The Power of AI in the Classroom

Using AI to Support Writing in the Classroom

Julie Kennedy

• to teach you how to incorporate AI in your students' writing process

• to teach you how to utilize AI to lighten your workload

My goals:

• new to teaching, but not new to education

• currently teaching 6th grade language arts & math at UMS

• Appalachian Writing Project

Me:

About me & this project

Standards Addressed

• Editing/Revising Writing: 2.13, 3.10, 4.8, 5.8, 6.7, 6.8, 7.7, 7.8, 8.7, 8.8, 9.6, 9.7, 10.6, 10.7, 11.6, 11.7, 11.8, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8

• Technology Usage in Writing: 2.14, 3.12, 4.9, 5.9, 6.7, 7.7, 8.7, 9.6, 10.6, 11.6, 12.6

• Not addressed but interesting: Critically evaluate quality, accuracy, and validity of information - 11.8, 12.8

Poll

How do you feel about AI and what comes to mind when you think of it?

• Excited - bring on the future!

• Cautiously Optimistic - it has the potential to do great things but also could cause harm.

• Hesitant - I am okay with some aspects but think it's advancing too fast.

• Terrified - it shouldn't have been brought to public use!

Reorder

Put the technology in the order of invention (from oldest to newest).

• the computer

• artificial intelligence

• touchscreens

• the Internet

• the calculator

1

2

3

4

5

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

The full answers:

​(all info from websites, respectively: Encyclopedia Britannica, Forbes. How Stuff Works, and the National Science and Media Museum)

The calculator: also called Arithmetic Machine, the first calculator or adding machine produced between 1642 & 1644

The computer: the first resembling the machine we see today was invented between 1833 & 1871

Artificial Intelligence: (you'll find out in a sec)

Touchscreens: the first finger driven touch screen was developed & described in 1965

The Internet: the official birthday is considered in 1969, but the World Wide Web as we know it began in 1989

The early pioneers in cybernetics, aimed to "unify mathematical theory, electronics and automation." The first mathematical and computer model of this "theory of control and communication" was developed as early as 1943.

-

(Council of Europe, 2023)

AI has been around a while!

Open Ended

What are ways you think AI can be used in the classroom?

• accurately provide answers to math problems

• provide accurately cited essays

• fact check

• be 100% reliable

It cannot:

• create incorrect answer options for quizzes/tests

• create lesson plans

• grade and assess students' responses (written ones, too!)

• provide prompt and useful feedback

• create examples and models in reading and writing

It can:

Any and all of the above!

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One way to leverage ChatGPT is by intentionally using it in class.
Teachers can have ChatGPT generate writing samples in response to different essay questions, which they can then use with their class to dissect the quality of the writing.
...
Because ChatGPT can generate writing on-demand, teachers can produce samples tailored to the needs of their lesson without sinking valuable time into crafting the examples themselves.
...
Teachers can show students where the chatbot falls short and how they are expected to go above and beyond its capabilities. Doing so disincentivizes inappropriate use of ChatGPT—not by threatening punishment or imposing bans but by communicating high expectations.
...
This approach encourages students to think outside the bot and, in doing so, helps them build writing skills that cannot already be automated away.

​According to an article on Education Next:

Using AI to:

Create & Score Assignments

​Grading/Scoring

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Using AI to:

Model Revision & Editing

When students see others doing it, they also improve at noticing their own mistakes, and that’s the ultimate goal.

AI can help those students who grasp the general concept, but struggle with putting it into action by coming up with alternatives by modeling different ways to rewrite sentences. This allows them to see it in action but allows teachers to focus on students who need more direct instruction on the process.

(Cutler, 2019)

Using AI to:

Structure Poems or Other Writing Prompts

• created outlines to give a struggling student a head start

• student failed 8th grade writing SOL, passed 11th

​Utilize ChatGPT

• to see how accurately it scores/grades

• to see if saves time or is just another tool

• It does - so far!

​Utilize SwiftGrade

What I have done so far:

Poll

How do you feel about AI now? Has your opinion changed?

• Much more excited about it! I want to use it in my classroom

• Not changed, still optimistic, but still cautious.

• Still hesitant or more hesitant, I don't think I would use this.

Links

SwiftGrade: https://goswiftgrade.com/

ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/

Eduaide.AI: https://www.eduaide.ai/

Autocrat: https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/autocrat/539341275670

Works Cited

Council of Europe. (2023). History of Artificial Intelligence - Artificial Intelligence. Le Conseil de l'Europe. Retrieved June 26, 2023,

from https://www.coe.int/en/web/artificial-intelligence/history-of-ai

Cutler, D. (2019, April 9). Modeling the Writing Process for Students. Edutopia. Retrieved June 26, 2023, from

https://www.edutopia.org/article/modeling-writing-and-revising-students/

Cutler, D. (2023, Jan 26). Grappling With AI Writing Technologies in the Classroom. Edutopia. Retrieved June 26, 2023, from

https://www.edutopia.org/article/chatgpt-ai-writing-platforms-classroom/

Hodges, T. S. (2017, Jun 01). Theoretically Speaking: An Examination of Four Theories and How They Support Writing in the

Classroom. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 90(4), 139-146.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00098655.2017.1326228

Horn, M. B., & Curtis, D. (2023, March 22). To Teach Better Writing, Don't Ban Artificial Intelligence. Instead, Embrace it. Education

Next. Retrieved June 26, 2023, from https://www.educationnext.org/teach-better-writing-dont-ban-artificial-

intelligence-instead-embrace-it-inviting-chatgpt-into-classroom/

Kleiman, G. (2023, Jan 5). Teaching Students to Write with AI: The SPACE Framework. Medium. Retrieved June 26, 2023, from

https://medium.com/the-generator/teaching-students-to-write-with-ai-the-space-framework-f10003ec48bc

Lodge, L. (2021, March 24). Teaching Writing Effectively: Modelled Writing | OneEducation. One Education. Retrieved June 26,

2023, from https://www.oneeducation.co.uk/news-blog/teaching-writing-effectively-modelled-writing

Pirehpour, K. (2023, May 24). Students explore ways to embrace AI tools in writing course | ASU Enterprise Technology. ASU

Enterprise Technology. Retrieved June 26, 2023, from https://tech.asu.edu/features/artificial-intelligence-tools-asu