As generative AI grows more advanced and accessible, students and teachers at Revere High School (RHS) are navigating its educational benefits alongside concerns about misuse and academic dishonesty.
RHS English teacher Leigh Haynam uses AI for grading and making worksheets for her students. She has been using AI as a tool for around a year. It analyzes student essays while grading and gives constructive criticism as feedback. Haynam uses this as a general outline, finalizing the grades and response herself. Overall, the AI is a useful tool in this process, speeding up grading while also giving students more advice on how to improve their writing.
“I tried AI a year ago, and then this year since March, I’ve been using AI for grading… Typically, the grading part isn’t accurate, but it will generate paragraphs and paragraphs of feedback… a lot of it is accurate, and I can adjust the grading and modify the feedback to customize it for students. I end up giving more typed feedback than I normally would if I were just grading by hand—so it’s a net positive,” Haynam said.
Specifically in Language Arts, there are certain skills that are necessary for students to develop. Haynam explained that AI can be detrimental to the development of thought processes and self reflection, and that it sometimes replaces students’ abilities to communicate their own thoughts.
“In English, we teach students how to think for themselves, how to put together their own ideas, [and] to express themselves… If a student is relying on AI to do their own thinking for them, they’re not doing their own thinking…we [are] trying to produce productive citizens who can hear a speech, critique it for themselves… or communicate and back up their ideas,” Haynam said.
Haynam gives a call to action, saying that it is important to educate students on how to responsibly use AI, how to use it as a tool to improve the quality of their projects and work rather than as a personal writer.
“It’s important that we find ways to help students [learn] how to use AI responsibly… I’ve had kids use it by design… creating visuals for projects where it’s not replacing their thinking, but it’s enhancing the product that they’re creating,” Haynam said.
Spanish teacher Rachel Vanderground has had experiences with students in her several classes cheating using generative AI. She agrees with Haynam that the creative aspect of AI can be positive when used correctly; however, she said that AI is negative when students use it for answers or writing due to its effect on critical thinking and problem solving.
“I don’t think AI helps students learn more effectively. It’s taken out a lot of the steps of thinking and critical thinking: analysis, problem-solving… I’ve seen a decrease in that since the use of AI has increased,” Vanderground said.
On an English paper, it is easy to use generative artificial intelligence to replace one’s own writing. In foreign languages, however, the situation is different; the students do not actually speak the language that they use the AI for; making it more difficult to cheat. AI in class has been a smaller problem for Vanderground, but she sees it as something that will only continue to grow as AI gets stronger.
“In foreign language classes, it hasn’t infiltrated horribly because we know what our students know. If I assign sentences…I know tell right away [when] it’s not their work… In my experience, it’s been a small problem. Now, globally… I think it’s gonna become a bigger problem,” Vanderground said.
Social Studies teacher Jason Milczewski has used AI and allowed his students to use AI for research. He said AI has potential and could be helpful in schools in the future- just not yet. Further development is needed in the training of the students and staff, and of the technology itself.
“AI could help students learn more effectively—I’m just not sure we know how yet. We need more training and development, among the staff and among students,” Milczewski said.
Milczewski believes in the use of AI, but with regulations. Milczewski said the best way to solve the problem of students using generative AI is for an agreement to be reached between staff and students.
“We all need to be on the same page….I hope that in the future, students and teachers could come to some agreement on how to use AI,” Milczewski said.
Overall, the consensus among teachers at Revere seems to be that AI can be a useful tool for teachers and occasionally students. Using generative AI to cheat, however, has been a problem at Revere and schools around the nation; a solution is needed so teachers and students can use AI more responsibly in schools in the future.
