Teaching writing in the age of AI

Teaching writing in the age of AI

Article by Hilary Douwes Illustration by Jaynell Keely | Photo courtesy of Ju-A Hwang June 24, 2026

Students explore how artificial intelligence is changing the writing process — and what that means for writers and educators

How do you prepare future middle and high school teachers to teach writing in an age when AI can generate an essay in seconds?

At the University of Delaware, an English course designed for pre-service teachers is answering that question not by banning the technology, but by teaching them how they can guide their future students into using it responsibly.

The course, titled “Adapting GenAI in the Teaching and Learning of Writing,” is taught by Ju-A Hwang, assistant professor in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences. Open to all UD students, the class analyzes the benefits and limits of various AI tools on the process and instruction of writing, from brainstorming to final product, and critically examines ethical concerns about AI use.

“One thing that I always mention to pre-service and in-service teachers is that their decisions about whether to integrate AI tools should be based on their own study and understanding of AI tools,” Hwang said. “Just feeling that this is a new technology and many people say it’s not good, so I’m not going to use it, is not a healthy way to make decisions as an educator.”

Throughout the semester, the students explored a number of different AI platforms, examining the strengths and weaknesses of each. They created lesson plans, assignments and classroom activities for future students to reflect critically on how AI affects their work.

Michael Moses is a sophomore English major from Wilmington, Delaware, who wants to become an English teacher. Before taking the course, he said he had rarely used AI because he worried about academic honesty.

“I never really explored it on my own,” he said. “This class was pretty much the only opportunity that I thought it’d be reasonable to actually start using it.”

Moses recently presented a “micro teaching” project with a class partner using NotebookLM, an AI tool that analyzes uploaded materials rather than drawing information broadly from the internet. Their lesson asked students to watch a video, take notes independently, complete a quiz and then compare their notes with AI-generated notes on the same material.

The assignment was designed to help students think critically about whether AI-supported learning actually improved understanding.

Afterward, students reflected on which notes they found more useful and why.

“It was actually really fun,” Moses said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a project like it before.”

Hwang said reflection is one of the most important parts of preparing future teachers for AI-integrated classrooms. In addition to lesson planning, students draft their own AI philosophy statements and classroom AI policies, asking them to think carefully about what role they believe AI should play in education.

Moses now sees AI less as something teachers should fear and more as a tool students need help understanding.

“It’s important to teach both the uses and the misuses of it,” Moses said. “We should lead students through this AI era instead of just telling them about it.”

He wasn’t the only student whose AI literacy improved. Most of the students in the course were not interested in becoming teachers, which Hwang said was slightly surprising but at the same time delighted her.

“AI literacy is important for everyone as the technology continues to shape workplaces and even everyday life,” Hwang said.

Senior Natasha Kapadia, a political science and communication double major who plans on becoming a journalist, agreed. While she was initially unsure about an assignment to learn about an AI platform and then present to the class about how it could work in a future classroom, the experience made her realize how much of an impact AI could have on her life.

“As someone who wants to be a writer myself, this is a huge part of my world. There were so many AI platforms that I didn’t even know existed,” she said. “Claude scares me because it’s so advanced.”

Hwang sees AI's greatest value as a thinking tool, meaning for brainstorming, generating counterarguments or identifying gaps, when applied with solid subject knowledge, critical judgment and responsibilities for the final outcomes.

“We want students to kind of suffer through the process,” she said. “Without the difficult part, you don’t learn.”

For Moses, the experience reinforced his interest in becoming a teacher at a time when education is rapidly evolving.

“There’s always the conversation that there needs to be change in education,” he said. “Teachers are an invaluable resource.”

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