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Airing Out the Old Canon with E-Readers

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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Kindle_Paperwhite_WiFi.jpg

(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.

 

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Activism in the Classroom – Is It Appropriate?

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While a lot of my time is lost wandering aimlessly through the digital bowels of Facebook, this article sparked my attention:

http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11863

First off, I think this is great. A website called “A Mighty Girl”? I am already sold. The gender divide still exists and the combination of the adjective “mighty” with “girl” sounds both empowering and downright boss.  This list of “Guardians of the Planet”, acknowledging these wonderful people who achieved and continue to achieve so much, reminds us of the power, we as individuals, have. These women had/have very different backgrounds, faced/still face different challenges and barricades of gender, race and religion, were/are interested in different problems in their communities or in the greater planet and have worked/are working on different solutions to them. They all brought attention to these issues, gained massive following and support and have made the world a better place by their past and continued actions.

Wow, right? Sounds pretty good.

Our students are future activists.

So what does that mean? Should we plant the idea in their heads that the world is a horrible place, on the brink of a dystopian chaos and that it is up to them to save it, one protest/angry letter/novel about the upheaval of the whole system at a time? Sounds very “Kill the Beast” doesn’t it?

In my humble, humble opinion how our students feel about the world and what they will do for it is entirely up to them. I don’t think anything needs to ever be planted in our students’ heads. I don’t think we need or should coax them to do or think anything. But, we can get them to think ABOUT things. We can ask them questions. They can ask questions. We can have dialogues. Before any dialogue, I provide my students with an opportunity to find information about the subject we will be discussing as scaffolding (support). I also provide several different forms of information from different mediums with differing opinions and biases, to show the range of what other people think about the specific topic. This is all take it or leave it information, meaning that my students can either consider it or not. Prior to all of this and something that I don’t want to get into too much detail now, but with my class, we explore the concepts of unfounded and well-founded information, what goes into differentiating the two and the different mediums they are presented in. Different mediums also give give different learners something to connect to. There is no golden rule to define the legitimacy or worth of the presented information. All is up for debate, all can be questioned many different ways. “Why is this unfounded?” and away we go into another dialogue. I can also be wrong. I can also not know something. It’s a powerful thing to be wrong and/or not know something as a teacher. Another topic for another blog.

As a classroom community, we create a safe forum for questions and discussions by making sure that all voices are heard and are engaged with. Dialogue allows students to further engage in real-to-life critical thinking. And for some, this type of thinking is the start to something bigger. Every activist has that critical eye and has decided to take the next step. I want my students to be empowered by this ability to be critical and having the freedom to decide what to do with their opinions and that there are places, forums and spaces to do so in freely.

In a Utopian classroom a dialogue would jump into full swing by a simple prompt, with the teacher there to simply further prompt and facilitate. And that generally doesn’t just happen OR it does and it becomes a discussion with only a few students in the classroom, the students who are the loudest and most vocal with their opinions. In my classroom, which is still a work in progress, and is only possessively referred to as “my classroom” to evade saying the lengthy “in the classroom I am teaching in”…. in my classroom I break the class into small groups, so that the discussions are more intimate and the quieter students have the opportunity to feel heard. I circulate around the classroom, engaging with the groups, to make sure that everyone is allowed to speak and that the students are on task. Sometimes I will present them with different bits of information that they will have to dissect and present to the class. Each group is given the opportunity to teach the class about their topic, give their thoughts on it and take the lead, facilitating further, full class discussions.

We also do community projects as a class. Again, that isn’t telling my students that it’s their job to fix the world. In fact, I don’t know why that sentiment is still echoed. Until you are dead, whatever responsibilities are the next generation are yours as well. Community projects are, at their most basic, an involved presentation of something, making them aware of a place, a person, an issue and/or an organization in their community that they may have never known about or considered before and how, if they choose, they can get involved with it.

Am I promoting activism in the classroom? I wouldn’t call it that. I am promoting exploration, curiosity, critical thinking and empowerment. My students are promoting it as well in their school and daily lives. And there aren’t always answers, black and whites, yeses or nos. There are spectrums, unknowns, differing angles and Catch-22s. My students backgrounds, who they are, feed this and are fed by this. We all continue to grow. We are all teachers and learners, in and out of academia. It’s a team effort. Am I aware that these ingredients are the recipe for future rebels with causes? Yup. And that’s okay as well. They are also the ingredients for positive global citizens and are just great practical skills that are needed for the many spheres of being my students are currently in and will be apart of later in their lives.

It is important to me that I continue to work on integrating dialogue into my classroom. I want to entice young thinkers to open their minds, not brainwash them with what I think is right and wrong. I want them to entice and surprise me. And they do. My students are too smart, too aware and too well schooled in the art of school to provide my talking head with nothing more than a doe-eyed gaze, the bare minimum of something like engagement. Blah, blah, blah to them. Jump hoops, get marks. No curiosity, just call and response. And it’s a LOT MORE WORK to approach teaching like that. So I don’t. And it seems to work out wonderful. And like that list, activism works in different ways and at different levels. In that sense, all my students are activists already, changing, expanding and engaging with problems on personal and global scales.

What do you think? Activism in the classroom? More? Less?