A huge roar emerged from the offices of the Kindle Classroom Project last night when I received an email from DonorsChoose letting me know that DSW from Saratoga had made a $500 donation.

That $500 donation — the largest amount that DonorsChoose is matching this week as part of its Teacher Appreciation promotion — instantly doubled to a whopping $1,000.

This $1,000 donation marks the second major gift from DSW. Read about the first $1,000 donation last December.

Isn’t this amazing? Isn’t this slightly crazy?

I am astounded. I am intensely appreciative.

Thank you, DSW! Your contribution continues to encourage me to think bigger about what’s possible. I am no longer thinking small.

For example: Why stop at three classrooms (my current goal for next year)? Why not try to distribute Kindles to every ninth grader at a school?

Also: Why not proceed seriously to achieve classroom library mirroring, where every title on the Kindles has a physical counterpart on the shelves?

And one last thing: Why not think of making the Kindle Classroom Project into a full-fledged nonprofit organization?

All of these are reachable dreams because of this latest large donation. Thank you again, DSW! 

 It’s been a big day at the Kindle Classroom Project!

In the morning, I received an email from DonorsChoose that all donations would be doubled through Friday to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week.

So I quickly wrote a post, and just a few hours later, $200 has already been donated to purchase new books. Quite impressive.

The donors (so far): Laura (San Francisco), Stuart (San Francisco), Iris (San Diego), Michele (San Francisco), and LeAnne (Fremont).

I must also point out: All five are repeat, sustaining donors. Thank you.

But that’s not all!

Just a few minutes ago, I got home from work to find Kindle #49, the fourth new Kindle purchased directly from my students’ Amazon wishlist. (Go Preeti! Go Lesley!) Here’s evidence:

The donor remains anonymous. But here’s where it gets exciting. My detective work has confirmed that the donor lives in Cambodia. The Kindle Classroom Project has gone international again! This is the second overseas Kindle in Project history! (The first came last December from Jo in Surrey, England.)

You just never know what’s going to happen. You go to work, minding your own business, and by the end of the day, there’s $200 donated and a Kindle from Cambodia.

Let’s keep this hubbub going! Who wants to guess where the next Kindle will come from? I say Nepal. Or maybe Ghana. 

 Want to make your donation to the Kindle Classroom Project go farther?

Here’s your chance: This week, to celebrate teachers, DonorsChoose is matching all donations until this Friday, May 10.

Yes: This means that $10 will buy two books instead of one! Not a bad deal.

If you’re interested in making a donation to the Kindle Classroom Project (to buy books!), you can go to my DonorsChoose page.

Very important: When you click through to the Payment page, the site will prompt you for a “Match or gift code.” Be sure to type in TREAT in the box.

I hope you’ll consider making a small contribution. This is also a great opportunity to get the word out and to encourage your friends and family. Promote reading! Thank you.

Update: Wow, things are going well. Already, six people have donated (for a total of $1,200). Thank you to Laura (San Francisco, CA), Stuart (San Francisco, CA), LeAnne (Fremont, CA), Michele (San Francisco, CA), DSW (Saratoga, CA), and Iris (San Diego, CA). Keep the contributions coming! 

 I have good news (and charts and graphs) to share with you, so let’s get started!

1. The number of Kindles continues to grow.
Last month, we stood at 42 Kindles. Now we are at 46 Kindles. Not bad, considering that there were two Kindle casualties in April. At this pace, it’s possible to reach my goal of 60 Kindles, or three classrooms, by September 1. But it will be a push.

That’s why I’m thankful for Christine (Louisville, KY), Lynna (Mtn. View, CA), Lesley (Menlo Park, CA), Preeti (San Jose, CA), Brian (San Diego, CA), and Walter (San Francisco, CA), all of whom donated Kindles in April. (It was a California-heavy month.)

(Pretty fancy chart, don’t you think? Don’t worry, there’s another one.)

2. The number of ebooks continues to grow.
I’ve said many times that books drive this project. Sure, I need Kindles, but without good books, the students are left with a pretty boring device.

The Kindle e-book library grew by 15 titles in April, from 232 to 247. As usual, all new books were student requests. The Pretty Little Liars series has staged a comeback after declining in popularity last year. Other popular titles include Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, and Feed, by M.T. Anderson, which predicts a future world where we have Google search implanted in our brains (um, yes, sort of like Google Glass).

I’d like to thank LeAnne (Fremont, CA), Michele (San Francisco, CA), Angela (Concord, CA), Denise (Alpharetta, GA), Tony (San Francisco, CA), and Nicole (Quincy, MA) for donating books. My appreciation also goes to Sarah from Logan, UT, who donated money to purchase books.

3. More people are following Iserotope.
There are nearly 80 people following Iserotope on Facebook, 120+ on Twitter, and nearly 150 on Google+. Even the Iserotope Instagram account (pictures of books and reading!) is getting some love. The bigger the network grows, the deeper and more widespread the impact!

4. There are more sustaining donors.
I’m still trying to find a term for people who donate more than once. Do you have ideas? Right now, I’m calling them “Sustaining Donors,” but there must be something more catchy.

I define these donors as people who have made more than one donation and/or have encouraged their friends (who might be strangers to me) to contribute.

So far I count 13 sustaining donors: Margie (Peachtree City, GA), Lesley (Menlo Park), Brian (San Diego, CA), Donna (Las Vegas), LeAnne (Fremont, CA), Angela (Concord, CA), Denise (Alpharetta, GA), Nicole (Quincy, MA), Iris (San Diego, CA), Laura (San Francisco, CA), and Michele (San Francisco, CA), Jenni (Berkeley, CA), and DSW (Saratoga, CA).

I have to say, this “sustaining donor” classification might need some work. After all, there are also people who donated more than one Kindle all at once. Shouldn’t they be considered sustaining, too? If so, then add Preeti (San Jose, CA) and Toni (Cary, NC) to the list!

5. It’s easy to find the Project on Google.
Want to get the word out about the Kindle Classroom Project? Sure, you can direct them to iserotope.com, or to the Project page (or the Contribute page). But if you’d like to impress your friends, tell them to search for “donate Kindle.” On the first page they’ll find two (or maybe three, depending) links to the Project. See how famous we are?

(On a side note, it’s interesting that potential Kindle donors essentially have three choices if they search in this way. They can donate their Kindle to American troops overseas, to schoolchildren in Africa, or to ninth graders in Oakland and San Francisco. I like being one of the choices!)

6. You can now donate new Kindles.
Thanks to my friend Preeti, who came up with the idea, and Lesley, who affirmed it, you can now donate new Kindles. Check out this post or the Contribute page for more details. It’s pretty easy, and for $69, you give one student access to 247 high-interest books.

OK, loyal Iserotope readers, I hope you have a great May, and I’m hopeful that this is a month of strong growth for the Kindle Classroom Project. As always, let me know your thoughts and ideas to make this project a stronger one. 

 I am very pleased to announce the arrival of three new Kindles. Don’t they look great?

I think they’re the best.

This is a big deal. This means that the total Kindle count has gone up to 45, an all-time record.

This means that three more students get to borrow a Kindle, take it home, and have access to 241 good books.

To students, this means that there are “people out there who actually care about us.” (The quote isn’t imaginary. This is what the students actually say.)

Just two days ago, my friends Lesley and Preeti suggested that I should make it easier for people to donate new Kindles. So I did.

And today there were already three new Kindles waiting for me when I got home from work. That’s what I call an impressive turnaround.

I am humbled to announce that Lesley was the donor of one of the Kindles, and Preeti was the donor of the other two. Lesley and Preeti, thank you very much!

My friends are kind, smart — and very generous. They don’t fool around.

Want to join in all the fun? You can, you know. You can buy a new Kindle or donate an old one or buy a book or make a contribution. There are so many choices!

Also, feel free to use the comments section to let Lesley and Preeti know exactly how cool they are. 

 Today I spent a sunny and splendid afternoon with two good friends. They’re big proponents of the Kindle Classroom Project.

One friend, Lesley from Menlo Park, has been a generous donor in the past, plus she’s encouraged her friends and coworkers to donate Kindles as well. Go Lesley!

The other friend, Preeti from San Jose, came to the cafe prepared. She was not fooling around. Why do people have to donate old Kindles? she asked. What if she wanted to buy a new one instead?

Um, er…um. Right! You’re right, Preeti! This is pretty spectacular idea.

Up until today, if you wanted to purchase a new Kindle for a student, it wasn’t too easy. You had to contact me and find out my mailing address and ask which model my students wanted. Why not make the process easier?

Preeti was right, and now it is done.

Go ahead, try it out, click on the box, see what happens! You’ll go directly to the Amazon Kindle page, and if you order one for $69 (no need for a charger), it’ll get shipped directly to me. (Note: Click “This will be a gift” and select “Gift Registry Address” for easy shipping.)

Pretty snazzy. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but that goes to Preeti (and to Lesley, for affirming Preeti’s brilliance).

Will Preeti’s idea send oodles of Kindles hurtling in my general direction? I think so. I will keep you posted.

Update, April 22: This — from the Wishlist — is pretty good evidence, don’t you think?

Update #2, April 22: Um, three already? Is this for real? Can’t believe how great this is!

In case you can’t find this post later or want to refer your friends to this startling development, I’ve also updated the Contribute and Donate Your Kindle pages to reflect Preeti’s idea.

Thank you, Preeti! 

 It’s a sad day at the Kindle Classroom Project.

I have confirmed that two Kindles in the San Francisco classroom are no longer working because their screens have been damaged. Because the devices are more than one year old, they are no longer under warranty, so Amazon will not replace them.

My partner teacher has asked the students if they dropped the Kindles or exposed them to pressure or liquid. Both said they treated their device with care and always used a case. It is possible, of course, that the students are not telling the truth, maybe because they’re scared. Or maybe they stuffed their Kindle inside an overpacked bag or dropped their backpack. Amazon representatives have repeated that the screens’ horizontal and vertical lines do not occur without misuse.

I am bummed. This is a big setback. We’re down to 42 Kindles.

More troubling, it is difficult to figure out what happened. Is this a fluke? Is this a case of improper training by the teacher? Or negligence by the students? Or a combination?

(Up until this incident, one Kindle has been damaged since the project’s founding in 2010.)

I’ll try to figure out what happened, but for right now, I instructed the teacher to collect all the Kindles and to suspend the project until I determine next steps.

I understand that loaning out Kindles to ninth graders does present some risk, and I probably should allow for the loss of one or two Kindles per year. In fact, I’m thinking of saving some money to replace broken or damaged devices.

But what should I do now? I welcome your thoughts to these questions:

1. How do I find out what really happened?
2. Should I cancel the San Francisco classroom or give its teacher and students another chance?
3. What are some ways to make sure this doesn’t happen again?
4. Should I order replacement Kindles ($47.20 each) for the broken ones?

Please let me know what you think! 

 We all know that the best way to communicate with students is by texting them. After all, teenagers don’t email, and they’re definitely not going to answer the phone or go on the computer to check a teacher’s class website.

But is there a line? When does texting become too much or too close?

This year, I’ve heard a mild backlash from some parents, who say that teachers have become too lax with their texting habits. One Oakland parent told me, “I just don’t think it’s proper for my daughter to get so many texts from her male teacher. They’re non-stop.”

Last year, I was a huge proponent of texting. For example, my students texted me their homework. I reminded them of their assignments. I cheerleaded and cajoled.

And now, I must say, I’m having second thoughts. Here is my current thinking:

1. Texting should be infrequent and for important reasons.
Too many texts can make the teacher come across as a creeper or as too much of a friend. It might be confusing to students. Texts for informational purposes only (e.g., reminders to turn in field trip forms) do not encourage students to be accountable. The best texts, I think, are for individual students to send a message of care or concern or congratulation.

2. Parents need to know and sign off on the communication.
My advisees’ parents always appreciated my texts and thanked me for my involvement in their child’s life. But that’s because they knew me, trusted me, and understood how I worked. An essential step for teachers is to make clear in your syllabus your methods of communication.

What do you think? How about participating in the first-ever Iserotope poll? (Beware: This fancy poll syncs up with Facebook and Twitter, but you can also vote anonymously.)

Let’s see how this poll turns out. Also, share your thoughts in the comments. What should teachers know and think about when texting their students? 

 I read tons of nonfiction (see Iserotope Extras), and as a teacher, I want to encourage my students to read tons of nonfiction.

The new Common Core State Standards agree with my approach.

But up until yesterday, I couldn’t quite find the best and easiest way to incorporate nonfiction into my classroom with my students.

Diigo is a great service, but it hasn’t been updated for a long time, plus it takes a lot of investment to set it up with students. Snip.it was great until Yahoo bought it. And Google Reader is shuttering soon as well. What is an English (or social studies, or science, or any) teacher to do?

Yesterday, Pocket, which lets you save content to read later, announced a major new feature: Send to Friend. Before yesterday, if you wanted to share an article with another person, you could email the article, but your friend would have to read it directly from his or her inbox or forward it, somewhat clumsily, into their Pocket.

No more! Now you can send an article directly from your Pocket to your friend’s Pocket, plus you can add a personal note. No more middle step of going through your friend’s email inbox.

So what does this all have to do with building a community of nonfiction readers in your classroom? Sure, there are other ways for students to share articles, but Pocket works easily and intuitively on phones, which students love. That’s crucial.

Here are a couple ways teachers can try Pocket out:

1. Share a class Pocket account.
You create an account and share the login and password information with students. When students find a particularly interesting article, they Pocket it to the account. In class, you read one of the articles as a whole group, or you give students the option of reading any of the articles in the queue.

I would recommend this as a first step so your students can become familiar with finding good articles, Pocketing them, and building an enthusiasm for reading. Once that happens, you can choose to move to Step 2.

2. Create and build individual student accounts.
When students have their own Pocket accounts, they have more ownership about what they’re reading. They’re more likely to Pocket articles they care about. Pocket even allows you to favorite articles, so students can keep ones they find particularly interesting.

Also, with individual accounts, students can use the Send to Friend feature. They can send an article to a peer or to the class account. Groups of students with similar interests can trade articles. Once recommended articles get shared around, you’ll likely see a nonfiction reading buzz gain traction.

I haven’t yet heard of teachers who are using Pocket with their students to promote nonfiction reading. Are there any of you out there? If so, let me know. Even if you’re not currently using Pocket, it would be great to know if you think Pocket could work in your classroom. 

 I am very pleased to report that the Kindle Classroom Project has received more good press.

My very good friend Iris, whom I have known for many years (wow, since high school!), wrote a kind blog post on her professional website. Check it out!

I am very appreciative. Thank you, Iris.

Iris is a life coach and the owner of Know Your Greatness Coaching. She coaches people to live their best lives — how to challenge your perfectionism and other challenging habits, how to get unstuck and realize your greatness, and how to make a bigger impact in the world.

I’ve participated in a few coaching sessions with Iris, and I am very impressed. She helped me get through a personal challenge and made action steps manageable to take. Iris even followed up with me to check in and track my progress!

In addition to her skilled coaching, Iris is a consistent and committed supporter of the Kindle Classroom Project. She has donated multiple Kindles to the project and has gotten the word out to friends, which has yielded even more Kindles. It’s heartwarming to know that Iris is looking out for me and for the reading lives of my students.

I can’t wait to see if Iris’s post encourages additional people to donate Kindles to the Kindle Classroom Project. Even if it does not bring in more Kindles, I am grateful for the positive publicity. The word is getting out!