Joe, Meredith, Dawn and Maggie interpreting passages from Medea today in class.

Interesting article on how the Kindle will change education (from Scholastic):

http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752572&print=1

Students will also receive this assignment today:

Blogging Assignment

We will read the following works on the Kindle:  Medea, Antigone, Jane Eyre, A Tale of Two Cities, Hamlet, and Crime and Punishment.  Throughout the duration of the reading, you will be required to write one blog post about your interactions with reading on the Kindle.  Focus on the following:

      Readability:  Does reading this particular work on the Kindle make it more interesting/easy to understand?

      For this particular work, did you use the text-to-speech feature?  How did it work?

      Do you feel as if you are reading more because of Kindle use?

      What do you think of the Kindle version of this particular novel/literary work?

      If you are using your own Kindle, how do you feel about reading books that are required by the school on it?  Does it make you more motivated to read and study them?

Your blog post must be at least one paragraph (6-8 sentences), answer a few or all of the above questions.

Students received their Kindles today.  Mr. Carroll also came in to talk about the importance of taking care of them.  I went through some basic instruction, but students will be required to read the user's guide for homework (due Wednesday).  With the Kindle, students will probably learn most about it by just playing around with it themselves.  We start reading from it (Medea by Euripides) on Wednesday!

Kindles for Humanities 12 Honors

Tomorrow, the students in my Humanities 12 Honors senior class will receive the Kindles they will be using throughout the entire school year.  I thought of this project last May when I purchased my own Kindle.  I always thought, "I'll never use an e-reader-I love my books too much."  Well, that changed.  I decided to buy a Kindle because I wanted instant gratification.  I no longer want to wait until I had a chance to drive to Barnes and Noble to pick up a book.

Overall, the Kindle Touch ($99) was the best choice for me.  I decided not to get the Kindle Fire, because I didn't need all of the other features that it came with-I just wanted to be able to read.  Plus, I felt as if the Kindle Fire would be difficult to read off of (almost like a computer screen), and the Kindle Touch reads like a book.  

One week after I purchased my Kindle (and after I finished reading two books on it), our Principal at Waldwick High School, Kevin Carroll, sent the staff an email notifying us of the WEF (Waldwick Education Foundation) grants.  Each year, the WEF accepts applications for grants, due by July 1st of that school year.  So, after a lot of work at figuring out the logistics of ordering, I wrote the grant and submitted it.  In early August, I found out that we received the grant, and we were able to purchase the Kindles.  We faced a few problems.  After sending in the check, I received a voicemail from my Best Buy rep not to send the check until I spoke with him-apparently, with the release of the new Kindle Fire, the Kindle Touch was on back order. The rep I worked with was able to work magic, and found us the last 20 Kindle Touches that Best Buy carried.  

This past week, we received the Kindles and I downloaded the necessary books the students will need: Medea (Euripides), A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens), Hamlet (Shakespeare), Antigone (Sophocles), and Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte).  Of course I just realized I forgot to download Crime and Punishment, but we won't need that until the spring. It's amazing that all of the novels we needed for this year were free in the Kindle library.  

This blog will highlight the experiences my class has with the Kindles and 21st century learning.