AI, ChatGPT, and 7 stages of teacher grief
To prepare our students, we teachers can’t hide from new technology. However uncomfortable, we must face it with confidence and creativity.
I put the final touches on a homemade pizza and slid it into the oven. It was one of those rare evenings; all four of my teenage children were home, along with assorted friends and boyfriends. I was in my happy place, working on food and listening to the enthusiastic chatter coming from the living room.
“No, that’s not quite right. Let’s try a more gothic style.”
“See if it can put more blue in there.”
“Now tell it to do a boxer-bulldog mix!”
Each of these comments was punctuated by roars of laughter. “What are you doing?” I asked my kids.
“Mom, you won’t believe this. It’s an AI art generator. You can tell it to make anything. ANYTHING. And in like, 30 seconds you get all these choices. We’re making it draw us dogs in stained glass. Look!”
AI generated boxer-bulldog stained glass image
AI generated boxer-bulldog stained glass image
That conversation in August of 2022 was the first I’d heard of Artificial Intelligence, at least outside of a SciFi novel. Although the exercise was fun and funny, it did raise some uncomfortable questions. Three months later, ChatGPT burst onto the scene and I started to see some alarming headlines:
ChatGPT can write sermons. Religious leaders don’t know how to feel about it (CNN, April 11, 2023) (source)
When doctors use a chatbot to improve their bedside manner (New York Times, June 12, 2023) (source)
ChatGPT took their jobs. Now they walk dogs and fix air conditioners (Washington Post, June 6, 2023). (source)
“Students switch to AI to learn languages” (source)
That last one was most personally worrisome. In the article a linguistics professor claimed, “It's just a matter of time when artificial intelligence will replace us as teachers of foreign languages” (Blanka Klímová, an associate professor of applied linguistics at the University of Hradec Králové in Czechia)
As a classroom teacher, the more I learned about AI and ChatGPT, the more unhappy I felt. AI was like a giant, surreal force, lurking in the shadows, menacing my sense of surety about my teaching practice and even my own future. I didn’t want to deal with it, but in some part of my psyche I knew I would have to, and that fact made me annoyed. Angry. Exhausted. Sad. All the bad emotions.
That’s when I realized, as a classroom teacher I was experiencing the 7 stages of grief as I contemplated the rise of AI and what it might mean for my teaching practice - and for my students! The following are thoughts that have actually gone through my head (or come out of my mouth) in the past 6 months, as I’ve learned more about ChatGPT:
Shock
WHAAAT?? ChatGPT wrote a sermon that led to a standing ovation in a NY synagogue? It can write a love letter, a resume, or a scientific report that fools the experts ? People are losing their jobs? There’s no way it could replace a teacher… could it? WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON???
Denial
It’s not that big of a deal. I’ve always been a good teacher. I’ll just keep doing what I’ve always done - plan good lessons, develop relationships, focus on instructional basics - and the kids will be alright. Everything will be fine…Right?
Anger
YOUV’E GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! Like teaching isn’t hard enough? It’s already all I can do to keep one step ahead of the kids cheating with Google Translate, sharing test answers on social media, and purchasing writing assignments online. At least 25% of my time and energy goes to policing their ridiculous cell phone addictions. Now I have to find ways to figure out if their work was generated by AI? I need a margarita…. And a raise!!!
Bargaining
OK. I’m a confident, creative teacher with two decades of experience under my belt. Let me focus on the basics (you know, what I’m already doing) and the young, cool teachers can teach the kids to deal with AI. Everybody wins!
Guilt
Who am I kidding? I don’t even know what to do with AI myself; how can I possibly instruct my students with this crazy, new technology? I mean, I still use Facebook. FACEBOOK!!! It’s a brave new world, and I’m an imposter.
Depression
Please don’t make me do this! I don’t have the time, I don’t have the energy, and I just flat out don’t want to add more to my plate. I just want to go back to the days when I could teach kids without worrying about all these crazy social trends. Why do I have to figure out AI? Whyyyyy?
An Uncomfortable Acceptance
It took me a while to get acceptance. I still believe a lot of the comments I wrote above. But the fact is, how I feel about AI is somewhat irrelevant; it is real and it’s here to stay. To effectively prepare my students for life, I need to be able to teach my students to use AI like any other tool. I handled the rise of Google Translate, I handled online teaching and I can handle this too. It’s time to start playing with AI and figure out what it can do, what the pitfalls are, and how I can use it effectively in my classroom. Let’s go.
To prepare our students, teachers have to face evolving technologies with confidence and creativity!
I started researching ways to use AI in my classroom, but as of this writing (July 2023) there’s really not much in the way of practical ideas. Not yet. I’m hoping to change that.
In this series of blog posts, I’ll share my journey to teaching in the world of AI and ChatGPT. I’m not sure what the road will look like, but with research, creativity, and a sound pedagogical foundation I’m determined to learn this tool in order to prepare my students for the future.
Does the idea of using AI in class cause you stress? Share in the comments, and subscribe to our mailing list (below) to be notified about more thoughts, tips, and creative ideas for using AI in your classroom!
