Reading For Treasure: ChatGPT Goes To School

I have written about how I think teachers, and especially teachers of the Humanities, might incorporate ChatGPT in the classroom. TLDR: I think teachers must embrace new technology and help students use it ethically and well. Not everyone agrees with me. Some teachers are clinging to dubious ChatGPT detectors, insisting that all writing be handwritten in class, or attempting to forbid its use completely. Good luck with those approaches. 

Instead, here are some articles that go into both the how and the why of confronting and dealing with our new educational environment. Most of these are by teachers who are reporting from the front lines. 

First, here are two great articles by teacher Daniel Herman published in The Atlantic. In the first, Mr. Herman contends (and I agree) that “High-School English Needed a Makeover Before ChatGPT: I used to make my students write essay after essay. There was always a better way.” The second one is even more direct, “The End of High-School English: I’ve been teaching English for 12 years, and I’m astounded by what ChatGPT can produce.”

Wired Magazine reports on how teachers and schools are using AI tools that repackage ChatGPT for both students and their teachers: “Teachers Are Going All In on Generative AI.” 

For those of you who want to detect students’ unauthorized use of AI, I have bad news: the research reported by KQED suggests that it is far from perfect, “How easy is it to fool ChatGPT detectors?”

If you are not reading, “Free Technology for Teachers,” you are doing more work than you should. This blog is outstanding! Richard Byrne provides a cornucopia of online and computer-based ways to make teachers’ lives better and improve student learning. In this piece, he provides,  “Some Thoughts About AI in Education.”

David McGrath in the Chicago Tribune takes a more traditional approach. He rightfully points out some of ChatGPT’s shortcomings and how this tool might be better suited to places other than the classroom. I agree with Mr. McGrath today. I am not sure his point of view will still be valid in a year or two. What do you think? “How teachers can defeat ChatGPT-using students.”

Finally, here is a different kind of “article:” High school English teacher Kelly Gibson makes TikTok videos about her experiences. She talks about far more than ChatGPT, but many of her videos discuss not only how and why she is using it, but gives very specific information about how students respond. What is also fun is that, if you view these short videos in chronological order, you get a wonderful view of a master teacher figuring things out lesson to lesson and challenge to challenge. Click here to see all of her videos and use the titles to select the ones you want to watch. 

 I am currently reading the Hugo nominated short stories, novelettes, and novellas. 

Feeding Two Birds From One Feeder: How Our Language Reveals Us

Have you ever scrutinized someone’s words? Did you ever pour over a text message or email wondering if the message was intended sarcastically? Were you ever bothered by the way someone said something or their particular word choices? 

Our language matters. The words we choose and the way we communicate them reveal a great deal about our thoughts, feelings, and intentions. How we speak, the way we organize our thoughts, and the tone that accompanies them are as much a part of our message as the semantic meanings of the words themselves. 

One of the most famous examples of this is the quotation from the late President Regan: “Mistakes were made.” The statement neither takes responsibility for these mistakes nor tells us who made them. The statement is in the passive voice; the action is not with the speaker. It is a perfect statement for a politician. The president doesn’t say, “I made mistakes.” The president doesn’t make any judgment about the mistakes. They were just made – by someone, somehow. 

Many years ago, my school was looking for a new administrator, and focus groups were created so different groups could talk about what they wanted in that job. The person in charge of my group said to us, “I want teachers to feel like they are part of the process.” I looked at him and said, “I want to be part of the process.” There is a difference. The person running the meeting looked at me and said, “You know what I mean.” There is a big difference between “feeling like part of the process” and actually having an effect! 

When talking to parents of students, language tells me a great deal. Parents who use “we” when discussing their children’s activities are sending a clear message. We are applying to college. We studied for a test. We are going to practice. The truth is that the parent is not doing any of those things: the child is. 

The tone of parent emails is another place where parents reveal, intentionally or unintentionally, their relationships with their children and their children’s teachers. A parent whom I have never met or with whom I have no personal relationship should never address me by my first name. I have lost time track of the number of times I have received parent emails that read as if they are ordering products from a store or food from McDonald’s. The tone is one of a customer ordering a salesperson to deliver a product. Do parents sending nasty emails realize how insulting and hurtful they are? When speaking with them on the phone after receiving these emails, I realize that their tone has clearly communicated who they are and what is going on in their home. 

Perhaps the most striking and disturbing example of this is the way some media outlets described the people that Jeffrey Epstein was accused of harming. Was he trafficking in underage women or raping girls? “Underage women” is a euphemism for something far more disturbing – why don’t they write that? 

Similarly, the Civil War was not just a war between the states. Although we say the two sides were the Confederacy and the Union, the Union was the United States Army! People were not killed in the Holocaust, they were murdered. There is a big difference. 

Our language reveals and shapes the way we see the world and ourselves. It communicates far more than just the denotative meanings of the words. The whole is far more powerful than the sum of the syllables. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can shape our thinking. We must carefully consider which words we choose, how we weave them together, and the tone we use when communicating – not to trick or evade or cover – but to honestly, effectively, and clearly communicate. 

Twenty Years Ago: September 2003

I love the fall. I love the start of school. I love Rosh Hashana. I love September! The weather cools down and trees start to change color. It is a time of endings and beginnings. 

In September of 2003, we were all starting school. My daughter was starting fourth grade and my son began kindergarten! I started my seventeenth year teaching at the high school. We took photos of everyone’s first day of school – and none of us started on the same day. 

I have written about the start of school before. While I love the start of school, it is not without anxiety. I had several evenings of teacher nightmares. I had spent hours and hours setting up my classrooms and preparing materials, lessons, and lists. 

My Peer Helpers were very busy during the first week of school. They accompany transfer student and escort them to classes, help them get books, sit with them at lunch, and assist them in their acclimation to their new school. I did the logistics of pairing students, writing passes, scheduling lunches, and making sure that every non-freshmen new student had a Peer Helper guide. 

And I had a new teaching partner and two new teaching teammates! The new Humanities team met their large classes in our double classroom! It was exciting, frightening, and exhilarating – but not without challenge. On the first day of school, the Wi-Fi network went down. The kids did not yet have devices, but I was very dependent on my laptop. It was a good lesson in always having a plan B! Glad I was also trained in improvisation! 

The new class was a double period: 89 minutes long, “Wow! Teaching for 89 minutes is exhausting, exhilarating, and freeing! I can imagine that teaching for 42 minutes will feel confined and packed too tightly. Although I had concerns about having too much time, and we did “whip around” a great deal and it was slow, things were neither rushed nor packed too tightly nor too loose or leisurely. We got a ton done and in a reasonable manner. The kids’ letters were awesome too! It is going to be a great year!”

The fall means movement toward the Jewish High Holidays. We have a “Meet the Congregation” Friday night service, choir rehearsals, and lots of planning. September temperatures are unpredictable. It was warm for both the beginning of school and the High Holidays. Neither the school nor the building at which we held services had air conditioning. I wore shorts to school, but I was in a suit for services.  

On the same night as my children’s open house, I helped with the Senior College Night presentation at school by talking about writing college essays. I started at my children’s school and then rushed back to the high school to come in just in time for my portion. Again,  no air conditioning! 

Of course, there were homeowners association meetings, kids’ orchestra rehearsals, Sunday School, soccer, PTO meetings, the Congregational Steering Committee, and the faculty advisory council. Then there are the surprises that create more opportunities for improvisation. My minivan suddenly needed repairs and then, once it was working correctly, the garage door broke trapping both our vehicles, “Okay, so now the garage is fixed but we have an electrical problem. When Quinn turns on her light switch, she blows the fuse for half the upstairs! She’s done it twice. Something weird is going on with her fixture. That is the same fixture the electrical guys worked on when they were last here. Could be a bad switch somewhere. Once again, we need a service person out here. Problem du jour.”

We participated in the annual ALS charity walk in the rain, celebrated my uncle’s big birthday, and went out for Saturday night date nights while leaving the kids with one of many former student babysitters. We struggled to find a sitter on a weeknight for our own open house night at the high school.

One thing the babysitters could not take care of was the dog: I had to give him his shots regularly in the morning before school and the evening before dinner. So when I traveled to Naperville for my uncle’s party, I had to be sure to get back home before the dog had an accident. We started making a trip home after dinner but before the show to ensure that the dog got his medicine. 

The dog would wake us up in the middle of the night, so we increased his insulin – again. My wife would walk to school at 7am and I would get the kids off to their school before getting to my classroom much closer to the bell, “This morning I will bring Quinn over to Shepard for her first orchestra rehearsal. After school, she has horseback riding with my mother. Then the ice cream social. It will be a long day for Q. We have a faculty meeting after school, so it will be a long day for us too!” When I did eventually get home, I would get dinner ready and, once the kids were in bed, grade well into the night. Oh, yeah, I was also preparing to be the rabbi-substitute at a bat mitzvah! 

“It feels like it has been so much longer than a month. New classes, new kids, new course, new teaching partner, new schedule, and on and on. New year too. 5764. Okay. I’m ready. Here we go!”