Education · Ordinary People
The California Teacher of the Year who turned ChatGPT into a writing coach
Casey Cuny · Santa Clarita, California, US
His students were already using ChatGPT for everything, so Casey Cuny rebuilt his English class around a routine that makes the chatbot quiz them instead of write for them.
The person and the place
Casey Cuny teaches 10th-grade Honors English and a senior mythology elective at Valencia High School in Santa Clarita, California. In 2024, the state named him California Teacher of the Year.
The problem Casey cared about
His students were already using ChatGPT, and mostly not to learn. "Some teachers are a little head-in-the-sand about it, not even realizing how much kids are using it," he told K-12 Dive. Later in the same interview: "The cheating is off the charts. I do have major worries about that." He wanted the thinking back in the room.
The agency moment
Instead of banning the tool, he redesigned the work around it. Students prompt ChatGPT to quiz them on a text, twenty questions, one at a time. They take their notes by hand, and once they have worked a topic through with the chatbot they shut their Chromebooks and talk it out as a class. One analog lock stays in place: "Then, I have them hand-write the thesis, so I know they wrote it."
What changed, with evidence
The moment that sticks came from a senior who kept pressing to finish an in-class writing assignment at home. Told no, he said, "Low-key, Mr. Cuny, this is the first thing I've written in three years." When Cuny showed his surprise, the student explained: "Yeah, I just put it into ChatGPT."
The move worth copying
He didn't wait for a policy. He took the tool his students already had and gave it a different job, questioner instead of ghostwriter, with one handwritten line to keep the work honest. Any teacher could run the quiz-me routine on Monday. Know one wrestling with the same wave? Share this story, or feed the scout at goodinprogress.org.
"It bolsters critical thinking, engagement and personalization in ways we could never do before." — Casey Cuny, K-12 Dive
Sources
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