By Jeremy Broyles Introduction I have taught at the college level now for more than a decade. That number still seems a bit surreal; surely I am not that old. During those ten-plus years, I have had the opportunity to teach all over the country at various institutions. I have taught in lecture halls with…

Greg walked into his class and felt dread, eyes upon him, and felt stupid before he even sat down. During class, the teacher roamed the room to answer questions. Greg, however, felt ignored and alone. He was the only African American in a first-year course at SCC. As the quarter progressed and students tested out,…

This academic year, I’ve been taking courses at Landmark College (VT), a four-year institution that admits only students who are neuro-diverse or students who, at my institution, would have accommodations. The current two-month course on student engagement, self-regulation, and motivation has just begun. The instructors are on staff at the college through its Landmark College…

The first class I ever taught was a developmental English class. I didn’t do a very good job with it. I was a first-semester graduate student in my early 20s, filled with big ideas about philosophy and literary theory, and those topics probably made it into my class inappropriately from time to time. My training—a…

On August 19th, a handful of developmental English instructors at SCC sat around a table and talked books. One was Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Another was Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. We discussed possible assignments and topics for class discussion in our developmental classes if…

I was confused by what a “Pomodoro,” an Italian word for “tomato,” could possibly have to do with writing. In my third of five residencies at the University of Nebraska Omaha MFA in Writing program, I attended a lecture by Patricia Lear, a fiction mentor and author of Stardust, 7-Eleven, Route 57, A&W, and So Forth. Her…

The benefits of developmental education are innumerable, but I’d like to add a perhaps underappreciated benefit to that list. Developmental education has the ability to reduce recidivism and increase public safety. Yes, you heard that correctly. Each Friday I get pat-searched, brought through a series of locked steel doors and a razor-wire fence to be…

As an instructor of Developmental Reading and Writing classes, I often see students struggle with purchasing their textbooks. Some students purchase them right away, some students purchase them several weeks into the course, and some students don’t purchase them at all. This can pose challenges for both the student and the instructor. The student doesn’t…