Beth McMurtry

No, it didn't, because what we're talking about here are kind of structural or systemic societal and educational challenges. So let's start with the one that everybody knows about, which is the introduction of smartphones and the rise of social media. That has affected all of us. We are losing our ability to concentrate. We are getting distracted more easily.

No, it didn't, because what we're talking about here are kind of structural or systemic societal and educational challenges. So let's start with the one that everybody knows about, which is the introduction of smartphones and the rise of social media. That has affected all of us. We are losing our ability to concentrate. We are getting distracted more easily.

I remember talking to one professor, an English professor. He has always asked his students to tell him their reading story, their reading narrative. He wants to know what their experiences with reading have been.

I remember talking to one professor, an English professor. He has always asked his students to tell him their reading story, their reading narrative. He wants to know what their experiences with reading have been.

I remember talking to one professor, an English professor. He has always asked his students to tell him their reading story, their reading narrative. He wants to know what their experiences with reading have been.

And he said it wasn't that long ago that they would talk about things like going to the library or seeing their parents reading the newspaper over breakfast or having their parents read to them at night. Now they talk about things like reading on TikTok, reading on Instagram.

And he said it wasn't that long ago that they would talk about things like going to the library or seeing their parents reading the newspaper over breakfast or having their parents read to them at night. Now they talk about things like reading on TikTok, reading on Instagram.

And he said it wasn't that long ago that they would talk about things like going to the library or seeing their parents reading the newspaper over breakfast or having their parents read to them at night. Now they talk about things like reading on TikTok, reading on Instagram.

Yeah. If you think about the words on the screen, fragmented, incomplete sentences. Now, the pandemic did have a huge effect on students, unsurprisingly, as we all moved to Zoom and students went to Zoom school. I have to go to school now. Teachers were trying really hard to keep students engaged, to keep students online, even if their cameras were off.

Yeah. If you think about the words on the screen, fragmented, incomplete sentences. Now, the pandemic did have a huge effect on students, unsurprisingly, as we all moved to Zoom and students went to Zoom school. I have to go to school now. Teachers were trying really hard to keep students engaged, to keep students online, even if their cameras were off.

Yeah. If you think about the words on the screen, fragmented, incomplete sentences. Now, the pandemic did have a huge effect on students, unsurprisingly, as we all moved to Zoom and students went to Zoom school. I have to go to school now. Teachers were trying really hard to keep students engaged, to keep students online, even if their cameras were off.

I don't know about you, but the school year has been kind of tough for me, and I've had to rethink a lot of things that I do traditionally. So students were learning less and they were reading less, and at the same time, the grading changed a little bit. There was more leniency around grading.

I don't know about you, but the school year has been kind of tough for me, and I've had to rethink a lot of things that I do traditionally. So students were learning less and they were reading less, and at the same time, the grading changed a little bit. There was more leniency around grading.

I don't know about you, but the school year has been kind of tough for me, and I've had to rethink a lot of things that I do traditionally. So students were learning less and they were reading less, and at the same time, the grading changed a little bit. There was more leniency around grading.

In some school districts, teachers might have been told, you know, give everybody at least a 50%, even if they didn't do the work, or grade for attendance or grade for participation. And what that did is I think it gave students a false sense of what was required of them, something that they have since taken into college.

In some school districts, teachers might have been told, you know, give everybody at least a 50%, even if they didn't do the work, or grade for attendance or grade for participation. And what that did is I think it gave students a false sense of what was required of them, something that they have since taken into college.

In some school districts, teachers might have been told, you know, give everybody at least a 50%, even if they didn't do the work, or grade for attendance or grade for participation. And what that did is I think it gave students a false sense of what was required of them, something that they have since taken into college.

If we want to step even farther back, we need to talk about the testing culture in schools, because I think that has really fundamentally changed how we teach reading. Many of us remember, if we're old enough, we remember reading multiple books over the school year, maybe even writing book reports or writing essays.

If we want to step even farther back, we need to talk about the testing culture in schools, because I think that has really fundamentally changed how we teach reading. Many of us remember, if we're old enough, we remember reading multiple books over the school year, maybe even writing book reports or writing essays.

If we want to step even farther back, we need to talk about the testing culture in schools, because I think that has really fundamentally changed how we teach reading. Many of us remember, if we're old enough, we remember reading multiple books over the school year, maybe even writing book reports or writing essays.