Rediscovering the Power of Process

Realigning Writing Pedagogy in the Age of AI

Greetings, Dear Readers,

First of all, I want to thank my readers who have decided to support my Substack via paid subscriptions. I appreciate this vote of confidence. Your contributions allow me to dedicate more time to research, writing, and building Educating AI's network of contributors, resources, and materials.

Back in the summer of 2023, I established the mission of this Substack as developing an AI-responsive pedagogy to guide the implementation and integration of these amazing new tools into today's classrooms. From that point on, I have been a champion of the early introduction of AI tools to students rather than locking them down and prohibiting their use out of a deep-seated conviction that through the synergy of teacher-student-AI interactions, a new method or instructional practice would gradually unfold.

In the fall of 2023, I focused my writings primarily on the culture of resistance to AI rising up in schools and society more generally, hoping to use my Substack to open up a space for educators to sit down, simply try AI, and see what possibilities it may hold for their own work cycles. At the same time, I started the process of developing a more rigorous pedagogical grounding for my own integrations and implementations of AI in my classroom. In one piece in particular, I worried about AI's potential to steal opportunities for critical thinking and knowledge generation if over-relied upon during the writing process.

In the winter of 2023, I enlisted a fleet of writers, teachers, and scholars to write guest posts for me in hopes of breaking through my impasse in search of an AI-responsive pedagogy. The work of Zainah, Nathan Shields, Alejandro Piad Morffis, Elliot Bendoly, Alan Knowles, Sam Bobo, and Larisa Black cycled through a wide range of exciting instructional and implementation possibilities.

In this work, two instructional approaches have emerged. The first, reminiscent of Ethan Mollick's concept of "becoming a Cyborg," involves students pivoting hard toward full integration of AI throughout the entire writing process. Notably, this approach is endorsed by college professors who primarily work with college-aged writers, such as Alan Knowles and Elliot Bendoly. As a high school teacher, I have never felt completely at home with this approach. The second is more reminiscent of Mollick's concept of "becoming a Centaur," asking students to only use AI at predetermined stages in the writing cycle. In my own classroom, I have tried this approach but have had mixed results thus far. Let me explain.

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“Cyborgs don't just delegate tasks; they intertwine their efforts with AI, moving back and forth over the jagged frontier.”

“Centaurs have a strategic division of labor, switching between AI and human tasks, allocating responsibilities based on the strengths and capabilities of each entity.”

—Ethan Mollick

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This year, I teach 9th graders. Since Covid, I have increased the scaffolding and structure of my writing assignments. There are many steps to follow when completing each stage in the larger process. My students at the moment only have access to ChatGPT, and I don't want to go through another round of parent permissions to onboard them to an app with a better interface now that we are so close to the end of the school year.

When I ask students to integrate GPT into a work cycle, they have to jump back and forth between several windows: Canvas, where the AI prompts live; the Google doc, where they are copying AI text to revise and edit; and GPT. After 15 minutes of interacting with all these windows, my students genuinely look woozy. The mental exhaustion is real. All the toggling leaves them little cognitive room for the critical AI skills we need to foster. All this is a long way of saying that we need better AI tools if we are going to take AI use to a more critical place.

At a deeper level, the method of dropping AI into a particular writing stage just begs the question of purpose. Why do we want students to brainstorm with AI as opposed to traditional methods? One devoted reader, Pestalozza, asked me this pointed question in Notes this past week. It is a great question, folks! What value does AI add to the actual writing (as opposed to research or editing) process?

Thus far, I am not sure. The only real value I am seeing is efficiency when you are trying to move students swiftly from one stage of a writing process to another, which is actually the real focus of instruction. For instance, last semester I had my students use AI to debate some positions on preset topics to help them move more quickly to the development of their own position paper because we were genuinely running out of time in the semester.

Most recently, I started a weekly correspondence with the amazing teacher and writer Terry Underwood, who is helping me reconnect with the foundations of composition theory. Through these conversations and the study that flows out of them, I have come to the critical realization that I need to reframe my entire project at Educating AI.

Instead of searching for a new pedagogy to respond to AI systems, I need to be asking what flaws and deficiencies AI systems are revealing about the pedagogies I was trained in and am currently practicing—and what alternatives already exist that I can utilize in order to revitalize my curriculum, not simply to make space for AI but to make space for my students' needs, interests, challenges, and strengths.

Read Terry’s game-changing essay when you have chance:

Keep Your Eyes on Your Own Paper

The following short essay represents my first effort to put into words the changes I am contemplating internally and professionally. The journey ahead will be exciting, and I hope my readers will join me, at least by exploring the possibilities as objects of thought.

In upcoming posts, I will consider how a process-oriented approach might more practically enable us to recenter our writing curriculum on student voice, agency, and experience, and in doing so, serve as the foundation for a resilient strategy for engaging with new and evolving AI systems.

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Rediscovering the Power of Process: Realigning Writing Pedagogy in the Age of AI

“[O]nce you can look at your composition program with the realization you are teaching a process, you may be able to design a curriculum which works. Not overnight, for writing is a demanding, intellectual process; but sooner than you think, for the process can be put to work to produce a product which may be worth your reading.

What is the process we should teach? It is the process of discovery through language. It is the process of exploration of what we know and what we fell about what we know through language. It is the process of using language to learn about our world, to evaluate what we learn about our world, to communicate what we learn about our world.”

Donald M. Murray, “Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product”

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Part 1: Rethinking Composition Pedagogy in the Age of AI Automation

Here, I revisit a seminal essay by Donald M. Murray, a luminary in the field of composition, who in 1972 issued a profound call to action to educators at a critical juncture in writing pedagogy. Murray implored educators to shift their focus from the end products of writing to the rich, often messy processes that birth these products. "Writing is a process of discovery through language," Murray famously articulated, emphasizing the transformative power inherent in this approach. As we navigate the implications of increasingly sophisticated AI tools that automate many aspects of writing, Murray’s call resonates even more urgently, compelling us to realign today’s composition curricula to emphasize these generative processes once more.

Murray championed the concept of "discovery through language," positing that writing should not be confined to communicating pre-formed ideas but should be seen as a critical tool for thinking and exploration. He argued that writing facilitates "the exploration of what we know and what we feel about what we know through language," underscoring the introspective and evaluative functions that writing should serve. This process demands from writers not just the articulation of knowledge but also a rigorous scrutiny and emotional engagement with that knowledge, leading to deeper understanding and a personal connection to their work.

He further expanded on this by noting, "Writing is how we learn about our world, evaluate our findings, and communicate our insights," thereby framing language as a dynamic instrument for cognitive development and transformative learning experiences. This tripartite role of language—discovery, evaluation, and communication—underscores its significance in the cognitive processes and emphasizes its potential to catalyze educational transformations.

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Part 2: The Pitfalls of a Product-Oriented Educational Culture

Conversely, the prevalent pedagogical landscape across K-12 and higher education, increasingly influenced by AI tools, is dominated by a product-centric ethos. This approach prioritizes the final output over the cognitive and creative journey integral to the writing process—a methodology that stifles creativity and critical thinking, skills that are essential in our rapidly evolving society. Such an orientation risks creating a constrained perception of learning's true essence, where the final product overshadows the rich educational experiences that should occur during its creation.

The overemphasis on high-stakes grading and summative assessments exacerbates this issue, fostering environments where the misuse of AI tools, such as AI-driven plagiarism, is almost inevitable. In these contexts, students are primed to use AI as a means to an end, focusing on efficiency and the final grade rather than the educational journey itself. "The product is all that matters in too many writing classrooms," Murray critiqued, highlighting a culture that still exists today and inadvertently encourages students to keep their use of AI hidden, treating these technologies as shortcuts to meet externally imposed standards rather than as aids for deeper intellectual exploration.

Such an educational focus not only risks stifling students' creativity and critical thinking but also perpetuates a shallow engagement with the learning process. Terry Underwood describes this as the "hamburger" method of language instruction, where teachers push students to fill in pre-existing conceptual boxes rather than develop frameworks that suit their purposes, interests, and evolving processes. This environment may limit students’ ability to develop genuine voices and perspectives in their writing, thus reducing their engagement and the personal value they derive from the educational exercise.

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Part 3: Advocating for a Process-Oriented Educational Shift

To counteract these entrenched norms, there is a growing recognition of the need to transition toward a process-oriented framework in writing instruction and education more broadly. This paradigm shift values the creative journey as equally important as the final output and emphasizes the development of critical thinking and ideation skills.

By prioritizing the process of writing over merely refining final products, educators can cultivate a pedagogy that values the utility of AI tools as learning aids rather than mere efficiency boosters. In this context, AI tools, such as text generators and feedback systems, can provide students with immediate responses and support, enabling them to engage in iterative revisions and refinements of their work. This iterative process encourages students to delve deeper into their writing, promoting a more thorough engagement with the content and the development of their ideas. More importantly,

Further enriching this pedagogical shift, teachers can introduce assignments such as process papers can allow students to reflect on their AI usage, shifting the focus from efficiency to utility-driven technological engagement. Such initiatives could even replace traditional research papers in some contexts, underscoring the value of the learning process as a critical educational outcome. I will explore various iterations of process papers in up

For AI to fully embody the educational philosophy advocated by Donald M. Murray, it must be thoughtfully integrated into curricula to enhance—not replace—discovery through language. This involves having students write about their interactions with AI, incorporating these reflections into their learning products, thereby deepening their understanding of both the tools and the content.

In redefining the role of writing within education to align with a process-oriented approach, educators and technologists must maintain a focus on nurturing independent thinkers and effective communicators. This recalibration will ensure that as AI becomes more integrated into educational frameworks, it augments rather than diminishes human capacities, thereby enriching the educational experience and better preparing students for the complexities of the contemporary world.

Nick Potkalitsky, Ph.D

Check out some of my favorite Substacks:

Riccardo Vocca’s The Intelligent Friend: An intriguing examination of the diverse ways AI is transforming our lives and the world around us

Suzi’s When Life Gives You AI: An cutting-edge exploration of the intersection among computer science, neuroscience, and philosophy

Alejandro Piad Morffis’s Mostly Harmless Ideas: Unmatched investigations into coding, machine learning, computational theory, and practical AI applications

Michael Woudenberg’s Polymathic Being: Polymathic wisdom brought to you every Sunday morning with your first cup of coffee

Nat’s The AI Observer: A fascinating investigation into the emergence of higher-order reasoning in advanced AI systems, complemented by amazing coding experiments

Michael Spencer’s AI Supremacy: The most comprehensive and current analysis of AI news and trends, featuring numerous intriguing guest posts

Daniel Bashir’s The Gradient Podcast: The top interviews with leading AI experts, researchers, developers, and linguists.

Daniel Nest’s Why Try AI?: The most amazing updates on AI tools and techniques