Don’t teach writing. Teach the joy of writing.

Don’t teach writing. Teach the joy of writing.

The objective of teaching students to write is not to ensure they create content that can be graded. It is to get them to engage with language and storytelling. This is not a new story. Students learn arithmetic even though there are calculators and spreadsheets. They learn spelling even though there are spelling checkers. And…

Ethan Mollick required his students to use ChatGPT. Their experience is a model for the future.

Ethan Mollick required his students to use ChatGPT. Their experience is a model for the future.

Ethan Mollick, associate professor at Penn’s Wharton School, required his students to use the AI writing tool ChatGPT in his classes last semester. You should definitely check out his description of the experience; it’s full of real-world insights that are far more valuable than the noodlings of naysayers. Start with the intention to learn Unimaginative…

How realistic are universities’ plans to deal with ChatGPT?

How realistic are universities’ plans to deal with ChatGPT?

The New York Times published a piece regarding university policies and strategies for students using ChatGPT or similar tools to prepare coursework. For each strategy, I’ll assess how realistic it is and what the consequences might be. Articles like this one, as well as the policies they describe, are shortsighted, because AI text generation is…

Universities like Georgetown are attempting to detect cheating with ChatGPT. They will fail.

Universities like Georgetown are attempting to detect cheating with ChatGPT. They will fail.

ChatGPT is a crisis in the making for professors who teach writing. Their administrations are attempting to cope. Their pathetic efforts will fail. Here’s what Georgetown is telling professors — and why it won’t work Here’s the text of a message from Georgetown University to professors there (posted by a professional friend of mine who…

When AI tools like ChatGPT can write, how should we teach writing?

When AI tools like ChatGPT can write, how should we teach writing?

ChatGPT undermines the traditional way we teach writing in high school or college. We can try (and fail) to preserve the old ways of teaching. Or we can develop new ways that assume future writers will have access to AI tools and help them to use those tools. Current ways we teach writing already stink…

“Why They Can’t Write”: John Warner’s brilliant analysis of the failure of teaching

“Why They Can’t Write”: John Warner’s brilliant analysis of the failure of teaching

Anyone who has had any interaction with education these days — as a student, a teacher, or a parent — is likely to have the feeling that something fundamental is awry. John Warner’s has some good ideas on what’s wrong and how to fix it. His book Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay…

Could the five-paragraph essay be the reason we’ve forgotten how to think?

Could the five-paragraph essay be the reason we’ve forgotten how to think?

David Labaree published a devastating takedown of the five-paragraph essay, that pernicious container that’s corrupting the teaching of writing everywhere. He’s made me wonder about my own rules and advice for writers. In my mind, writing and thinking are two sides of the same process. Separate the two, and thinking ceases to be important, which…

Going beyond a Washington Post academic’s prescription for college writing teachers

Going beyond a Washington Post academic’s prescription for college writing teachers

Jeffrey Selingo wrote a piece called “Why can’t college graduates write coherent prose?” for the Washington Post. He’s right to require more practice, but ignores the need to practice writing that’s appropriate for a screen. Lots of college students can’t write I know. I’ve hired or mentored many of them. Writing skills are spotty and…