Not His Own Work

Monday. Continuation high school. Math, fourth period. 

(This was the Monday before winter break. I saved all my subbing stories for when I was back at work.) 

The students had work online. It's a program called IXL. I'm familiar with it as all the schools in the district use it. 

When a student answers a problem, the program immediately tells them if they got it correct or not. If they got it correct, they move on to harder problems. If they didn't, the program shows them how to solve the problem, and then gives them a similar one to solve. 

The goal is to get to 100. It can take twenty problems or it can take forty problems, depending on if the student is getting the problems correct. (If it's taking much more than twenty problems, it's time for the student to ask for help.) 

So, when I walk the room while the kiddos are on IXL, I know what to look at on their screen to make sure they're on track. Twelve problems with a score of 72? They're right where they should be. Twenty-two problems and a score of 31? It's time for me to gently ask if they need some help. 

Jasper was on his phone. I reminded him that phones weren't to be used in class. When it looked like he was back on his phone, I stood over him again. I urged him to get on task. Then when he did...

He wasn't solving the problems. He took a screenshot. Then he uploaded that screenshot into Google's Gemini. And Gemini solved the problem for him. He took that answer and input it into IXL...

Yeah, that's not how that's supposed to work. 

I asked Jasper if he didn't understand how to do the work. He said he did. (Doubtful, but okay...) So, then I explained that he needed to do his own work, not use AI to do the work for him. This was cheating. 

He didn't see my point. He explained that he didn't want to take the time to solve the problems. He knew how to do it, but he needed to do it quickly. When I pointed out that Mr. F wouldn't appreciate him doing it this way, he replied that Mr. F would be okay with it as Mr. F knew he needed the credits. 

Uh huh. Sure. 

(I've had similar discussions with students in the past. They're singing a different tune after their teacher hears they didn't do their own work.) 

Mr. F is a very gentle teacher, but he's also very strict. I imagine Jasper is not going to like having to explain how he did his work to Mr. F. 

(Mr. F is also an author. Here's a link to his Amazon page.)

In Trouble

Monday. Fifth period AP English (twelfth grade, literature). 

All the classes had assignments on paper that had to be turned in at the end of the period. Ms. A noted that otherwise she couldn't be sure the students weren't "consulting" ChatGPT at home. (I had a period of freshman English and a period of junior English before the seniors.) 

I had to remind the class the assignment was due at the end of the period as it took them some time to get working. But they all finished and turned in their work before the end of the period. 

As usual, I left a very detailed note for Ms. A. Her initial response: 

I am not surprised by ANY of what you noted. Those baseball boys in the corner. Aye! Aye! Aye! 

She was referencing a comment I made about some eleventh grade boys having long conversations that didn't touch on any of the essay they were supposed to be writing. But then I got a follow up email on Wednesday: 

Hello! Quick question: Did my AP 12 students have computers with them on Monday? I am reading their assignments and they sound too good? Also, upon opening one of the Chromebooks today, a student noticed they were on chatgpt asking a Death of a Salesman question.

Oops. Because, yeah, some of them did have computers. I didn't think much of it at the time. It is something I totally should have caught as they had to go and get computers (they were not out). 

I encountered something similar last school year while on the long term for the eleventh grade English class (those students now in the twelfth grade). Some of their answers were too good. I didn't believe some of them had done their work without ChatGPT assistance. 

So, yeah, I should have clocked that. 

I admitted my lapse. Ms. A wasn't upset with me. But she wasn't happy with her seniors...

Uh oh. They were in trouble...

Caught Red-Handed

Monday. Period four. We had finished up chapter six of The Great Gatsby in the last class period, so on this day they had an assignment analyzing quotes from the novel (chapters four through six). 

They had a similar assignment for chapters one through three. I was saddened as I read through their work. Their analyses were too good. Great word choice. Some insightful takes on the scenes. 

Yeah, that wasn't their work. 

Too many of them said the same thing. I didn't go back and check, but if I did, I know I would find that some papers were exactly the same. They talked of the themes in the novel. They hinted at things that were to come (that they hadn't read yet). I know they pulled answers from elsewhere. 

(Not everyone. Some clearly had done their own work.)

So, I pointed this out to period four as they began. 

I took a couple strolls around the room. Some of them were working. Some were not. 

Virgil was sucked into his phone. I sidled up behind him and glanced at what was on his phone. 

ChatGPT. 

Me: "You need to do your own work. Get off the ChatGPT." 

Virgil visibly startled. I don't think he heard me come up behind him. 

I remember reading Virgil's chapter one through three assignment. Him being on ChatGPT did not surprise me at all. 

He put the phone away. And then proceeded to do no work for the rest of the period. Deep sigh. 

The Wrong Johnson

Eighth grade US history. Fifth period. 

It's the end of the year, so the eighth graders are on the Civil War and Reconstruction. (Eleventh grade US history starts studying after Reconstruction.) 

As Mr. C was going to be out for a week, he had left them a lot of bookwork to do. They had questions that went along with their textbooks. And many of them were using their textbooks to find the answers.

But nowadays, many students use Google rather than their textbooks. (We've explained to them that Google is way harder as the questions are constructed to go with the text. And Google can go way off topic.) Although, that was before.

Axel had his questions out. And his phone. And he decided that he was going to use ChatGPT instead of his textbook. 

Of course, I told him this was a bad idea.

He input the question. It had something to do with President Johnson and his conflicts with the Congress. 

He read out the answer: "Congress and Lyndon B. Johnson..."

At which point I stopped him. "Wrong Johnson."

As most US history teachers do, Mr. C had the presidents' portraits running along the top of the walls of his classroom. George Washington was at the front on the right wall. Joe Biden was at the front on the left wall. 

I found Lincoln on the wall. I pointed to him. I reminded Axel that they had just studied Lincoln's assassination, and the president following him was right next to him. Then I pointed to LBJ, who was on the opposite wall. 

"Different centuries."

Did that send Axel back to his book? Nah. He refined his question to ChatGPT. 

Sigh.

I made sure that Mr. C knew about how Axel found his answers. If nothing else, at least Axel learned that we had two different President Johnsons. I hope he remembers that.