I’m channeling my Day 2 post-Roe rage into preparing a syllabus statement. Students *will need support. Expect it.

Here’s a draft. Note that I teach ballet (which has historically limited bodily autonomy to begin with...) so this seems necessary. Adapt or lift as you’d like.
1/4 My pedagogy is built on an understanding that your bodily autonomy is essential to your development as dance artists. It's my job to support your physical agency, so if you need to miss class to seek out out-of-state medical care or abortion services during the semester, you:
2/4

I’ve been tinkering with the relationship between #Ungrading, pedagogic ego, and student dependence. And bodies, of course, which are never far from my thinking.

Just rolling it all around a bit. 🧵

1/ Grades infantilize. They keep students dependent on us to assess *for them—stunting their potential maturation.

Students remain immature/dependent in top-down grading paradigms because we need them to. Their dependence satisfies our pedagogic ego. It benefits and centers us.

2/

#Ungrading is part of a love ethic.

When the grade is no longer the focus, our day-to-day interactions with students change. Our process of working with them takes a completely different tone and tenor. We evaluate, yes, but as part of the process.
1/ Our responsibility is to seek understanding first. To try to understand their work *from their perspective* as much as possible.

This applies to anything we evaluate: student work, faculty dossiers, manuscripts for peer-review, etc.
2/

To those who would suggest that #Ungrading and other non-punitive policies don’t adequately prepare students for a profession/career: a thread.
+ Any early-career professional will know precisely when/how to fall in line if needed because the system of education has raised them to uncritically follow rules and directives, or else be penalized. The threat alone produces the desired behavior. +