TTT 01.17.2024 Rohan Writes w/ GPT Thinking Partners: An 8th Grader's Self-Directed Revision Process
Channel: Paul Allison
Date: 2024-01-18

How are middle school students using AI to become better writers?

Come find out at our TTT meetup on Wednesday evening at 8E/7C/6M/5P in Kumospace.com/youthvoices.

This week on TTT we will take a close look at what's happening in a self-directed revision process of an eighth grader who gets feedback from GPT Thinking Partners (some of which he invents himself) to compose an assignment to "Say Something Meaningful."

We are circling back to a 23-minute conversation a few of us had with Rohan on January 3rd, the transcript and video--and supporting materials--for which are here. At the time Rohan had written the first of six drafts (so far) about the "way too many wars" the "US engulfs itself in." He had uses several GPT Thinking Partners including two that he had made for himself and a third fact-checking one that I had created for him: a lot for most of us to take in. 

He seemed game to work it through when he could find the time.

And we told him: "Somebody needs to be watching you and seeing how you manage to figure that all out. You know what I’m saying? We’re fascinated with that."

A couple of weeks later, Rohan revised his essay five different times and used GPT Thinking Partners to guide his journey, and eventually to score his drafts.

We've collected together as much of his work around this essay as we can find: his drafts, his prompts for the GPT Thinking Partners that he created in this process. We have begun to make notes and say what we are noticing about Rohan's process of thinking and writing with AI.

We could use your perspective, your expertise. Come describe Rohan's AI adventure with us! Let's see what we can learn. What rhetorical moves and writerly decisions does Rohan make? What else might we want him to do?

Sure, this is about how middle school students are learning with and about AI right now in their classrooms. But it's also about how youth are finding self-directed paths to becoming better writers.

Come find out more at our TTT meetup on Wednesday evening at 8E/7C/6M/5P in Kumospace.com/youthvoices.