Trading Connection for Convenience
How we’re losing the heart and soul of writing
The poem turned in to me was fun, no doubt. It rhymed in all the right places utilizing a series of delightful couplets. It was whimsical in the way it celebrated a variety of Hostess snack items, describing them in shape, color, and taste. And it was complete. Oh, and I should mention, it was on time. This poem checked all the boxes. I could sense the relief from the student as he turned it in and could cross it off his to-do list, allowing him to move onto something that he deemed more important and worthy of his time for the rest of the class period. Problem was, having taught this student all semester, I just knew it wasn’t his original work. I asked him where he found his inspiration to write such a playful poem and was told that he had received some help from his cousin. Seeing as I was very fond of this student and did not want a poem about Ding Dongs and Twinkies to sabotage our teacher-student relationship, I accepted it without a word and gave the student a small smile before moving on to the next student who needed my assistance.
This moment stands out to me as being the first time I was fairly convinced I had been handed a piece of writing that was generated by AI. Sure, it was catchy and cute, but it definitely lacked the voice of this particular student, and it disheartened me that he had turned to a computer for convenience instead of wanting to try it out on his own. I had already designed the lesson with student choice in mind, yet he still sought a short cut, making me realize that whatever I had planned still wasn’t enough. Not every student wanted to invest their own words into the writing, and in the case of this particular student, there didn’t seem to be a lot of pride in the final creation. If a student can have an AI generate a poem in ten seconds and turn it in without batting an eye, then I realized I had some work to do in the classroom.
Adolescents today get labeled as lazy so quickly. I hear teachers throughout the building lamenting how students just don’t even try. It’s hard to believe they are talking about that same student who comes to school every day, goes to soccer practice, holds a part time job, and still manages to pass all their classes. And that student is one of many who have identical daily demands.
What it comes down to is that teachers and students may not always value the same thing and this can quickly result in unnecessary name calling. There is absolutely no doubt we live in a world that thrives off of convenience. We are all trying to do more with seemingly less time. This can often result in frustration and the desire to seek an easier way. I know I do it, so what would make my students any different? They are growing up in a much faster-paced world than I did, and they are trying to do it all.
I thought about my student and his lack of attachment to the assignment and (perhaps ridiculously) compared it to my feelings on shopping. I came to the realization that it’s this same kind of desire for efficiency that I find myself on Amazon, ordering an array of items that I know will somehow show up on my doorstep in mere hours. It can be a bit unsettling but it sure is handy. However, my truly joyous shopping experiences are those times I scour thrift stores for unique items at hardly any cost or when I purchase something handmade by an individual who is passionate about what they produce. I know there is a time and place for both of these shopping experiences. I know I won’t be searching online for some homemade specialty toothpaste or handcrafted toilet paper, but I love how other items I buy can have a much more personal or human connection. I love when someone compliments me on something special that has a story behind it…”So that’s from this one time we were in a small town in Massachusetts and there was this eccentric local artist selling pottery on the beach…” versus, “Oh, I got that on Amazon.” The convenience is nice, but it just doesn’t have that same satisfying feel in the end.
Not that shopping and writing are even remotely close to each other in my students’ minds; however, I know I need to find a way to relate and help them to understand that sometimes the temptation can have consequences. For a student who has academic policies to adhere to, it can even come at an academic cost. For this particular assignment, I had designed it in a way where students chose a poetic style they wanted to explore. They had to look up how to write in that style and explain it to me in a way that they could truly understand. They then had to choose a topic–the catch was the topic needed to personally mean something to that student and they were to provide a written explanation as to why that topic was so personally significant and inspired the poem. This was enough to make it so that not every student got an A, but that wasn’t truly my goal. I wasn’t out to get any students; my goal was to try to get them to learn something new while making a personal connection.
Computer generated writing convenience comes at the cost of human emotion. It is void of these personal connections and experiences. That previously mentioned poem about deliciously processed Hostess items could have been a way for my student to experience nostalgia, connecting the specific snack items to special moments in their childhood. I know I certainly remember the thrill of opening my pink, plastic My Little Pony lunchbox and seeing the cellophane wrapped treats nestled in with the rest of my lunch. It felt like love, knowing my parents had included those in there for me that day. That poem could have been an opportunity as opposed to the meaningless, patterned prose spit out by technology; it could have been a time for the student to remember, relive, and celebrate little moments of their life.
Right now, I know that my students see AI as the product and not part of a process. In an environment that so heavily emphasizes the final product, I can’t say I necessarily blame them. So I know this year I will have some heavy work to do–familiarizing myself with various AI programs, exploring how to utilize them in the classroom, and teaching my students that it can be a valuable tool at times, but can never replace the kind of writing that the human heart and soul are capable of.
