I used to have piles of books all over the house that I didn’t have room on bookshelves for and hadn’t gotten around to reading yet. With my Kindle, my “piles” of books still exist, but at least they no longer take up space!
That’s why I was so thrilled to hear about the Kindle Classroom Project. Reading has been so important to me ever since I was a kid. I get to “experience” other places, learn about different viewpoints, and expand my knowledge of things I’m interested in. I’m delighted to be able to contribute to other kids being able to have access to the same things!
Ed. Note: Thank you, Susan, for writing this testimonial! Also, Susan is challenging four more KCP supporters (now 3 — thanks, Brian!) to donate $50 each to take advantage of Amazon’s current deal on the Kindle Fire. Let me know if you’re interested!
The Kindle Classroom Project has surpassed another milestone!
Welcome to the program’s 600th Kindle!
(I love that it’s a Kindle Keyboard, my favorite Kindle model. It’s an elegant design, plus I love the keyboard and the text-to-speech function — and so do students, particularly those with IEPs.)
Kindle #600 goes out next week to a lucky ninth grader in San Francisco.
The Kindle was donated by Susan Orlean, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of The Orchid Thief, which I loved, among other books. (Yes, The Orchid Thief was made into the movie Adaptation, starring starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep.)
Thank you, Susan!
Also, thank you to the entire community of 350+ supporters from across the country who have donated Kindles, chargers, cases, and money to promote reading among urban high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area.
If you’d like to join in, please do. How about donating an Amazon gift card so students may request books they want to read? The email address is kindleclassroomproject-at-gmail-dotcom.
I have a strong feeling that the best is yet to come!
In just the past two weeks, generous people from across the country have donated $1,130 to the Kindle Classroom Project, which is wonderful timing, because students in the San Francisco Bay Area are requesting books left and right, and they’re absolutely giddy that I’m able to honor their requests nearly immediately.
But for the first time, I’ve encountered a problem: Not every title comes in e-book format.
First came Hip Hop High School, by Alan Sitomer. This has been a favorite among ninth graders for a long time, so I’ve known that it’s available only in paper. Nonetheless, it’s a sad moment when a student wants to read it on his or her Kindle and can’t. How is that possible? they ask.
Turns out that some authors (or publishers), for various reasons, do not allow their books to be converted to e-book format. Perhaps this is to protect profits, or maybe it’s just to retain the romantic notion of reading. (I’m pretty sure it’s the former — and authors, in many instances, probably have a good argument.) For young people, however, who have grown up in a hybrid world of physical books and e-books, all of this makes no sense.
And then it happened again this morning, when a ninth grader requested True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolff. Again, no e-book format. It’s unfortunate, but I suppose the KCP has met a challenge!
As a result, I started thinking of if there is a solution. First I’ll check in with the teacher to see if there is a physical copy available. If not, then maybe the Iserotope / Kindle Classroom Project community can come to the rescue!
That’s why I’ve added both physical books to the Amazon Wishlist in case you’d like to help out!
Update 9/21: Good news! These two books have been donated, thanks to Brian (Leesburg, VA). Thank you!
Why not just buy the student the physical book using donated funds? you may ask. The main reason is that I want to make sure that donors know where their money is going. Right now, all monetary gifts go directly to purchase e-books to honor student requests and to build the KCP Library.
Another reason is that although I love physical books — and have a dream that every single e-book in the KCP Library has a physical counterpart — the primary purpose of the Kindle Classroom Project is to aggressively increase access to books using Kindles and e-books for urban students of color in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Please let me know what you think in the comments!
We are four weeks in, and it would be a typical Marni move to paint a picture of sunshine, rainbows, and history puns. But I gotta tell you guys: It hasn’t been the smoothest of starts, by any means. Between a broken copy machine, a missing office manager, an assistant principal out on paternity leave, a broken grading system, and 45% new staff (including a new principal), the Universe was trying to be like the Russian in Rocky IV and make us prove ourselves.
On top of this, I’m having a really rough time winning over my ninth grade Reading Labbers this year. Some of these lovely kiddos are giving me major ‘tude. And I’m not talking your typical eye-rolling, silent-treatment teen ‘tude. Rather: the kind of ‘tude that makes you think not-so-nice-thoughts then feel really bad about thinking those not-so-nice thoughts.
But as someone who likes to see herself as a glass-half-full kind of gal, I tried my darnedest to look on the bright side and be a positive, encouraging teacher-leader in the building. I stayed upbeat and corny with my ‘tudetastic students. “Hi guys! So good to see you! Let’s take our books out and read! Yay!” But it was hard.
Teaching, especially these precious first weeks, is hard enough when everything is going smooth. You gotta be a tough cookie to not get bogged down by all the negative minutiae. But there I was, Week Two, not channeling my inner tough-cookie, and feeling eerily similar to the helplessness I felt my first year teaching.
I began to realize that I needed to shut this journey to Negative Nancy town down. So, I began to give myself pep-talks in the second person: “Cut it out Marn! You are in your ninth year teaching! You are Ms. Spitz, damn it! You make kids laugh, and learn, and love reading, and you include cheesy Justin Timberlake clip art on your handouts! You need to get a grip and remember what you do!”
I once read that it takes 10 compliments to make up for every one insult. Yikes. But I am Rocky! I can do this! Per the suggestion of my instructional coach, I began a tally of all the positive “wins” I witnessed throughout the day so that I would stop focusing on those insults, and begin galvanizing those compliments.
Here is a snapshot of a 1-10 ratio:
Negative point: “Do we have to read, Ms. Spitz? It’s so boring. I don’t want to read. It’s so boring.” A pause. “Seriously though: Do we have to?”
Plus Points: + In the hallway, a ninth grader going out of her way to tell me she was loving her book.
+ At lunch, a ninth grader who reported she “strongly disliked” reading being found reading her book at the cafeteria table. (Did I mention it was during lunch?)
+ One of my 11th graders reminding another student to “Please put your feet down! We are Scholars! Professional Posture!”
+ A former student asking me if I had a copy of Kaffir Boy because she loved reading it in my class freshman year and wants her younger brother to read it.
+ A current reading labber asking me everyday for the past week when she can get her Kindle because she keeps finishing books so fast.
+ A student who had been giving me ‘tude saying “Hi Ms. Spitz” at the door on her way into class, with a smile. (OK, maybe it was a half smile, but it still totally counts.)
+ Another student who had been giving me ‘tude asking if she could keep her volleyball bag in my room after school because she felt my room was “safe.”
+ A student telling me he had already finished his book. And when I said: “Really? I’m so proud of you!” he replied: “Well I’m almost done but I knew it’d make you happy.”
+ Our first monthly staff potluck of the year going off without a hitch and filled with so much laughter, and…there was an ample supply of watermelon-feta-mint salad. (I love watermelon-feta-mint salad.)
+ My former reading labbers returning to my classroom to check out books from my library because apparently, my library is “hella good.”
Rocky for the win!
Add to those 10 plus points a newly working copy machine, a vice principal returning, a functioning gradebook, and a resilient and dedicated staff — our cup runneth over!
And so I have returned to my unyielding belief in the power of optimism — especially now that I am making myself a watermelon-feta-mint salad for every ten tallies I get.
I used to have piles of books all over the house that I didn’t have room on bookshelves for and hadn’t gotten around to reading yet. With my Kindle, my “piles” of books still exist, but at least they no longer take up space!
