I've also heard instructors refer to students requesting accommodations (that they believe are suspicious for some reason) as "trying to take advantage"/"trying to get something out of" them.

But what is the "thing" that they're trying to "get" except the literal accommodation? https://twitter.com/roryreckons/status/1383543680850485259

I've never understood this at all. It doesn't take anything from me to give a student an accommodation.

If a student turns in a paper on Sunday instead of Friday, it does not really affect my life. But it GREATLY affects (and improves) theirs.

"If I give one student an extension, I'd have to give everyone an extension."

Ok then give everyone an extension then? I have a universal no-questions asked extension policy. It's none of my business (unless they want to tell me) why someone needs an extension.

If extra time means that a student can turn in their best work, then I would very much like them to have that time.

This semester I taught a class that runs on specific deadlines to scaffold assignments and peer review groups.

Previous semesters, there might be one or two people who need extensions. I anticipated there might be a lot more during covid that would need extensions.

So I switched to contract grading. I changed the structure of the class to accommodate several different ways to engage with the material. Peer review groups became one optional way to earn points, but was no longer required, which was helpful for students who needed extensions.

(Peer review groups take place on a specific date, and re-arranging those with everyone's schedule if someone is late can be difficult-- hence the need for more flexibility here.)

I've discussed deadline accommodations in this thread, but there are lots of other types of accommodations that instructors can make. Sometimes they require us to think more creatively about how we teach.

But I also think these things have *greatly* improved my teaching as well

As a graduate student at my university, I've also had the privilege of not having huge course loads to teach. This has allowed me the time and space to think creatively to make these decisions.