Author: Dr. Jessica Maricevic

A Dystopian Tale Foretold? ChatGPT.

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I am enrolled in my second semester internship requirement for New York State School Building Leader Certification. Last week, I had the following assignment:

Prompt: In this week’s discussion post, please select one quote, then make one comment on how you believe this technology may impact education. Please respond to at least one of your classmates posts. Do not create a new thread, simply respond to my post and to classmate’s posts.

Article: ChatGPT banned from New York City public schools’ devices and networks

I invite you to read my response below:

ChatGPT, the one and only AI platform, was a topic for discussion for the ELA department during the fall months of the 2022-2023. The New York Times was the first mainstream publication I came across with the stark reporting of its omnipresence. Then came the subsequent perspective of a high school English teacher in an op-ed piece for The Atlantic.  Both articles generated a similar thematic response from their respective targeted audience: it’s the end of the world, there goes humanity, teachers are insignificant, blah-blah-blah. There was no avoiding it, the preverbal alarms were blaring, as if preparing for a nuclear catastrophe, and you cannot ignore those warning sounds.

ChatGPT was a topic of conversation within my PLN of educators. I had a conversation with one school leader, not affiliated with HCSD, who held the perspective that there was a need for educators to be concerned. I listened. Then the conversation switched to an unforeseen thread altogether, and the question was raised, “Do students need to learn how to write? Why do students need to learn how to write? If there are computers that can do it for them, do they need it? Now what?” Clearly, ChatGPT and the doomsday dystopian scenarios attached to the AI platform had people reeling, and they are still reeling.

So, I keep reading articles, forums, tweets, and listening to fellow educators and non-educators alike, with an empathic lens. Yet, the more I read, and the more I listen, the more convinced I am there is something worth discussing, and ChatGPT is the catalyst to make the conversation happen.

I’ve been in education for 18 years. ChatGPT is no different than the tutor, the Google search of something a student might deem unrecognizable by their content area teacher ::highlight, click-copy-paste:::, the older sibling/neighbor/cousin who was assigned the same exact essay 5 years prior, etc.  Wait, but we cannot have an opinion piece without acknowledging the AI tool afforded to teachers! The a-ha!, we gotcha AI platform to determine a submissions level of authenticity, like turnitin.com. Full disclosure, I use turnitin.com, but I didn’t get into teaching to complete a crime scene investigation on work submitted, and turnitin.com is so much more than a plagiarism “checker.” Wait, does that mean ChatGPT is more than AI doing the work for America’s students?

I continuously create authentic opportunities for student learning from the lessons to assessments. Nothing comes from a handout, or a book, or Teachers Pay Teachers. Assessments, yes formative and summative, are not the same from year-to-year, not the same from class period to class period, not the same within the class period. I am always fine tuning lessons, assessments, differentiating and giving autonomy to the students (it is their learning after all).

I am reflective, constantly wondering if I am being culturally responsive to the ever changing needs of my students, and ask for their feedback. I value my students. I make sure to value each and every student, and every written and spoken word/creation with their name attached to it. I want students to know they are valued, not just by any person, they are valued by me. I value their thoughts and ideas and their role in the learning process– students feel seen, valued, heard, and that trifecta is an integral part of the ChatGPT conversation.

Today ChatGPT, tomorrow robots. No, I don’t believe robots are going take over the world, or America’s classrooms. Do I think there is a concern for the well-being of humanity? Maybe, but my concern for the well-being of humanity is not because of this AI platform. Humanity’s well-being can really teeter if today’s students, become the adults of tomorrow, the ones who will one day be responsible for humanity’s survival, lack confidence, believe their words and the words of others don’t matter, believe their thoughts and the thoughts of others aren’t good enough, believe they aren’t good enough, believe there’s no need to write or communicate, embrace apathy because… why bother with any other mindset?

To protect humanity, we don’t need to destroy or bastardize innovation. We must illuminate the illusive apathetic mindset hiding behind the letters, C-H-A-T-G-P-T. To do so, we need to first ask some questions that may or may not start with the word, Why. Why was the ChatGPT platform generated in the first place (think about Stone’s concepts of welfare and security)? Why would a student opt to submit anything other than a product representative of their authentic voice? Why would a student resort to a sterile computer response, a response that could hold serious inaccuracies intertwined with “big SAT words,” rather than their own? Why does the student value the “thoughts” of AI over their own thoughts? Why would a student think their teacher would prefer the submission of AI generated “work,” over age and skill appropriate submissions reflective of who they are as a person and learner?

ChatGPT is here because students received messages; messages of who are of value, why they are of value, and how to be considered valuable. But who would send a message like that? Schools, towns, stakeholders (educators, school building and district leaders, parents, state and national figures), external curriculums like AP and IB, state standards, national standards, SAT, ACT,  societal norms and expectations, all send messages. Why are these messages being sent to students and how if at all does the intended message differ from the message students receive? What role do parents and/or guardians play in disseminating messages that when interpreted have students turn to AI platforms like Chat GPT, rather than their own thoughts and ideas? How does a prescribed curriculum like IB, which places value on students’ social emotional competency skill development equivalent to knowledge, yet quantify their effort to document whether a student met a benchmark of a predetermined criteria of excellence?

Good educators will keep asking good questions, and by good questions, I mean challenging questions like those I stated above.  Good educators will keep creating a good curriculum, and a good curriculum is differentiated, student centered, authentic, inquiry based, rooted in student choice, values the student…. Technology is good and good educators will keep incorporating purposeful tech use into the classroom.

See, technology and innovation is not the enemy here. Even Elon Musk, the creator of ChatGPT is not the antagonist of this dystopian novel.  We cannot run away from technological advancements– just think if we took a defensive stance against the printing press, or “the calculator, which was decried as the death of math” (Rosenblatt, 2023)! We cannot get caught up in trying to catch or prevent the use of technological advancements and innovation. Instead, embrace it! Incorporate it! We must be on the offensive. It is now time to reflect on our responsibility, as educators and emerging school leaders, to reflect upon the individual and collective messages we send, the messages students receive, recognize and own our (and there are a lot of people, places, and things falling under the word our) contribution to the inception of this new need, and strategically dismantle any bit of apathy establishing roots in the hearts and minds of the 21st century k-12 learner.

Now #Trending…

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Collaboration, in any organization, is key— especially when the goal is to create an inclusive environment for all individuals to feel valued and respected. The people within an organization, for the most part, want to experience an enriching workplace. Some may even wish to pay it forward.

Five years ago, a fellow English teacher and myself wanted to do just that, pay it forward. We took it upon ourselves to complete our Google Certification. We taught an in-district summer professional development course. We were selected to present at an annual English Teachers Conference in Albany, New York.

Our vision, The Trendy English Teachers, was coming to fruition, website and all. Unfortunately, the vision was placed on the back-burner, and not entirely from our doing alone.

Once the 2022-2023 school year rolled around, my fellow English teacher (yes, that same fellow English teacher), shared how she wished to somehow participate in my school building leadership internship experience. Like many other educators, my colleague is very much aware of the strengths she has to offer to the organization. Me, being the collaboration, true collaboration, advocate that I am, excitedly said, “Of course!”

So, as we always do, we got to work.

We sat down, made a tentative date and schedule for school-day availability, how we would construct courses based on teacher-driven needs. What would that look like? How would that look? What is required of us, and our participants (faculty and staff), to prepare for, and participate in, meaningful, voluntary, school day professional learning opportunities?

We listed “trendy” articles, “trendy” videos watched on social media, and shared our own “trendy” creations with one another.

We made a list of all the topics to cover, the target audience, the faculty. But there are others to consider, like the staff members of our building. The staff need to be equipped with the technology foundation because students look to them for support and guidance.

Would we include the administration? Yes! Of course! Why not? If the administration suggests technology be used in the 21st century classroom, then they too should have the knowledge of the types of technologies readily available to enhance student learning, performance and progress.

The origin of transformative change rests upon transformative leadership. Highlighting the positive contributions of others within an organization can possibly ruffle some feathers. However, the positives outweigh the negatives. As a future school building leader, I know I must honor the strengths of others within an organization. I must, in some way, make certain the individuals who wish to be directly and indirectly a part of the vision and mission’s sustainability be included, supported, and celebrated for their efforts.

#TrendThePositive

Trending Together with T & J, © J. Maricevic (2022)

Priorities.

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My recent post is associated with a school building leadership assignment. Below is the task and my response.

Task: Read the article ‘When It Comes to the Teacher Shortage, Who’s Abandoning Whom?’. How do you see this article as relevant to school leadership? Cite one example.

Humanity-Based vs Business Capital

Nothing speaks more to me as an aspiring school building leader than the concept of enacting transformational change rooted in a “humanity-based model” (Fullan & Rizzotto, 2022). It seems as though the attention given to the “business capital” model (before the pandemic), inspired what now appears, in hindsight, as empty promises— promises to value innovation and creativity, for students and teachers, when things returned to normal. There was hope that maybe a silver lining coming out of this pandemic would be society’s acknowledgement of education as a non-gendered profession, compensate teachers for their years of expertise and degrees, etc. Unfortunately, the swift arrival of phrases like learning loss, constant references to a blanket academic deficit plaguing the intellectual development of America’s children, and the politicizing of education, accompanied fingers pointing in one direction, the classroom teacher.

Interconnected: Teacher-Leader Relationship

Interconnected with a teacher’s post-COVID experience is the role of the school building leader, district leader, and respective leadership teams. Individuals in these leadership positions must counter the destructive noise from outsiders and demonstrate to their faculty and staff that they are seen, valued, and heard (the essence of the Humanity-Based model). If students are deserving of an environment “where ‘belonging, purpose, individual and collective problem solving’ is fostered,” so are teachers. It comes as no surprise that many people will take the stance, teachers are abandoning students! Teachers are leaving the profession not because they forgot why they entered the teaching profession. Teachers are leaving the classroom because they never lost their “why” for entering the teaching profession in the first place, and their “why” is no longer valued.

The System Failed the Teacher

As a parent and educator, I sadly agree with the conclusion presented in the article, “that the old, deeply flawed system has de facto abandoned the teachers, not the other way around” (Fullan & Rizzotto, 2022). The challenges plaguing education, its teachers and students, are systemic, and any systemic challenge should be of great concern for educational leaders. Whether a school building leader or a district leader, those in coveted leadership positions must not only prioritize supporting students in all facets associated with the learning experience. School and district leaders must also prioritize and demonstrate to stakeholders how, and why, they support teachers in all facets of the post-COVID professional demands. A model of appreciation on the part of school and district leaders yields tremendous transformational power, exactly what the profession needs and deserves; nothing less.

September 28, 2022

Dr. Jessica Maricevic

It’s just Daisy, being Daisy

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It’s just Daisy,
being Daisy.

It’s just Daisy,
being—

her gorgeous self,
and knowing
she’s gorgeous,
and expressing
a quiet,
self-confidence,
a happy tail-wag;
the usual.

Look close.
It’s just Daisy,
being Daisy.

She hears
three words.

And Daisy,
just being;
sticks out her tongue,
ever so slightly,
to whisper a reply,
ever so lightly—

“I love you, too.”

© Jessica Maricevic, 2022

A happy Daisy, post-spa day.

New Kid on the Block

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The New Kid on the Block
© J.Maricevic, 2022

It’s tough to be the “New Kid on the Block.” But it’s much easier to be “the new kid,” to acclimate, get comfortable with new surroundings, manage new personalities, to feel included in what may, at first, seem like an impermeable pack, when someone reaches out a hand, or paw; a welcomed extension for all to see & emulate.

If you can put yourself in the “paws” of a puppy, a puppy attempting to navigate a new life, on a new street, with 14 other new doggos, from 10 different households, then you can empathize with the person to your left, and to your right. You can extend your hand, or paw, in an empathic gesture of kindness to the “new kid on the block.” You can dissolve those socially constructed barriers, and make that connection. Believe me, you can.

In this real-life scenario, and others like it, the human-animal relationship provides us humans with the necessary intra & interpersonal competency development to be better humans.

Furthermore, developing these social-emotional competencies, with the help of a furry friend, results in a transferable awareness to the way in which we interact with other humans.

So, next time, when you notice a “new kid,” on a new “block,” be an ally. Open your heart & mind to the benefits of getting to know someone, without passing judgment.

Think about that next time, when there’s a “new kid,” on a new “block,” will you choose to be an ally? Will you choose to open your heart and mind to the benefits of getting to know someone, without passing judgment? Will you think of the new puppy, on the new street?

Be the person who consciously considers life from someone else’s shoes, or paws. Be the one to welcome “the new kid on the block,” into your pack.

Actions Speak Louder Than…

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Canine Courage, ©J. Maricevic, 2022

On any given day, for any given reason, the world can be a lonely, isolating place for a person navigating an internal challenge. And sometimes, those feelings are left to fester like an open sore to the person experiencing the emotions, emotions that may remain undetectable to the naked eye passing by (yes, there’s an allusion to Langston Hughes in this paragraph).

We all must be better to the stranger, the acquaintance, to those closest to us… we all must be better, for you never know of another person’s struggle…

And to be better requires courage, courage to be:

✨The individual to stand by the side of someone in the midst of a conflict…

✨The individual to stand up when bystanders appear to be oblivious to the reality of one’s struggle…

✨The individual to place assumptions aside and reach out to inquire about the well-being of another…

✨The one to say, “Sure, I’ll run alongside you!” without uttering a word…

✨The one to say, “You are not alone” without uttering a sound…

✨The one to take the kindness received, and pay it forward to another in need. #PayItForward…

Inspired by their collective canine courage, I share my artistic creation of Bravo supporting Daisy. Or is it Daisy supporting Bravo?

Is it really that important to distinguish which empathic set of paws is supporting the other? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, Bravo and Daisy know that they have each other, no matter what the tide may bring. That, in itself, is just as much a comfort for the doggos as it is for their human.

There’s much to learn from our four legged friends— beings that possess the undeniable courage to do the right thing, allowing their actions to ‘speak’ louder than their … bark.

Love.

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Judge under the photograph, “Love On the Beach,” by local fine arts photographer, Peter Mendelson.

I happened to get up from the banquette during a Zoom doctoral class- needed a little pistachio snack, sustenance for all this writing.

Between the time it took to grab a few pistachios and my return, Judge wiggled under the table and positioned himself in perfect proximity- he patiently awaited my return.

My stealthy, determined friend, (who by the way, was trying all night to accomplish this very feat captured in this post), achieved his goal.

Who says, “No dogs on the banquette?” Well, I did.

Until, I didn’t.

I rely on Judge. I want and need him around. What’s to say that Judge doesn’t feel the same wants and needs sometimes? Actions speak louder than words, and for that very reason, Judge can hop-on-up, any time.

And yes, this goes for Daisy too. She just had better things to do, like thrust a clean pair of socks, rolled tight, up in the air and catch it about 100 times. Needless to say, those socks went back into the wash.

And Just Like That…

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Judge, one ear up, one ear down, before I pressed “play.”

Last night I did ✨a lot ✨of writing. The entire time, Judge rested his head upon my Ugg slippers…

I took a quick break, sat by the fire and watched an episode of a go-to favorite television show. FYI, nostalgia is a great motivator. I reverted back to my days as a graduate student, living in Manhattan, with this particular HBO series-of-choice.

Judge made sure he sat by my side, happy to watch Sarah Jessica Parker’s fictional character, Carrie Bradshaw, navigate Paris, lose her “Carrie” necklace, come oh so very close to losing her sense of self…

And just like that…

The “Carrie” necklace made its way back to where it was supposed to be all along, the “Big” embrace on the Pont des Arts, Carrie, you’re the one…

The episode ended. Judge resumed his position- his head rested upon my Ugg slippers.

I continued to type-away.

The Canine Compass

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A chilly Sunday evening brings me to think of warmer days.

Yes, I’m grateful for the faint summer breeze that lingers in my memory. I’m equally grateful for the night’s crisp, fall air, and for the love I receive, no matter the season, from the beautiful being that is Judge.

Judge’s love realigned my trajectory, pointed me in the very direction that I started out on when surprised with my very first puppy. I was 4 years old when this furry-best friend entered my life. From that day forward, there’s always been a dog, or two, or three, by my side.

As I reflect, it comes as no surprise to learn that the comedic legend, Gilda Radner, once said, “I think dogs are the most amazing creatures. They give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.”

From age 4, to this very moment, dogs have taught me how to love, to help, to be silly, to make mistakes, to listen, to comfort… how to be fierce in the name of justice, to stand in stoic support of the weary, to do what’s right…

Ah, there were never more truer words stated than those of Gilda Radner. Forever grateful that I, too, can attest to the validity of Radner’s perspective, all because of the unconditional love I received from my canine companions of yesterday, and from the unconditional love I continue to receive from my canine compass of today.

Variations on ‘Brad’- Pop Art Meets Human-Animal Relationships

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Pop Art, meet Human-Animal Relationships.

Variations on ‘Brad’ © J. Maricevic, 2021

Let’s be honest, dogs know everything. Whether we verbally tell them our thoughts, or they feel our energy, or the energy of a situation; dogs know.

And it was that all-knowing, canine superpower that inspired my original, Roy Lichtenstein-esque, digital representation of the human-animal bond. For those unfamiliar with Lichtenstein’s artistic style, he incorporated the name “Brad” in some of his Pop Art creations. It is important to note that Lichtenstein never referred to this “Brad” with a positive connotation.

For my piece, I emulated Lichtenstein’s use of the name, “Brad,” with the intentions of having “Brad” be any ‘one,’ or any ‘thing,’ that impacts an individual’s physical and/or emotional welfare and security.  

Wait, what about that canine cognition connection?

I know, from personal experience, that an individual’s physical and mental strength is restored, and their emotional fortitude reinvigorated, by the unconditional love from their four-legged friend. Dogs have the ability to identify when a “Brad” is lurking in the crevices of their person’s mind, or in the shadows of real-life, and dogs know when, and how, to intervene. The selfless-love of the all-knowing, canine companion, reaffirms a human’s sense of self, and in turn, sends the message to “Brad,” that this human, their human, is strong, confident, and supported.

So, “Beware, ‘Brad’,” for nothing can deter the empowered, especially when a dog is right by their side.