I’ve been having conversations about AI text (Chat GPT being the most popular currently). Here is a follow-up to a conversation that I thought I’d share.

Having taught writing in middle school and high school, my first thought was “wow, I’m glad that I’m not teaching 8th or 9th-grade writing“. The AI writing is frequently on par with some of the writing that was turned in to me. 

I’ve been thinking about this for a while though. I’ve lived through the “calculator wars” (where educators argued about whether students should ever use calculators in school).  I also lived through the time of “turning off spell check” on computers. Those have now passed. I also watch adults (and students) type on computers. When the squiggly red line comes up, users (adults and kids), look back and fix those issues. I personally have a tendency to think faster than I type. I frequently leave words out. I know of a district that has purchased Grammarly Premium for all of the administrators.

This technology isn’t going away. I’ve adjusted my thoughts from the original “How would I ever teach writing?” to a much more nuanced view. 

  • Are there times when we need to teach writing without AI? Sure. 
  • Are there times when we need to teach how to expand writing using AI? Sure.
  • Is there value in writing things out longhand? I believe so. 
  • Are all kids going to be the same? No.

Writing is a special process. But not all writing is the same. Some kids really struggle with how to write. It isn’t really the way that their brain works. (Temple Grandin has a new book called Visual Thinking which is on my list. If you aren’t familiar with Temple Grandin, she has some fascinating perspectives.) Sadly to me, some people never write for the joy of writing. Some people never paint for the joy of painting. Some people never learn to play music. 

So, what can AI text do beyond providing a thoughtless copy/paste assignment? Well, AI text can provide another avenue to take the writing. Having AI provide some feedback may give the writer something else to think about. AI text could also act like a “peer editor”. AI text can take out some of the monotonous parts of writing. Heck, at a minimum, it may encourage kids to check out the thesaurus (*attempted humor). There are still definitely going to be times to have students write without AI. I will argue though, that we should also teach kids how to write with it.

How is AI text being used now?
I’ve been working with some educators and others, and have found the following use cases:

  • Peer feedback
  • Rough draft
  • Writing test questions
  • Reflection
  • Lesson plans
  • OER Resources
  • Writing code
  • IEP goals

AI text isn’t going away. It will get better and better. It still won’t replace great writers.