#510: What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom

Article Club

Dear Article Clubbers,

We had a great discussion last Sunday. Thank you to everyone who made it so!

It’s September, which means two things:

* The real school year has begun

* I get to announce our article of the month

I cannot adequately express how honored I am to share with you September’s article of the month. We are going to be reading and discussing “What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom,” by Piers Gelly.

If you’ve been following my article selections over the past year, you know that I’m fascinated with how artificial intelligence has transformed education — mostly for the worse — and how educators don’t know what to do about this sudden shift.

(Besides complain a lot, and wishing we could go back in time, to the golden age of bluebooks, which is what many educators are doing.)

These woe-is-me pieces by educators have gotten so ubiquitous, I’ve begun to skip them. I’ve been looking for something fresh. That’s why I was immediately hooked when I came upon Prof. Gelly’s piece.

In his essay, published in July in Literary Hub, Prof. Gelly does not lament the rise of technology. Rather, in his English class, he engages his University of Virginia students in an authentic exploration of artificial intelligence and its effects. He’s curious. He is unafraid to experiment with his students. He remains vulnerable to the possibility that his role as professor may be in danger. Most importantly, Prof. Gelly takes us into his classroom, introduces us to his students, and tells us a story filled with humanity.

My hope is that you will consider reading Prof. Gelly’s essay. I also hope that you will make space to reflect on his words. If you are moved — as I predict many of you will be — I encourage you to join our discussion so that we can all connect and have a conversation in community.

➡️ Inside today’s issue, you’ll find:

* My conversation with Article Club co-host Melinda, in which we share our first impressions of the article (alongside our banter)

* A quick blurb about the article, plus my handwritten annotations

* A short biography of the author

* More information about our discussion on September 28, plus an invite

One more thing: My gut says, if you’re a high school or college educator, your students would appreciate reading this piece.

What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom

The more I read this essay, the more I appreciate it. Part of the reason is that I am an educator, too, grappling with the same issues surrounding artificial intelligence that so many of us are — whether we are teachers or parents or students or generally concerned citizens who don’t want humanity to be vanquished.

But most of the reason I love this piece is that Piers Gelly is an outstanding teacher. He begins his article with students, and his students are at the center throughout. You’ll meet Cam and Max and other students who take on Prof. Gelly’s writing assignments and in-class activities. You’ll read how they make meaning of artificial intelligence and its impact on education, how their views shift over the course of the semester. Is ChatGPT a “calculator for words,” as Sam Altman suggests? What’s the point of the painful process of writing when a computer can make things easier?

You’ll gain insights on these and other important questions. But what delights me most about this piece is that we get to peer inside Prof. Gelly’s classroom. He doesn’t talk in generalities. He tells us exactly what he did and how his students reacted. Teaching, after all, is about what we do, day after day, with the people in the classroom. It’s about the relationships that are built, the learning community that emerges, and the collective understanding that develops over time.

In this essay about artificial intelligence, Prof. Gelly reminds us of the humanity that is at the core of the endeavor of education.

By Piers Gelly • Literary Hub • 23 min • Gift Link

➕ Bonus: Here’s the essay with my handwritten highlights and annotations.

About the author

Piers Gelly lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he teaches at the University of Virginia. His writing has been featured by such publications as n+1, The Dublin Review, The Point, and 99% Invisible.

About the discussion

My hope is that you’ll read “What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom” and want to talk about it.

We’ll be meeting up on Zoom on Sunday, September 28, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll spend the first few minutes saying hi and doing short introductions. Then after I frame the piece and share our community agreements, we’ll break out into small, facilitated discussion groups. The small groups usually include 5-8 people, so there’s plenty of time to share your perspectives and listen to others. That’s where we’ll spend the bulk of our time. Toward the end, we’ll return to the full group, sharing our reflections and appreciations of fellow participants.

If this sounds interesting to you, sign up by clicking on the button below.

If you’re unsure, I get it. If you don’t know me, it might feel strange to sign up for an online discussion with total strangers. But I am confident that you’ll find yourself at home with other kind people who like to read deeply and explore ideas in community. We’ve done this 60 times, and by now, it’s not a surprise that we’re able to create an intimate space, almost like we’re in the same physical room together.

I hope that you read the piece. If it resonates with you, I encourage you to take the plunge and join us on September 28!

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

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