I’m sure I’m nowhere near the first teacher to admit that my students love their iPods (or other MP3 players) and smart phones just as much as I do. They love texting, playing games, and looking things like definitions up when I challenge them to a race. They read text messages, internet sites, even entire articles on these gadgets, and yet when I ask them to do the same with a book, they act like I’m sending them to a medieval torture chamber. It’s sad to me that I have to “sell” reading in general, mostly because I grew up with such a love for it thanks to my parents, but I’m game to see what an e-reader might do in my classroom. Of course, I should be realistic. Schools won’t be seeing e-readers anytime in the near future because of price, but the idea is worth pondering nonetheless.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, The ABCs of E-Reading: New Devices Are Changing Habits. People Are Reading More, Even While in a Kayak, is what triggered me to think about this concept. The article highlights preliminary data showing that e-reader users “spend more time than ever with their nose in a book.” (This is the reason my husband is convinced he wants one as well!) In the article, they note that: Read the rest of this entry →