What happens when you give a Kindle to a student who says she doesn’t like reading and then let her keep it for a week?
The answer is, She reads two books, more than what she’s read since the beginning of school.
After spending too long trying to figure out the most equitable way to share with my 75 ninth graders the Kindle I received from DonorsChoose, I finally got around to letting a student borrow it for a week, just as a trial run.
She came on a Friday morning. I showed her the basics: how to turn it on, how to change font size, and how to activate text-to-speech. She wasn’t a big fan of the computerized voices, but she did like being able to make the font bigger.
Then came the exciting part: We bought a book together. I recently got a $500 grant from the Kids in Need Foundation, which will fund books on Kindle. She was excited. “If I finish this one, can I get another one?”
Sure.
Monday morning rolled around, and there she was. Her smile was enormous. “I finished, Mr. Isero!” So we bought another book, which she finished in three days, right before she had to turn in the Kindle.
“Can I have it another week?”
I said no, but I congratulated her for reading so much and for taking such good care of the Kindle. She wore the device with pride — reading with swagger and keeping the Kindle in its protective case.
Now it’s time for my second student — this time a boy. He’s a developing reader, too, who likes to fake his way through reading and who tends to leave his book in random places. Let’s see if the Kindle grabs him, too.