ALF Studio
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How it works

How to use ALF Studio

Nine steps, from signing in to a draft that starts the way you teach.

Walkthrough

Watch it first

About six and a half minutes of the real app: starting a unit, making it yours, adapting it as you teach, building and teaching a week's lessons, and what ALF learns from your changes.

A narrated video of ALF Studio, about six and a half minutes long, with captions you can switch on: the home page, then one eighth grade English and social studies unit about what popular chatbots get wrong about a Cambridge neighborhood, from the new unit form to a draft, three edits and the tag ALF adds to each, Adapt this week, Check in, a note before ALF writes a week, that week's lessons built, a lesson page, Teach, Before you teach, Help, Your data, How you adapt, and a new unit form that starts with her usual changes.

  1. Step 1

    Sign in

    Continue with Google. There is nothing to install and no card to enter.

  2. Step 2

    Describe the unit

    Choose your curriculum, grade, subject and how many weeks, or Other subject to type one that isn't listed, and Your lessons: how many a week and how long. Add your idea in a line or two, and the town you teach in, if you like. Press Generate unit and ALF drafts the whole unit in under a minute, to fit your lessons, in British English for England and Scotland and American English for the United States.

  3. Step 3

    Check the standards

    The form suggests standards for your grade, subject and topic: remove any, or choose your own. Using these standards, above Generate unit, shows exactly the ones the draft uses. You can use your own goals instead, or no standards and a few skills to focus on. On the unit, each standard shows its official wording and its code, or in England, which publishes no codes, its key stage and subject; NGSS shows its code, topic and a link. The unit also shows where it teaches and assesses each one.

  4. Step 4

    Make it yours

    Press Edit unit, then click any part to change it. Save keeps every change as a new version and puts a line under each one: what changed, where, and the reason ALF thinks you had. Pick your own reason or dismiss it. Anything typed but not yet saved waits in this browser until you keep it or throw it away.

  5. Step 5

    Build a week's lessons

    Under any week, Build this week's lessons writes them from the week's outline, the changes you saved to it and to earlier weeks, and your note under Before ALF writes this week: a page for each lesson, a task sheet for the week and the handouts the lessons need, in about a minute. Teach shows one part of a lesson at a time, large enough to read across the room. Each lesson lists the facts worth a quick check under Before you teach, each with a box to tick, and Print offers a lesson, its handouts or the whole week.

  6. Step 6

    Adapt it as you teach

    When a week isn't going to plan, press Adapt this week, pick what is happening, such as Running behind or Too hard, and add a line if you like. Check in, at the foot of each week, asks how that week went, and can suggest changes to the weeks after it, or with Needs changes to that week too. Keep the changes that fit and skip the rest: nothing changes until you press Keep changes, and Undo puts it back.

  7. Step 7

    Print or copy

    Print or save as PDF, or Copy unit and paste it into Google Docs or Word to share with a colleague. Copy unit doesn't include lessons yet, and the unit prints without them, so print a week's lessons from a lesson page.

  8. Step 8

    Keep units in classes

    Press New class on your units page and give it a name, like a period or a section, then drag units into it or choose Move to class. A class holds your units, never students. Group by and Sort arrange the page your way.

  9. Step 9

    ALF learns how you teach

    Every change you save is noted, and only your own changes count. After a few, How you adapt on your units page shows your habits. Switch on Start my drafts this way there and your next draft starts with them; it is off to begin with while ALF is being tested, and ALF keeps noticing your changes either way, so your habits are ready when you do.

Start with one unit

Sign in with your Google account and describe the unit you want to teach next. The draft is yours to change from the first line.

Start a unit

Free during early testing. Sign in with a Google account. Nothing to install.