(Image Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

So…

I have realized a fundamental issue that affects English classrooms who are trying to engage their students literature. The cannon is a series of books, which exists in every British Columbian high school’s reading room. The books, give or take, are as follows:

1984

Catcher in the Rye

Catch-22

To Kill A Mocking Bird

Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Lord of the Flies

possibly the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

or Grapes of Wrath

OR, if you are lucky, an Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf or a Bronte

Now. These are all wonderful novels, some more than others. What is the problem with them? Well…they are old. Most of them are written by well-to-do white men of privilege. The additional bonus of Shakespeare is that he wrote in a way that makes it difficult to enjoy for many who read it, let alone engage with.

Age isn’t necessarily a problem. I agree, it is good for students to interact with older texts and those that are considered classics. At the same time, I would argue that it is more important to try and promote reading than attempt to prescribe to them what is considered GOOD reading. It’s harder for students to connect with older texts, plain and simple. On top of that, if you look around most B.C. classrooms, you are dealing with a mosaic of cultures and backgrounds. You are also dealing with young women. There are some great, dead, white, male writers, but that doesn’t mean that their writing speaks to your classroom and the students that make up it. Again, if you are trying to promote the intrinsic joy in reading, trying to get your students to relate to some dude’s ode to the consequences of communism set in a dystopian world, may not be your winning ticket. Again, 1984 is a GREAT novel and a CLASSIC and can exist in the classroom, I just think that there is also room for newer stuff, more diversely written stuff, than just “the canon”, we all love and loath.

So why isn’t new stuff entering the classrooms? Because it sucks? No. That’s the voice of someone who does not wish the admit that things written, sung or created after 1970 have any value. That is an issue in many classrooms, of which I have witnessed first hand. As I always say, we as teachers are suppose to be WITH our students. It’s our jobs to accept their world and to immerse ourselves in it as well. So for the teachers who wish to bring in new literature, what is stopping them? Budget. I have heard this from several of my colleagues. We’d love to bring in new books, but it’s expensive. We don’t have the money for it. Too bad. Open your books to page 134, let’s see what happens to poor Piggy.

I find that very sad, that budget is the reason we deny our students the chance to enjoy reading. There are several ways to deal with restriction. One of them, I believe, is using your budget to invest in E-Readers. If you are dealing with higher income families, put it on the parents to purchase the E-Readers as an investment for their children, having some on stand-by for those who cannot afford them. This can all be done anonymously, so no one is subjected to ridicule or embarrassment.

THE BENEFITS:

 

Access to E-Books – Currently, if we want to purchase a non-digital format book, we have to either go to the bookstore and/or order online. In the case of educators, we always have to order books in, so that we are able to purchase a complete set. With E-Readers the results are automatic, the range of texts you can access via the Amazon website are wide ranging and you can search for books that are sorted by their age appropriateness. There are also hundreds of books that are available for free, including many out-of-print classics on websites like Project Gutenberg. Whispercast is a free tool available through the Amazon website that helps you find appropriate material and manage your texts amongst your different classrooms.

Cost and Accessibility – As mentioned, the Kindles aren’t initially as cheap as books. And yet, even in the short run, I believe they will save us money and allow us to teach from books that are not part of the high school English’s tried and tested canon. While those books are wonderful and there is a plethora of various ways of how to utilize them in the classroom, it would be nice to be able to give our students the possibility of reading more relatable literature, making it easier for them to invest in the world of the story, as well as make it easier for us, as educators, to attempt to promote an intrinsic desire to learn and read. It also gives students an incite into modern writing styles, culture and society. A single Amazon account can share a e-book with up to six devices, which means buying a lot less books. There is also the added benefit of Kindle books either having no cost or being a fraction of the printed version.

Text to Speech Function – As we all know, there are many different types of learners in our classrooms these days, who understand the world and learn in different ways. We, as educators, need to acknowledge this and provide alternative access points to the material that we wish them to explore, be critical of, interact with and, possibly and hopefully, be interested in. The Text to Speech Function with Kindle allows for auditory learners to not only see the text, but hear it, which for them, may mean the difference of trying to decipher jargon and keep up with the rest of the class and understanding, enjoying and participating with classroom discussions of any given text. For ELL students, it also provides the proper use and pronunciation of the words as well.

Adjustable Text Size – After several hours of reading a book, due to the size of the text, eyes can feel strained and tired. The Kindle allows you to adjust the text size, making the text a more suitable and easier size on your eyes.

Share Other Texts – The kindle supports the following file formats:

Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion

There is also the ability to take EPub books and format them into MOBI format to be read on the Kindle. They can also support mp3 as well. This means, I can share different texts, homework assignments and audio documents with my students easily. It saves on printing, is a paperless alternative and keeps their documents organized on a single device.

Definition of Words – While dictionaries are a great support system in the classroom, they are somewhat cumbersome, slow and can sometimes single out a student’s comprehension ability from the rest of the class. The Kindle has a built in dictionary, that allows students to simply click on the word they do not understand and a definition will pop up. This could also be used as an excellent jumping off point to discuss different parts of speech, structure and grammar in a more engaging and less dictative fashion, with the students’ having the ability to explore, learn and discuss these concepts on their own, in groups and with the rest of the classroom.

Anonymity – I like to provide students with time to read in the classroom and circulate, so if they have any questions about they are reading they can ask. And yet, some students are faster readers and it may be a bit disheartening to a slow-reading student to see just how far ahead the other students are around them by seeing how far they are in the books. E-readers eliminate this visual cue and allow for students to feel comfortable reading at their own rates.

Browser – The Kindles come with a simple browser, so that if students or as a class, we want to look something up, we are all able to. It introduces a certain level of equal accessibility and equity to the classroom and also allows for the teacher to monitor what websites our students are looking at during class time. In this case, there would be no reason for a student to bring out a cellphone in class.

Our students shouldn’t have their education stilted by finances, especially if there are ways to go about it where we, as teachers, are able to provide them with suitable, reading promoting resources and texts. It’s an investment, but in the not-too-long run, it pays for itself.