Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is a chat-based AI assistant from Microsoft that helps users generate and revise text, summarize information, and streamline tasks. Copilot can be accessed at the Copilot website and (depending on licensing) may also be available within Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams to support productivity and creativity. In education, Copilot can assist teachers with lesson planning and material creation, and support students with study tools such as generating study guides and practice materials.
Tech Level
Intermediate
Grade Bands
6-12
Explore the Tool
Getting Started
Go to copilot.microsoft.com and sign in with an approved account.
Start with simple prompts such as: “Create a short study guide for ___,” “Summarize this topic,” or “Generate practice questions for ___.” (Examples are teacher-created suggestions.)
If your district licenses Microsoft 365 Copilot, explore Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps to draft and summarize work content.
Key Classroom Features
Chat-based support: Generate drafts, rewrite, and summarize content via conversational prompts.
Student study support: Microsoft highlights creating study guides and using Copilot as a homework helper.
Work/School productivity (Microsoft 365 Copilot): Microsoft positions Copilot as an AI assistant for work within Microsoft 365.
AVID Strategy Connections
✏️ Writing
Drafting & Revision: Students generate alternative introductions, conclusions, or transitions and compare them to improve clarity and voice (teacher-guided use).
Writing to Learn: Teachers generate quickwrite prompts, sentence stems, and exemplar responses to support writing development (teacher use).
💡 Inquiry
Question Development: Students generate Costa’s-style questions or discussion prompts on a topic, then refine and verify with sources (teacher-guided use).
Clarifying Concepts: Teachers generate multiple explanations of the same concept (e.g., analogies, examples, steps) to scaffold inquiry for diverse learners.
💬 Collaboration
Discussion Prep: Teachers generate norms, roles, and academic discussion stems for Socratic Seminar or collaborative group tasks.
Peer Feedback Modeling: Students use teacher-provided prompts to practice giving constructive, rubric-aligned feedback.
🗂️ Organization
Task Chunking: Students break down long-term assignments into steps, timelines, and checkpoints (teacher-guided).
Study Guides: Students generate outlines and self-quizzes for review, then validate content with class notes/resources.
📖 Reading
Summary & Synthesis: Students request summaries of their own notes or teacher-provided texts and then confirm accuracy against the original.
Vocabulary Support: Teachers generate Frayer-model style vocabulary supports and sentence frames tied to unit vocabulary.
Accessibility Spotlight
Copilot can enhance access by helping teachers create differentiated supports such as simplified explanations, vocabulary scaffolds, and alternate examples, and by helping students create study guides and practice materials. Because Copilot is chat-based and supports summarization and content generation, it can reduce cognitive load when used to support (not replace) reading and writing processes—especially for multilingual learners and students needing structured guidance.
