Kerrie's Reading Notes #9

“My Freshman Year” put a great perspective on student life. Understanding students in this generation can be difficult for teachers. While reading this book, there were many points made that increased my awareness of how to effectively communicate with students in this generation. There were also topics discussed that were discouraging to me.

The most surprising aspect of the book to me was that students are more interested in the social aspect of college than academics (p. 101). This is hard for me to understand. As an undergraduate student, I do not feel I was in that majority. Academics were important to me and usually came before the social aspect of college. While interviewing students on the topic, the response showed that students felt “65 percent of learning occurs outside of classes and class-related activities while 35 percent occurs within” (p.101). From a professor’s standpoint, this is discouraging.

The least surprising aspect of the book was that students will not do the reading unless they know they will be tested on it or need to know it for the homework (p.138). I think that this may stem from students’ workloads and time management. They do not feel the reading is as important if they are not going to be tested over it. My question then, is why one would assign reading as a professor if you already know the majority of students will not do it?

With regards to this book and also my personal experience, my advice to incoming undergraduate students is to organize your academic life and plan your social life around it. According to Nathan, this is less about time management and more about “controlling college by shaping schedules, taming professors, and limiting workload (p. 113). One of the greatest things about college is having a choice of classes with various times these classes are offered. Students should dedicate enough time into choosing courses to make sure they get the schedule that is best for them. Another piece of advice I have for students is to put dates and deadlines in a planner as soon as syllabi for each course are given. This will help students to organize their academic lives and see when they have time for social activities.

My advice for a new college instructor would be to give students a motive to do the assigned readings. Students will not read unless they know they will be tested on the material or they will need it to complete the homework (p.138). Students are more likely to make time for reading if they know they will see the material on a test or assignment. A typical college student will rarely go above and beyond what is required. If you want students to accomplish something, you must give them a reason they see as important.

After reading this book, my perspective on undergraduate students has changed a little. I never considered myself a “typical” undergraduate student. While reading this book, I realized some of my actions were very similar to those discovered by Nathan. As an undergraduate student, I would try to limit my workload as Nathan finds many college students do (p. 119). While Nathan mentions skipping class as a way of limiting workloads, she also discusses limiting the amount of time spent on one course by doing the minimum amount of work necessary (p.119). During my undergraduate years, I would prioritize my workload by courses. I knew in which courses we might be given a pop quiz or an assignment over the readings. I always did the work for these courses first. With the time I had left, I would work on my other courses but would not put as much effort into them. This book showed me that I do not want to overload students with readings and assignments. Students take many classes at a time and also have priorities outside of courses such as jobs. I think it is important for professors to realize their class is not the only responsibility students have.