- As a high school teacher, I still ask my students to write essays by hand.
- It not only takes them away from screens, but also doing it helps with learning.
I'm a high school English teacher, and I recently had a parent say to me, "ChatGPT can produce a decent essay on just about any topic in 3.4 seconds. You're not still teaching kids essay writing the old way, are you?"
Good question. Like most good questions posed to humans, my response requires more than 3.4 seconds to create and read, but it is one I'd like every parent of a high school student to consider as we head back into another academic year.
AI can be a great resource
Yes, it's true: generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) are incredible resources. An entire essay produced in 3.4 seconds? That's almost faster than I can type "3.4 seconds," and I am not above marveling at the technology that makes this possible.
I can also envision many reasons that kind of efficiency would be appealing to students, as well as their parents, who — in many instances — not only have been successfully using AI in their own work and personal lives but also have witnessed and worried over their children's busy schedules.
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If the "new way" creates more time for students' other activities — extracurriculars, jobs, families, friends, even Netflix — and less stress for students, as an educator, I am interested in how I might encourage my students to use AI in various teacher-vetted, revision-based ways that support their academic goals. A good example of this is using Grammarly while writing an essay.
But, if by "old way" that parent meant that I'm still asking students to write without ChatGPT, occasionally even with a pencil and piece of paper, my answer is also yes. Here's why.
Their brains are still developing
Adolescence is a pivotal time for brain development. The prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for skills like planning, prioritizing, and decision making, is not fully developed yet. This might mean lots of friend drama, but it equals academic opportunity in a classroom, because the adolescent brain is primed to take in new information and adapt.
This is exactly why it's important to ask students to engage in challenging activities like arguing an original point with specific, verifiable evidence. It's hard, and they might struggle.
We are still figuring out how AI can help in the classroom
Teachers are still learning how to most effectively guide students through the acceptable use of artificial intelligence and determine its merit in their classrooms. Two out of every three educators polled by EducationWeek in January 2024, said they hadn't yet used AI-driven tools in their classroom.
Many of the educators cited lack of time and training as reasons they hadn't yet explored how AI could both assist their own work and potentially the work of their students. Even the most seasoned tech integrationist teachers I know mostly navigate AI best practices through instinct since very little in the AI-in-education realm has had the longevity to be tested.
In addition to the issues raised above about brain development, LLMs can "hallucinate," leading to misinformation that can also contain bias that many students might miss. It's critical that students don't simply see these technologies as "cool tools that know everything" and instead — before they use them — are taught by the educators they trust about their limitations.
Writing by hand helps learn new things
Although my students will certainly use computers and other assistive tech as they work on their writing — which can come with spellcheck tools, for example — I was serious about asking them sometimes to use pencil and paper.
Studies suggest that writing by hand prompts distinct and more complex brain connections that are fundamental in encoding new information. In other words, the actual act of writing by hand can deepen retention and comprehension of whatever concepts students are learning in their classes, and stimulate the original ideas that can evade students when they only type into an electronic document.
Also, writing by hand — to state the obvious — gets them off screens, away from the daily barrage of notifications, and hopefully into a headspace that is quieter, slower, and more primed for authentic, inventive thought. And doesn't that sound beneficial for our often over-stimulated, over-scheduled young people?
As teachers get better at helping students learn how to use generative AI appropriately and students get better at using it, there will certainly be reasons for them to do so for the sake of efficiency. However, remember the adage that "childhood goes so fast"? It's true. There will be plenty of time for young people — after they've learned to think for themselves — to adapt to AI's role in their futures. While they're young, let's not rush them.