What is everyone planning in their courses for election week? How will we take care of ourselves, each other, and our learners? Let's brainstorm and crowdsource ideas?
I'll share my two cents from the standpoint of #traumaaware teaching, diminished executive functions, and severe stress/overwhelm...
Reduce uncertainty. Create a simple plan for election week, and start gently communicating it as soon as you can. Let students know what they can expect.
As always, my best #traumaaware teaching tip is to take care of yourself. Put your oxygen mask on first. In addition to a voting plan, do you have a mental and physical health plan in place for election week?
Balance structure and flexibility. That will look different for all of us. In general, I think students will appreciate having an extremely low-stakes/no-stakes week with a place to connect with other humans.
Choice. Some students will come to our courses to take a break from the madness and chaos. I think offering an assignment focused on the election is great. I would also offer an alternative in case students have had it.
And I can't emphasize this enough: healthy boundaries. Our students are going to be bringing an immense amount of emotions, fear, anger, stress, and yes, trauma, into our classrooms. Know where you end and your students begin.
TLDR: ADHD is a life-threatening condition. Systems, routines, and structures keep me alive. Ignorant critiques of these strategies are ableist. Let's do better. Happy Monday!
Faculty, staff, and students should not be left in the wind like this to wonder why this is happening. It’s infuriating tbh, and #HigherEd continues to be its own worst enemy.
We have to prioritize well-being and talk about trauma.
Okay here goes nothing. A new thread 🧵about #CourseHero.
My name's Karen, I've worked in #HigherEd for 20 years, and this is the absolute last thing I want to talk about today. But, I'm compelled in the face of what I see as immense harm being done to students.
I want to be as transparent as possible and encourage you to take nothing I say at face value. Don't trust me. Trust what you see.
To that end, here's how I've profited thus far from talking about Course Hero, for any who might wonder about my motivations. $1.19.
I don't disagree with anything in this piece. What I find really interesting is the assumption that those of us who are advocating for caring pedagogy, grounded in a balance b/t support and challenge, have at any point become less rigorous.
And that to me is the mark of #ToxicRigor. When someone points to flexibility, humanizing, and support and says, "You're dumbing things down" or "You've sacrificed rigor," there's just no evidence of that, so something else is up.