A little bit about my new book project, from my blog beyondthescope.substack.com/p/book-in-pr...

Some thoughts about the emerging "back to analog" trend in teaching. I admit I'm somewhat intrigued by some of these ideas, and I add my own questions on how we can explore this in a way that includes a robust rather than cursory engagement w/accessibility beyondthescope.substack.com/p/the-analog...

A more casual post for my newsletter, pulling together some threads from 2 years of blogging on group activities and neurodiversity beyondthescope.substack.com/p/unlayering...

A “why” post: why are “written instructions” a common suggestion for supporting neurodivergent students? open.substack.com/pub/beyondth...

I wrote this guide to engaging teaching a few years ago but we spruce it up now and then - this edition has updated links to work of @sarahesilverman.bsky.social @drtolunoah.bsky.social & others and addressed what I felt was some ableist advice from 2019-Sarah! We, and the field, evolve.

I was thinking about writing something up about how I use "base groups" in classes. Turns out Sarah does almost exactly the same thing and has some excellent reflection on it.

A year-end post: reflecting on the use of sustained groups in collaborative activities (rather than switching up groups frequently). beyondthescope.substack.com/p/you-again-...

A post with a taste of my "Working with Neurodivergent Instructors" workshop: What can go wrong (and right) when a team discusses a neurodivergent participant's behavior beyondthescope.substack.com/p/that-one-p...

A new post, somewhat different from my usual themes: my experiences with independent scholarship, or my very long answer to what I do for work open.substack.com/pub/beyondth...

A new post: Perhaps of interest if you think about peer rejection for neurodivergent students, and some possible ways to address it. Also if you like talking about books with other people beyondthescope.substack.com/p/social-oil...

Series on neurodivergence and alternative grading is now complete! 1. Why we're interested emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com/p/neurodiver... 2. Some existing discourse beyondthescope.substack.com/p/neurodiver... 3. Conclusions and ideas for future research beyondthescope.substack.com/p/neurodiver...

Third & final post in my series on Neurodivergence and Alternative Grading w/ @empittsdonahoe.bsky.social We share some of our thoughts on how to make alt-grading more neurodiversity-informed, based on our research and conversations, plus ideas for future research open.substack.com/pub/beyondth...

If you are interested in how neurodivergent students experience alternative grading, Emily and I have attempting to summarize some of the existing discourse here - we have included a works cited if you are interested to see all the sources we consulted. beyondthescope.substack.com/p/neurodiver...

Excited to share this new post in our series on neurodivergence and alternative grading!

It's my birthday today and I can't think of a better way for you all to celebrate it than to PRE-ORDER OUR BOOK! press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

The first in a planned series of 3 posts w/ @empittsdonahoe.bsky.social - All about alternative grading and neurodivergence. The first post explains why we are interested in this topic. Two next 2 explore what others have written and where we should go next beyondthescope.substack.com/cp/169858001

This is a great post about the access frictions around sound/noise in classroom spaces.

I struggle with this one as a deaf person. I try to incorporate reading discussions, but I can't participate. I try to enable group learning activities, but then the debriefs/presentations are not accessible to me.

Is active learning too loud? If for you the answer is yes, you might be interested in this post, the second in my series about instructor-student access friction beyondthescope.substack.com/p/access-fri...

You might be interested in this post if you have ever experienced executive functioning differences or difficulties as an instructor - some quotes are also sharing helpful experiences

On student-instructor access friction related to advance distribution of "slides" or other materials beyondthescope.substack.com/p/sending-th...

A new post previewing some writing I'll be working on for the next few posts: teacher-student access friction issues beyondthescope.substack.com/p/non-utopia...

Session "Special topics: Neurodiversity" at #TheGradingConference: @sarahesilverman.bsky.social making the point that #AltGrading *can* provide a "tolerance for error" that is often needed when neurodivergent students are trying to communicate with neurotypical instructors or vice versa.

As part of my independent faculty development practice, I'm offering a new way to work with me. This could be a great fit if you're looking for personalized support, (especially related to neurodiversity & accessibility), w/monthly events and office hours beyondthescope.substack.com/p/announcing...

My recent newsletter post answering a question that many people gloss over: Why is UDL is useful pedagogical response to neurodiversity? beyondthescope.substack.com/p/neurodiver...

A new post on my newsletter, with some examples of how I apply the neurodiversity paradigm to teaching and learning challenges open.substack.com/pub/beyondth...

A few thoughts on UDL 3.0. The UDL guidelines are a useful resource, in need of critical consideration, but also not the only way to "do" Universal Design in teaching. I tried to highlight some of the interesting changes that have been made in this version beyondthescope.substack.com/p/udl-30-wha...

A last post from my newsletter this year - a retroactive dedication with two anecdotes about "the very hungry caterpillar" beyondthescope.substack.com/p/a-retroact...

This seems to have worked!

A new post on an old question, and some possible responses: "Isn't that just 'good teaching'?" beyondthescope.substack.com/p/one-of-the... If you are interested in general critical musings on teaching and learning work in higher ed, feel free to subscribe! beyondthescope.substack.com

I am trying changing my handle to include my middle initial, to attempt to prevent mistaken "other sarah silverman" tagging, which is very difficult to stop/monitor. I hope this doesn't affect any starter packs or anything! Just one of the hazards of my name

Some reflections on a recent conference experience and what ideas it gave me about scaffolding social learning experiences. beyondthescope.substack.com/p/scaffoldin...

Deactivated my x account for good this morning! Please feel free to find me here, on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-s-5... on my personal site: sarahemilysilverman.com or on my newsletter: beyondthescope.substack.com Have to say...it felt good!

Wonderful morning learning w/ my Simmons University and Colleges of the Fenway colleagues. So grateful to meet @sarahsilverman.bsky.social in person and to think together with her. Second in our speaker series on neurodiversity & next in our year of focusing on accessibility in teaching & learning.

I have had this post in my head for a while now: In it, I talk a little bit about why the common pedagogical advice to "make expectations explicit" is harder than it seems. Also, some discussion of Amelia Bedelia. beyondthescope.substack.com/p/making-exp...

A recent question on this: "Is the course appropriate for advisors/librarians/other staff?" Yes, and I can provide some customization to make it more so! It is really aimed at anyone in a higher ed setting who would like a basic overview of ND. sarahemilysilverman.com/neurodiversi...

Does anyone know of any research connecting companion and or support courses (the ones that run parallel to a math, bio, chem, etc course to support organization and scientific thinking) to the needs of neurodivergent (broadly defined) students?

I made a permanent post of one my recent LinkedIn posts here, to describe how UDL can relate to all members of the learning community, not just students. Here I discuss the idea of "learner variability" and how instructors vary in ways that parallel students sarahemilysilverman.com/2024/09/12/i...

Same here, and it is the one where lecturers are unionized!

I am going to work on putting a CC-BY-NC on all my substack posts - does anyone have experience with this? I know that substack automatically puts the author's copyright at the bottom of each page.

A somewhat new offering to share: I created an asynchronous course on neurodiversity for educators in higher ed. This has been successfully implemented on a few campuses, and can be modified for specific contextual needs. Feel free to contact me for more info sarahemilysilverman.com/neurodiversi...

This is framed around university group work, but has strong applications for 7-12th grade group work, too. Planning for neurodiversity is so much better than trying to cobble things back together after something goes wrong. I love the "what if" considerations at the end.

A new newsletter post: This one is a follow up to a previous post on "Group work, participation, and neurodiversity," thinking more about how to help students understand inclusive course design decisions around participation. open.substack.com/pub/beyondth...

Last year, I facilitated a couple of workshops on designing in-class activities for accessibility. There's a lot out there on digital accessibility/accessible materials, but it's a little harder to find resources on accessible active learning. This piece is a great contribution to that body!

There is no "pinned post" feature on here it seems... What I *would* pin is likely my neurodiversity consulting info. It is heartwarming to me that there is increasing interest in this topic, enough that I'm pretty scheduled for fall (but available in spring!) sarahemilysilverman.com/guest-facili...

Good thing to remember at the beginning of the semester - if you use an LMS e.g. Canvas that has sequential modules, students don't always know the material is designed to be viewed sequentially. I always write out "click 'next' to go to the next activity" at the bottom of each page

Recently I held a somewhat experimental workshop on "Group work, participation, and neurodiversity" in which we discussed ideas from neurodiversity theory that can help us reframe some common classroom frictions Materials here for those who are interested: sarahemilysilverman.com/2024/07/29/w...

Hi new followers (possibly thanks to @sarosecav.bsky.social?) While I do post here occasionally, most of my work/thoughts appear on: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-s-5... My newsletter: beyondthescope.substack.com My site: sarahemilysilverman.com Always thrilled to meet/chat with new folks!

A new post on my newsletter exploring some of the problems with retrofitting and how that applies to teaching and learning open.substack.com/pub/beyondth...