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| Nook Simple Touch by Barnes & Noble |
Thanks to unprecedented giving during the 2010-2011 school year, our middle school teachers will have a new technology available this fall to support the use of literature across the curriculum. Trinity is acquiring a classroom set of "Simple Touch" e-readers from Barnes and Noble. This device, shown at right, was just named the "Editor's Choice" for e-readers by PC Magazine (July, 2011).
I recently tried one of the school's "Simple Touch" devices by reading Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, a title from the 8th Grade's summer reading list. I was surprised at how thin, light, and easy to hold this e-reader is! The Pearl E-Ink display is easy on the eyes, and the infrared powered touchscreen is very responsive. But what pleases me most for our middle school literature program are the reading tools available at the touch of a finger. Press and hold a word on the page, and a menu appears allowing the reader to highlight text, enter a note with an on-screen keyboard, and best of all, to look up the word in the built-in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Being able to check a word quickly and seamlessly allows the reader to hold concentration and stay in the reading "zone." The search feature facilitates individual and classroom study by recalling every place in the book where a word or phrase occurs.
This technology, that helps students remain engaged in a book, fits well with our English Language Arts goal to instill a life-long love of reading.
Trinity Episcopal School might well be the first school on the Island to use this e-reader to deliver part of a middle school curriculum. Our program will by necessity be a hybrid program in the beginning; some great literature for these young readers has not yet become available in electronic format. But make no mistake, this way of reading is the way of the future.
