Tuesday July 10th - Womack

Great article once again. It’s true: teaching is accommodation. There is hardly anything we do as teachers for our students to help them learn that wouldn’t be considered accommodation. To think otherwise is to try to imagine there is a clearly drawn and defined line between what is considered normal and what is considered an accommodation. Similarly, one would have to conceive of an equally defined line between students who are “normal” and students who need accommodations because of their ability. The simple truth that we all know is that every student learns and works differently, and they all need accommodations of different sorts. I think about my previous school during final exam week when a list of students with formal educational testing was posted which indicated the students who had a right to a smaller classroom, extended time, or the use of a computer (or all three) while taking an exam. This always struck me as almost unfair because every student would most likely benefit from all of those. I had students with such terrible handwriting that it impeded their ability to think straight, but since they didn’t have any official proof of needing a computer they had to hand write their timed essays during exams.

The other part of this article that resonated with me was the lengthy discussion about syllabi theory. (By the way, I enjoy taking these composition courses at Bread Loaf because I hear that there are aspects about writing that are highly theorized which I never could have imagined were). I love the idea of creating a syllabus in almost the same way as my teaching philosophy infographic because it would be so much more pleasing to look at and probably convey information to students in a way that was less alienating than a page filled with text. The school that I will be teaching at this year has provided a syllabus template that now strikes me as one that Womack would probably push back on. It leaves a bit of room for visuals but only if I put them in there. The main issue with it is one page which is a table (probably a plus in terms of formatting) with a handful of disciplinary policies such as dress code, phone policy, late work, etc. The teacher is supposed to fill out the other side of the table with their policy on each topic. My takeaway from reading this article as far as designing my syllabus for next year is to be aware of tone and strive for one that is not authoritarian or punitive, but cooperative and genuine.