A student was writing about a vacation experience using an iPad. As he lengthened words into phrases and phrases into sentences, corrections automatically appeared on his google document. For example,
- My student wrote, “We stoped at” but before he could write the next word, google’s AI changed “stoped” to “stopped.” My student did not need to think why his spelling was wrong or how to fix it. AI subtly did that for him, allowing the student to focus on the content of what he was writing.
- My student wrote, “but we couldn’t eventually see.” Google AI changed the word order to “but eventually we couldn’t see.” No explanation was given to my student for this change. He probably didn’t notice it because he was finishing the sentence.
When I work in Microsoft Word, that software makes similar changes. Right now, as I type the word “type,” over that word appears the correct spelling. The software has guessed what word I want and has suggested how to spell it. I don’t need to know how to spell.
As a teacher [teacher, teaches, and teaching just appeared as I wrote the word “teacher”], I realize my students are not forced to spell correctly, or to understand proper word order, or to remember that the pronoun “I” needs to be capitalized. As long as they compose on electronic equipment in its default mode, they need not learn the nitty gritty of writing.
What is a teacher to do? Allow AI to do its magic? Or interrupt a student’s flow to ask why AI made a particular change?
My decision is to allow AI to fix my students’ work. My students will likely be writing on a computer or tablet or phone for years to come, and will avail themselves of these fixes outside of class. So why not in class? Kids used to take pencil to paper to write; now they take fingers to a keyboard. I see this situation as similar to allowing math students to use calculators, or letting my phone remember phone numbers, or letting GPS direct me on vacation.
I have another student taking an AP course. Soon she will need to take a test requiring her to write several paragraphs in longhand. Without AI to correct her, her poor grammar skills will show. Even if her thinking is flawless, if she cannot write a coherent sentence to show her thinking, her grade will disappoint.
Yet looking at my students’ futures, how often will they be required to write in longhand? Is the teacher requiring longhand for a test being realistic? Writing in longhand is becoming passé.
I suspect this blog will seem ridiculous to my grandchildren when they are my age. Technology will have changed so much by then. And the changed technology will change the expectations of teachers and students. Better they learn to use technology than how to spell “stopped” correctly. Their future depends on technology, not on correct spelling.
English Writing Teacher 