This is very good. I've been teaching for 15 years, mostly in urban schools but now in a suburban school that sounds like the one you are describing, and you are on the right path to keep questioning and philosophizing about AI rather than rejecting or cheerleading it. I love the mention of Gallagher and Readicide; I have a colleague who is about 12 years younger than me who was never exposed to Gallagher in undergrad and when I gave him the book last summer he sticky-noted the shit out of it and gave it back to me and now our planning conversations for the class we both teach are much deeper.
The situation with AI is not dramatically different than it was before: most students need all of the strategies in Gallagher's (thankfully slim) book to enjoy reading; some students can be exposed to all of the strategies and still hate reading; many students who love reading hate English classes; only students in AP and honors classes actually read outside of class. This was and is true in high and low SES schools across the U.S., and I doubt AI changed it or will change it.
Model-based writing like the activity your supervising teacher did at the end of the year isn't immune to AI and in fact the models are sort of built to do it, but if students draft and submit model-based writing in-class along the way, it's much harder to get AI to do the whole thing for them, and if students are using google docs that they share with you, it's perfectly valid to say, as I did in a poetry unit, hey, why did this whole poem appear in a 30 second chunk in your revision history, rather than in line by painful line as it did with other students? I don't think students have a right to not be surveilled; they're not adults yet and they need adult help to write a poem or short story rather than having an chatbot do it for them do it for them.
Nice piece, Peter. I’ve been an ESL teacher for about 10 years and for the last 5 have worked in a university bridging program (basically an extra year for international students to improve their language before starting as first years). When ChatGPT came out we had to completely revamp our assessment process, making all the writing happen in class. It worked pretty well but, tbh, it’s a losing battle because of all the cultural forces aligned against humanistic education. Last year I switched to a different program within the university doing one on one tutoring, mainly helping students with speaking (they don’t come much for writing help, although apparently they did in the past). It’s been a big boost in my job satisfaction because I don’t have to worry about grading students’ writing. All this to say, I have great admiration for what you’re doing. It’s not easy but the positive impact you can make on students who care (by being a teacher who cares) is invaluable.
Greeting, Peter. Loved the AI article. As I was winding down my 42 year teaching career, I, too was faced with the “tech” battles. I turned to the good folks at High Tech High in San Diego. Adapted more than one of their projects. Fabulous stuff. https://www.hightechhigh.org/student-work/projects/
This is very good. I've been teaching for 15 years, mostly in urban schools but now in a suburban school that sounds like the one you are describing, and you are on the right path to keep questioning and philosophizing about AI rather than rejecting or cheerleading it. I love the mention of Gallagher and Readicide; I have a colleague who is about 12 years younger than me who was never exposed to Gallagher in undergrad and when I gave him the book last summer he sticky-noted the shit out of it and gave it back to me and now our planning conversations for the class we both teach are much deeper.
The situation with AI is not dramatically different than it was before: most students need all of the strategies in Gallagher's (thankfully slim) book to enjoy reading; some students can be exposed to all of the strategies and still hate reading; many students who love reading hate English classes; only students in AP and honors classes actually read outside of class. This was and is true in high and low SES schools across the U.S., and I doubt AI changed it or will change it.
Model-based writing like the activity your supervising teacher did at the end of the year isn't immune to AI and in fact the models are sort of built to do it, but if students draft and submit model-based writing in-class along the way, it's much harder to get AI to do the whole thing for them, and if students are using google docs that they share with you, it's perfectly valid to say, as I did in a poetry unit, hey, why did this whole poem appear in a 30 second chunk in your revision history, rather than in line by painful line as it did with other students? I don't think students have a right to not be surveilled; they're not adults yet and they need adult help to write a poem or short story rather than having an chatbot do it for them do it for them.
Nice piece, Peter. I’ve been an ESL teacher for about 10 years and for the last 5 have worked in a university bridging program (basically an extra year for international students to improve their language before starting as first years). When ChatGPT came out we had to completely revamp our assessment process, making all the writing happen in class. It worked pretty well but, tbh, it’s a losing battle because of all the cultural forces aligned against humanistic education. Last year I switched to a different program within the university doing one on one tutoring, mainly helping students with speaking (they don’t come much for writing help, although apparently they did in the past). It’s been a big boost in my job satisfaction because I don’t have to worry about grading students’ writing. All this to say, I have great admiration for what you’re doing. It’s not easy but the positive impact you can make on students who care (by being a teacher who cares) is invaluable.
Greeting, Peter. Loved the AI article. As I was winding down my 42 year teaching career, I, too was faced with the “tech” battles. I turned to the good folks at High Tech High in San Diego. Adapted more than one of their projects. Fabulous stuff. https://www.hightechhigh.org/student-work/projects/
Enjoy.