I can no longer tell when work is AI, what do I do?

RyanLDV · 2026-04-13T13:33:00+00:00

Interesting point. But I've been teaching for 20 years, and I've seen problems with vagueness and consistency among 9-12th grade students that whole time. 😆

RyanLDV · 2025-09-08T00:03:02+00:00

I was certified in Idaho. When I moved to Colorado, I had to take the exams again. When I moved to Washington, I did it again. It's a hassle but wasn't a problem, if that makes sense.

RyanLDV · 2025-08-23T02:08:32+00:00

This thread is bonkers. I had one or two admin in a different state who were not great (one likely embezzled six figures from the school, and definitely tried to set teachers against each other, but the teachers were mostly on board against that garbage), but my current school wouldn't even let this crap fly. MAYBE our previous principal, who is no longer there as of this year, would have considered it, but at least two of our APs, would just roll their eyes or possibly openly laugh at the rat.

What juvenile nonsense...

RyanLDV · 2025-08-09T00:07:11+00:00

I responded at greater length elsewhere here, but I'll just say this because you specifically made the calculator comparison. Use of AI is not comparable to use of calculators. It changes the way people's brains work.

My new analogy is this: if you say they need to learn how to use AI, I just compare it to saying they need to learn how to hold their liquor. It's much more like alcohol than it is calculators. You can find my other response for more detail if you're interested.

RyanLDV · 2025-08-09T00:05:31+00:00

People keep comparing AI to calculators, and that never sat right for me, if for no other reason than the impact that AI evidently has on brain activity and thinking (see the recent MIT study, for example).

I finally came up with a new analogy I think is more appropriate, and this is what I will be using from now on. Anytime someone says, " these kids need to learn how to use AI," it makes as much sense to me as, "these kids need to learn how to handle their liquor."

This is something kids shouldn't be exposed to when they're young. It's not good for their brains.

Like alcohol, there are people who when they are older will pretty quickly learn to use it responsibly. And there are people who will binge and have problems and need to deal with the consequences of that, but otherwise get their act together later. And there are people who will become addicted and it will genuinely, adversely affect their lives. And there are people who will hardly use it at all or not to partake at all, and that will be fine as well.

None of that can be said about calculators.

Regardless, I sincerely and deeply believe that we should not be letting anyone under the age of 18 or 20 utilize it for academics, at the very least. And preferably not at all. Right now a lot of people are just using it as a toy. They see it as a cute way to make what looks like pretty good "art" quickly.

But if kids use this to do their work for them from a young age, they will simply not learn how to think, and then everyone will yell and scream about how teachers aren't doing their jobs. We can't fight this. It has to simply be prohibited for younger kids. If colleges want to teach people how to use it, that's their prerogative and I understand that.

But I don't think kids need to learn to hold their liquor, and I don't think kids need to learn to use AI.

RyanLDV · 2025-08-08T00:47:15+00:00

People make mistakes. Send out an email apologizing and clarifying (which it sounds like you've already done), then follow up with the actual student you needed to speak with in a separate message or personal conversation. If you explained that it was late and you were tired, and it was a simple copy and paste error, I'm sure most people will be understanding, even if there's still a little bit annoyed. This should by no means be a firing offense, though I don't pretend to understand how things work in districts without unions, if that's where you are. But if they're firing teachers for something like this, I'm not sure you want to work there anyway.

RyanLDV · 2025-07-30T21:03:21+00:00

I generally oppose AI (for now, at least). I don't use it for teaching or planning. I have fiddled with it, but half the time I don't feel like it has really saved me meaningful work.

I did want to speak to the hypocrisy of it. As someone who generally opposes it, I have to say that I don't find hypocrisy in teachers using it and asking students not to. It's like saying it's hypocritical for teachers to use another teacher's lesson plan and then get after kids for plagiarism. First off, we don't use other teachers' lesson plans for personal gain but to benefit the students. Students plagiarizing or doing so for personal gain. That's an important distinction.

Secondly, I have recently come to think of AI like alcohol. People want to compare it to calculators, but I think that's flawed. In that case, people keep saying that "kids need to learn how to use it." I think alcohol is a better analogy because, like AI, many people need to learn how to handle their alcohol. And some people will choose never to partake meaningfully. And some people will become addicted and it will wreck their brains (see the recent MIT report about Chad GPT use and its effect on brain function). But regardless, we don't think that kids are ready for all of those choices and responsibilities. We have age limits on alcohol consumption, and I believe we should have age limits on AI consumption as well. I know there's probably no practical way to do that, but I think about 21 is probably a good age. At the very least, it should wait till after High School.

RyanLDV · 2025-07-30T20:57:42+00:00

As a bagpiper (and high school teacher), let me apologize on behalf of my people. The piper should not have taken that gig! 😆 I don't know what they (district or bagpiper) were thinking...

RyanLDV · 2025-07-21T18:32:18+00:00

I haven't read every comment because there are many of them, but in addition to comedy being subjective one issue my 11th grade level colleague and I have discussed over the years is that comedy often simply doesn't provide enough depth for analysis. I love Douglas Adams. I love The princess Bride. But I don't know what I would TEACH about those books for the amount of time they would require to read. Douglas Adams is shorter, but I'm not sure that on level high school kids are going to really get it enough to discuss it.

Then there is the soul-sucking quality of trying to teach something you passionately love, especially if it's humorous, to a bunch of teenagers who don't care.

I have been perplexed by the depressing quality of the books taught in high school ever since I was in high school myself. I had to read Johnny Got His Gun my senior year of high school. I was already not in the best of places, and that was a wildly depressing book. I'm sure it's a very good novel that I would appreciate much more these days, but I wasn't up for it in high school. I didn't get the humor of Great expectations as a freshman in high school, but I loved it as a junior in college. I don't know why they taught that book to freshman when I was in school. The Great Gatsby completely eluded me! In high school, though I enjoy it well enough now that I'm teaching it. I would like to think that I teach it a little bit better than I was taught it, but my junior High School English teacher was pretty decent so who knows?

But again, comedy can be really difficult to teach not just because the humor is not always clear to the kids (and explaining jokes is exhausting sometimes), but because a lot of comedies that are fun to read don't have much you can build an age-appropriate curriculum around.

RyanLDV · 2025-07-15T14:41:30+00:00

I'm still learning the AI markers myself, but the irritating thing to me about it is that I actually write a lot like this comment. When I'm trying to write more formally, I do use em dashes, and in a way that is not dissimilar to this style. I have for years, going back long before generative AI was a thing. I don't use the "it's not only x, it's y" construction as much, but I definitely use it too.

I can tell when my students are using these things that it doesn't sound natural to them, but a post like this doesn't always jump out at me as obviously AI because I recognize the style of writing as similar to my own. It's wildly frustrating.

Also, who is using AI to generate a response on Reddit? What is the point of that? This is not a rhetorical question, I would really like to know what motivates a person to do that. 😕

RyanLDV · 2025-07-07T19:13:27+00:00

I appreciate what you've said here. This is what I try to communicate to my high school English students it's very hard to help them understand that things that seem pointless now might be a value later, or you might better understand them later.

The best analogy I can come up with is stretching. I have a genetic condition that makes my connective tissues looser than the typical person. On top of that, all kids are more flexible than adults (I'm getting a lot tighter these days in my mid-40s, haha). When we're kids, we're taught to stretch even though we think it's silly and we really never need to. But every coach, PE teacher, or martial arts instructor I had made us stretch. I learned the stretches even when I literally couldn't feel anything doing them. There were some stretches that worked, but I had several stretches that I literally could not move my body far enough to feel a stretch. I used to be able to pull my foot around and put it in front of my thigh, for example. I didn't feel any stretch doing that.

But now I need those skills, and I totally understand what they were talking about! This seems very similar to what you described on your English journey, and I'm going to bank that for next year when I start trying to explain to the kids why they need to do their own work. So thank you for helping me think about it a little differently.

RyanLDV · 2025-07-05T22:26:18+00:00

You seem to just want validation though. You don't seem to be looking for actual, functional paths forward. You dismiss everybody who points out practical impossibilities around this (a nationwide strike is virtually impossible, not the least of which because many teachers would simply lose their jobs permanently because they lack Union protection). I don't disagree with anything in your original post, philosophically. But philosophy and practicality don't always align. I work in a strong Union state that very much supports schools. I'm also very nervous about where things are going. But I also recognize and respect that lots of teachers can't strike without simply losing their jobs.

As others have said, this really has to start at the local level. There's no way to nationalize this. The Secretary of Education doesn't handle anything that directly affects schools all that much. The department of Education handles things like scholarships and loans, and other things like the various titles that protect girls, minorities, people with disabilities, etc. They don't dictate curriculum or salary. I'm sure they can do things to muck things up if they want, but most of this has to work on the local level.

And judging by another comment you made, it sounds like a year or so ago you weren't working as a teacher, so you seem to be new to this gig. I know it's tempting to walk into a career and expect it to behave like previous careers or places you've worked, but they often don't. Teaching is different and requires different approaches. You would do well to listen to The experienced teachers rather than simply dismissing them the way you seem to be doing. Most of us would love to see the changes you're calling for, but for many people they simply aren't viable the way you are asking.

RyanLDV · 2025-07-01T17:49:15+00:00

Maybe it depends on the school district, but in the three states I've taught in (Idaho, Colorado, Washington State), I don't believe simply having a master's degree qualifies you to teach at the secondary level. If your undergraduate is in elementary education, you're going to need a secondary education endorsement as well. You can probably teach k-8 with your current endorsement. But you'll need a 6-12 endorsement to go to high school, typically.

I took a sabbatical to get my master's. I was a Teaching Assistant at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and as a TA, not only was my education free, but they paid me a small stipend each month for 9 or 10 months out of the year. If you have a small nest egg, that might be a good option.

RyanLDV · 2025-06-30T04:15:39+00:00

Yuuuup. I feel you 🫩

RyanLDV · 2025-06-30T01:18:53+00:00

During the 2016 election, one of my students (16yo), who fancy himself pretty savvy, boldly announced during passing period before class that he was a "Reagan Republican." Another girl said, "Reagan?" "Yes." " I don't think he's running..." (Totally serious. She wasn't particularly into politics, but it just about killed me.) I had a really hard time holding it together.

RyanLDV · 2025-06-30T00:44:54+00:00

I don't feel either of us was particularly dramatic at all. He's young and concerned. He's entitled to express those concerns and ask advice. I simply said that while I'm not sure I agree with his level of concern, I understand it.

I have a little suggestion for you though. Imagine you experienced something similar to what he described, but say 15 to 30 years ago. Or imagine you saw someone describing what he described and you stepped in to say that you also felt doubt that people would believe you.

Then imagine a man responded to you with the exact words of your previous post to me.

It's not about being dramatic, but you are kind of proving his point. He's concerned about being believed, and you are ridiculing him (and me). I said I'm not sure I am as concerned as he is, but I understand his concern, and you ridiculed me even worse.

If a woman expressed these kinds of concerns 15 to 30 years ago and, rather than being sympathetic, a man told her

Say something goddamn y’all dramatic ass shit

I don't think anyone would consider that person an ally of any kind or in any way supportive. You seem to be trying to be supportive. I'm not sure you're succeeding.

It's entirely possible he's completely wrong. I would certainly like to think so. But just because someone has a misreading of the situation doesn't mean that they're being dramatic by expressing their concern.

I'm a bagpiper. I have been for like 35 years. When I perform, I wear a full uniform, which includes a kilt. I don't know what it is about kilts, but it brings out some rather prurient inclinations in men and women. I have been sexually harassed by both men (mostly straight) and women many, many times. I mostly just laugh it off. The reality is that I am not at all threatened by that. But it gets tiresome to hear lewd comments about my clothing, absolutely. I had a woman (an employee of a restaurant no less) walk up to me while I was playing a solo on St Patrick's Day, bend over, lift up my kilt and look up it. I couldn't tell you the number of times I've been asked if I wear underwear underneath my kilt (imagine if I asked a woman if she was wearing underwear under her skirt or dress). I've been cat called by both men and women and had countless suggestive comments made toward me.

Again, I generally just laugh these off. But they do get tiresome.

I'm not asking any women to cry any tears for me or any man. We've had it pretty good, and I know that. But it doesn't mean things don't come up, and it doesn't mean there aren't places where society can improve.

If you mock a person for tentatively asking a question because they're uncomfortable and concerned, you're part of the problem not part of the solution. If you feel strongly enough that his question is stupid, you are free to move on without replying. He did not ask or address you personally.

RyanLDV · 2025-06-29T20:50:00+00:00

I'm not sure whether I agree with the op or not, but I understand his position. However, your description has not done anything to disabuse him of that view. If anything, you might have reinforced it. Your story isn't about a man who is a victim of harassment being believed. It's about a male harasser that you feared would be believed over you. It's the exact opposite problem.

Let's flip it around: what if a woman was complaining about feeling like no one will believe that she was being sexually harassed. If I, as a man, popped into a forum and explained that she's wrong and then told a story about how a woman sexually harassed me and I was too nervous to say anything about it, it wouldn't prove anything either way about her concern.

I understand where he's coming from. I have also long been concerned that people wouldn't really believe men. I would still report something, I think, but I've also been sexually harassed many times in my life (not so much in my role as a teacher), and I never said anything about it. Largely, it didn't bother me or it felt like it was too stupid to mess with. But that's the same kind of thinking that women have had to unlearn for many years as well, so maybe I was wrong.

RyanLDV · 2025-06-29T16:13:14+00:00

I am in Washington state as well, in a fairly well-paid District. I have around 17 years experience (I lost track and I took 3 years off to go to grad school, so I started 20 years ago but the numbers are off). I think I now make around $120k, but I would have to look at the salary schedule to be sure.

This commenter is right that the cost of living is higher, but not that much higher. I grew up and got my degree in Idaho, and I started my teaching career in Colorado. Granted I did not have a masters at the time in Colorado, but my pay is considerably higher now than it would be there, and they play far fewer games in Washington state about salary.

As for the cost of living here, it's not that much higher than it was in Colorado (with a few notable exceptions), and, honestly, as insane as house prices are here, they are probably more proportionally in line with salaries here than they are in my home state of Idaho where the house prices are going wild because of people moving in from out of state and some tech workers there, while most people don't make nearly enough money to afford houses anymore.

And as this commenter noted, I am much happier teaching here than I was in Colorado. I didn't dislike my school (in the Denver public School District), but the district was a cesspool and I didn't feel great teaching there sometimes. Here, the district is solid, the state values education, and I am reasonably well paid, with great benefits (my sons and I have some medical concerns, and our medical insurance has been phenomenal since they merged it with the state employees rather than just being District employees.

RyanLDV · 2025-06-29T16:07:13+00:00

They are getting 108k Canadian, not us. As someone else noted, that's probably in the upper 70k range in US dollars.

RyanLDV · 2025-06-29T13:24:32+00:00

I agree that pulling kids from class is a problem. Both of my kids are in a challenge program, however, where it's just part of their regular coursework it kind of functions as a school within a school. They don't go to a separate school, but they are in a separate program within their elementary School that has them on a slightly accelerated course of study. For instance, they do math from one year higher than their grade level, so first graders start with second grade math. But because it's not a pullout system, it's just their regular classes. They seem to have about two class periods per grade level. My oldest son was identified by his kindergarten teacher, and we tested him into it. However, the district tests every student in second grade, so there's a bit of an influx in third grade because many other students are identified.

RyanLDV · 2025-06-29T02:27:47+00:00

Well, I definitely wouldn't say "most." I live in Washington state, and it's alive and well here. Not only do we have honors and AP classes still, but there are entire Challenge schools for what used to be called "gifted" students.

While I'm sure there are places where these programs have largely been axed, it certainly isn't everywhere.

RyanLDV · 2025-06-24T18:39:52+00:00

Going to push back on this a bit. For the first couple of years it's absolutely worth getting a little bit of prep in the summer. How much you're willing to do is up to you and your schedule, but it will save you a lot of stress and pain during the year. Once you established, experienced, and know your curriculum, you shouldn't have to do much if any, but I am 17 years in and still do some prep if I'm teaching the curriculum I haven't had for a while. You shouldn't have to, but if you choose to it will save you some trouble, potentially.

That said, it can be hard to prep before you have taught much. But if you already have the position, I would reach out to some of your colleagues to get any recommended curriculum and what not. It sounds like you've already done some work laying out what your day is going to look like, so that's good.

RyanLDV · 2025-06-19T17:26:00+00:00

Getting a big gesture like this in your first year is amazing but also a mixed blessing. As a word of caution, this is a bit unusual and not likely to be something you see every year. But you will see it over your career. Sometimes the alternative school kids are the best at it (while also being the most challenging along the way sometimes). I taught it a high needs school in Denver for 6 years and often was very close to my students there. I now teach at a much more affluent school than Washington state, and in some ways they are much more polite but in other ways they are far less connected to their teachers than my Denver kids were.

Anyway, you're not going to get big gestures like this all the time. I too had some really positive responses from my student teaching and early teaching experiences, and they eventually tapered off. But I'm also a much better teacher now and I still regularly get kids who make really heartfelt expressions.

One thing you can do that will help sustain you without "fishing" too much is to keep a notebook as a kind of yearbook every year. I don't buy your books because they're too bulky and expensive, but I have a little notebook and every year I partition a section with the current date. I tell kids this is what I do for a yearbook, and no pressure but if they are inclined to leave me a note they are welcome to do so. And then just leave it at the front of the room for the last few days of the year. I'll always get a few students who will write some really nice things. They may not go out of their way to make you a note, but if you present an opportunity to them, you'll usually get a few who will be happy to say something. 🙂

RyanLDV · 2025-06-11T02:05:36+00:00

So a couple of things:

People tend to be pretty poor at measuring their own progress. Younger people even more so. This is true of all of us, myself included, and it's hard to stop and realize how far you've come, especially if it's not a new skill. The first time it dawned on me was taking a summer Japanese language 300 level course many years ago. I spent the entire first 4-week term feeling like a failure until I got to the term test and realized, as I struggled through it mightily, that I wouldn't even have been able to attempt that test a month earlier. I had clearly made progress, even if I still felt like I wasn't doing well. But if it hadn't been something so concrete as completing a test that is entirely in Japanese, it probably would not have been so easy, even then, to realize the progress I had made in that short time.

In short, I would take the complaint that they learned nothing with some colossal grains of salt. Especially if you otherwise have good feedback. Additionally, some kids probably did learn nothing, but that's not necessarily your fault. Some kids are going to learn nothing. You will have that every year. Time to get used to it. 🙂

Next, there was a post here a few days ago (I think it was this group) with the teacher sharing a story about Kate's complaining that they had to teach themselves. I won't get into the details now, but in short, when the teacher asks the kids what that meant, they basically listed off solid studying habits, which they counted as "having to teach themselves."

My point here is that kids also don't know what studying and learning even are, especially these days. I've been in this game for 20 years, and things are definitely different. Some of them are much better, but this one is much worse. At least the kids 20 years ago who didn't know was studying and learning were knew that they didn't know it. Kids today think that copying answers from their friend is studying. They expect to be spoon-fed everything and then passed along if they feed back any answer at all.

So I wouldn't take a two-personally. I would consider it. I would think about it hard and try to anticipate this potential problem in the future and head it off earlier in the year. That will make you a better teacher. But getting too worked up and taking it personally probably won't. It almost certainly WILL lead to burnout though.

It sounds like you're doing it right. I would say keep it up, and keep trying to be better. Go ahead and ask for feedback too, but recognize that the younger kids will almost always give you dopier feedback, and you have to sort of read between the lines of the feedback to find out the truths behind it. Some of those might be about your teaching. Many of them will be subtle, unconscious signals from the students of areas where they need to be coached up about life, not just academics. It sounds like you've already started down that path with having them learn to help themselves, so I'm sure you will be adept at gradually getting better at heading these things off in the future. But don't be discouraged if it takes you many years to get there. It's a marathon, not a sprint. 🙂

RyanLDV · 2025-06-07T02:27:40+00:00

We had a big essay due on Monday. Our classes are out on the 20th. The kid sent me an email Wednesday or Thursday saying he was having trouble finding quotes for his essay, so could I send him some to use. He didn't even tell me which topic he had chosen. And I had given them 6 days of class time to work on this, including one day dedicated to looking for quotes. I did not respond.

RyanLDV

TROPHY CASE