.","fix":"Add: \"Start questions 1-2 with Recall:, 3-4 with Inference:, 5-6 with Connect:.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Questions the text can't answer","why":"The AI asks how real lighthouses work, which isn't in the passage.","fix":"Add: \"Recall and Inference must be answerable from the passage alone.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Adding an answer key","why":"AI-made question sets usually end with answers.","fix":"Add: \"No answers. Output only the 6 questions.\"","checks":["r2"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Labels the tiers","patterns":["recall:","inference:","connect:","tier","label"]},{"label":"Sets the number of questions","patterns":["\\b(6|six)\\b.{0,20}questions?"]},{"label":"Keeps it text-based","patterns":["from the (passage|text)","passage alone","text evidence","answerable"]},{"label":"Rules out answers","patterns":["no answers?","without answers","answer key"]},{"label":"Sets a word limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","word (limit|count)"]}],"hint":"Tiered questions only work if each tier is labeled and grounded in the text. Give the AI the labels, the counts, and no answer key.","rubricLabels":["Questions 1-2 start with 'Recall:', 3-4 with 'Inference:', 5-6 with 'Connect:', in that order","Both Recall questions ask about facts stated in the passage, and both Inference questions can be answered by reasoning from passage details (no outside knowledge about lighthouses or gardening needed)","No answers, answer key, sample responses or teacher notes appear, only the 6 questions"]}