In just a moment, faculty will begin (or continue) to think about designing their spring courses. This semester may be even harder for everyone than last semester b/c pandemic stress & trauma is cumulative. Here, then, is a 🧵on empathetic, inclusive course design. 1/x
— Joshua Eyler (@joshua_r_eyler) December 30, 2021
Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer
Three quick updates from my desk.
1) I had something of a breakthrough (finally!) while working on my spring-semester course syllabus yesterday. For the benefit of other writers-who-teach who may also be having a rough time with that kind of work right now, I’ll mention two factors that really helped me out. First, my college’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) offered the first in a series of what are essentially virtual co-working sessions yesterday morning. They pointed us to some resources, and they kept open a breakout room for discussion, but essentially we were all working on our own.
The second factor? A very helpful Twitter thread on course design.
Note: You may need a free account to access the Chronicle articles that are cited in this thread (and still, I found myself paywalled after accessing a couple of them). I haven’t consulted every article cited here, but what I have checked out has been very helpful.
2) Huge thanks to everyone who’s been amplifying The Practicing Writer 2.0. The January issue went out to subscribers last Friday, and we’ve already been joined by lots of new folks—we’re now up to 5,040 subscribers. Please keep sharing the newsletter with your writing networks!
3) Speaking of the newsletter: I’ve spent some time these past few days working on my own “I Did It” list, reviewing the past year in my writing practice along the lines described—with a perennial hat tip to Lisa Romeo—in the latest issue. For the moment, I’m keeping my list (which for some reason I ended up writing in paragraph-essay format) to myself. But, as always, I’ve found it to be a useful exercise.
