A million times this. But I fear we may be too late. Grading student essays for AP Lang, I reached my frustration point quickly when I realized a good 75% - 80% were most likely AI-enhanced or polished. Why was I spending my time proofreading non-human copy?
I've also noticed kids getting bolder and more self-righteous about their writing because they got it directly from the computer god.
You’ve captured what’s at stake so powerfully: the human connection that gives writing feedback its meaning and impact. What I keep wondering is this—how do we protect this authenticity in a system that increasingly prioritizes efficiency over depth? What will it take for teachers, leaders, and policymakers to collectively push back before the "inevitable" becomes irreversible?
I agree with your assessment of where we are and I’m taken aback by how many adults are wholeheartedly boarding the AI bandwagon— especially post pandemic. How soon we’ve forgotten the utter emptiness of electronic, teacher-less classrooms…
I wonder where we will be in a few years if things continue as they are. I have already seen AI abused in so many ways-and this is only the cliched "tip of the iceberg."
I hope teachers aren't obligated to use AI in the future to "streamline" grading and feedback, yet I could see that happening if the current educational landscape doesn't retreat from the transactional and begin to value relationships and authentic learning communities again.
I think it a) devalued education into an even more transactional enterprise than it already was and therefore b) made it rife to be exploited by bad actors, especially those who didn't value what the classroom could be in the first place.
I taught high school Spanish for 5 years. My daughter is named after my HS Spanish teacher. I’m a bit older than you — a generational “cusper” between Millennials and Gen X — and I think about how, in my years teaching, and also looking back on my years as a student, it is the relationships built on shared humanness that endure.
You’re an English teacher- and reading real student writing and providing real feedback is the good stuff. You get this. It is the point. Getting things graded is not the point. Checking boxes not the point. Efficiency is not the point. Connecting with humans is. If you’re a calculus teacher, your content is different but the meaningful learning still happens in real life with real people connecting. As a Spanish teacher, I learned about challenges my students were having outside of school. My class one semester was in a language and culture exchange with a group of immigrant women when they found out their friend would not be deported. I got to bear witness to grappling with complex and thorny questions about justice and immigration. I got to sit with students in their discomfort and in their compassion and breakthroughs.
Teaching - regardless of content - is about connection and relationships and supporting humans to develop as humans. The content is a vehicle for that.
To the extent that AI tools can free up teacher “bandwidth” to be more human with their students, then so be it. But if we think a bot can replace what makes us human, we are losing so much.
So even as the forces outside of your classroom conspire toward AI and edtech, I hope you hold onto your humanity— and give your students space to be vulnerable and honest and raw and human — to matter. Tens of millions of teachers around the planet — even many who embrace technology including AI in tactical and strategic ways — will keep doing this as well. Because on the ground, good teaching is still about supporting the growth of good humans. And strong relationships will always be the best “technology” out there.
Everything about this post is generous and hopeful, and I appreciate you taking the time to reaffirm what should always matter most (no matter how many forces push against that "mattering" in our current moment). 🙏
It's definitely already happening. Where I teach, we were all encouraged (and by that I mean nearly coerced) into downloading an AI program called Brisk and shown with breathless excitement at a staff meeting how it's going to make giving feedback on student work so much quicker and so much easier. I've since been criticized (more than once) for NOT using it.
We're encouraged to use it to create assignments, they use AI to write them, and now I'm supposed to use AI to assess them. We're living in a Turing Test, and no one seems to see it, or if they do, they don't care.
Really enjoyed the post! Thank you for writing it! Do have any protocols written for your growth assessment system? I'm eager to start piloting portfolio assessment at our school and haven't really found any foundational protocols that are really focused on growth and reflection as opposed to obedience and standards.
A million times this. But I fear we may be too late. Grading student essays for AP Lang, I reached my frustration point quickly when I realized a good 75% - 80% were most likely AI-enhanced or polished. Why was I spending my time proofreading non-human copy?
I've also noticed kids getting bolder and more self-righteous about their writing because they got it directly from the computer god.
You’ve captured what’s at stake so powerfully: the human connection that gives writing feedback its meaning and impact. What I keep wondering is this—how do we protect this authenticity in a system that increasingly prioritizes efficiency over depth? What will it take for teachers, leaders, and policymakers to collectively push back before the "inevitable" becomes irreversible?
I agree with your assessment of where we are and I’m taken aback by how many adults are wholeheartedly boarding the AI bandwagon— especially post pandemic. How soon we’ve forgotten the utter emptiness of electronic, teacher-less classrooms…
Without question, this should be a moment in which we celebrate what the classroom community can become—a shared space when students learn together.
But from "direct instruction" advocates to AI enthusiasts, it feels like the momentum is behind people who don't believe in that space.
I wonder where we will be in a few years if things continue as they are. I have already seen AI abused in so many ways-and this is only the cliched "tip of the iceberg."
I hope teachers aren't obligated to use AI in the future to "streamline" grading and feedback, yet I could see that happening if the current educational landscape doesn't retreat from the transactional and begin to value relationships and authentic learning communities again.
Yikes indeed. Didn’t pandemic teaching prove to the world that in-person, human teachers are necessary?
I think it a) devalued education into an even more transactional enterprise than it already was and therefore b) made it rife to be exploited by bad actors, especially those who didn't value what the classroom could be in the first place.
I think it also showed students that education is just a game.
I love that you ended with these affirmations!
I taught high school Spanish for 5 years. My daughter is named after my HS Spanish teacher. I’m a bit older than you — a generational “cusper” between Millennials and Gen X — and I think about how, in my years teaching, and also looking back on my years as a student, it is the relationships built on shared humanness that endure.
You’re an English teacher- and reading real student writing and providing real feedback is the good stuff. You get this. It is the point. Getting things graded is not the point. Checking boxes not the point. Efficiency is not the point. Connecting with humans is. If you’re a calculus teacher, your content is different but the meaningful learning still happens in real life with real people connecting. As a Spanish teacher, I learned about challenges my students were having outside of school. My class one semester was in a language and culture exchange with a group of immigrant women when they found out their friend would not be deported. I got to bear witness to grappling with complex and thorny questions about justice and immigration. I got to sit with students in their discomfort and in their compassion and breakthroughs.
Teaching - regardless of content - is about connection and relationships and supporting humans to develop as humans. The content is a vehicle for that.
To the extent that AI tools can free up teacher “bandwidth” to be more human with their students, then so be it. But if we think a bot can replace what makes us human, we are losing so much.
So even as the forces outside of your classroom conspire toward AI and edtech, I hope you hold onto your humanity— and give your students space to be vulnerable and honest and raw and human — to matter. Tens of millions of teachers around the planet — even many who embrace technology including AI in tactical and strategic ways — will keep doing this as well. Because on the ground, good teaching is still about supporting the growth of good humans. And strong relationships will always be the best “technology” out there.
Everything about this post is generous and hopeful, and I appreciate you taking the time to reaffirm what should always matter most (no matter how many forces push against that "mattering" in our current moment). 🙏
It's definitely already happening. Where I teach, we were all encouraged (and by that I mean nearly coerced) into downloading an AI program called Brisk and shown with breathless excitement at a staff meeting how it's going to make giving feedback on student work so much quicker and so much easier. I've since been criticized (more than once) for NOT using it.
Initially chills reading this, then outrage, and then grudging acceptance of where we are likely heading at some point...
We're encouraged to use it to create assignments, they use AI to write them, and now I'm supposed to use AI to assess them. We're living in a Turing Test, and no one seems to see it, or if they do, they don't care.
Beautiful, moving post. I wish we had answers. It's hard to find the bright side right now.
Thanks for sharing your perspective on this. I learned a great deal from your post, and I agree with you that this is a terrifying development.
Wow, this is indeed concerning.
Really enjoyed the post! Thank you for writing it! Do have any protocols written for your growth assessment system? I'm eager to start piloting portfolio assessment at our school and haven't really found any foundational protocols that are really focused on growth and reflection as opposed to obedience and standards.
FWIW: https://open.substack.com/pub/conches/p/artificial-experience?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=tgqw