Where are we going, where have we been?
And how do you feel about it all?
I started The Important Work because I wanted to create a space for more teachers to talk about the challenges of teaching writing in the generative AI era and because I wanted to encourage conversation between those teaching K-12 and those teaching college students (and beyond). As someone who has taught first-year college students for 25 years, I’ve been conscious for a long time that high school and college teachers have a lot to learn from each other—especially now when the way we navigate generative AI in the college classroom is going to depend so much on what K-12 teachers are doing in their classrooms.
I am so grateful to have had the chance to connect with everyone who has published a reflection here since we launched in January. Of the posts published so far, I only knew one of the authors before publishing them, and it’s been such a pleasure to get to know the others.
The first post published in The Important Work was by Spencer Lane Jones, who has been surveying her students on their generative AI use for the past few semesters. Even since Spencer’s post was published three months ago, it’s clear that the ways our students are using AI tools have continued to evolve—and the way we’re grappling with how to do the important work in the classroom has also continued to evolve.
As Marcus Luther wrote in a recent post, in addition to all of the planning and thinking and teaching, teachers have feelings about how things are changing and what it’s like to be in the classroom right now. Even if you don’t have time to submit a full post for The Important Work, I’d like to invite you to join the conversation by sharing a brief (100-200 word) reflection on any (or all) of the following questions:
How are you feeling about teaching writing as this academic year comes to an end?
What did you change about the way you teach writing this year?
What are you hoping to do differently next year?
What were your best moments in the classroom this year?
What’s on your mind as you think about teaching writing these days?
What do you wish people were talking about more?
Think of these reflections more like “letter to the editor” than “fully developed argument.” The goal here is to bring more voices into the conversation and to hear what we haven’t heard yet. Please send your reflections through this form by May 15. My goal is to publish these reflections in late May. Please share this post with anyone you think might have a story to tell or a reflection to share!