From Adoption to Adaptation: Generative AI in Middle School ELA

• In Event: Generative AI and Academic Writing: Studies from Diverse Contexts

Abstract

As generative AI becomes increasingly ubiquitous in schools, there is a pressing need to understand how educators define success when using these tools in their classrooms, what forms of support they require, and how classroom culture and student practices evolve in response. This is specifically important for writing, which is a complex multifaceted process that requires students to be provided with ample opportunities for writing and support (Bazerman et al., 2017; Graham, 2018). Generative AI has the potential to transform writing education by providing dialogic interaction centered around students’ writing. Existing research has begun to address these gaps by investigating the role of generative AI in K–12 education and the development of AI literacy for both teachers and students. Prior work by our team (Ritchie et al., 2025) examined the experiences of four middle-school English Language Arts (ELA) teachers who integrated a custom-built AI writing tutor into their classrooms. Teachers in the study emphasized the balance between student autonomy and responsible authorship.
Building on these findings, the current study extends the investigation to a larger case study of eight middle-school ELA teachers and more than 500 students across two schools in Southern California. This research is embedded in an ongoing research-practice partnership and leverages teacher workshops, co-design sessions, classroom observations, student-produced artifacts, and student conversations with the generative AI tool. Our goal is to qualitatively examine what types of support enable teachers to teach both with and about AI, and how generative AI influences classroom practices and culture. Through a flexible coding approach (Deterding & Waters, 2021) and analysis through a sociocultural lens, we identified teacher training, institutional support, and curricular redevelopment as barriers to implementation of generative AI middle school classrooms. However, these needs evolved with the classroom culture. Generative AI was able to reinforce existing classroom goals, but it also served as the catalyst for new practices, which led to new needs for curricular support. Lastly, the iterative loop of AI tool development and classroom feedback created a community of innovative pedagogy which affected teachers’ professional development needs surrounding AI. This study highlights the complex interplay between new technologies, educator agency, and classroom culture. As generative AI becomes a lasting presence in education, understanding how teachers adapt and thrive in this evolving landscape will be essential for crafting effective professional development, designing responsible tools, and supporting equitable learning opportunities for all students.
References:
Bazerman, C., Graham, S., Applebee, A. N., Matsuda, P. K., Berninger, V. W., Murphy, S., Brandt, D., Rowe, D. W., & Schleppegrell, M. (2017). Taking the Long View on Writing Development. Research in the Teaching of English, 51(3), 351–360.
Deterding, N. M., & Waters, M. C. (2021). Flexible Coding of In-depth Interviews: A Twenty-first-century Approach. Sociological Methods & Research, 50(2), 708–739. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124118799377
Graham, S. (2018). A Revised Writer(s)-Within-Community Model of Writing. Educational Psychologist, 53(4), 258–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2018.1481406
Ritchie, D., Tate, T., Zhang, Y., Werry, K., & Warschauer, M. (in press). Supporting middle school English teachers’ AI literacy goals through a generative AI tutor. In Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2025). Palermo, Italy.

Authors

• Daniel Ritchie, University of California - Irvine

• Dana Saito-Stehberger, University of California - Irvine