E-Readers and the Weight of Words

April 28 2011 by Jake Frodsham in School Section |No Comments

I was watching a group of children jump out of a school bus yesterday and was taken by the size of some of the backpacks they were lugging on their tiny frames. We’ve commented about this at home as each school year, the number of required books and the size of the books seem to increase. I don’t know how many times my husband has expressed his concern that the kids are actually going to hurt their backs by regularly carrying such a large weight.

Of course, each day, there are numerous articles and blogs written about incorporating technology into our 21^st century classrooms and moving from the traditional brick and mortar, paper and pencil models that for so long have dominated the educational landscape. With this exciting revolution, there is also going to be less of a need for students to actually tote huge texts each day. The Edutopia site has recently posted two very interesting blogs about paperless schools and the movement to transform learning.

At K¹², more and more books are being linked right into the courses online. The students I work with in the Hospital Homebound program love this, as many of them make frequent trips to the hospital and continue to school while they are there. It is very convenient for them to have access to required texts at their fingertips on the computer. As long as they have an internet connection, they have access to materials, interactive class sessions, teachers, and other students.

With the growing number of e-readers hitting the market, it seems like the writing is on the wall. I think it would be appealing to most students to be able to have all the required books for every class in a small, easy-to-read device where they can still make notes and highlight. Combined with new, exciting methods of teaching with technology, and the money school districts stand to save, the shift seems inevitable.

Here in my home state of Florida, Clearwater High School has already announced a movement to e-readers for the coming school year, and the idea is being discussed by many other school boards across the nation.

When my kids are grown and have children of their own, I imagine they are going to relay stories of carrying around backpacks with books for every class the way we tell stories of living with phones attached to the wall with cords, listening to albums, and life without internet. I wonder what other changes will occur that we can’t even envision now….

Gee Sally, I sure would like to carry your Kindle home from school for ya.

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