Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom

The world at your fingertips. Answers to a billion different questions and conversations with any corner of the world; all accessible through cell phones. To teenagers, a cell phone is a lifeline and a distraction. They are not able yet to find the balance between work (school) and play (cell phone usage). With a generation that is so reliant on cell phones, the recent introduction of AI was welcomed with open arms. Their trouble regulating cell phone usage would make it likely that the same issue would occur with Artificial Intelligence, but with proper instruction AI use in the classroom will not become an issue. 

AI in Schools

In New York Times Article: “How Schools Can Survive (and Maybe Even Thrive) With A.I. This Fall,” tech columnist, Kevin Roose, aims to calm the fears that teachers have regarding AI in education. Roose states that “Last year, many schools tried to scare students away from using A.I. by telling them that tools like ChatGPT are unreliable, prone to spitting out nonsensical answers and generic-sounding prose.” He goes on to say that this approach falls through because students like to rebel. 

Instead, Roose suggests a different approach: to allow students to use this new technology but aid them in discovering how it can be a tool to enhance their learning. AI doesn’t have to write essays for the student, but with the student. 

Artificial Intelligence has already been used as a helpful tool outside the classroom so it only makes sense to implement the helping part into the classroom. An example of this is shown in “Generative AI Hits Education, Ushering in a Sea Change for Schools” by Aaron Gifford; a disabled patient is able to write and send an email with the help of AI. Incredible things can be done with AI if people understand how to use it. 

Works Cited

Gifford, Aaron. “Generative AI Hits Education, Ushering in a Sea Change for Schools.” EBSCOhost, 24 June 2019, http://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=eeb009de-e504-3f02-aced-8b01d9e7cd64. Accessed 19 December 2023.

Roose, Kevin. “How Schools Can Survive A.I.” The New York Times, 24 August 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/technology/how-schools-can-survive-and-maybe-even-thrive-with-ai-this-fall.html?searchResultPosition=10. Accessed 19 December 2023.

Girl Crush

Isaac in kindergarten, Thomas in second grade, and Angelo in seventh grade, all boys I had crushes on. And then came J. in eighth grade, a girl. She was in my home economics class at the end of the day. Butterflies would fill my stomach and red would color my cheeks when I saw her. Even away from her I would be nervous, not because I was thinking of her, but because I had never had a crush on a girl before. Discovering I was a lesbian was exhilarating… and terrifying. 

When I first thought I might be gay it was because of Spotify. I had seen videos online discussing a singer called girl in red. By reading the comments under the video I discovered that girl in red was a lesbian singer and that asking someone “Do you listen to girl in red?” was really asking “Are you gay?” This discovery made my heart race, but I wasn’t fully convinced that I was gay yet. Spotify made seven personalized playlists for you called Daily Mixes and Daily Mix #1 was comprised of the songs that they thought you would like the best. I told myself that if girl in red appeared in my Daily Mix #1 that I would accept the fact that I liked girls. Sure enough, her songs showed up in my personalized playlist within a few short weeks. I listened to her songs: “girls,” “we fell in love in october,” and “i wanna be your girlfriend,” each one was a girl singing about liking other girls. A girl like me. I sat in my room listening to these songs as quietly as they could go. A rush of emotions came over me; relief, fear, hope, joy, pain. It was overwhelming, but also one of the most extraordinary things that has ever happened to me. I finally knew who I was. 

It was around this same time that I started having a crush on J. At first I didn’t understand what I was feeling for her, I thought I just really wanted to be her friend. Slowly, I came to know what the feeling was: a crush. I had never had a crush like her before. All my past crushes had been on boys, they weren’t genuine. I finally understood what the other girls in my grade felt when they had a crush. I just felt it for girls. I still do. 

The girl in eighth grade sitting on her bedroom floor listening to lesbian songs in private could never imagine the woman she would become. A woman that isn’t afraid to show who she is in front of the whole world. If she saw me now she would be filled with one thing: pride.

The Disruption of Growth in 2023’s Teens

School is for the growth of a young person’s ability to understand. It’s a fancy way of saying that school is for learning. While the original phrase is good-natured, one simple change turns it into the most truthful definition of school possible: school is for growth.  Academic growth is certainly achievable during the school day but so is social, cultural, societal, and personal growth. Without recognizing every kind of growth a teen experiences, the definition of high school can never be fully accurate. An average school day in 2023 presents a teenager with many opportunities for growth. 

In 2020 the world went on pause. The growth normally experienced inside the school building was disrupted. Teenagers enjoyed it at first, an extra long spring break was a dream. Then it turned into summer and school never went back in session that academic year. No responsibility and a lot of free time seems very liberating for a teen but in a climate where they couldn’t leave their house, it was suffocating. The social and cultural growth normally achieved at school was done digitally, leaving this generation of teens extra reliant on their cell phones. Upon returning to the physical classroom, the digital dependency did not disappear. 

Evert Nelson/Capital-Journal

When going back to school in the fall of 2020, every cough was a threat, every person missing from class was an enemy, and every negative test result was a sigh of relief. The already stressful school life coupled with the worry of getting COVID-19 turned high school into a minefield of nerves. One wrong step and the stress could blow up in the face of an unsuspecting teen just trying to get by. Having become so dependent on technology, students clung to their phones like a life-line. Although they were able to be in the classroom it was uncertain how much the students were actually learning with a screen in front of their face during instruction. Many students did not learn how to responsibly use a phone inside the classroom due to the pandemic and the leniency that most teachers had when returning to the building. It was a difficult time for teens and teachers alike but the growth in responsibility was less likely to happen because students were less likely to get in trouble for having their phone out or turning in an assignment three weeks late. 

The pandemic severely hindered teens’ opportunities of growth and the repercussions are still being felt in classes today. Students are more distracted than ever but there will always be room to grow.