What to do with your old Kindle?

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favicon Did you get the new Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas? If so, you’re lucky! It’s a great device, and you’ll no doubt enjoy many hours of (waterproof) reading.

But you’ll also face the question of what to do with your old Kindle that works perfectly well and is currently collecting dust on your nightstand.

You could give it to a loved one — maybe someone who says they prefer physical books but secretly would love a Kindle. Or you could recycle it safely, or send it to back to Amazon for a bit of money.

Some of you, though, will think to donate your Kindle. And that’s what I encourage you to do! For the last seven years, I’ve been collecting used Kindles from generous people from across the country who care deeply about young people and their reading lives. The Kindle Classroom Project — which began in my classroom in San Francisco — now serves 2,000 students in the Bay Area.

When I receive a Kindle, I do a factory reset, then re-register the device to the KCP Library. This library is built from the ground up, based on student interests and requests. After processing the Kindles and ensuring that parental controls are set (only reading on these Kindles, no other apps!), I assign the Kindle to a KCP teacher, who gives it to a student.

This is where the best part happens. The young person gets to keep their Kindle 24 hours a day, including on weekends and school breaks. This includes Winter Break, which we’re on now, and summers. After all, reading should not be relegated just to the school building, or to a library. Students deserve to read what they want, when they want.

When you donate your Kindle, a student gets unlimited access to books for a total of three or four years, depending on whether they’re a middle school student or a high school student. There are no barriers to their reading, which means there are no barriers to their curiosity. Young people can follow their interests, learning more about themselves and the world.

If you’re interested in donating your Kindle, it takes just two steps: (1) filling out this form, and (2) shipping off your Kindle. Once you do the first step, I’ll send you a personal email about the second step. Thank you!

Also, it’s very possible that you know friends and family members in a similar situation. (Sometimes, I receive 3 Kindles at a time, all from the same household!) Feel free to let them know about my program. It’s also very easy to remember how to donate their Kindle: donatekindle.com is the website! favicon

Young people deserve access to books

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favicon Reading gurus Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp have a new book out, Game Changer: Book Access for All Kids. In it, they emphasize the importance of classroom libraries and the importance of offering young people access to books.

If you’re on Twitter, they’re leading a weekly chat, #bookaccessforall. It’s an inspiring group of educators who care deeply about young people and their reading lives. They spend countless hours raising money to purchase new books for their students. It is heartwarming that so many teachers from across the country are working hard to get books into the hands of students.

The Kindle Classroom Project also believes in universal and unlimited book access for kids. Young people should be able to read what they care about, what interests them, what will spark their curiosity. They should be able to follow their passions.

This Winter Break, more than 1,000 middle and high school students in the Bay Area are enjoying the right to read without any impediments. As long as their Kindle is near them, they have access to whatever books they want to read.

Yes, it’s a cliché, but KCP students have a library in their hands.

One of my favorite things during Winter Break is seeing which students request new books to add to the KCP Library. The program’s all-volunteer book buying team never goes on vacation. We grant students’ book requests 365 days a year. When a young person wants a new book, we deliver it within 24 hours. The whole point is to keep the reading going.

The reading keeps going because of generous donors from across the country. Some give money for books; others donate their used Kindles. The holiday season is the time when some people upgrade — maybe to the Kindle Oasis, or the Paperwhite 4 — and want their older Kindle to find a new home. In this era of planned obsolescence, Kindles last a long time. Just ask KCP teacher Erin’s 150 10th graders, who are enjoying their Kindle Keyboards (circa 2010). Young people don’t always need the newest gizmos; sometimes, all they want to do is read.

This holiday season, the eighth in KCP history, it’s heartwarming to know that so many young people have so much access to the books they love. It’s also heartwarming to know that there is a community to supporters who are helping to build this healthy, robust reading community. favicon

Books at the Kindle Classroom Project never go missing, don’t need to be checked in and out

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One of the biggest challenges that teachers face in promoting a community of readers is making sure that there are enough great books for young people to read. Teachers often spend the weekends driving to garage sales, rummaging through book collections, trying to find gems. Other teachers write grant proposals on DonorsChoose, hoping that their ask is funded. This madness has to stop! Young people should have access to books they want to read, and teachers should be able to teach. At the Kindle Classroom Project, books never go missing or get worn. When a student requests a new book to the library, he or she can share it with five friends. Also important, teachers don’t need to spend their time checking books in and out of their classroom library. Books are always safe. Let me know if you have questions!

At the Kindle Classroom Project, young people get to read what they want to read

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favicon People ask me why I don’t let teachers add books to the Kindle Classroom Project’s Library (now at 1,600 titles and counting).

It’s not that I don’t like teachers. Teachers are the best. I used to be a teacher, too.

And it’s not that I don’t think teachers can’t choose great books for young people. Nor is it that I don’t value teacher-assigned, whole-class novels.

It’s just that I believe that young people should be able to choose their own books, ones that speak to them, that they’re curious about, that they want to read.

This is why the Kindle Classroom Project is built from the ground up entirely by students, entirely with the books they request on the KCP Website.

The process is simple: If a book isn’t already in the library, a student may request it, and then the all-volunteer book-buying team purchases the book within 24 hours. The next day, the book is on the student’s Kindle, ready to read.

The part part is that every book that a student requests is also made available to the 2,000 other students in the program. The book never goes missing, and never gets worn out, and there’s nothing teachers need to do to keep track of all these books that students read.

Instead, teachers can spend more time connecting their students to good books they want to read.

Let me know if you have questions about the KCP Library or the Kindle Classroom Project in general. Thank you for reading this post! favicon

everything else

This just in…

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Go ahead, follow me on Twitter! Or donate to the KCP! favicon

everything else

This just in…

Posted on by Mark Isero / 0 Comment

Go ahead, follow me on Twitter! Or donate to the KCP! favicon

everything else

This just in…

Posted on by Mark Isero / 0 Comment

Go ahead, follow me on Twitter! Or donate to the KCP! favicon

everything else

This just in…

Posted on by Mark Isero / 0 Comment

Go ahead, follow me on Twitter! Or donate to the KCP! favicon

Huge Kindle Party at Elmhurst Community Prep in Oakland

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favicon What a great two days at Elmhurst Community Prep in Oakland. A total of 35 volunteers prepared nearly 300 Kindles for students at the school. Literacy coaches Curt and Mariko organized the event. It was a huge success!

Here’s a photo of Day 1.

Every single student will receive a Kindle tablet this year. Last year, when students read on Kindle Keyboards, they doubled the total amount of reading — to 60 million words!

Next year, ECP is going to merge with another school, and they’re going all Kindle! That means they’ll need about 400 more Kindle tablets. If you would like to donate your used Kindle, please do! Thank you! favicon

Every single young person deserves access to books they want to read

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favicon At the Kindle Classroom Project, we believe that every single young person deserves access to books they want to read.

The way this happens is pretty easy:

  1. Wonderful people from across the country donate their used Kindles,
  2. KCP volunteers get the Kindles ready for students to use,
  3. Students get to keep their Kindle 24 hours a day and get to choose books they want to read.

The third part is probably my favorite. Whenever I’ve given a Kindle to a young person, they don’t immediately believe that the library is limitless. They think that perhaps the Kindles include only a few books, or only those books that adults choose.

No matter how many times I tell them, some students have to see it to believe it.

Once they make their first book request, they’re totally hooked.

If you would like to donate your used Kindle, please do! Here’s how. Thank you! favicon