Get the insights you need from news articles-without copying the text
As an educator, you need fast, reliable takeaways for classes, PD sessions, and strategic plans. But you can't request full text or location-based quotes from copyrighted articles. That's fine. Here's a simple, compliant way to pull the key ideas and keep your work moving.
What you can ask an AI assistant to produce
- One-paragraph summary: High-level context and main point.
- Detailed bullet points: Key findings, people quoted, dates, stats, and implications for teaching and learning.
- Short excerpt (up to ~90 characters): Only if you paste the exact passage to quote.
- Transformations: Paraphrase, rewrite, or translate content you provide to make it clearer for staff or students-without reproducing the original verbatim.
- Discovery help: Guidance on how and where to find the original article on the publisher's site.
A repeatable workflow you can use today
- Locate the original article on the publisher's site or via a web search. If you're looking for the Waterloo News piece titled "How the Future of Work Institute is unlocking human learning with AI," search that exact title on the Waterloo News site.
- Decide what you need: a quick summary, detailed bullets, or a rewritten blurb for a newsletter or lesson plan.
- Provide the title, a short description of the article's topic, and your goal (e.g., "faculty PD slide" or "discussion starter for Grade 11 CS").
- Ask for neutral, source-cited output without copying. If you need a quote, paste the exact line you want and request a brief excerpt.
- Verify any figures, dates, or names before sharing with your team or students.
Copy-paste prompt you can use
"I'm an educator preparing materials. Summarize the article titled '[Article Title]' with a neutral tone. Provide: 1) a one-paragraph overview, 2) 5-8 bullet points with key findings, people quoted, dates, and relevance for teaching and learning, 3) suggested discussion questions. Do not reproduce the article text. If needed, I'll paste a short passage for a brief excerpt (under ~90 characters)."
Use cases for your school or district
- Staff briefings: Turn long articles into concise bullet points for PD decks.
- Lesson planning: Extract classroom-ready context and discussion prompts.
- Curriculum updates: Track new AI practices that affect assessment, skills, and equity.
- Parent communication: Share what's changing and why, without quoting full articles.
Ethical guardrails that keep you safe
- Avoid location-based requests like "give me paragraph 3" or "quote lines 10-20."
- Don't ask for the full text of copyrighted content. Summaries and transformations are fine.
- Only quote text you paste yourself, and keep it short.
- Link to the publisher so readers can access the original source.
- Review fair-use basics for teaching and research contexts. A helpful overview is here: Stanford Libraries: What Is Fair Use?
Finding the Waterloo article (quick steps)
Go to the Waterloo News site, then search for: "How the Future of Work Institute is unlocking human learning with AI." You can also paste that title into a search engine to find the official page quickly. Once you have it open, use the workflow above to create a clean summary for your team.
Build your team's AI fluency
If you want structured, educator-friendly training on AI skills, browse these curated options: AI Courses by Job. Keep it practical, keep it ethical, and make it actionable for your classrooms.
Pro tip: make it stick
Save your favorite prompt, create a shared template, and run the process the same way every time. Consistency beats volume. Your staff will thank you for summaries that are clear, brief, and ready to use.
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