How do we stop students from using AI to do their writing? I know that many of you are super-frustrated with the number of students who are just clicking a button rather than engaging in meaningful thinking and learning. But AI is not going away, teacher friends, and we must find ways to deal with it. So, what is an English teacher to do? How do we teach thinking and writing in the age of AI?
I started teaching before the Internet was a pervasive element in our schools. When it arrived, it made some aspects of teaching and learning worse, and some better. It definitely changed the way I taught.
I am now very concerned with the way that students are using AI to circumvent the thinking and writing process. But…banging our heads on the wall of AI is not going to change anything. Instead, what can we do to meet this head-on and still teach our students to think and write?
Well, first of all, we need to have a hard look at what we are doing in our classrooms and at the assignments we are asking students to do.
Essay writing was always a big focus in my classroom, but the essay itself was never the ultimate goal. Yes, I needed to prepare my students for post-secondary writing tasks, but what I really wanted to teach them was to present their ideas in a focused, coherent manner. I wanted them to find their voices and to improve their ability to communicate.
Most of all, I wanted them to think.
Now, in the age of AI, it’s getting harder to get students to do all of this on their own. But is that because we are facing this new challenge using old tools? When music became easy to download and listeners no longer had to purchase a record, cassette, or CD to enjoy a song, artists had to pivot. They had to find a new way to get their music to their fans in a way that allowed them to have a career.
That’s where we are today. We need to pivot, to find a new way to get students thinking and writing.
Is the essay the only way?
How do we teach thinking and writing in the age of AI?
Let’s begin with essay writing. I still believe it is a valid and valuable assignment. However, with the advent of AI, a process-based approach to writing is the way to go, getting students to do each step in class. This will not only build students’ confidence in their abilities but will also make it harder to just click a button and get the essay. Students will also learn the value of working through the thinking process and hopefully use it again.
But…is the multi-paragraph essay the only way to present an idea? Even if you answer yes, are our students learning anything if they have a machine do that for them?
I said above that the Internet changed my approach to teaching. AI does too.
If you know your students are turning to AI to do their thinking, writing, and analysis, break down the skills that they are circumventing, and think about how they can build those skills in class – or via assignments that are more AI-resistant.
When planning your assessments, think about other ways students can illustrate their ability to:
- Think critically
- Focus on and support an idea
- Communicate these ideas
- Find and use research
- Use quotations for support
- Analyze literature
- Debate, discuss, collaborate
I have a pile of strategies that can help you with these things, ones that get students collaborating, discussing, and thinking critically in class. They build student confidence, help them engage with their learning, and see it as a process, not something downloadable.
You may need to do more in-class work. Students may have to write shorter assignments. But, in the long run, they will be building the skills you want them to build.
I’m linking previous blog posts where you can find inspiration and ways to help students resist the temptation. Is it a lot of reading? Yes. But it may be more useful than reading all of the AI-generated work you’ve been reading lately đŸ˜‰
Start with confidence-building activities that make learning visible
Motivate students with visible learning
Color-coding makes learning visible
A visible learning activity for analyzing text
Teaching by showing, not telling
A prewriting activity for persuasion
Teaching writing with short assignments
Building skills for literary analysis
Building skills critical thinking skills
Prewriting is a thinking process
Scaffolding skills for student success
Other relevant posts:
If I don’t grade it, they won’t do it
So, how do we teach thinking and writing in the age of AI? It’s a whole new world we are wading into, but we need to get ready to do so. AI will only become more prevalent, so if we want to teach our students to think critically and communicate clearly, we need to reconsider our approach.
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