Design Implications for Teacher-Configurable Generative AI Writing Tools: A Participatory Design Study with StoryBot

As generative AI (GenAI) tools become accessible, their integration into K–12 writing presents opportunities and challenges. This study partnered with 21 primary school teachers in a participatory co-design process to develop StoryBot, a teacher-configurable GenAI story-authoring platform. Teachers identified instructional needs and learning outcomes that informed system features, including genre-specific writing scaffolds, configurable prompts, and constraints on full-text generation to preserve student voice. The platform positions educators as co-designers of AI behavior rather than passive users. We conducted a pilot writing workshop with 13 youth (ages 8–12) and a focus group with six educators to examine how the platform influenced students’ writing behaviors and classroom integration. Findings demonstrate the value of teacher co-design and configurable AI systems in aligning GenAI tools with pedagogical priorities and practices. We present design implications for teacher-configurable GenAI writing systems that support student agency, ethical safeguards, and instructional alignment in human–AI coauthoring environments.