Tourist Miscellany #6

Conundra That I, As a Writing Teacher, Have Yet to Solve

1. Internet-enabled devices in the classroom. They’re useful if you want people to look things up. They’re nice if you want to save students even the little bit of money that a printed-up course reader costs. I stopped banning them — as was normal practice as recently as ten years ago, at least in places where I’ve taught —because of accessibility concerns (see next item). In the pedagogical apocalypse that was 2020, I absolutely depended on them; in the pedagogical rumpsringa that was 2021, I tolerated them. But unchecked, they are also simply lethal for class discussion.