Category Archives: Uncategorized

As you probably know if you’ve been here a while, the bane of my existence is getting behind on grading. It’s perennially a black mark. Student feedback in evaluations usually goes something like “Dr. Cox is friendly and really cares and I loved her class but she’s very slow at getting back grades.” Like someContinue reading “Building Deadlines for Grading”

Previously, I argued that the key to successful asynchronous online instruction is a minimalist approach: identify the core parts of the course and strip everything else out to streamline student experience and minimize confusion. I maintain that keeping the course streamlined is important, but I have to admit an error: I went too far thisContinue reading “I Might Have Gone Too Far”

One of my favorite bits of composition research to share with my students is Muriel Harris’s 1989 “Composing Behaviors of One- and Multi-Draft Writers.” It’s a very good way to make the notion that “the writing process is recursive, not linear” make sense in specific, personal terms, and it’s a great way to help themContinue reading “Popular and Academic Terms for Writing Processes: Pantsers and Planners, One-Drafters and Multi-Drafters”

Many of my colleagues who use contract grading, or another kind of alternate evaluation system, eschew the use of a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Canvas or Blackboard. Honestly, they’re probably right to do so. There are a lot of problems with LMSs, not least of which is how they enable surveillance and otherContinue reading “The Contract Grade and The LMS”

I’m preparing a lesson on reflection for my students right now, which has me of course reflecting on learning itself. There is, of course, Bloom’s taxonomy and its variations, which work very well and have bee the foundations of a lot of good pedagogy, and I won’t try to mess with a good thing inContinue reading “Three Levels of Learning”

Lately I’ve seen a bevy of observations that teachers are writing their wills as part of their preparation for the fall semester because they are scared of dying in the inevitable spike in Covid-19 cases that in-person classes could cause. I don’t want to make light of the fear; it’s a very real fear, andContinue reading “About That “Teachers Writing Their Wills” Thing…”

In May, it really did seem realistic that, come fall semester, schools could safely be back together, perhaps with a mask protocol. Shutdown measures were working to flatten the curve in most places, and people seemed truly invested in preventing the pandemic. May, of course, was about two decades ago, and that is not theContinue reading “Plan Online First”

I got married three weeks ago (hence the hiatus from blog posts). In the middle of a pandemic. I’m not alone, of course. We’ve all seen the stuff on social media: Zoom weddings, socially distanced weddings, etc. I’ll talk about what I did to keep my wedding safe and special another time. Today I wantContinue reading “Quarantine Honeymoon Ideas”