AI Blocks › Teach and train people
Struggle-first lesson reshaper
Give it a lesson that starts with the explanation. Get a version where students try the problem first.
Struggle-first lesson reshaper is a free AI skill for the job "Teach and train people". Give the instructions to an AI assistant that supports the required files and tools, then review its output.
Free · No account · CC BY SA 4.0 licence · Made by Gareth Manning · Level: advanced · Thinking: high
Made by Gareth Manning. See the original on GitHub; we copied it as it is, with its licence.
What it does
A lesson that opens with a hard problem instead of an explanation, so students meet the gap before you fill it. Students who wrestle with an idea first tend to remember the explanation better. You describe the concept and how you teach it today. The skill rebuilds the sequence in two phases. First, a generation phase where students try the problem with what they already know. Then a consolidation phase where you explain and compare their attempts to the right method. It adds safeguards so struggle does not turn into frustration, flags places where students might lean on shortcuts, and gives you prep notes for running it.
You give it
- The concept you want taught
- How you currently teach it
- Student age and level (optional)
- Time available (optional)
- What students already know (optional)
You get
- A two-phase lesson sequence
- The opening problem for students to attempt
- Built-in difficulties that help memory
- Safeguards for when students get stuck
- Teacher prep notes
Use it when
- You teach a concept by explaining first and the students forget it a week later.
- You want to try a try-first lesson but are unsure how to set up the opening problem.
- A topic like standard deviation or ratios keeps confusing the same students.
- You need a plan for what to do when students get stuck in the first phase.
How to use it
- Add it to your AI once: download it and add the folder to Claude, ChatGPT or Codex as a skill.
- Ask for the job in your own words. Your AI opens the skill when it fits.