The article is well-researched, well-written, and deeply disturbing.
Excerpt
Students who spend their careers in segregated schools can look forward to a life on the margins, according to a 2014 study on the long-term impacts of school desegregation by University of California, Berkeley economist Rucker Johnson. They are more likely to be poor. They are more likely to go to jail. They are less likely to graduate from high school, to go to college, and to finish if they go. They are more likely to live in segregated neighborhoods as adults.
Source: http://j.mp/1w7KPRG (via Pocket). You can also find this article at Iserotope Extras, a curated list of my favorite articles about teaching, reading, and technology.
I really want you to read this article — I wish Ms. Herman were a contributor to TEACHER VOICES — so I’ll share with you a few quotes:
No matter how fast or long I worked, I could not get everything done. I developed a body memory of exactly how much I could accomplish in five minutes, in one minute, in thirty seconds. I was always in a panic because I had limited control over my circumstances. Everything felt like an emergency.
And:
There were literally days when I did not have time to go to the bathroom. What else could I cut out of my day? Breathing?
Excerpt
“The day I definitively and conclusively gave up, it was after six o’clock and I was making 100 copies of 11 different scenes for my Drama class. I’d been at work since before 7 a.m.; it was dark when I arrived at school and dark now. Since our school was mainly windowless, and we were always too busy to leave the building during the day, I had not seen sunlight for three days.”
Source: http://j.mp/1qPPWdt (via Pocket). (Credit to Clare Green at Impact Academy in Hayward for sharing this article with me.) You can also find this article at Iserotope Extras, a curated list of my favorite articles about teaching, reading, and technology.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about whether the Kindle Classroom Project is contributing in a small way to the death of print books and thereby is sabotaging one of the program’s primary objectives: to reduce the gap between the reading haves and have-nots.
It’s best to write about these thoughts, rather than pretend they don’t exist.
The argument goes like this: Though the KCP may solve one huge problem (getting good books in students’ hands), it ultimately discourages independent reading in the long run. This is because the program focuses on Kindles, thereby discrediting and dishonoring the physical book as the primary means of reading over the past 500 years.
So if the program urges students to read on Kindles and does not offer physical books as an alternative, what happens when the Kindles get returned or stop working? What then?
Over the past week or two, whenever I feel like I have an answer, I quickly sidestep and consider an opposing view.
Like this morning, when I learned about Out of Print, a documentary by Vivienne Roumani. Please check out the trailer.
I can’t wait to see this film — and am secretly hoping it’ll come to San Francisco and play at a film festival, or maybe at the Roxie.
My big thought is, I know that Kindles work. Over the past three years, I’ve seen it again and again. Many students reclaim their love of reading with a Kindle. Other students love the Kindle because it’s like having a library in their backpack, with no worries of overdue fines or waiting for books to become available. Still others love to change the font size or look up words using the built-in dictionary. It’s pretty clear that Kindles do offer affordances that the physical book cannot.
But I also think that there has to be a place for physical books in the Kindle Classroom Project. After all, the KCP is a reading program, not a technology program. The point is not to disrupt an antiquated technology system. Instead, it’s mean to disrupt an unjust social system.
Besides, physical books do a couple things better than e-readers and e-books. Namely, they’re good at building reading relationships between a teacher and a student — a crucial step in bringing students back to reading. Also, print books are way better for discovery — to help students find what they’ll read next.
So I’m trying to figure out the best way to incorporate physical books into the Kindle Classroom Project without diluting the major thrust of the program. No decisions yet, but I think I’m getting close. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Ed. note: Marni Spitz teaches U.S. History and Reading Lab at City Arts and Technology High School in San Francisco. This is her fourth post for TEACHER VOICES. Donate to Marni’s classroom!
Scene 1: Tuesday, August 26, 8:47 am
ME: When you finish your book, you let me know with a huge grin on your face, because you’re so excited you have just read an amazing book, and I smile so big, and we all give you a round of applause and I take your picture to document this incredible moment.
READING LAB-ERS: (groans)
* * *
Scene 2: Tuesday, September 2, 8:31 am
RAYONIE (whispered, monotone): Ms. Spitz, I finished my book.
ME (super loud excited whisper): What?!?!?! You did?!?! Already?!?!? That’s so awesome! Did you like it? How do you feel?!?! (Turns to class) Guys (loud excited non-whisper directed at rest of class), I have a huge announcement. Rayonie finished her book!!! Isn’t that awesome? Let’s all give her a huge round of applause!
ME: Guys. I said, Rayonie finished her book!!!! Let’s give her a huge round of applause!!
READING LAB-ERS: (Awkward clapping)
ME: Rayonie hon, come over here so I can get your picture with your book!
RAYONIE: Do I have to take a picture? I don’t want to.
ME: Yes!!! This is so exciting and your old teacher wants to remember this day! Please just smile that incredible smile with your book! I promise you’ll thank me later.
RAYONIE: (whispers) Fine.
Here is the picture of Rayonie on that first “celebration” of her finishing her book.
Here is the picture of the gymnast who’s “not impressed” face went viral.
Yeah.
* * *
Scene 3: Monday, November 17, 7:52 am (40 minutes before First Period)
RAYONIE (entering room 210 with biggest smile on her face): Ms. Spitz! Guess what?!?! I finished TWO BOOKS THIS WEEKEND!!!!
ME: WAIT? WHAT? I JUST GAVE YOU THAT BOOK! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!!
RAYONIE: I just stayed in my room this weekend and read.
ME: THAT’S IT! IT’S OFFICIAL!! YOU ARE INCREDIBLE! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!! LOOK AT YOU, YOU READER YOU!!! (I’d like to think I said something a little more articulate, but I think I was too excited to do that.)
RAYONIE: Should I take a picture with both of the books?
ME (trying to play it cool and not FREAK OUT that she just initiated the photo herself): Sure!!! That would be fantastic!!!
Here is Rayonie on the 10th book-completion celebration:
ME: “Guys, I have a huge announcement. Rayonie finished not one but two books this weekend!! Isn’t that awesome? Let’s all give her a huge round of applause!!
READING LAB-ERS: (Elated cheering, clapping, and Woo hoo-ing!)
Here is a picture of the 1999 Women’s World Cup Soccer Team the moment they won the World Cup.
This Vanity Fair article, “The War of the Words,” tells the story not only of the recent Amazon vs. Hachette conflict but also of the publishing business, e-books, the Apple collusion case, Goodreads, Kindles, and much more.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about the ascension of e-books (27 percent of book sales in 2013) and what that means for physical books and the imminent “death of print.” This article does a good job, I think, in not casting characters as heroes and villains. After all, traditional New York publishers, backed by media conglomerates, may not the bastions of reading freedom.
It’s a long article, but if you’re interested in the book industry, I think it’s worth it.
Excerpt
“Amazon’s war with publishing giant Hachette over e-book pricing has earned it a black eye in the media, with the likes of Philip Roth, James Patterson, and Stephen Colbert demanding that the online mega-store stand down.”
Source: http://j.mp/1whurTh (via Pocket). You can also find this article at Iserotope Extras, a curated list of my favorite articles about teaching, reading, and technology.
I’m very impressed by the reporting and writing of Nikole Hannah-Jones. In April, she published in ProPublica a major article about the resegregation of Tuscaloosa schools.
