Composing emails is one of those tasks that eats up a lot of time. As a teacher, I often know exactly what I want to communicate but it takes time to find the words and structure that convey the right tone.
ChatGPT can be helpful, but not if the recipients of the emails are put off by the generic ChatGPT style. For example, here’s what ChatGPT produced in response to this prompt: “You are a grade 6 science teacher. Write an email to a parent to inform them that their child has not completed their project and ask for their help in getting the project done at home over the weekend.“
It took a few seconds to write the prompt and only a few seconds to generate the email, so I’m definitely saving time…. but if it’s not really me addressing the family, I’m missing a chance to engage them as a partner in their child’s learning.
Pairing the email prompt with with some guidelines that describe my specific writing style can improve the quality of the first draft.
You are a grade 6 science teacher. Write an email to <audience> to inform them that <message> and <request>.
Follow these guidelines when writing the email:
<insert guidelines>
The response I got was much better:
The draft is not perfect, and I would never send an email without editing it first, but this gives me a much better starting point than a blank screen. Instead of searching for the words to get started, I can spend the time making sure that the message is accurate and conveyed in an appropriate tone.
Ms. S. Phillips 
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