KICKRS (Kindles Inspiring Creativity and Knowledge in Rural

Schools)
Describe your project.
Purchase Kindles, covers, and downloads for at least 12 units. With the
Kindle, when you purchase a book you can download the title on up to six separate
devices. This would be like getting six books for the price of one. Each Kindle can
hold up to 3500 books, so I could add 3500 books to my collection on a device that
takes up less space than the average paperback.
The Kindles would be cataloged as AV Equipment and the Kindles books
would be cataloged as eBooks with a notation of which Kindle they were
downloaded to. The Kindles will be available for checkout to all students after the
student and a parent/guardian have read, signed and returned a permissions and
acceptable use form for the Kindle. Just like a student is responsible for the
replacement cost of a lost or damaged book, so too would the student be
responsible for the replacement or repair cost of the Kindle.

Describe your school/organization and the students who will participate.

Include pertinent student information, numbers of students in project,
demographics, socioeconomic characteristics etc.
Jeff Davis High School is located in Hazlehurst, GA in the rural farmlands of
South Georgia. We have 709 students 9-12.

Describe how your project meets these criteria: *Is original, pioneering or
innovative *Connects to the culture of your community *Will enrich
academically the lives of participants *Demonstrates local support
*If Kindles were made available for student checkout at JDHS, JDHS would be
the only location in the surrounding area to offer this service. Not even our public
library has embraced the concept of eBooks and eReaders.
* Even though we are a rural community our students crave the same
technology that any American high school student craves: iPods, iPads, iPhones,
android devices, gaming systems, etc. While a few students may have their own or
have access to a family member’s device, the possibility of most of our students
using much less owning one of these devices is merely a fleeting thought that is
short lived with the excitement of Christmas or a birthday.
* The instant availability of up-to-date content for student research and
curiosity. When students come to the media center to research specific topics
assigned in the academic classroom we may not always have print material that is
both relevant and current. With the Kindle, we can easily, quickly, and cost
effectively acquires the information needed by the student. The Kindle offers a
search function for the reader to search within the content of the book much like
conducting a Boolean search within Google. The Kindle allows the reader to make
notes while reading just like writing in the margins. If a student comes across a
word they don’t know or recognize the Kindle has a built-in dictionary that allows
the reader to instantly look up the meaning of the word without interrupting the
reading process. The Kindle also adds a wow factor to reading that we hope will
bolster the love of reading in our less than enthusiastic readers.
Describe what will be produced from this project that can be
disseminated. (Examples: student products such as journals, DVD, power
point, etc.)
We hope that the introduction of the Kindles may kick-start a student led
book club that meets once a month during the afterschool program. Based on the
interest in the book club we may need to purchase additional Kindles that can be
reserved for use by book club members.

Describe your plan to implement the project, including timelines and

specific projects.
The Kindle is very user friendly and easy to register/setup. If we receive this
grant the first step would be setting up an Amazon account for Jeff Davis High Media
Center to order and register the Kindles. We keep current student and teacher
“want lists” so we would be sure to begin our eBook collection with titles from these
lists. Kindles and eBooks would be cataloged and ready for checkout on the first
day of the 2011-2012 school year.

Complete the BUDGET FORM. Indicate if you are applying for 1-3 years.
Describe in the box below any additional information you may want to
supply regarding the budget.

12 - Kindle (Wi-Fi, 6”); $140/each; necessary to access Kindle books

12 - Kindle Lighted Covers, Steel Blue; $60/each; to protect against
breakage
12 - 2 yr extended warranty; $30/each; in case of breakage or failure
700 - Kindle book download; average of $10/each

How will you evaluate this project? Describe the indicators of

effectiveness you will use, such as numbers of students involved, new
skills participants will acquire, audiences impacted by the student work,
benefit to the community, benefit to students, etc.
The effectiveness of this project should show in our circulation statistics. In
one month, March 14 - April 14, checkouts by high school students totaled 117. All
of these checkouts came from 54 students. Our high school students are not
reading like they should and we hope that the WOW factor of the Kindles will head
in the right direction to correct this issue.