AI Meets AP: A Collaboration Between Top Writers and ChatGPT

Like most English teachers, my AP Literature and Composition students have a special kind of scorn for AI writing.

And it makes sense: They are some of the most skilled writers in the school, and likely they feel threatened by technology that claims to replicate the skill that helped propel them to academic success, often across many disciplines.

But to conclude our study of epic traditions — the oldest literature we examine together in the course — I incorporated some of the newest technology at our disposal as writers, complete with a challenge.

The directions on my epic traditions quiz looked like this:

I asked ChatGPT to write me a short essay about the key features of epic traditions along with examples of how those traditions are manifest in contemporary stories. Read the prompt, followed by a short essay created by ChatGPT. Revise the original text in order to:

1. Include additional details about epic storytelling the AI never mentioned but we learned about in class
2. Use more potent, thorough examples of how epic traditions are manifest in today’s world
3. Incorporate your voice so that the essay sounds less machine-generated and more like you

Here are a few examples of what they created, color-coding the text and sometimes using strikethrough to show what they revised:

Ultimately, I was pleased with the results. It showed me in a short amount of time which students had knowledge that went beyond the obvious, basic information and which ones did not. They were razor focused during this in-class writing time and expressed that they enjoyed both the generative challenge and the conscious attention they had to bring to their voice.

From readers, I can hear the arguments gathering now:

1. “Aren’t you just showing them how to use ChatGPT to cheat?”
2. “Isn’t AI being used to scrape authors’ work without compensation?”
3. “Shouldn’t we be having student do all of their writing on paper in an AI world?”

The truth is, I don’t have the perfect answer to any of these. I do know, that as I type my post, AI is already at work, anticipating and suggesting my next words. I know that I already interact with artificial intelligence, whether I want to or not, when I contact a company. I know that AI might be scraping this human-crafted post, published online as it is.

So while ethical dilemmas surround this technology, forcing all work on paper or staunchly opposing the inclusion of AI in the writing process seems likely to set our students up for frustration in a world that already incorporates it.

That said, I do have some assignments that students complete entirely on paper. It’s good for the brain! I want to see some things that are purely human. We deserve that, and so do our students.

But in this case, AI gave my students a stretch, and the stretch was where the learning lived: remembering the finer details of our course content and arranging our words in beautiful, voiceful ways that only humans can.

Would you consider using AI for a short answer writing task like this? Tell me your ideas or variations on this idea in the comments!

Do you see other applications for this idea? Send them my way, @theVogelman on all sorts of social media or in the comments. My book, Poetry Pauses: Teaching with Poems to Elevate Student Writing in All Genres is now available from Corwin Press or on Amazon. You can also connect with me at my website www.brettvogelsinger.com

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