Students' Right to Write & Understand AI (Blog Post 3)

 How did we get here?

    In today's world of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Generative AI galore, we are immersed in the wonder of "writing" that can be produced with the entering of a short prompt. When ChatGPT came onto the market in November 2022, I was about to begin my final semester of my bachelor's degree in Secondary English Education. As I entered my full time student teaching the following spring, students I had gotten to know first semester who had rarely turned in writing assignments began to turn in full length essays, always well-written but with an uncanny tendency to deviate from the expectations of the assignment that were explained and scaffolded in class.  Outside of the classroom, I saw many posts online about people experimenting with talking to AI chatbots; at the time, I imagined those chatbots like the robot pictured above: a cute, helpful friend who had a knack for writing. In the early days of seeing AI seep into the English classroom we began discussing in English staff meetings before school and online social media platforms what we're still trying to understand now: How does AI fit into the teaching of writing and the growth of young writers that happens daily in the ELA classroom?

What do students need to know?

    As I have come to form my opinion on the intersection between AI and the teaching of writing, I find myself torn between two things I believe students have a fundamental right to understanding: the knowledge of how to produce effective writing and the knowledge of how artificial intelligence operates. As teachers, it is our job to prepare our students for the world beyond our classroom, which means equipping them with the content specific skills of our content area but also includes the many social emotional skills, communication skills, and technology skills that accompany how we can effectively deliver information from our content areas. The trouble I find myself torn between is that, if not used effectively, AI's delivery from prompt to product and removal of the entire writing process can eliminate the development of writing skills that students have a right and need to understand to effectively advance. To understand why these are necessary skills for our students to master in today's world and how they may come together, it is critical that we as educators understand how each play a critical role. 

    The importance of skills in literacy, including thoughtful and intentional writing and composition and careful reading comprehension and analysis, cannot be understated. Reading and writing are ubiquitous across content areas and daily life, and the skill of effectively communicating in writing and understanding how to shape messages and words to audiences serves those who have it immensely. As humans living in a world with AI, students must use careful reading skills when interacting with AI generated text, regardless of if they prompted its creation, in order to recognize problematic outputs that may perpetuate biases AI models were trained with. Students must obtain the ability to be intentional and specific with their writing, to partake in personal, enjoyable writing such as describing their own unique experiences which only they hold knowledge of.

    It seems that students' right to understand AI becomes a bit more clouded, perhaps by the swirl of judgement and opinions that flood the space so new and popular. There are many concerns surrounding AI that have many educators and noneducators wary: energy use, sourcing of large language model training material, skill development of students, and plagiarism to name a few. I have all of these concerns as well, and I've heard students mention them as well, despite my students being just 11 and 12 years old. However, I believe that as an educator, it is my responsibility to put my opinions on AI aside and provide my students with instruction on how Generative AI platforms work. I found myself most connected to the NCTE Position Statement regarding exploring, incorporating, and questioning GenAI. I believe students should have the opportunity to learn about what GenAI platforms are, how they create literacy products, and how their products should be regarded with knowledge of potential for reproduction of bias. Denying students this opportunity does not mean they will not use or encounter AI, that is impossible in today's world; however, denying students the opportunity to learn about GenAI responsibly in school does deny them the opportunity to form their own opinions and become knowledgeable, prepared interactors or users of AI in the future.

How do they connect?

    When I imagined becoming a teacher, I did not imagine that in my first years of teaching I would have students telling me AI is going to replace my job. For those students, they are probably picturing the robot I imagined when ChatGPT first came onto the market (also seen below as their "future teacher"). I understand that AI is not going to replace my job, but the reason I understand that is because I have been taught an understanding of how AI produces its outputs. Giving students the opportunity to develop necessary literacy skills and an understanding of how GenAI functions will equip students with both necessary skills to engage with the world that awaits them after graduation. There is a good chance that some students may express frustration in learning about AI, I know several of my own students have brought up needs for legislation surrounding AI or heralded its redundancy. However, there is also a good chance that the larger population of students who previously just understood AI as a magical output machine gain a more complex understanding and recognize, maybe even sympathize, why teachers seem so annoyed when they turn in work completely generated by AI. In combining the teaching of writing with generative AI, which is a part of life as we exist in the modern world, I think it is critical that we recognize many of the skills in reading and writing when it comes to closely analyzing AI output and carefully composing prompt input are gleaned from the traditional ELA classroom, and we cannot expect a future that responsibly engages with AI unless we equip our students with both of these necessary skills.