As teachers at Punahou School adapt to the developments of A.I, one English teacher, Mr. Bolibol, shares what is working in his classroom.
Mr. Bolibol has taught a variety of classes for all four grade levels in the Academy, and experienced the changes as A.I. became involved in students’ day-to-day lives. He discusses the difficulties as an English teacher, strategies to combat this rising issue, and guidelines/curriculum changes by department heads (or the lack thereof).
Sharing his thoughts on grading, Mr. Bolibol stated that using ChatGPT on a writing assignment “turns C students into B students – not B students into A students.” He went on to say that ChatGPT doesn’t write good work so it isn’t beneficial to the grade, just the time spent on it. Therefore, he isn’t too concerned about hunting down every time a student uses A.I. “It’s hard to assume students aren’t using A.I,” so where should we draw the line and induce punishment?
Some strategies English teachers have used to prevent the opportunity to rely on A.I. include requiring handwritten work instead of on a laptop to prevent copy&paste, writing in class rather than for homework so teachers can supervise, and assigning rubrics that are focused on making connections to personal lives or other materials covered in class. This last strategy makes it hard to use generative A.I, since the content has to be specific and/or related to current lesson topics. Mr. Bolibol has tried to use A.I. checkers, but found they aren’t very accurate on either extreme. So, he takes an extra step; he says to his students “I’m showing you what ChatGPT comes up with [for this assignment] because I know you can do better than this.”
But do all English teachers respond the same way? Do the expectations vary between classrooms or courses in general? Mr. Bolibol reveals that currently, it is up to the individual teacher. “There’s a lot of grey area; every situation will be different so it’s difficult to say all English teachers should deal with it one certain way.” He thinks a philosophy would be better than one overarching policy because “if we all think the same way about it, we don’t all necessarily have to punish in the same way.”
As far as the difference in courses go, in some non-English classes like STEM based ones, Mr. Bolibol says A.I can be helpful or can positively affect student learning. For example, for classes that consist of a lot of memorization or note taking, ChatGPT can aid with studying tedious material. But, in most English courses, A.I. has made it more challenging to resist taking the easier route.
More specifically, out of the courses Mr. Bolibol has taught, English II has given him the most trouble in this area. English II is a class for sophomores and the curriculum includes a ‘Quest Project’, which Mr. Bolibol thinks is set up in a way that allows students to rely on A.I. if they please. This challenge is currently being addressed, but it is unclear what the ultimate gameplan is. He has also taught English I for freshmen, and Jazz Age and Script to Screen for juniors and seniors. He says there is minimal usage of A.I. in Script to Screen simply because there is minimal writing. Script to Screen allows students to use creativity in the filmmaking process by recording and editing short films themselves, involving hands-on work and leaving little room for A.I. to have an influence.