DISCLAIMER: This is definitely not an ad for the Kobo. In no way is that product affiliated with me or this blogpost. A few days ago, I was intrigued when I came across one of my student’s blogposts: Ever since I was young, I did not really enjoy reading. Until I got my Kobo that is. A Kobo is a type of eReader. An eReader is an electronic way of reading many different books. Now that I’ve got it, I really enjoy reading. I do not know what it is, it is just that I prefer reading electronically. To me, it’s just more fun. If you have trouble reading maybe you could try using an eReader of some sort. It really helped me! As someone who has taken a little while to understand the value of eReaders myself, I was so curious that one of my own student’s saw it as a literacy lifeline of sorts. I had to interview her. Kim (not her real name) is a 12-year-old grade 7 student at my school. She comes from a suburban, middle-class family. So Kim, when did you get your first eReader? I just got it a couple of months ago. Is it true that, before getting your Kobo, you didn’t consider yourself a reader? Ya, that’s right. Can you explain what you mean? I didn’t enjoy reading. I would do it for school or if someone made me do it, but I would never choose to read just for myself. So what’s changed? I just like the fact that it’s digital. It’s more fun for me. How much, and what, have you been reading since getting it? I read a lot now. I have tonnes of books on it already. I’ve just finished a few series like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Do you think you would have read them before getting your eReader? Probably not. It takes me a long time to read, so I don’t think I would have stuck it out with a book. Really?!? That’s fascinating. So are you reading faster than before? No not really. I just find I worry about it less. Before, I used to think that I was a bad reader because I read slower than everyone else. Is there something about not turning real pages that makes you worry about that less? Ya totally. But I don’t know why [laughs]. Do you like the fact that you can put a bunch of books on your one device? Ya, I love that. I used to have so much trouble carrying books around. And, besides, I just prefer things to be digital and electronic. You also own an iPod Touch, right? Ya. Why didn’t you just use the Kobo app on that? Why is it better on the device? Well, it’s just not the same on the iPod. My eyes hurt when I read it on there. I squint more. It’s also hard to read outside. Plus, I get really distracted with my other apps on it. What are some things you can do on your device that you use? If you don’t know a word or something, you can search what it means while reading it. It helps me understand the book better. I also really like the way it tells me the percentage of how much I’ve read, and time it’s taking me to read, and my behaviour and stuff. I like being able to write notes too. It helps me go back and stay on track with my understanding. So you’re reading more, understanding more, and enjoying the experience more? Exactly.

When’s the last time you acted upon a challenge from a trusted peer to change a normalized part of your practice for the better? Check out my reflections on Carmel’s blog.

One of my students created this visual using her iPod. I love the simplicity of it.

Wow, isn’t this cool? The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 31,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many people to see it. Click here to see the complete report.

Equity is about voice. It’s not about Christmas Trees or Kwanzaa. It’s not about posters with a black girl standing next to a redhead standing next to an ethically ambiguous is-he-Spanish-is-he-Asian-is-he-Middle-Eastern boy. It’s not about which songs play over the public address speakers. Sure, those things can be important too, but more for marketing purposes, or just for manners’ sake. We should never forget that political correctness is more about exercising power than it is about distributing it. Equity is about powerful voices and marginalized voices, and the entire spectrum in between. Equity is fluid, not fixed. It is political. It’s implicit, rarely overt. Equity is about voice.

And check out Amy Jo’s blog here, something I regularly read as a companion to Seth Godin and Simon Sinek’s.

21st Century Learning? Ya, I don’t really know what it means anymore either. But we forget that some people really don’t know what it means. I mish-mashed this video together for those amazing stakeholders you know who have yet to be charmed by Ken Robinson’s accent. Show it at your staff meetings, parent council meetings, and such.