AI in the Writer’s Workshop: Finding the Write Balance
By Dennis Magliozzi and Christina Peterson
(Heinemann, 2025 – Learn more)
Reviewed by Catherine Cottingham
For many educators, artificial intelligence feels like an intrusion into a sacred space of student voice and integrity. Conversations about AI’s role in the classroom have become ubiquitous and pressing as teachers worry about plagiarism, diminished student effort, and the erosion of authentic writing.
The book, AI in the Writer’s Workshop, offers a hopeful perspective at this cultural crossroad. Rather than resisting the tide, the authors spent a school year guiding their 9th grade English classes through the ethical use of AI as a writing support and thought collaborator. Through their experiment, they discover how this partnership can deepen inquiry, provide meaningful feedback in real time, and expand the possibilities of learning.
As Dennis Magliozzi and Christina Peterson navigate this new landscape with their students, they remind us that “instead of feeling like we have to redefine our teaching toward becoming plagiarism investigators, our time and education can be better spent learning how to embrace this new frontier” (Magliozzi and Peterson, p3).
While the idea of AI in classrooms arrives wrapped in a shroud of uncertainty, students will come of age in a world where AI feels as ordinary and ever-present as smartphones or Wi-Fi. When GPS first emerged, some lamented the loss of geographic intuition, fearing that users would become disconnected from the world beyond their route. Yet now, few would forgo it, just as few cling to the memory of life without cell phones.
The arrival of AI sits in a similar moment of tension, reminiscent of the cultural shifts sparked by the advent of radio, film, and later, the Internet. This book argues that the real danger lies not in students outsourcing their work, but in teachers ignoring a tool that is already shaping how young people think and communicate.
What you will find in the book
The book is structured in a practical, teacher-friendly way, laying out a clear framework for how to use AI as a meaningful class resource – from lessons, to prompt engineering, to transparency with parents.
The first three chapters address the ethics of engaging with AI responsibly and setting up the classroom for its use. The authors share strategies for teachers to act as liaisons between students and the bots and to ensure students learn to use the technology as a support, expanding on their owns ideas and writing process. By demystifying the process, they reduce the “forbidden fruit” allure of AI and situate it as one more tool in the writing workshop, like a dictionary or peer partner.
Chapters 4 to 8 move genre by genre – personal narrative, poetry, critical analysis, research, and author study – showing how AI can be used within the familiar structure of the writer’s workshop. The writer’s workshop model itself provides the backbone of the book, and I love how clearly this book outlines it. In fact, I recommend this book to anyone interested in exploring the writer’s workshop model – with or without intent to accompany it with AI.
In a writer’s workshop teachers introduce mini-lessons and mentor texts, then guide students through drafting, conferencing, and sharing. AI is folded into this familiar cycle, especially in the conferencing stage, where it provides instant feedback to supplement (not replace) the teacher’s voice. This feedback is particularly valuable when teachers are stretched thin. While no algorithm can replicate the encouragement of a trusted educator, AI can offer timely nudges that keep students moving forward and provide immediate access to context, examples, and insights, all in the midst of the teaching moment.
As is typical with writer’s workshops, the authors rely heavily on mentor texts to show students craft writing moves. AI can offer great assistance and provide mentors, whereas in the past teachers would have to scour books available on the Internet. ChatGPT can save all that time.
Each chapter of AI in the Writer’s Workshop blends teacher reflection with student examples. In poetry, AI can supply a striking line or a shift in tone, motivating writers to follow the momentum and see new potential in their emerging ideas. The chapter on research even has the AI asking students further questions to explore different directions they could go with their research. It also goes beyond ChatGPT to explore SchoolAI, Brisk Teaching, and Perplexity AI, which offers interesting insight into how the students felt about each.
I was most reluctant about the critical analysis chapter, where students from one group choose a quote from the text and then prompt AI to create an essay. From there, their responsibility is to engage with the bots about the output. So, the critical thinking is analyzing what the AI missed or hadn’t fully developed. Initially, I felt it could encourage the very passivity the authors hope to combat by allowing the bots to do what used to be the full assignment. Yet even here, the teachers preempt potential misuse by asking students to identify the gaps in an essay they might otherwise have been tempted to let AI generate. The emphasis on questioning the bot’s choices models for students that intellectual rigor lies in examining arguments rather than in accepting them at face value.
A balanced, practical guide
What makes this book especially compelling is its balance of philosophy and practice. The authors provide concrete strategies such as specifying role, tone, or format that teachers can try immediately. They also establish ground rules. Students should already have a first draft in hand before generating any prompts. They should embrace the productive struggle of revision, and always reflect on AI’s suggestions rather than accepting them wholesale. These guidelines remind us that the point is not to let the machine take over, but to preserve the meaning and growth embedded in the writing process itself.
AI in the Writer’s Workshop succeeds as both a philosophical defense of AI in education and a practical guide to implementation. It does not claim to have perfected the formula for AI integration; instead, it offers itself as a record of exploration, documenting one school year of experimentation with real students.
At its core, AI in the Writer’s Workshop urges us to prepare students to use AI responsibly and harness it for creative ends, sustaining what matters most in the writing classroom: authentic human expression. It also challenges educators to reimagine their role as coaches who model how to navigate a technology that will be as ordinary to the next generation as the Internet is today.
Catherine Cottingham is a veteran teacher, writer and K–8 curriculum designer, focusing on interdisciplinary learning and classroom culture. She is currently authoring Integrated Writing & Grammar, a series for grades 4–8. She also supports teacher training and researches new instructional approaches. You’ll find her at www.catherinecottingham.com, @educator_catherine (Instagram). See more of her writing on Edutopia.com.
