Mastering the Art of Revision: How #AIWriting Assistants Transformed My Writing Process | #GenerativeAI #AI #ChatGPT #GrammarlyGO Grammarly #WordTune
I’ve already forgotten what it was to write without an AI writing assistant.
“Proofread, please.”
I can no longer imagine a world where this prompt would not give me access to immediate feedback from my AI partner. ChatGPT, GrammarlyGO, and Wordtune have become my most trusted writing companions. They have helped me improve and clarify my writing in ways I never understood before.
I am fully embracing AI tools in my everyday workflow now, and it has been nothing short of transformational for me.
Building Confidence: How AI Tools Have Empowered My Writing Journey
I’m a numbers person. I began my career as an economist, spending most of my day working in spreadsheets. I soon transitioned into education and became a math teacher. Teaching is where I found happiness. I loved working with kids to help them understand math. I shared my love and appreciation for the subject with them, and in return, I helped many of them discover their math confidence.
As my career evolved, I began to see the powerful potential of technology to transform my classroom, and my role transitioned to helping teachers see and implement those possibilities. With this shift, I found myself writing all the time.
Writing is a powerful form of expression, and I had so many ideas I wanted to share with others. Despite feeling less than confident in my writing, I decided to shake those fears and start putting my work out there publicly. People responded and listened, and what I wrote resonated. What began as a blog and random Twitter posts eventually led to a book and numerous speaking engagements.
Even with all the writing I’ve done, I still lack confidence and satisfaction with my writing. I have a friend whose husband is an editor, and I often wished I had a similar somebody to mark up my writing and help me grow. Working with editors for articles and my book has improved my writing in so many ways, but often I’m left in awe when I see their line edits — how did they consolidate and refine my message so effectively? Unfortunately, there isn’t an ongoing exchange or feedback process to prompt self-improvement throughout the process.
This is where AI writing assistants have changed the game for me. I don’t usually struggle with generating ideas; my mind is always buzzing with things I want to explore more deeply. So, personally, I haven’t used AI tools much for idea generation. I know that many people find AI tools most powerful in their ability to generate bullet-point ideas or help overcome writer’s block. For me, I can quickly fill up a page with content. Where I need assistance is in clarifying my message, making it concise, and receiving general tips that a proofreader would provide. Oh, and generating titles — that’s always been the biggest pain point of the writing process for me.
Refining the Writing Process: How AI Writing Assistants Have Transformed My Approach and Enhanced My Learning
Enter ChatGPT and, more recently, GrammarlyGO. My revision process looks dramatically different now. After writing my initial draft, I ask my trusty AI companion for feedback. There are specific prompts you can use depending on the feedback you seek, but I often simply ask, “Proofread, please.” (I’m not sure the “please” is necessary, but it feels wrong to make such a large request without it.) With this prompt, I receive a revised copy that closely resembles my original text but with suggestions for small tweaks to sentence structure, word choice, etc. I can then further refine my request, asking where my writing is redundant, which portions lack clarity, and for help in adding subheadings to break up the text. What I love most is that these tools don’t just spit out revised text; they usually offer additional context to help me improve. And if additional context isn’t automatically provided, all I need to do is ask. Speaking of asking, I love prompting with two or three versions of a sentence and asking which is best. Here again, the AI not only provides a recommendation but also explains the reasoning behind its selection.
People rave about AI assistants speeding up their process; for me, my writing is taking longer, but I am learning so much! These tools have enabled me to rewrite and reword sentences, paragraphs, and passages in ways I was never able to do on my own. While I rarely use the exact output provided by these tools, the sparks of inspiration and feedback they offer are unmatched. As a result, I am slowly building my confidence as a writer. I know that even with all the AI tools in the world, I will never express myself with words as confidently as I do when working with numbers. However, I can say that I’m always improving, and I put enough effort into my writing to feel great about what I share.
Empowering Education: The Complexity of AI Writing Assistants in the Classroom
As an educator and edtech integrationist, I am always interested in exploring how technology can put learners in the driver’s seat, personalize instruction, and make it more accessible for all. I recognize the challenges that come with students having these tools at their fingertips. Young brains are still developing, and the maturity to make “good decisions,” particularly when under academic and time pressure, adds an additional layer of complexity. Despite these challenges, I believe there is huge potential for powerful learning and support, which I am witnessing in my personal use of these tools at the moment.
PS: my original title for this piece was, “How AI Writing Assistants Have Transformed My Revision Process.” When I asked ChatGPT what it thought, it responded enthusiastically, “That’s a great title!” Prompting it further led to the title I settled on, “Mastering the Art of Revision: How AI Writing Assistants Transformed My Writing Process.”
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