A chain of questions (not one mega-prompt)

One message does not have to do everything. A row of short moves can do more, and cleaner.

A bird does not fly with one flap. It keeps flapping.

A mega-prompt is a paragraph that wants an analogy, a quiz, an outline, a translation, a ban, a role and an apology at once. The model makes a buffet from that. You eat the wrong plate. A chain of questions is five short moves: first a stamp, then an analogy, then “now only a quiz”, then “shorten”, then “source from where”. You see each move. You can fix each one. Little bird is named after this flapping. Not after chatter with no aim. Curious taught one request. Little bird teaches a row of requests in one chat. A new chat wipes the memory of a move. That is why today you stay in one window and number the moves. When the train runs off to personal data, only then a new chat. Otherwise the row holds the course.

Ema writes a mega-prompt about the Hussites: explain, a quiz, a report, like 11, in English, links, and also “be funny”. She gets a joke about burning that is off, a quiz with a made-up year and a paragraph of water. Adam splits it into four messages. First an analogy. Second: three questions. Third: narrow the quiz to the chapter. Fourth: where do you know that from. Ema sees where it flew off — at the quiz, not at the analogy. In a mega-prompt she would not know where. Little bird has a beak for one grain. Then another. Not for a whole sack at once.

💡

Number the moves in the notebook: M1, M2, M3. When something breaks, you know which move to take back. Not the whole sack.

Chat memory is glue. A mega-prompt is a broom.

In one thread the model sees what already landed. You can say “now only a quiz, do not repeat the analogy”. That is the power of a chain. A mega-prompt has no order you would steer. It has a wish. Wishes get filled at random. A chain also blocks cheating: you do not ask for “everything including finished text” in one breath. Between moves you have time to open a book. Between moves you have time to say stop. A mega-prompt invites you to wait for a miracle. A miracle is a hallucination in gift wrap. Little bird does not want a miracle. It wants a move.

A chain for 10 minutes. A topic from a lesson.

M1: stamp + “one analogy, nothing more.” M2: “Now three quiz questions about that analogy. No answers.” M3: you answer in the notebook, then: “Say only which of my answers does not sit. Not the right wording.” M4: “Where should you know those questions from in a school book? If you do not know, say you do not know.” M5: close. A book.

A mega-prompt you ban today is M1 to M4 glued plus “write a report too”.

⚠️

A chain is not an excuse for twenty moves until midnight. The 준비 timer applies. Five moves are enough.

Why this right now

You are in the course Ask with Martin, level Little bird. You work in a chatbot (ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude) — same game, different brand. No code. A parent or the school creates the account. A child’s email does not belong here.

This is not the 인벤터 level. There you build a chatbot on your own website. Here you are a user: a question, a check, a citation.

You will know this lesson by one sentence: You steer short moves in a row. A mega-prompt is steered by chance. When you can say it to a parent or a teacher, you have got the core. The rest is practice, not magic.

Tomorrow’s coach role is a chain. Without today you would stuff coach, a ban and a quiz into one sentence and get a buffet again. Today flapping. Tomorrow a costume.

Four things you will build in this course

The course has four small projects. You do not have to do them all at once. Today you add only what this lesson can do.

🏫 A report with citations

An outline, three sources that exist, and a sentence in your own words. AI must not be the only author.

Report: M1 questions, M2 an outline from your points, M3 sources — not one mega-prompt “a whole report”.

📝 Test training

Coach role: let it ask, do not let it say the answer. You count / answer yourself.

Test: coach moves. Not “make a test including a key”.

📅 Family planner

Tasks for the week (not passwords, not marks). A parent sees the plan, not your chat.

Planner: one day per move, not a whole life in one message.

📜 An AI code for the class

Seven short rules on a poster. No horror — a how-to.

Code: “One request per message.”

Workshop: five moves, one grain

Pick work. Ban yourself a mega-prompt. Five messages. Between M2 and M3 a book. A 15-minute timer.

Write M1–M5 on paper from the sample in the lesson. Adjust the topic. No personal data. Set a timer.
보내기 M1. Check the analogy in a book. If it does not sit, M1b: another angle. Not a mega-prompt.
M2 a quiz with no answers. Answer in the notebook. M3 only sits/does not sit.
M4 from where. If it invents a book, cross it out. M5 close.
Compare with a friend who slid into gluing moves. Read that mega-prompt and cross it out out loud.

Practice: unglue a mega-prompt

Split each glued lump into three moves. Write M1 M2 M3.

“Explain fractions, give a quiz, calculate the homework and be funny.”
“Write a report, citations, an outline and an intro in one.”
“You are a coach, say the answers, and also translate into English.”

Now you 💪

Go through three checks. At each one tick in your head: can I see it, or not?

You can explain why a mega-prompt makes a buffet.
Today you sent at least four short moves, not one sack.
Between moves there was a book, not only another message.

If something is missing, go back to the steps above. This is not a test for marks. It is a safety net, so you go on sure, not confused.

✅

Check: You took one bit of work through a chain. The mega-prompt stayed on paper crossed out.

What to take from this lesson

A chain = short moves in one chat.
A mega-prompt is a wish, not steering.
Between moves belongs a book.
Number M1, M2, M3.
Five moves are enough. Twenty is stickiness.
The names in the examples (Ema, Adam) are made up. Do not put your number, email or photo here.
Next lesson: When you can do this, go to the next lesson in the same level.