As a kid, there was nothing more exciting than a trip to our local library with my mom. I'd go in with a plastic grocery bag and 30 minutes to "shop". I would be walking out already reading and the bag full of books would last me a week or two at most. Books followed me everywhere at home (yes, even the bathroom) and my mom used to say that I did not read but that I devoured them, and as a Polish immigrant she was delighted that through books I was learning the English language.
One huge shift that I have noticed in my 8 years of teaching so far is that not many parents take their kids to the library. Most parents work and kids are signed up for all the extra curricular activities, that there is "no time". The only library experience most of my students have is their once a week 45 minute Media class that combines STEM and technology with book checkout time; the majority of my students do not even check out books because they do not know how to look for books, they do not have enough time, or they just do not want to.
With the societal change of the family and work/home dynamic, the idea of making books accessible sounds incredible. If we can not bring the kids to the library, let us bring the library to them!
Right?
In my 3rd grade classroom, students have their book bins full of "shopped" for books from our classroom library that they use daily. Twice a week they have opportunities to read from Epic! or Libby, our two most used reading apps with the district provided iPad's. After looking through LifeWire: Tech for Human's post about Best Free Kindle Book Sites for Kids, I noticed that Amazon seems to have the most options. Thousands of books for free that are easily accessible and navigate well. However, giving students access to Amazon sounds like a risk and I am not sure how that would work. Though if there was a completely separate Amazon Kindle for SCHOOL/STUDENTS app, that would be INCREDIBLE. The readability of books via Amazon is realistic and fun. If students could be provided with a Kindle to read on which has much different lighting than an iPad, I would be all for it!
Books that I previewed/found from sites like freebooksy and eReaderIQ all took me to the Amazon site itself.
Dragons of Lilia via Amazon Kindle
Kayan Goes to Mexico City via Amazon Kindle
Alice in Wonderland via Project Gutenberg
Two Shoes via One Hundred Books
I tried searching book series on the Project Gutenberg site because we teach a Character Studies Book Series Book Clubs units, but none of the options were good fits for a 2024 classroom. The Alice in Wonderland book was readable as a webpage in basic Times New Roman font that you would have to keep scrolling to read. It looked like a long typed up research essay, BUT did offer many of the books I remember reading as a high school student.
All in all, I do believe that how I use and approach e-reading in my classroom might need to shift in the near future. I just need to figure out how to judge if it is helping my students.
How do I measure the success of reading?
Will my student F&P scores show an improvement? Will my students have a stronger love of reading? Will they come in excited to show the really cool book they found last night?
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HI- I also went to the Library weekly with my mother to get books. This is why I love the Library. I see that my students don't go to the library like I did. Some do not even have a library card. That makes me sad. I agree that there needs to be a change but I have a hard time giving up my paper books. I also believe that it is hard to measure success of reading. On the plus side if the students learn to read on a computer screen they will be ready for the ACT or SAT which the test is all on line. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story about your trips to the library. I would do something similar with my mom. I loved going to library because I could have as many books as I wanted for free. As someone who's mom struggled financially, this was really exciting for me. I still love exploring the library! In fact, I just bought a house that is a five minute walk from the library. I am very excited about it!
ReplyDeleteI love exploring E-books too. Every so often, I will look through Epic or Libby to see if there is anything to add to my digital TBR pile. I haven't used Libby with my students but that I something I would like to try. While Epic has some great options, Libby might have a bit more.