Leading the Shift from AI Policing into a Teaching Tool
From the desk of Kate Finn, Training and Development Manager at ELB
I recently had the opportunity to speak with a group of educators at a school where the atmosphere was thick with apprehension. The conversations weren't about pedagogy, student well-being, or curriculum innovation. Instead, the faculty was in high alert mode, their primary focus narrowed to a single goal: catching students “cheating” with generative AI.
As I listened to their concerns, one specific “red flag” kept surfacing in the discussion, the sudden appearance of the em dash (一) in student writing.
The logic among the teachers was simple: if a student who typically writes in straightforward, functional prose suddenly produces a paper peppered with elegant, rhythmic punctuation, they must have copied and pasted directly from ChatGPT or Gemini. To them, the em dash wasn’t a mark of punctuation; it was a digital fingerprint of “dishonesty.”
As parents and teachers, let’s be honest. If the em dash is something we do not typically teach in middle and high school, there may be a possibility that there was an instance of copy-paste. But let’s not be so quick to assume.
Is it cheating, or is it learning?
In the traditional classroom, we have always encouraged students to read the “Greats”. We want them to absorb the cadence of Hemingway, the descriptive power of Morrison, or the rhetorical precision of Baldwin. When a student mirrors a stylistic flair they found in a classic novel, we call it learning.
So, if we are doing our jobs correctly, teaching students how to critically read AI outputs, verify sources, and cross-reference information, couldn’t the sudden use of an em dash actually be a sign of massive success?
Think about the sophisticated cognitive process a student undergoes when they use these tools effectively:
Observation: They prompt an AI and notice a structural technique or a more rhythmic way of pacing a sentence that they have not used before.
Analysis: They recognize how that punctuation functions to set off a thought or create emphasis.
Internalization: They understand the “why” behind the style.
Implementation: They adopt that style in their own work to improve their own clarity and voice.
That is not a shortcut; that is skill acquisition. They are using the tool as a mirror for their own potential.
The Shift We Need
When teachers become obsessed with catching AI use, the classroom dynamic shifts from mentorship to surveillance. This “gotcha” culture creates a toxic environment that actually hinders the very goals of education:
It stifles innovation: Students become terrified of using tools that will be ubiquitous一 and likely mandatory一in their future careers.
It targets the wrong problem: If a student cannot tell if an AI-generated source is “hallucinating” a fake fact, that is a much greater failure of education than a well-placed em dash.
It erodes trust: When we approach every piece of brilliant writing with suspicion, we tell our students that we don’t believe they are capable of growth.
A Better Path Forward: Partnering with ELB Education
We need to move away from being “AI Detectors” and move toward being AI Mentors. The solution isn’t more expensive detection software (which is notoriously unreliable anyway); the solution is a fundamental shift in how we teach.
This is exactly where ELB Education steps in. We specialize in helping schools navigate this complex transition by creating custom training plans tailored to your faculty and student body. We help schools move past the fear by focusing on:
AI as a Co-Teacher: Showing educators how to use AI to handle administrative burdens, create personalized lesson plans, and generate interactive study materials.
The “ART” of the LLM: Moving beyond basic prompts to teach students high-level “Prompt Engineering” 一treating AI as a “sparring partner” for ideas rather than a ghostwriter for final drafts.
True Digital Citizenship: Equipping students to recognize the pitfalls, ethical dilemmas, data privacy concerns, and inherent biases within generative tools.
Redesigning Assessment: Helping teachers create assignments that are “AI-resilient” by focusing on process, critical reflection, and local context rather than just the final summary.
Let’s stop trying to "catch" our students and start equipping them. When a student learns a new stylistic flair from an AI and adopts it as their own, they aren't just using a tool—they are becoming better writers.
Is your school ready to shift from “Gotcha” to Growth? ELB Education is ready to help you build a roadmap for the future.
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