Pencil sharpeners are bustling with activity and old-fashioned “turn-in” bins are overflowing, something that has not been seen since before the pandemic. As the calendar turned to the 2025-26 school year, teachers turned back to pencil-and-paper assignments, a phenomenon that some students are celebrating while others dread. 

Labs once completed in OneNote are now being completed on paper. Online guided notes have turned into printouts, and homework assignments are being collected in-person as opposed to being submitted through Canvas or Microsoft Teams. 

The most striking question is short and sweet: Why now? 

Frankly, I have been noticing the shift back to paper assignments gradually over the past few years. Many assignments were made digital for the 2020-21 online school year, and now, it seems the majority of assignments are reverting to their pre-pandemic form. It was not until this year, however, that the greater school community noticed this change.  

As AI tools have become more accessible online, teachers are taking steps to ensure academic integrity. Of course, it is much easier for a student to copy an answer from an AI site and paste it directly into an online assignment than it is to manually copy an answer from a laptop to a worksheet.  

“Having [paper assignments] adds an extra step for students to use AI, but students can use ChatGPT regardless,” said chemistry teacher Mr. James Leddy. 

In Mrs. Maya Goldberg and Ms. Kelly Krier’s A.P. World History classes, students now have a workbook that they use for the whole year, opposed to submitting digital study guides for each unit, which they did previously. With this change, students cannot take short cuts as easily.

Teachers have also found that students tend to work more diligently on paper assignments, without the distractions of a laptop. Many people love their New York Times games, whether the Wordle, Connections, Strands, or the Mini Crossword, while some turn to popular games like MotoX3M or Papa’s Pizzeria. Others choose to tune into the newest season of their favorite Netflix series, and some dive into a game of web-based chess, playing with friends and strangers from all over the world. Haven’t described you just yet? Got it. You must be on Yahoo or Sleeper, setting your fantasy football lineup. 

Ultimately, laptops have a hobby for everybody, and very rarely does that hobby consist of doing your schoolwork. 

“There needs to be a balance between everybody being in Canvas or OneNote and doing assignments with paper and pencil. It prepares students better for post-secondary success because only teaching digitally keeps students from experiencing different teaching styles,” Leddy said. 

Mr. Leddy also mentioned that digital assignments are generally less equitable than paper assignments. If students do not have WiFi at home or run into charging issues, they will not be able to complete it. With paper, there are fewer things that could go wrong.

Now, the goal is simple. With paper assignments, many students will provide more authentic, complete work, and maybe even develop some excitement about what they are learning.