A Teen's Journey With ChatGPT: Agency, Identity, and Ethics in in- and out-of-school literacy activities

Abstract

This piece presents a high schooler's first-person accounts of using generative AI tools across diverse literacy activities in and outside school. Through her own words, she describes her first encounter with ChatGPT in 8th grade, a US history project that required AI feedback mandated by the school, and informal uses such as adapting a cookie recipe and crafting social media posts. These narratives trace her growing understanding of GenAI, improvements in prompting skills, and heightened ethical awareness, while revealing the tensions between agency and dependence, and assistance and authorship that shape her stance as a writer. Together, these moments illustrate how GenAI is becoming embedded in her daily literacies. This case invites educators and literacy practitioners to recognize and build on students' authentic, self-directed AI practices, fostering critical, responsible, and ethical engagement with GenAI in their literacy development.