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! 

Photo credit: Karleen Minney

 The Kindle Classroom Project isn’t the only reading intervention program using e-readers. Over in Australia, a group has begun the Indigenous Reading Project, aimed to improve the reading achievement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

I’m impressed by the results so far. The group just completed its pilot program, which involved 10 students, and comprehension rose 43 percent in three months. Even more impressive, total time reading jumped 123 percent.

The project has received press coverage as well. In a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald, reporter Emma Macdonald highlighted the reading growth of 11-year-old Yulcaila Hoolihan-Mongta, who has read six novels over the past 12 weeks. “It’s been pretty good to have it because now I can practice reading and read a bit faster. The books are really good, too. I think I am reading more,” Yulcaila said.

One important feature separates the IRP from the KCP: The students get to keep their Kindle if they take care of it and demonstrate significant reading growth. That’s not an option for students in my project, although I love the idea.

In fact, it makes sense that a few students — perhaps the one who reads the most, or the one who grows the most — would be able to keep their Kindle at the end of the school year. Do you think this should be a feature for The Kindle Classroom Project? Please let me know your thoughts. 

 Merry Christmas! Did you get everything you wanted?

Like, did you get the new iPad or the iPad mini? Or maybe the Nexus 7 or Nexus 10? Or perhaps the Microsoft Surface or the Kindle Fire HD or the Nook HD+ or the Samsung Galaxy Note?

If so, congratulations! I’m jealous.

But now you face a problem. What should you do with your old E Ink Kindle? Do you keep it and promise to use it as a dedicated reading device? Or do you scrap it for your fancy new tablet, which can do practically everything?

Never fear! If you decide to upgrade to your new tablet, you can donate your used Kindle to my ninth grade students in Oakland and San Francisco. They love to read, and they love Kindles, and they would be very happy to receive your donation.

So far, generous donors have contributed 19 Kindles to my classroom. You could be the next generous donor!

All you have to do is fill out a five-second form on the Kindle Classroom Project page, and I’ll let you know next steps. Please consider donating your Kindle. You won’t regret it. Thank you! 

 Kindles are coming in quickly now!

I’m very happy to announce the arrival of Kindle #18. There it is, inside its cute green case, over there on the right!

This Kindle Keyboard is the 18th Kindle in the fleet and the sixth in the past two months.

I’m even more impressed about how it got here. Sarah from Petaluma found out about The Kindle Classroom Project online (thank you, Google!), filled out the easy-to-fill-out form on the new KCP page, and shipped the Kindle over to me in a jiffy.

The card was a great touch. Thank you, Sarah, for thinking of ninth graders and their reading lives. I’m appreciative that you chose us as one of your #26acts.

The Kindle-giving pace is definitely picking up. People are donating and telling their friends. I’m finding out that word-of-mouth has been instrumental in this latest wave of donations.

In addition, more and more people are switching over to the Kindle Paperwhite or the Kindle Fire and wanting to do something good with their old Kindle. (I am hopeful that this trend continues after the Christmas season!)

For all of this generosity, and for all of these efforts, I am very thankful. I never thought that I would be able to offer a second classroom of students access to Kindles this year, but it’s likely going to happen in January — maybe at the school where I coach, or perhaps as part of an after-school reading club at my former school in San Francisco.

If you have thoughts or ideas, please let me know! 

 Well, it has been another big week over at The Project. Here are some highlights.

1. Ten more Kindles are coming soon!
Because of the generosity of 29 donors (yes, you read that correctly: 29!), my $960 DonorsChoose project for 10 more Kindles was fully funded.

This means that, for the first time ever, every student in my Kindle classroom will have access to his or her own Kindle.

There are many people to thank, but I’d like to give special mention to Millie and Brent of Las Vegas, who pushed me to go for the project; Iris of San Diego, who started the contributions off strong; and a certain Anonymous Donor from California, who kept up the momentum.

Also crucial: Jenni of Berkeley and Laura of San Francisco, who both donated and then got the word out so others contributed, too!

2. Three more Kindles arrived!
We’ll have to wait for those 10 Kindles, but in the meantime, I am happy to report the arrival of Kindle #15, Kindle #16, and Kindle #17. There they are, side by side, over to the right!

Kindle #15 was a gift from Caitlin of Oakland, a kind and generous colleague at my new job. Her Kindle was waiting patiently on my desk when I arrived to work this morning.

Kindles #16 and #17 were contributions from Tony and Chris of New York. They found me online (go Google! go Iserotope!) and sent me their Kindles not once but twice. (The first time, the mailing label came off and the package got returned). Now that’s dedication!

3. The ebook library grew by 16 titles to a total of 166.
One of my dreams was to be able to purchase books that students request. Because of last week’s generous $1,000 donation from DSW in Saratoga, I can now be confident that I can follow through with my promise.

Here are a few of this week’s new titles

(You’ll notice that these are high-interest books. That’s because students choose good books when they’re given the chance!)

4. There are rumors of additional holiday cheer!
A previous donor is upgrading to the Kindle Paperwhite and says two more Kindles are on the way. A kind person from Petaluma filled out the form on the new Kindle Classroom Project page and wants to contribute her Kindle Keyboard. And another previous donor says that she’s asking her friends to donate their old Kindles, too. The word is getting out, and the momentum is building. I don’t want to get too crazy, but I can see The Kindle Classroom Project adding an additional classroom — maybe back in San Francisco — before the end of the school year!

Thank you all again for your support and for caring about young people and their reading lives. 

 Reading is fun, but it’s more fun (for most high school students) on the Kindle. Here are a few pictures of my students — current and former — and their Kindles.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed Kindles to The Kindle Classroom Project! To find out how to donate, see the Contribute page! 

 It’s a busy time at The Kindle Classroom Project. Here are this week’s updates:

1. Kindle #14 arrived!
I’m very happy to report the arrival of Kindle #14. There it is, complete with attractive skin, over to the right! (Sorry for the bad lighting.) This is a great donation from Donna of Nevada. I personally like Kindle 2s because they have all the benefits of Kindle 3s (specifically, text-to-speech) and are a little bigger, which students like. After all, when you’re reading something, you want to feel like you’re really reading something. Thanks again, Donna!

2. Our Kindle library is close to 150 titles.
It’s great to get more Kindles. But as important is making sure there are good books on those Kindles.

That’s why I’m really happy that I’m getting donations to build the Kindle library. (Our latest contributor: Imene — thank you!) The money is helping me fulfill my promise to the Kindlers. I’ve told them that every month, they can request a book for the library as long as they read at least one book.

Here are of some of the books the students have requested — now on all the Kindles:

As you can tell, students do not choose randomly. They’re getting some of the most popular and the most well-regarded titles in Young Adult literature.

If you want to help our with our library, check out the Contribute page!

3. There’s a big effort to get a classroom set of Kindles.
Why wait for a classroom set of Kindles when you can get there all at once with one big project? That’s what’s happening over on my DonorsChoose page, where 19 generous people have already contributed to a project that aims to bring 10 new Kindles to the classroom.

What’s interesting is that after a great donation by Iris M. in San Diego, most donations have come from Nevada — specifically, from employees at Zappos, the major retailer of shoes, clothing and more. Apparently, Zapponians like books as much as they like shoes and customer service.

Right now, there is still $591 remaining on the project, so feel free to donate here (even if you’re not a Zappos employee).

4. Students’ reading skills are improving.
The most important goal for the Kindle Classroom Project is to promote the joy of reading. But it doesn’t hurt when students’ reading skills improve, too.

I’m pleased to announce that the students reading on Kindles are progressing at a faster rate on their reading than students reading physical books alone. We just administered our second online reading assessment today. The first one was in early September. On average, ninth graders have increased their reading score by 0.7 grade levels — an impressive figure. But Kindlers’ reading scores have gone up an average of 1.2 grade levels. If these gains continue, we’ll see two grade levels of growth before school ends next June.

Yes, this isn’t a scientific survey. Perhaps the motivation of students in The Kindle Classroom Project is higher. Or perhaps their initial reading skills were lower, thereby making it easier to improve. Right now, I don’t care about any of that. I’m just happy that students are reading a lot, having fun reading, and becoming better readers!

Please let me know what you think. I’m also looking for suggestions about next steps for the project. What would you be interested in seeing? 

 I am pleased to announce the arrival of Kindle #13 to The Kindle Classroom Project!

There it is, in its original box, over on the right!

I can’t wait to get this Kindle prepped for the classroom. Students are now on Thanksgiving break, but come Monday, Kindle #13 will be in a student’s hands, ready for reading.

And I’m happy that it’s a Kindle Touch. I’m not picky about Kindles (they’re all great, except maybe the Original Kindle, which I no longer accept), but students tend to prefer the Kindle Touch because, well, it has a touch screen. (Young people don’t like buttons.)

This will be the third Kindle Touch in the collection.

The holidays are here, and I’m feeling some good momentum for The Kindle Classroom Project. Slowly (but surely!), the word is getting out! I appreciate all the generous donors (friends and strangers) who have contributed Kindles to my students.

But I also want to add that I appreciate the people who are connecting me to their friends and colleagues. (It turns out that there are many Kindles out there, lying around, ready to be donated!) Iserotope readers are a loyal and resourceful bunch. Because of your help, a class set of Kindles might just happen this year. 

 Young people like to read — if they’re given access to good books and if they get to choose what they read.

Even though I believe in libraries and physical books, I’ve found no better way to motivate students to read than by trusting them with a Kindle.

That’s why, ever since beginning The Kindle Classroom Project more than two years ago, one of my goals has been to acquire a class set of Kindles.

Imagine if every ninth grader in a class had access to a Kindle at all times. And what if those Kindles each contained a library of close to 150 good books? What would happen to those students’ reading lives?

With your help, I am hoping to find out.

I’m teaming up with DonorsChoose, perhaps the most committed pro-teacher organization, on a project to purchase 10 more Kindles.

Here’s the direct link: http://donorschoose.org/iseroma.

Please spread the word! Think of someone you know who loves reading, or who believes in education, or who cares about equity. And then challenge them to donate $10. DonorsChoose makes it easy: You can pay by credit card, PayPal, or by clicking on a button that lets you pay through Amazon.

It won’t be easy to fund this project (it’s the largest project I’ve ever asked for), but I figure that the time is now.

After two years of generous contributions from generous donors (friends, family, and total strangers!), it’s time for a big push. It’s time to meet the goal!

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or concerns. 

 We’re gaining some momentum over here at The Kindle Classroom Project.

I’m happy to announce that my little form over on the Contribute page has elicited some very generous donations. As a result, I was able to purchase the following books this week:

Here’s what’s even better: Each of these titles was requested by a Kindler. It’s my policy, after all, that student requests come first.

Our Kindle library now has 138 high-interest titles, thanks to loyal Iserotope readers and generous contributors who care about young people and their reading lives.

If you know someone who would like to build our classroom library, please direct them to my Amazon wishlist or the Contribute page.