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Turn a math department meeting into dated action items

Practice: Keeping the AI to your sources. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

You're the math department chair and post action items after each meeting. You want exactly 4 numbered lines, each as Teacher - task - due date (month and day), under 50 words, plain text. Turn 'before winter break' into the real date, use the new owner for the task that was reassigned, and leave out the parked debate. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Keeping vague dates. The AI writes 'before winter break'. Try: Add: "Winter break starts after Fri Dec 19. Use calendar dates."
  • Missing the reassignment. Ms. Cho is listed first for the inventory. Try: Add: "Mr. Ruiz took the calculator inventory."
  • Including the parked debate. The AI lists the textbook switch as a task. Try: Add: "Skip the parked textbook debate."
  • Letting the AI pick the layout. The AI writes minutes with headings. Try: Be exact: "Exactly 4 numbered lines, plain text."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 50 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 8 words."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Says how many lines
  • Converts the date
  • Handles the reassignment
  • Skips the parked item
  • Sets a word limit

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