A Return to Pen and Paper in the Age of AI
In a digital world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, Chanea Bond, an English teacher at Southwest High School in Fort Worth, Texas, has taken a bold stance. By banning the use of AI and digital tools during most of her classes, she has gone almost entirely analog, requiring students to handwrite assignments and engage with literature the old-fashioned way: with pens, paper, and critical thinking.
“If you walk into almost any one of my classes today,” Bond says, “you will see that all of my students are handwriting, journaling, and consistently doing everything with a pen or a pencil.”
Why Bond Banned AI in Her Classroom
Bond teaches composition and American literature in a school district where many students come from low-income backgrounds. Her decision to eliminate AI from her teachings stems from a desire to ensure students develop essential skills on their own. She believes that relying on AI can short-circuit the learning process.
She initially tried integrating AI into her curriculum. For example, after having her students read Maya Angelou’s poem Still I Rise, she asked them to use AI to generate a thesis statement. The results were disappointing. “It was terrible,” Bond recalls. “They didn’t know the material because they had outsourced that level of thinking.”
This experience convinced her that students needed more foundational instruction in writing and analysis—skills she believes are best cultivated without the help of machines.
Inside Bond’s AI-Free Teaching Approach
The cornerstone of Bond’s classroom is daily journaling. Each class begins with students writing in their notebooks, which she says not only helps them build confidence but also allows her to understand their unique writing voices.
“I like to give them low-stakes opportunities to start cultivating what they want to say and how they want to say it,” she explains.
Bond also provides dictionaries for vocabulary searches and uses printed teaching guides to prepare her lessons. Assignments are broken down into multiple stages—thesis, outline, bibliography, and handwritten drafts—all of which are graded.
“The steps matter to the cumulative overall grade because that’s how I know the thinking is happening,” she says.
Students only use computers in the final stage of the writing process, and only if they don’t have accommodations requiring digital tools.
Student Reactions to the Analog Classroom
Meyah Alvarez, a junior, was initially taken aback by Bond’s insistence on handwritten work. “It was different, but I do like it now,” she says. “I feel like it actually does get my brain thinking.”
Alvarez, who hadn’t previously been enthusiastic about literature classes, now enjoys Bond’s assignments, which she finds interactive and thought-provoking. “Ms. Bond’s approach is very good. Like, she makes it to where AI can’t even really help you at this point,” she adds.
Other students, like sophomore Eligh Ellison, appreciate the AI ban for ethical and environmental reasons. Ellison admits to using AI in the past but sees Bond’s class as a chance to develop independent thought. “We’re standing on shaky ground,” he says, referring to the evolving nature of AI technology.
Even students caught using AI have changed their perspective. One student, identified only as T, used AI to generate a bibliography at the last minute. After being caught, he redid the assignment with Bond’s help. “Would you rather really grow from an experience of actually doing some work and critically thinking, or just take nothing away from it and use a robot?” he reflects.
Contrasting Views on AI in Education
Bond’s approach contrasts with that of her friend Brett Vogelsinger, an English teacher in Pennsylvania, who encourages responsible AI use. Vogelsinger believes in teaching students the difference between using AI to cheat and using it to enhance their learning.
“We’re very much in the experimental phase of all this,” he says, acknowledging the complexities of integrating AI in teaching.
While Bond maintains her analog approach, many school districts and government bodies are embracing AI. Miami-Dade County Public Schools, for example, provides students access to Google’s Gemini chatbot. New Jersey has allocated over $1 million in grants to support AI integration in classrooms, and an executive order from the Trump administration aims to expand AI education nationwide.
Despite this trend, Bond remains firm. “I just don’t see a world where students learning how to think and articulate themselves puts them at a disadvantage,” she says.
She is open to changing her stance in the future but believes that, for now, keeping AI out of her classroom better serves her students’ educational needs.
This article is inspired by content from Original Source. It has been rephrased for originality. Images are credited to the original source.