I met a high school principal of a small campus who hailed from the state of Idaho last week when I was speaking at the National Title I conference in Tampa. Under his arm, he carried an iPad. Soon enough, he began to tell me about how he had written all sorts of grants, done fund-raisers, and basically turned his entire school into a 1-1 iPad environment.

“How’s it going?” I asked. He told me he couldn’t be more pleased and then went on to discuss all the positives one might expect. The students just love them. Engagement is up, dedication is up, genuine inquiry based learning is evident in the classrooms. On and on and on.

“What the greatest drawback you’ve run into?” I asked. I always like to hear the negatives, to hear what the obstacles and challenges are for people who try new things.

He didn’t hesitate.

“Fellow principals at neighboring schools,” he told me. “They keep asking me, ‘So, how are all those toys working out?’”

True story.

One remarkable thing I learned from inverting the publishing process and going with the eBook version of Cinder-Smella: A Timeless Tale of Stinky Feet is that a lot of people, once the book was published in digital form, said to me, “I love it… when is it going to be available in print?”

That kind of took me by surprise. First off, the digital version wasn’t some sort of rough draft; it’s a finished, published, real book. (Honest to goodness.) It’s just an eBook, that’s all, but one which could be read on a Kindle, an iPad, a Nook, a Sony eReader, and on and on and on.

Next, this question wasn’t coming from a bunch of “I don’t even know how to operate my television’s remote control” type of folks; this was coming from tech savvy people who are very much peeps I’d considered “wired”.

(Quick test: How do you know if you are wired? If you read blogs on a ning, there’s a good chance you are – even if it doesn’t feel like it.)

Well, this week I broke ground on getting the printed book into shape. Now, producing a print book was always part of the plan and I am really, really excited about how it’s all laying out. But there is a part of me that just got to taste in a very real way how the all-knowing prophets of the future might be screaming from the rooftops, “The sky of the printed book is falling! The sky of the printed book is falling!” But it’s not.

Indeed, eBooks are growing at an exceptional rate… but they still haven’t penetrated 5% of the entire book market. So while times indeed are changing, times also are not.

And so we prepare for the hardcopy. It’s the same animal but then again… it’s not.

I have blogged extensively as to how the iPad changed my perceptions about reading, technology, media consumption, educational opportunities and, well… all kinds of things. I’ve talked about how I was a
skeptic until I held the thing in my hands. And then I bought myself an iPad
within the first 2 weeks it was out and I haven’t looked back since.

As it turns out, the iPad changed my perceptions of being a professional writer as well. (An unexpected insight.) Doing something “different” with my newest book Cinder-Smella thus became
an appealing idea to me once I had written the text.

First, a little history about me as an author. I’ve now published in a variety of ways. I’ve self-published, I’ve published with the big dogs in the industry (Disney, Scholastic, RB Education, Penguin) and I’ve
blogged for two years now (a form of modern-day publishing for sure) at a
fairly voluminous rate.

In essence, after having written Cinder-Smella the opportunity arose for me to invert the traditional publishing paradigm… so I decided to go for it with this book.

I’ll explain.

For hundreds of years books have become manifest through being printed and bound. Nowadays, eBooks offer people the opportunity to not print or bind a physical book but rather publish it in a digital text format.

But in the world of picture books, I saw a clear imbalance between the quality of the final product and user experience. While reading a book like Freakonomics or Pride and Prejudice on a Kindle, Nook,
iPad (or what-not) is somewhat of an apples-to-apples user experience (yes,
they are different but the two reading experiences are somewhat in the same
ballpark) reading a picture book such as Green
Eggs and Ham or Knuffle Bunny in
physical form versus Kindle, Nook, iPad, or so-on, is not an apples-to-apples
experience. Clearly, the printed picture book trumps the eBook experience (in
my opinion).

Of course, nowadays we are seeing an explosion of children’s book apps that allow kids to paint within the book, have the story be read to them via the character’s voice, and interact with the text in all sorts of
enhanced, digital ways. But (again, in my opinion) comparing apps to printed
books is not an apples-to-apples experience either.

(NOTE: I am not weighing in on “which is better”; I am just saying they are not comparable as the user interface differential is too great.)

But what if I crafted Cinder-Smella to be an apples-to-apples picture book experience much like Freakonomics is an apples-to-apples reading experience? This idea intrigued me a lot. 

That’s when I realized that what I was really talking about was writing the first children’s picture book specifically designed for the Kindle.

As it currently stands, e-ink screens are awesome… but they are not all in color and reading a picture book is often a lesser experience on eReading devices. But that’s only because I had not yet seen anyone construct a
picture book with the Kindle (and other eReaders) specifically in mind.

And so, with my publishers at eReadia (a new company formed in the past year that believes – and really gets – the digital reading revolution) we decided to try and break new ground.

Indeed, innovation excites me.

The question became, could we format Cinder-Smella so that grandparents and parents with Kindles and iPads and Nooks and so on could read a picture book with their little ones that didn’t feel like a second rate experience?

Clearly, all writers today are thinking about how eReading is going to impact the way our audiences have access to the works we create. So for me, publishing Cinder-Smella in a
digital format first – and then publishing it in a printed book format second –
struck me as an interesting way to dip my toes in the waters of a quickly
shifting landscape while still working hard to publish and author high quality material.

So yes, Cinder-Smella represents my (perhaps, the) first children’s picture book specifically designed to be a kick-butt reading experience on the Kindle. (Clearly, the iPad offers a reading experience that is downright wicked
– the color Nook, as well – but they are designed to be different machines than
the Kindle.)

So far, the reviews for Cinder-Smella have been great but clearly this project represents a new way of doing things in this new era of publishing. Printed books are coming, but the digital has
arrived first with this title.

And don’t think that I don’t realize that without a printed book, there is a “stigma” attached to the publication. More on the perceptions of printed books versus digital books tomorrow.

I’ve spent a lot of time on the iPad bandwagon this year. I scored one for myself within the first few weeks they were out and have LOVED the thing – and touted the thing – ever since.

My wife even got me a monogrammed iPad sleeve for the holidays. Cool, cool, cool!

But someone else scored me a Kindle as a gift and you know what, I really, really like the thing. A lot! Though I wouldn’t use it to jump online in any fashion (though it has a limited ability to do so) as a “reading only device” it really rocks.

Better for overall reading than the iPad, that’s for sure.
Now this is not a “me fessing up to eat crow” post because if I were to outfit a school and our nation’s students I’d still go with the iPad hands down, but reading books on the Kindle’s e-ink screen has already won me over. I like it, I will use it, and it will find a place in my “bag”.

Of course, I can’t even tell you how many people have told me how their volume of reading has practically tripled since they scored a Kindle as well. I can now see why. Between it’s usability and its portability, the device does gives voracious readers like me a chance to haul around tons of books in a way that up until a few years ago was simply not possible.

In fact, I remember back in my 20′s when I wanted to disappear for a bit, I headed down with a one way ticket to Central America with just a back pack and a lot of baggage. Emotional baggage, for sure. But physical, too. Jeans, t-shirts, shorts, soap, none of those things really weighed me down. But I HAD to carry books with me. I mean I carried like 10-15 of them at a time. Literally. People who saw what I was schlepping thought I was bonkers – clearly, they accounted for 35-50% of my travel weight – but I swear, those books saved me. And when I’d cross into towns with used book stores, I’d swap my Maugham for some Coelho, grab all the Castaneda I could locate, spend evenings with Dostoevsky and Dante and on and on.

Now I think to myself, “If only I had a Kindle then.”

Yes, the printed book will always have a space in my life – this is not an either/or world in which we now live – but the Kindle, the iPad, the color Nook (I don’t own one, but it looks quite intriguing to me, too) well… these devices are changing the manner in which we interact with and access literary content.

However, the question is, if you change the means of interaction, do you also change the content as well? This is still a “yes and no” type of territory for me.

Anyway, for now, yes, I’ve added another gadget to my reading life… and it’s only made me want to read more and more.
Welcome, Kindle.

Here’s a story about how four school districts in California are going to pilot a program that provides iPads to students instead of textbooks.

Of course, I say, “COOL DUDE!”

And trust me, you are going to hear the kids say that as well. And for the kids who get textbooks as opposed to iPads (supposedly chosen at random but I have a feeling it might not be as random as the word random actually connotes) there is gonna be a whole lotta, “DUDE, THAT SUCKS!” in the air as well.

But what is interesting to me is that Houghton Mifflin, the textbook publisher, has “teamed up” with the CA. Dept of Ed. is the one providing the iPads. (Code words decoded: I think this means that HM is actually paying for the goodies since the CDE is flat broke)

This harkens back to the idea that Jim Burke mentioned about how the next iteration of textbooks will come to us through a walled garden approach. Essentially, the textbook companies will provide the technology tools but the district will buy the content – from the textbook publisher… and then students will be owning devices that have “fences around them”. (i.e. walled gardens). so that they can’t go beyond the perimeters as set forth by… you guessed it, the textbook publishers.

Now I haven’t seen how the Houghton Mifflin iPads are going to be configured, but I do hope that someone comes forth to explain whether or not these iPads will be “unrestrained” iPads or if they will merely be iPads characterized by a whole lotta PDFs from Houghton Mifflin’s backlist of previously published academic work.

And will the kids have access to Open Source learning?
And will the kids be able to go to a competitor of Houghton Mifflin’s academic resources if there is, perhaps, a “better” lesson on a subject available over there?

I can tell you that restraining access runs counter to the nature of the web and an iPad that does not allow you to actually tap into all of the possibilities available with an iPad is really not quite the iPad that it is being purported to be.

Got my eye on this one, that’s for sure.

Raise your hand if you know who Jason Calacanis is? If not, you might be missing something. Why? Because this is how Jason puts out Help Wanted ads for jobs.

Mahalo is hiring developers, either out of school or with one to 700 years experience, provided they are hard-working, resilient, resourceful and driven to change the world. If this describes you, send me your resume and a cover letter explaining why you kick ass. If you are lame, weak and want balance and peace in your life, please send your resume and flowery cover letter to Jimmy Wales at jobs@wikia.com.

Now at first glance, a person who remembers what it was like to look for a job in the 20th century might easily dismiss the above as a type of nonsense that could never really be credible, reputable legitimate employment… much less a career.

But we’re not in the 20th century any longer.

Jason Calacanis, the guy doing the hiring, is a tech legend. He co-founded a company called Weblogs in 2003 (and many credit Jason with bringing blogging to the mainstream. BTW, he sold Weblogs for like 30 million smackers… and this was after the tech bubble popped.)

Mahalo is Jason’s “next big thing”. It can somewhat be described as a “human powered search engine”.

Jason has money. Jason has drive. Jason has his eyes set on conquering the world. The above Help Wanted is 100% serious.

In the world in which we now live, so many rules by which we used to play are out the window. Protocol? Unabashed “explain to me why you kick ass” is the attitude that the Young Turks of the web world now seek. Forget diplomacy… they want to know if you think you have the skills and the confidence to stand up and say, “Hell yes, I have the chops. Put me in, Coach!”

Henry David Thoreau once said, “Go forth boldy in the direction of your dreams; live the life you’ve imagined.”

Us teachers, we like Henry David Thoreau. But do we like Jason Calacanis?

What’s the difference between sagacity, chutzpah, braggadocio, over-inflated ego and a go-get ‘em attitude?

Michelle Rhee?
Sir Ken Robinson?
Erin Gruwell?
The rabble-rouser down the hall?

One last interesting thing about Jason Calacanis. (His wiki has some good details.) Jason was involved in a web hoax involving his Twitter postings regarding the iPad just before its launch. In tweets, he claimed to have a “reviewer’s copy” of an iPad – and the web went wild. Hysteria. The iPad never existed but the mainstream media reported it as fact allowing Calacanis to expose the fact checking and verification faults of the modern day mainstream media who published the hoax story of the iPad as true and is always in a perpetual rush to be first as opposed to being right.

Interesting stuff.

My iPad still keeps revealing its potential to me. For example, right now I am on a cross country speaking trip doing PD in Missouri then Georgia… then North Carolina next week. Indeed, it’s been busy busy.

And when you are gonna be on so many airplanes, in so many hotels, in so many places, it’d be nice if you had a few of the following things with you.

• email
• gps system
• internet access wherever you were
• planner/calendar
• notepad
• books, books, books,
• a few movies
• some podcasts
• an immense music library
• magazine articles of interest
• daily newspaper
• my contact list
• a coupla games

Do I need to go on?

My iPad really is incredible. To be able to take so much content with me in one so easy-to-navigate device… well, like I said, the thing still keeps revealing its potential to me.

It’s changed the way I plan and pack for travel. For kids today, this may seem like an “Of course you can do that with it” experience. But for me, who remembers what it was like to have to choose between which content I could and could not take with me on the road, well… it’s is just crazy crazy.

And it even lets me blog, too. Whouldda thunk?

With reading on my iPad, I am really digging it for non-fiction texts because often when I read NF, thoughts bubble up of people with whom I would like to share a thought, idea and so on.

The iPad makes it a one device “bounce over, shoot a quick email, copy and paste passages if I’d like, and then right back to my book” experience.

I love that.( Cause, like I said, when I read NF, I seem to think of other people to whom I’d like to share/connect these ideas to which I am being exposed.)

That’s an unexpected treat for me.

With fiction reading I rarely do that. I am far too immersed in the characters, story, narrative and so on.

NF though is about ideas – and since it taps a different part of my brain, I guess it also taps a different way that I process the information… and want – or do not want – to share it.

More and more ereading and print book reading are becoming apples and oranges.

eReading provides things like video embedded text, hyperlinking, ADD style reading (whereby, I read, check my email, read some more, check a sports score, read some more, buzz in on the news, read some more and so on.)

Print book reading is singular and if I want to multi-task, I need to put my book down.

Fiction doesn’t seem to trigger in me the desire to put my book down to do other things nearly as much as NF does.

Hmm… it’s interesting now that I think about it.

Either way, to remove judgement about either of these two means of reading seems like the best approach to me. One is not necessarily better than the other. (For a skilled reader, that is. For a kid with low literacy skills, learning to concentrate and focus and hold one’s attention for long stretches of time appears very critical to me… I am not willing to throw that skill under the bus for young adults at all! But does it have to be a printed book? Well, it certainly removes the temptation to use the “device” to bounce on over to something else if the device – by that I mean, the book – doesn’t offer any “bounce on over to” function. )

The world is changing right under our eyeballs. Of that there is no doubt.

Summer vacation has started and while I am not at school it doesn’t really yet feel like summer vakay.

But it will. (I am determined to make that happen.)

However, right now it just feels like I have a Monday off… but one where I am looking over my shoulder waiting for someone to say to me, “Back to the Salt Mines, Buster! And this time, we’re doubling the importance of the bubble tests!”

Irrational fears always surface when you are coming down off of such a long bender of bubble test mania, no?

Truth is, it usually takes me a bit to detox. I am still all-too-wrapped-up in the stuff I was wrapped up in for the past 10 months when the truth is, those 10 months are now over and I have 2 months to prepare for the 10 months that will follow (you know, the time when Fall will rear its never-ending, marathon-esque head).

Summer, however, is a time to break out of some patterns, reflect on some of the directions I want to take, grab a bit of more human-like sleep, eat some good food, indulge in some oh-so-awesome family time, and try to regain a sense of balance in life.

Cause when you are a teacher, you lose those. From sleep to diet, stress level to family time, being a teacher takes a lot from a lot of different parts of your life in a lot of different ways.

A good novel always helps as well. I’ve currently got 8 books sitting by my bed, 3 in my iPad, and still it feels as if I don’t have anything to read.

Don’t ya just hate that?

Indeed, I will be writing a new book. (Actually, I am working on two of them at the same time right now… while doing some copyedits on two others and cranking out more BookJams… but such is my professional writing life and this is what I love so I ain’t complaining at all.) And when I look at the schedule ahead, I realize how busy my summer schedule actually is.

But in feeling this “to do” pressure (you know, the kind where you spend a lot of time thinking about all your “to do” lists) I am reminded of something I once heard a cruise ship tour guide tell me. (FYI, yes, I love cruises. Matter of fact, might I propose an ECN ning cruise right now? We can take over an entire boat to the Mediterranean and go visit Greece before it defaults on its loans and gets sealed off and turned into a debtor’s prison. Anyway, the cruise guy said to me…)

“You tourist folks come in on Mondays tense about your dinner reservations and walking around with all your agendas… then by Thursday, you don’t give a damn about anything more minor than our captain hitting icebergs. Happens every time we set sail.”

That’s kind of me right now. I start off summer tense and knotted and in the world of “to do” and then in three weeks I am Mr. Friendly neighbor having impromptu Tuesday night bbq’s.

The school year has a cycle… but so does summer vakay: tension followed by a release of tension.

Let that journey begin!

Not many students of mine can afford an iPad. Matter of fact, I know only one. Her name is B and she just left my class after showing me how she is using it.

Her final words before she left… “I don’t really need notebook paper or pen ever again.”

B, mind you, is a top student. To wit, she built her own flash cards for her AP History class using a free flash card app she downloaded.

Her cards were so stupendous, I think she should think about selling the set online. (She’d made more than 240 of them based on her handwritten class notes – class notes that are, in her estimation, “oh so yesterday” because of how she can manage, arrange, organize, share evolve and connect the content all in one simple device.)

And watching her flip through these cards – they flip the same way the iPad turns pictures (i.e. the note cards have a front and a back and can be organized into sets, colors and so on) it was just mind-blowing to see what the modern-day AP student is already doing with an iPad.

She did her end-of-year report for science class (typed, with graphics, charts and pictures that, of course, the teacher required to be printed meaning that there would be no color and her aspiration to create hyperlinked references was pointless), she had her school organizer, she had things I didn’t even know existed on her tablet-top and she was using them like a kid who had been handling this type of computer technology her whole life.

Assignments, schedules, phone numbers, bookmarked websites, on and on and on and on.

I was just amazed how all-encompassing the iPad was for B already. I mean, she’s only owned the thing for 3 weeks and yet she trusts her entire academic life to the thing.

And mind you, as I said, this is not a run-of-the-mill student. B is an A student. To her, the iPad could be a toy – and it is at times. She readily admits she likes to play some of the games. (NOTE: She kicked my butt in Finger Air Hockey but I wouldda smoked her in checkers if we had time to finish the game.)

The device is not a fad and it’s not a fraud. Matter of fact, I am not sure why we are not already hearing more cries from those of us in academia to “get our students iPads”.

Simply put, they can do more than even I was ready to give them credit for.

B was a more efficient and more capable student with the iPad than she was without it. And she proved that to me.

School, and it’s inability to keep up with B, was the impediment to extended meaningful thinking and not vice versa.

For those of you who are still skeptical, I say find your way to touching an iPad this summer and contemplate the possibilities because it is people like us who are going to bring about the change we need in our schools.

From vanquishing the inane bubble tests to ridding ourselves of sanitized, one-size-fits-all textbooks to liberating our classrooms so that we can genuinely connect kids to one another, connect kids to best practices, and connect kids in a more meaningful way to their own education (and on and on and on) the iPad is genuinely an amazing device.

Skeptical? I was too. But the more I see, the more I believe this is a great classroom tool that, if wielded properly, will work wonders for kids across the nation.

Yes, I am Back on the iPad Bandwagon… and my feeling is that You Should Be, Too!