Objectives for using ChatGPT in literature classroom

As we delve deeper into the realm of AI-generated language, it becomes increasingly important for educators and students alike to familiarize themselves with the capabilities and limitations of such technologies. By getting a grasp of these tools while they are still in their nascent stages, we can better understand and utilize them in the future. The potential of AI-generated language is vast and rapidly growing, much like a snowball gathering momentum as it rolls down a mountain. With this in mind, we have begun incorporating ChatGPT into our classroom activities.

With this sole objective, we started integrating ChatGPT in classroom activities.

From our observations thus far, we have discovered the following: 1. ChatGPT generates English language responses without any grammar or spelling errors. This is quite astounding and raises the question of whether traditional grammar instruction will be necessary in the future. 2. ChatGPT can also generate multiple choice questions and provide correct answers. While not all of the responses may be factually accurate, they are grammatically correct. 3. ChatGPT is able to produce responses in a tabular format, which is incredibly useful for teachers in organizing and structuring their lesson plans. It would be even more remarkable if it could generate infographics and mind-maps in the future. 4. ChatGPT functions similarly to a chess partner, providing thought-provoking answers as one continues to pose it questions. This makes it an excellent tool for those seeking a partner to think about ideas, to reflect on the act of thinking itself, or to engage in meaningful activities instead of idle gossip. 5. The integration of ChatGPT in the classroom has opened up a plethora of new possibilities for teaching and learning.

The Objectives for Using ChatGPT in Literature Classroom

Enhancing comprehension: 

ChatGPT can be used to generate questions and prompts that help students better understand the literature they are reading by encouraging them to analyze, interpret, and evaluate the text.

Encouraging critical thinking: 

ChatGPT can be used as a tool to help develop critical thinking skills in students. One way to do this is by using the model to generate prompts or questions that require students to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information. Additionally, ChatGPT can be used to create simulated scenarios or debates where students must use critical thinking skills to make decisions or arguments. By working through these types of activities, students can learn to think more critically and logically, and develop their ability to evaluate and analyze information.

As mentioned, ChatGPT can be used to generate prompts that require students to think critically about the literature, such as by evaluating the author's use of symbolism or analyzing the themes of the text.

It is important to note that while ChatGPT can be a useful tool in developing critical thinking, it is not a replacement for human instruction and guidance. The teacher should facilitate and guide the critical thinking process.

Improving writing skills: 

ChatGPT can be used to provide feedback on student writing, such as essays or creative writing, and provide suggestions for improvement.

Enhancing vocabulary: 

ChatGPT can be used to generate vocabulary lists or quizzes that are specific to the literature being studied, helping students to improve their vocabulary and gain a deeper understanding of the text.

Supporting independent learning: 

ChatGPT can be used to provide additional resources, such as summaries or explanations, to support students who are working independently or studying on their own.

Make aware of the potential errors in AI generated responses: 

ChatGPT can be used to make students aware of the potential errors that AI-generated responses can make. One way to do this is by having students compare the responses generated by ChatGPT to those of a human and identify any differences or errors. This can be done by having students compare the responses of ChatGPT to those of a teacher or a credible source, or by having them evaluate the coherence, accuracy, and relevance of the responses.

Another way to use ChatGPT to make students aware of the errors AI generated responses can make is by using the model in a controlled environment, where the teacher can introduce certain errors and students have to identify them. Additionally, students can be given the chance to improve upon the AI generated responses, this will help them understand the limitations of AI and how to improve upon it.

It is also important for the teacher to explain the limitations of the model, such as its lack of understanding of context and background knowledge, to help students understand why the model may make errors.

The Worksheets:

1. Worksheet-1 on 'Waiting for Godot'
2. Worksheet-2 on 'Waiting for Godot'
3. Worksheet-1 on 'Gun Island'
4. Worksheet-2 on 'Gun Island'
5. Worksheet-1 on '1984'
6. Worksheet-2 on '1984'
7. Worksheet 1: Using ChatGPT in analyzing 'The Only Story'
8. Worksheet 2: Theme and Narrative Pattern - Using ChatGPT in analyzing novel 'The Only Story'
9. Worksheet 3: Crosswords and Quotes - Using ChatGPT in reading Julian Barnes's 'The Only Story'
10. Worksheet: Midnight's Children - Deconstructive Reading of Symbols

Gun Island

 Gun Island - Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh’s latest novel, Gun Island, traces familiar crosscultural patterns evident in his earlier novels. There are journeys by land and water, diaspora and migration, experiences aboard ships, the world of animals and sea-creatures. Ghosh foregrounds environmental issues like climate change and the danger to fish from chemical waste dumped into rivers by factories, concerns that carry over from earlier books like The Hungry Tide and The Great Derangement.

Gun Island describes the quest of Deen, a scholar and collector of rare books, who returns from New York, his city of domicile, to the Sunderbans in West Bengal to unravel the mystery and legend of a seventeenth-century merchant, Bonduki Sada-gar, translated “The Gun Merchant,” and his persecution by Manasa Devi, mythical goddess of snakes. In a talk held in New Delhi after the release of the novel, Ghosh stated that the merchant “was a trope for trade.” The merchant and the goddess dramatize “the conflict between profit and the world.” In the novel, the goddess pursues the merchant to make him aware of other realities like the animal world: “Humans—driven, as was the Merchant, by the quest of profit—would recognize no restraint in relation to other living things.”

We learn that the old Arabic name for Venice was al-Bunduqevya, which is also the name for guns. Deen concludes that the name Bonduki Sadagar did not perhaps mean the Gun Merchant but the Merchant who went to Venice. When Deen travels to Venice to research further on the Gun Merchant, he discovers that many Bangladeshis are being employed as illegal migrant labor. Their hazardous journey across the Middle East and Africa and the strong, even militant opposition to their presence in the city by Italian authorities form a major segment of the second part of the novel, contrasting with the Gun Merchant’s past, prosperous journey to Venice (Rita Joshi - World Literature Today). 

Genre: Novel, Cli-fi (Climate Fiction)

• What is Cli-fi (Climate Fiction)?
• Climate fiction (sometimes shortened as cli-fi) is literature that deals with climate change and global warming. Not necessarily speculative in nature, works may take place in the world as we know it or in the near future. The genre frequently includes science fiction and dystopian or utopian themes, imagining the potential futures based on how humanity responds to the impacts of climate change. Technologies such as climate engineering or climate adaptation practices often feature prominently in works exploring their impacts on society. Climate fiction is distinct from petrofiction which deals directly with the petroleum culture and economy. (To read more, open this Wikipedia link)
• Brief History of Cli-fi : Freelance writer Dan Bloom coined the term cli-fi in 2011 in a press release for Jim Laughter’s Polar City Red, a novel set amid climate refugees in a future Alaska. Today, Bloom publishes The Cli-Fi Report, an online resource serving all things climate fiction. From his home in Taiwan, he told Means & Matters he sees cli-fi as an urgent genre, a route to “wake people up via storytelling.”

• Cli-fi and how it can help response to the climate crisis

Characters and Summary of 'Gun Island

1. Characters and Summary - 1 | Sundarbans | Gun Island | Amitav Ghosh

2. Characters and Summary - 2 | USA | Gun Island | Amitav Ghosh

3. Summary - 3 | Venice | Part 2 of Gun Island | Amitav Ghosh

Thematic Study of 'Gun Island

1. Etymological Mystery | Title of the Novel | Gun Island | Amitav Ghosh

2. Part I - Historification of Myth & Mythification of History | Gun Island | Amitav Ghosh

Part II- Historification of Myth & Mythification of History | Gun Island | Amitav Ghosh (Click to watch video)

Part III - Historification of Myth & Mythification of History | Gun Island | Amitav Ghosh (Click to watch video)

3. Climate Change | The Great Derangement | Gun Island | Amitav Ghosh

4. Migration | Human Trafficking | Refugee Crisis | Gun Island | Amitav Ghosh

Check your understanding: Appear in Online Test

Click here to open an online test / Quiz on Gun Island

Worksheets for Flipped Classroom Activities:

• 'Gun Island' Worksheet - 1: Use PDF of novel and ChatGPT (Open AI) for this activity.
• 'Gun Island' Worksheet - 2: Use PDF copy of novel, Open AI Chat GPT and Google Translate for this activity.
• The Objectives of these worksheets: (Click to open pdf)
• Enhancing comprehension
• Encouraging critical thinking
• Improving writing skills
• Enhancing vocabulary
• Supporting independent learning
• Make aware of the potential errors in AI generated responses

Points to Ponder:

1. How does this novel develop your understanding of a rather new genre known as 'cli-fi'?
2. How does Amitav Ghosh use myth of Gun Merchant 'Bonduki Sadagar' and Manasa Devi to initiate discussion on the issue of Climate Change and Migration/Refugee crisis / Human Trafficking?
3. How does Amitav Ghosh make use of 'etymology' of common words to sustain mystery and suspense in the narrative?
4. There are many Italian words in the novel. Click here to view the list of words. Have you tried to translate these words into English or Hindi with the help of Google Translate App? If so, how is Machine Translation helping in proper translation of Italian words into English and Hindi?
5. What are your views on the use of myth and history in the novel Gun Island to draw attention of the reader towards contemporary issues like climate change and migration?
6. Is there any connection between 'The Great Derangement' and 'Gun Island'? 

Additional Reading resources:

1. Towards a post(colonial)human culture: Revisiting Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island as a fall of Eurocentric humanism by Saikat Chakraborty
2. Climate and Culture in Crisis - Gun Island
3. Surreal Novel about Climate Change and Migration - Gun Island
4. The Era of Environmental Derangement: Witnessing Climate Crisis in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island 

5. With ‘Gun Island,’ Amitav Ghosh turns global crises into engaging fiction

6. Is Global Warming the 21st Century’s Black Death?
7. Climate Change and Refugee Crisis through Myth, Legend, History and the so-called 'irrational'

Q & A Session:

Thematic Study

Gun Island | Thematic Study from Dilip Barad