Two weeks until school starts

Today my worst fear has materialized: I will be teaching high school English in a book free classroom. Well, I suppose the veracity of this statement depends on what your definition of a book is. Print books - including library books, bargain bin finds, hand-me-downs from older siblings - are officially out, and iPads - with eBooks, iBooks (what's the difference between these two anyway??), kindle books - are in.

What will this look like? How does one read Paradise Lost, or Beowulf, or My Antonia from a screen? If kids can access a paperback without hassle or expense, why can't they use them? And what on earth am I going to do? I love my books and cannot envision what this classroom is going to look like.  

Keep calm and teach on.

I'm having trouble putting my finger on exactly how I feel right now (anxious, angry, and exasperated come to mind...), so I hope jotting down my thoughts on a regular basis will help me process and understand this experience of teaching in an iPad classroom. Perhaps this will all turn out to be a pleasant surprise - a why did we ever doubt this moment. It makes me think of sitting in my parents' kitchen, insisting that I would not eat a grilled cheese with ham, even though my mother assured me that I would like it. I finally caved (as I always do), and then declared (with an air of incredulity) the tastey morsel to be "surprisingly delicious" after my first bite. I have been known to cling to an idea, only to discover that a previously maligned alternative is actually preferable.

James Surowiecki wrote a piece in last week's New Yorker about Barnes & Noble and the disappointing sales of its Nook division. His last few paragraphs are particularly compelling because he argues that a physical book is actually an "exceptional piece of technology - easy to read, portable, durable, and inexpensive." Surowiecki asserts that the book isn't obsolete, and suggests that the coexistence of eBooks and physical books is a likely outcome. 

I'm tempted to pass out his article - along with this excellent piece on the decline and fall of the English major - at parent night. Both so clearly articulate my deepest held beliefs about what it means to be educated and the absolute necessity of books. Now if I could only get the decision makers at our school to read them.