Over 80% of high school students use AI, according to a 2025 College Board study. As AI is increasingly integrated into digital life—between email clients, notes apps, and even Google searches—Garfield teachers believe that it is time for schools to begin teaching AI literacy, lessons on how students could responsibly use AI. Ms. Harris, an English teacher, was concerned about how easy it is to take answers from AI without verifying them. “It pops right up,” she said, “and I didn’t fact check that. Like, I didn’t kind of question it.”
Garfield educators aren’t only concerned about accuracy; they’re also worried about what happens when students rely on AI to write for them. Mr. Young, a history teacher, says, “[Writing is] that transition of how do I take this thing I’m thinking about and put it into words? And when I read those words, does it match the idea in my brain? That back and forth—that’s the hard work.” Mr. Young warns that, when students rely on AI for their writing, they can lose the ability to reason and think. Mr. Miller, the chair of the math department, has also been frustrated with the way students use AI. ”A lot of AI use is… I’m just gonna be done with this assignment [and] not think about it,” said Miller.
Despite their concerns, none of the teachers said that AI should be banned outright. In fact, many claimed that AI has the potential to genuinely help students. Mr. Young and Ms. Harris recommended that students use AI as a sort of peer editor, giving feedback on their work instead of doing it for them. Mr. Young mentioned that AI models could provide “instant feedback” on assignments, especially when teachers were preoccupied. They also suggested that students use AI to write their outlines or to help them plan their drafts, so long as students are still “doing the hard work.”
AI is growing rapidly in its capabilities and influence, making it a potentially useful tool for teachers as well. Teachers generally agreed that AI could assist in lesson planning, though they said AI-generated work still required a human’s review to identify “hallucinations”—instances where the AI produces false information. As for grading, however, there was a strong desire to keep it done by humans. When asked why, Mr. Young described grading as “communing with a student.” Along those same lines, Mr. Rees, Garfield’s educational interventionist, said, “Getting to know your students as people is the essence of being a teacher. To read someone’s thoughts is to have a window into them; people reveal what’s important to them, their priorities, or the lens through which they move through the world. If I don’t read your writing, I’m not going to learn that, and then I don’t meet you as a person in a way that’s helpful for you as an individual.” According to teachers, AI is a powerful tool, but it certainly cannot replace student-teacher relationships.
