Alden Jones (@aldenejones) / X

Alden Jones

5,469 posts

Alden Jones

@aldenejones

Author/editor of The Wanting Was a Wilderness and other books. Fulbright Specialist. Prof @EmersonCollege. Paper texts. Feminism. Curiosity.

Boston

Joined October 2012

Pinned
Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Yes, college students have lost their ability to read. I have taught lit for 24 years; the threshold started to decline in the late aughts and nosedived during Covid. A thread with observations + how I get my students to read ALL (or at least most) of the reading I assign: 🧵
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
Being mad at students for not being more into reading helps no one. They have been trained by their devices to seek quick pleasure hits, not the slow pleasures of reading. I am a writer who grew up in the analog age, and I can't give a book the same attention I once did. 🥺
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
For creative writing classes that require shorter readings, I stand at the Xerox machine and copy every. single. thing we will read & distribute a packet at the beginning of the semester. They appreciate this very much. They never have to chase down an assignment and it's free.
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
I emphasize writing in texts. I teach/review how to annotate a text. Pens or pencils are also required. We start every text by reading aloud in class. The seal is broken, the book is easier to get back into next time. We discuss what the book is telling us about how to enter it.
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
For lit classes, I require PAPER TEXTS. I email students ahead of the semester and explain this so they are not horrified on day 1. They can opt out and use e-texts if they come to me with a reason (disability etc)--but they have to provide a reason. (I never say no)
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
The suggestion that we should have lower expectations of the reading abilities of college students who are POC, poor, caregivers, etc. actually sounds pretty racist to me.
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
Every time reading is due I give a reading check. 5-10 questions, no analysis - just to make sure they've read to the end. They swap quizzes with a classmate and we go over the quiz and they grade each other. Conscientious students love the easy A. Slackers can't hide.
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
On a final note, if you are an academic who thinks written texts are racist, and therefore expecting students to read them is in the spirit of white supremacy, you are part of the problem.
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
Colleges made it so much worse during Covid by lifting the consequences of not showing up/not doing the work. My institution has yet to bring back attendance policies and students are used to calling the shots now. Once students asked me for permission to miss a class;
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
For some reason some educators expect students will lose it if you ask them to read on paper. This is not true. My students thank me every semester. They know they've lost something in the digital age. They WANT reading to be easier, more pleasurable.
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
now they tell me they are going to miss a class, or even an exam, and then sign their emails "Thanks for understanding." This is where we are now.
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
I also give exams - with blue books! I provide them. (remember when students had to buy their own?!) Students need WAY more help preparing for exams than they used to, and they crave very exact "rubrics," so we do a whole practice exam the week before, slowly and together.
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 21, 2024
Replying to @Krusty_M_D
It is absolutely and utterly depressing. But we did this to young people by giving them devices and integrating them into their educations. Personally I'd like to see a full cell phone ban in k-12 schools.
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Alden Jones
@aldenejones
Jul 20, 2024
Replying to @aldenejones
When I first taught my Literature of Photography class in 2009 I taught 9 books. One of them was Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. They read this monster. No pushback. It is unfathomable to imagine teaching a book like that in a 100-level class today.
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