humanity

Estimated reading time: 5 min 14 seconds.

For a host of reasons, adulting has been challenging lately. I don’t even have to list them, as you may be feeling the same. Given all that’s going on in the world at large, it’s hard not to spiral about the things we can’t control. And the human brain, while SO great for so many reasons, can also provide obstacles that are counterproductive.

You may be asking, “What does this have to do with teaching?”, since that’s what I usually write about. It’s simple to me: it’s about humanity. People. I don’t like to say that I preach, but I do come back to this theme all. the. time. If the focus of anything is on actual human beings as living and breathing entities (and not as a collective group), I think we’ll always be on the right path.

Something happened earlier today that caused me to want to share it with you here. I am facilitating an asynchronous online grad course which means that I mostly interact with the participants in the course via online discussions. To clarify, while these folks are technically my students in that I evaluate their work, they are fellow teachers and colleagues. I think the distinction is important and goes to the humanity that I encourage on repeat. Anyway, I had learned that one of the course members in another part of the country had experienced some life stuff due to a natural disaster and was a bit behind on the work. Furthermore, I suspected that this person was also using ChatGPT to complete some of the work, and I made mention of that. 

Lots of things happening here all at once: with me and with the participant; and thank you to the brain, only some of which may have been true. I’ll break it down.

As an empath, I was concerned about the participant and his/her/their (being inclusive while not wanting to identify and remain grammatically correct) ability to complete the work - NOT because my whole ego was involved in the person doing MY work for MY course because it is important to me, but rather not wanting him/her/them to suffer. I firmly believe that no suffering should ever be the main point in instruction and that the teacher should not only keep this in mind, but have the flexibility to adjust so that stress is mitigated. Again, my ego is NOT involved here.

But then I had called out this person on his/her/their use of AI, and though I did so in a neutral manner and in keeping with my values (explanation below - it does relate to teaching, so I include it here), I was feeling bad that I did so and then began to think negatively of myself and my teaching.. (I’m telling you, this empath thing is exhausting!) And, because I do appreciate the participant and his/her/their contributions to the class, I was wondering if he/she/they was/were upset with me. The mind is a terribly great (and terrible!) thing. So, I did what I do: I reached out via email to check in.

My email was not eloquent, and by my standards, pretty clunky. But it was genuine. I inquired about the participant on a humane level (not about the coursework), and provided a compliment (I said something to the effect of, “Had I had the chance to work with a colleague like you while teaching high school, I still might be doing so.”). Simple. Not very specific. 

The first reply I received was surprising - so much so that I didn’t know if it was in jest.

“Let me wipe the tears from my eyes before I respond fully,” it said.

Remember, I don’t know this person from the guy who sold me the new gutters, so I didn’t know how to take it. Then came the follow-up email. Essentially, my three sentences arrived at the best time for this person (not unlike a thank-you note I received in the mail from an ESL student thanking me for writing THE JERSEY - adorable!). Adulting overwhelm inside this person’s big, beautiful brain had taken over, and I guess my email caused a reset of sorts - for both of us. 

This. This is why I do what I do at this stage of my life. This is what’s important to me: meeting people where they are and sharing in the human experience. 

I often worry that I am not on a path or not on the right path, if there is even such a thing. But, unlike the Jen Degenhardt of my teens, twenties, thirties and forties, I am fortunately putting so much more emphasis on the present, rather than the past or the future, which is maybe why I worry less about said path. 

Never will I proclaim to have all the answers (nor even most of them!), but I do hope that by sharing my experience it will help someone else, as I fully believe that that in sharing we all become more enlightened.

Who knows when the next blog post will pop into my head, so, until then, enjoy the summer months. Hope you are able to rest and recharge.

The ChatGPT stuff:

AI isn’t going anywhere, and while I was resistant to it at first (like I was to getting a cell phone way back in the day - foolish me for thinking I wouldn’t NEED one!), I have embraced the platform to help me. To help. In my courses, I would never expect students NOT to use AI, I just want them to use it as a tool, rather than a crutch. So, I mentioned to the participant that he/she/they should consider citing that ChatGPT assisted in the process for two reasons: 1. to own what he/she/they did / didn’t do to create the work and 2. to provide other participants the example of how to do it effectively. I am fully committed to engaging in this practice with my college students this fall. Will some still try to pass off complex language as their own? Of course. I might have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night! But just like anything else that I aim to provide to them, at least they will have some knowledge of HOW to use AI to their benefit. Okay, little sermon over. 😜