A student just messaged me on schoology in what I think is Japanese but not sure, and all it says according to the translator is "Wow, you're cooking" lol I'd like to take it as a compliment to my teaching, but 1. I don't even have this student today, I had them yesterday and 2. All we've done this week is review for a test and then take the test lol As hard as it is teaching 9th graders, I do enjoy their weirdness at times
Please read Stolen Focus. Not just for your students, but for your own health. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093G9TS91/?tag=absolutepunk-20
Burned out on corporate America at 39…going back to school for HS English Education and starting over from scratch. is this the worst idea ever? capitalism has made me so jaded.
This is kind of the worst time to get into teaching tbh. No guarantee there will be a dept of education by the time you finish, teachers and school districts constantly under attack about what they try to teach in their classrooms, and kids just AI-ing their way through and no one has an answer for it. I mean, we always need good people who care about kids and are willing to commit to the job, buttttt..
I definitely cheated when and where I could in college. It was simply to ease the workload. Never had literal AI to do it for me though. Can high school teachers just make all essays and tests be done with paper and pencil now? Essays would need to be written in class.
I mean I can, I just don't feel like grading paper/pencil written essays. Next year I am taking a pretty hardline stance on most of the work being completed on paper in class, put through the editing process, and then typed up. Then you just have kids attach all of the prewriting with their final draft, which shows their work. I've been a bit of a braggart in terms of how I can pinpoint AI stuff easily, but I have to admit it is getting better. Structurally and grammatically it has always been there, but there are still tells that give it away. In my elective class about pop culture, it is almost impossible to detect due to the structure of my essays. I am going to spend the summer revamping that class.
I feel like the problem is much bigger than just writing essays. There’s no critical thinking or planning going into it if every single assignment you can just plug the prompt in and get an answer spat right out
One million percent. My friends, who are intelligent and have good jobs, are all already using ChatGPT to solve problems at work and respond to emails. They have a strong foundation of writing and communication skills, but they view this as a shortcut. I cannot imagine what is going to happen to the kids that have this for the entirety of their schooling. They will not know how to speak with one another without a crutch.
Prom was last night so I went up for a couple hours after not getting to go last year because I had to go to the hospital that day. It’s always a good time seeing the kids all dressed up and having fun. I went home for a few hours and then drove up to the school for after prom. I was planning on just checking out what the parents put together and then leave after like 15 minutes and saying hi to everyone, but I ended up staying for an hour and a half. What the parents put together was amazing, they did a summer camp theme and had the lobby set up with a fake campfire, then a fake cabin with a “fireplace” and bearskin rug, the cafeteria had campsite foods, karaoke, and arts and crafts, they had real fire pits and lawn games in the courtyard, and then they built a fake dock and literal pond in the breezeway. It was amazing what they pull off, and it made it very enticing to just sit and chill with the students in a relaxed, non classroom setting and talk with other teachers as well.
Im going out on parental leave in a couple weeks so the end of summer/start of the school year hasn’t been nearly as devastating as usual, but hoping you all have a good first week whenever that may be for you all. the guy that is going to sub for me is the former owner/founder of Jade Tree Records apparently lol
Move in day for our residential students tomorrow LFG (and throwaway the next 9 months of my personal life)