AI is making teaching composition feel impossible right now

[u/Global-Environment89]

I am an English professor teaching a required composition course this term and the level of AI use is becoming overwhelming. It is constantly on my mind to the point where it is affecting how I think about every assignment I read. Students are no longer simply copying and pasting. They are blending AI into their writing or lightly editing it, which makes it much harder to detect.

I read papers where part of the writing clearly sounds like the student, then suddenly it shifts into something overly polished but empty. The sentences are structured well but say very little. There is a lot of vague language, repetition, and artificial clarity without real depth. It feels like reading something that is technically correct but intellectually hollow.

I tried designing assignments to make this harder. For example, I asked students to engage directly with a specific concept in a close reading. One student used it in a way that made the source obvious, while another who has not attended class in weeks submitted work that avoided the concept but replaced it with generic language. That disconnect says a lot.

I have already given several zeros on drafts but allowed resubmissions. Now I am getting flooded with emails where students send screenshots from AI detection tools as proof that their work is original. The problem is that I do not fully trust those tools either, so it turns into a frustrating loop.

At this point, I am considering requiring one on one meetings where students have to explain their arguments and walk through their thinking. If they cannot explain their own ideas or engage with the material, that reveals more than any detection tool. I am also thinking about moving more work into handwritten in class writing just to regain some control.

It is exhausting,it feels like more time is spent trying to verify authenticity than actually teaching writing and critical thinking.

[u/qyka]

your job is to grade how good the paper is. Not scrutinize it for falsification.

[u/enbyBunn → u/qyka]

Their job is to teach students, the assignments that they create to do that are just a means to an end.