AI : A dirty word, gaslighting & a loss of values

After years of being the queen of comments, I began my work in a new school and was told my comments weren't detailed enough. I asked whose comments I should look at.

I approached one of the recommended teachers and looked at their comments. I was blown away. I looked at the teacher's work and said emphatically, " You do not get paid enough to write this much detail." Please don't think I am slack. Whilst I am a fan of effort and going above and beyond, one should not be doing a workload that leads to the detriment of your soul. At the same time, I felt that all those years of thinking I had been an inspiring teacher, writing wonderful comments, were vanishing before my eyes. I was contemplating the possibility that maybe I was a bad teacher and should quit.

A dirty word?

Fast forward a year, I was playing around with AI, I tried something. Before my eyes, I saw the comments roll up my screen, appearing in exactly the same format as the comments I had seen the year before - the syntax, the detail, the bolded fonts. Later, I heard that the other teacher, whose comments were said to have been of a high standard, had been using BRISK. Yet, no one thought to tell me.

This story says more about the management style and the fear that teachers might not be seen as relevant, or worse, teachers' cheating. Ultimately, it was just gaslighting, presenting AI as brilliance without acknowledging AI. It also raises the important question: if teachers can't talk amongst themselves honestly about the use of AI, then why would students be honest? And if we don't be honest about our use of AI and why it is being used, then we are not going to be able to address other underlying systemic issues within schools, including teaching load, unnecessary bureaucracy and the infringement on our special time. The use of AI in education should be to enhance our teaching, not to create more space to add more tasks.

My approach is honesty, I share with my colleagues how I use AI to either enhance my teaching or help ease my workload. The sharing of ideas and possibilities creates a space for dialogue and exploring other ways and possibilities of using AI., Though the mention of the use of AI feels like a dirty word and sparks teachers giving each other awkward sideways glances.

I still write personal comments, but I respond to my students' work as someone who cares, who sees and knows their improvements, who loves their ideas ( no matter how badly something is written, some ideas are brilliant). However, I also include AI feedback, though depending on the level of the student or their needs, I will delete some of the feedback. I don't want my students to be overwhelmed by all the things that need work or get feedback on aspects of writing that they aren't ready to work on.

I also tell my students when I have used AI (especially when I am trying to have a fast turnaround on formatives leading up to summatives). My students understand that I am not the one being assessed, however, I do try to always add something personal. Besides, I often sit there with 20 Google Docs open, watching their writing process and giving feedback during that process. They also (usually) understand that I need to see their non-AI work as it helps me decide what areas for improvement to incorporate into my class. I discuss the importance of thinking when it comes to learning and brain growth.

When you use AI without being honest, you are committing academic dishonesty and encouraging an atmosphere where 'perfection' is valued over effort. It is not the act of using AI that is essentially dishonest, but the culture of secrecy that shrouds its use.

When you don't think about your usage of AI, I believe you are less likely to see it. (I have heard of countless stories in classes, where students have been able to get away with using it. Given the way the teenage brain is designed, and in the current climate of point collection bureaucracies rather than data-driven schools, the worshipping of top grades only rather than growth, for young people, the rewards outweigh the risks of using AI.)

One of the lessons that my students loved was when I taught them how to get feedback on their drafts of descriptive writing. (BTW, other teachers thought I was teaching them how to cheat.) Some teachers don't give feedback ( and just as bad, give feedback to students one day before the improved version is due) or comments for one to grow, so why not teach students how to get feedback and improve? I was there with students helping them to decide which feedback to act on. I was laughing with students at some of the feedback they were given., There was joy in the class. Surprisingly, several students did not like the suggestions AI made for them, citing they they preferred their piece of writing as it sounded like them. As a notoriously bad typist, I feel like my typing errors are me and when they are not there,. I feel that the writing is better, but it doesn't show me. I like my typing errors.

Creating a place and a time where AI is okay, being honest about your own use of AI, and of course, reading students' work and showing evidence that you are engaging with their work on some level are the best ways to reduce the risk of a student using AI.

My journey with AI has been somewhat ad hoc. My technical understanding of IT is low, but my spirit is curious. I found AI allowed me to focus on the content of my comments rather than the perfection of my sentence structure. It gave me time to sit down and talk to students one-on-one, which they so desperately need..

Tech changes all the time, but if we do not share our common foundation or understanding of it, we will have unfair workplaces where some seemingly shine and others suffer silently, falling behind. The same happens to students.

AI means there is more time to engage with students interpersonally.

Note: The only AI used in this is Grammarly's spell check and grammar check. I enjoy writing, and as a writer, I enjoy the thinking process that goes into this, I do talk about the joy and satisfaction one gets from formulating ideas.