On Friday I had my first experience with an e-reader in the classroom. During enrichment, we were reading because the class technically finished on Tuesday but they won’t switch to a new enrichment until this coming Monday. As I looked over the top of my book at the sea of children reading, my eyes fell upon something that did not fit in with the rest- a Nook!
One of my students had pulled out her Nook and was deeply entrenched in Pretty Little Liars #4: Unbelievable. I watched her for a few minutes before sitting down next to her and quietly asking if I could see her book. The Nook was awesome. While I don’t think I want an e-reader for my children’s/YA books (because I like to donate them to classroom libraries after reading them), I might like a Nook for my adult reads, magazines, and newspapers. It was pretty cool to play with and the rest of my students were fascinated. My Nook-reader explained how it works to the rest of her class and they loved it.
I had been waiting for an e-reader to pop up in my classroom this year. I was a little worried that if/when it happened, it would cause a disruption. But after students got an explanation, they settled right back into their own books. It was awesome!
Filed under: e-readers | Tagged: e-readers in the classroom, nook |
The Reading Zone 
I have not heard of Nooks before, but I have noticed Amazon Kindles since they show up a lot when I first go to Amazon’s site. I agree with you about books that I would want to donate to my classroom library, but it would be nice with adult reads. Also, I thought it would be especially helpful for extended travel. I have spent a couple of summers in Mexico and I always had so much more peaceful, relaxing time that I could have used reading. The only problem was it was the inverse of my life in the US – plenty of time and not enough books! It would be nice to get a kindle and stock it up with great books if I ever plan on extended travel again.
After I commented I thought of something I had wondered before about e-readers. I don’t like to read books on-line if it takes a little bit for individual pages to focus. I hate waiting after flipping a page. Is this an issue with e-readers? Hopefully the book would be in focus in order to stay in the zone while progressing through the book!
Got a Kindle for Christmas and I love it for my adult books. I’m also learning the perks of highlighting when it comes to professional reads and Book Club books.
I’m eager to see the books that will be available for the iPad. II’ve been waiting for it to come out before I purchased an e-reader. I too think it will be best for my adult reads. I’m especially eager to be able to go on vacation and not have to lug around a heavy pile of books!
I also am waiting to see how the iPad gets into the market. From what I have seen, it looks a lot more visually pleasing as a whole than the Kindle. Haven’t heard of the Nook!
Currently, my school has purchased a class set of Sony Touch E-readers. I am beyond excited to use this in the classroom next year. We are working on how to incorporate this with our students. I like the Sony better than the Kindle because the Sony shows page numbers, has a touch screen, is easier to mark using the handwriting tool for notes and highlightings, does not connect via wi-fi or anything online so kids can’t get online, and the dictionary tool is fabulous. I really cannot wait to get started with this new technology. I wish we had enough for every class to have a set. Hopefully, we will soon.
Looking for the school who purchased sony e-readers.
How did your school purchase the e-readers?
Let me know.
[…] a brighter note, Sarah has a positive report about e-Readers in the classroom, at The Reading Zone. She says: “I had been waiting for an e-reader to pop up in […]