Rediscovering What You Need (And Stealing from the PIRATE)

What do you need? 

This year was surprisingly challenging. Many educators are struggling with behavioral issues that they haven't experienced since their first few years of teaching, if ever at all. We are all still in the recovery phase of the pandemic despite the feeling that we have closed that chapter. 

After spring break, I like to reflect on what I have learned from the current school year. I also plan my summer personal and professional improvement goals. During early April, I typically explore books I want to read, conferences to present at and/or attend, and what I want to do to recharge. This summer, my focus is both student and teacher engagement. 

My colleagues and I limped to the end of this year, and my students still needed support with their executive functioning and soft skills that were negatively impacted during the pandemic. Many of us have been stuck in a rut where we needed help identifying solutions or a way to restart the creative engines. Instead of looking to recreate the wheel, I realized in this reflection that we just needed to reenergize the great work we are already doing. The pandemic challenged us to shift our teaching strategies, create online resources that can be used to personalize the learning experience in ways we had not prior and explore many different technology tools that have enhanced the student experience. We don't need to innovate because we have spent the last few years pushing the envelope forward at incredible speeds. Now, we need time to reflect, rest, and reignite our passion for teaching. Which led me to the seemingly simple question - What do you need? 

I went to my bookshelf with my professional development books, and a familiar book caught my eye. I was surprised I actually had it on my shelf since I bought this book at least four times. People tend to borrow and not return it, which always makes me smile because I know this book has an impact. Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess caught my eye. This book, full of inspiring reminders about finding our passion as educators and bringing our best selves to our students, is always a hit with teachers. My district hosts a teacher summer camp where teachers and administrators host three-hour workshops on various topics. The summer camp I proposed and presented centered around Teach Like a Pirate and sparking the joy in teaching. When I consider my answer to the what do you need question, I know I need to be in a community with others, embrace my enthusiasm, and feel valued.

 

So what is the PIRATE method, and why does it resonate with teachers? 

PIRATE stands for - Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask and Analyze, Transform, and Enthusiasm. These ideas are familiar, but we often need to pay more attention to them or remember to incorporate them into our daily planning and practices. In the last few years, we have been so overwhelmed with teaching and regrouping post-pandemic that, as teachers, we don't give ourselves time to slow down and enjoy time with our students. Relationship building and rapport are what lead to classroom transformation. Being all in on a topic, lesson, or idea begets buy-in and success from our students. That "all in" practice looks different for every teacher and can be achieved by everyone if and when we give ourselves permission to jump into the deep end of joyful learning and flounder around for a moment.

What do we need? We need to give ourselves permission to fail, experiment, and play. Those practices lead to significant learning outcomes and more memorable experiences for our students.  

How can we "unstuck" ourselves? 

Simon Sinek has a fantastic TED talk on discovering our why. Why do we teach? Why do we love working with kids? Why are we passionate about the topics, ideas, and relationships we hold dear? As I was reading tweets and articles he's written, I discovered this video: A QUICK Way to Find Your Why

Instead of always trying to work alone and create meaning independently, it is so powerful to remember that we have a whole team of teachers and friends behind us. As Joyce Landorf Heatherley expresses in her work, we have a balcony full of people cheering us on and wishing for us to succeed. In my workshop, I leaned into the idea that we don't have to define our why. Instead, if we ask our balcony people to state our why for us, we can step outside of ourselves and discover something about our skills and gifts that we cannot see while feeling stuck. Asking our teacher friends to answer our why also sparks a conversation encouraging us to reciprocate and help them see their whys. This intentional conversation revitalizes our energy to rediscover our passions and strengths and encourages collaboration, support, and uplifts others. Fueling those collaborative relationships and conversations improves the culture and climate at school and can fuel a spark into a strong flame of un-stuck teachers. 

Where do we begin? 

Another question that Burgess uses in his book that I love is: "Would you want to be a student in your classroom?" This question makes me pause, and I try to ask myself every week. No, not every day is the most memorable and exciting lesson ever. Sometimes we have to provide direct instruction, and those days can admittedly be a little boring. Instead of muddling through it, we can ask ourselves how we might slightly shift the lesson or learning environment to improve the quality of our students’ experiences. 

We can find ways to engage and connect with them - even if it has nothing to do with the lesson. Those small moments and connections lead to incredible buy-in and foster a strong learning community. Burgess uses what he refers to as hooks as questions to guide teachers into considering what this process might look like in the classroom. I made a form to help teachers with the planning process and lead them to hooks that might work for their individual goals. As we recharge and refocus our compasses this summer, may we start by asking ourselves, “What do I need?” We don't need to redraw the map to great teaching completely. We simply have to adjust the sails and rediscover our wind. Passion and enthusiasm will follow. 

Ask Me What I'm Reading

Perhaps it's because of a new role at school or that after four wonderful, yet physically demanding years, I'm not sustaining human life (pregnant or nursing) - whatever the reason, I finally feel like I have the brain space and mental stamina to read more books than ever. Yes, 2019 has been one of my most literary years on record, and both my heart and my head are grateful for the chance to burrow into the stack of books that have occupied the passenger seat of my car for far too long.

The front seat of my car - always!

Literacy, or being able to read, write, and communicate, is a crucial skill necessary for growth in any academic and social setting. While it is easy to be caught in a cycle of only reading to grade or reading because I am teaching a text, this calendar year has made me rediscover the joy in pursuing the pages of books in several genres and subjects. I must admit that I have been stuck in the spokes of the reading-for-school only cycle for several years. Often feeling overwhelmed with work, grad school, and coaching responsibilities, most of my literary diet has consisted of reading about teen angst or reading work written by angsty teenagers.

As a first-year instructional coach, I sought a deeper understanding of my role and how I can best support my colleagues. Of course, Twitter and other PD experiences have provided great insights and tips regarding my new position, but I wanted more. To find answers, I turned to books by Elena Aguilar and Jim Knight. I began to carve out the time to research, read, and learn every tip, trick, and technique to mold my new position into one that would make the most significant impact on my personal learning community. Throughout this process, I began to increase my efficiency and discovered time pour over pages. While it seems paradoxical that English teachers or busy teachers of any discipline would find time during the school year to read, I can assure you that the impossible is possible. Here's how:

Shouldn't you be reading for class?

Of course! Reading for a class is an arduous task; effective close-reading and searching for every minute detail that one might interpret is time-consuming. Why is the hunting cap red? Besides youthful joy, what does that kite represent? Can we ever reach the green light at the end of the dock? While rereading texts with students, the pearls within the pages are freshly placed at the forefront of my memory, and I am ready to discuss the treasures found within that text. The luxury of being a veteran teacher does allow me to feel more confident with reading in pace with my students. I also feel less guilty about reading more than one text (Or three - there were years when I taught three different novels at the same time). With seasoned experience, I can compartmentalize my reading and learning more effectively. Thus, I can find a few moments to read for myself more regularly during the school year than years prior.

Another way to sneak in some reading is to assign independent books or provide students with the time to read for pleasure. Whether that be during a student-choice unit or a weekly (or even daily) drop-everything-and-read session, we cannot cultivate a love for reading and learning for that matter, if we do not provide students with opportunities to discover reading material they enjoy. The results of more independent reading are an increase in reading comprehension, stamina, and appreciation. Cultivating a love of reading through student-choice was a goal of mine this year, which had a noticeable impact on my students' interest in reading. Before my eyes, students began talking about what they were reading and started swapping book recommendations. That insatiable desire to read is buried in them; sometimes, they need encouragement to discover it. The unexpected by-product of this independent reading was that I, too, had more time to read and fuel my erudite tendencies.

How do you have the time to read (for fun)?

A question that people ask far too often is how on earth do you have the time to read for fun? Yes, I have three small kids and a laundry list of tasks to do. I fall into the same busy trap that we all do; the need to validate our existence with busyness is real, and I am certainly guilty of embracing this cultural practice. Still, my curiosity needs to be satisfied, and reading is a way to feel as though I am crossing something off my list while I embrace stillness and a few soundless moments.

I do not mind having a book in my hand or on the counter while I parent. My daughters will even sit with and ask me to read to them. (Tangent: The other night Willa found a copy of Catching Fire and thought it was the Bible. We read a little as the bedtime story. I did skip a few lines, but her curiosity overcame her, and I was not going to squelch that fire. She's such a Katniss).

To maximize my workout time, I read while on an elliptical. Mental and physical exercise can be done concurrently, although if you are nervous about being vulnerable in front of others do not read bereavement stories at the gym. I cry far too often in public since I actively seek out books that play at the heartstrings. My students, who also work out at the same gym, simply laugh when they see the tears running down my face.

Another strategy has been walking and reading. Pulling a Belle while walking down the hallway, in between class periods, is a great way to sneak in reading time. I have even been tempted to read in the driver's seat of a car, but I have resisted the urge (don't read and drive). Instead of surfing social media, skim through a book that you've meant to read for years. My recommendation, bring the book with you wherever you go; you'd be surprised how much time you have to crack that cover.

But I don't know what to read next? Create a conversation around literature.

On Facebook, I have been trying to post what I'm reading. Inspired by the media specialist at my school to create a conversation around literature, sharing what's on my shelf has helped me discover what friends are reading. Our networks of people will most likely have similar interests in books and seek titles that we are relevant to our lives in some way. The social media echo chamber is real and can be used to our advantage when it comes to literature. More of us are actively reading than we realize. Time is in constant shortage, and if we are fortunate enough to have the time to read, we often lack the time or opportunity to discuss what we're reading. The more we share and discuss books that inspire, motivate, touch, or just make us laugh, the more we can get excited about finding our next literary experience.

Another great place to look is the What's New section of the library. My local library has an impressive curation of recent and trending books that I love to browse. I have discovered several texts that I would never have picked up if it weren't for this section. Searching the New York Times bestseller list and other websites such as Goodreads can help, but I find that having in-person (or digital) conversations with friends have led to some of the best reading recommendations.

Learn unexpected things about familiar topics.

Recently, I have been reading Writers Read Better: 50+ Paired Lessons that Turn Writing Craft Work into Powerful Genre Reading (Nonfiction) by M. Colleen Cruz. In this professional development book, she addresses how reading can help us to learn and write about unexpected aspects of a topic. Reading and writing skills are so interconnected. Interesting speakers are strong readers, too; they have more to discuss and more background knowledge to draw upon when making connections and telling compelling stories. Through reading, students might be able to discover a backstory or uncover a unique fact that makes a topic like thunderstorms, table salt, WW2, or any other topic of interest come to life in a new and captivating way. There is much to discover in a book; take a trip anywhere and to any time that fascinates you.

So what AM I reading? 

The list below is the summer reading completed I completed thus far. If you want to chat about any of these titles, don't hesitate to let me know and feel free to share what books you're reading! I'm always looking to add great titles to my to-read pile. Thanks to all who already have shared what they're reading on social media! I have loved the conversation and am also overwhelmed with how much I have waiting to be read. When we take the time to ask what we're reading, we're really asking is, "What are you learning?" I have loved this summer of scholarship with my learning network of friends and family.

1. Radical Kindness: The Life-Changing Power of Giving and Receiving by Angela Santomero.
2. Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries by Safi Bahcall
3. Parkland Speaks: Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Share Their Stories
4. I'll See You Again by Janice Kaplan
5. One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me to Love the World Instead of Save It by Jena Lee Nardella
6. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
8. Here We Are: 44 Voices Write, Draw, and Speak about Feminism for the Real World
9. Educated:A Memoir by Tara Westover
10. Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love by Heather Demetrios
11. The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel by Heather Morris
12. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
13. Whatever Gets You Through: Twelve Survivors on Life After Sexual Assault edited by Stacey May Fowles and Jen Sookfong Lee
14. Writers Read Better: 50+ Paired Lessons that Turn Writing Craft Work into Powerful Genre Reading (Nonfiction) by M. Colleen Cruz
15. Currently Reading: Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals
    by Rachel Hollis
16. Next Read: Talk to Me: Find the Right Words to Inspire, Encourage, and Get Things Done by Kim Bearden
17. Waiting in the wings (along with about twenty other books): Just Checking: Scenes from the Life of an Obsessive-Compulsive by Emily Colas

Gamfiying Vocab and Diagnosis Meaning

Teaching vocabulary - from old school note cards to using root words to derive meaning, there are many methods that can be used to promote vocabulary acquisition. As a high school student, morphology made sense to me. My sophomore English teacher was passionate about drilling the Latin meanings of prefixes and suffixes, and to this day, I can dissect words to glean understanding. While teaching root words is not as integral to the curriculum that I teach, vocabulary strategies are still at the forefront of helping students improve their reading skills - especially when I am teaching struggling students or English language learners. To help make main ideas and authors' claims more cognizable, students need to have a foundational understanding of how to comprehend the words they read, especially when texts may contain words that they have not encountered before. And in case anyone was wondering - gnos means to know; that root happens to be my favorite.

This summer, I am teaching a group of what I affectionately am referring to as repeat offenders or students who for whatever reason, struggled through freshman English and found themselves sitting in summer school. My goal with these students to help them develop a strong sense of self-efficacy, cultivate essential literacy skills, and show them that learning can be fun. By building into these students as people, showing them grace, and helping them brush up on skills that can apply reading and writing in any context, I hope to empower them and give them the confidence they need to be active learners moving forward. Part of being a successful student in any discipline is understanding the language and being able to decipher meaning from a text.

Students who avoid reading at the high school level often struggle more than they like to admit to reading comprehension. A significant part of that struggle is not being able to access the meaning of the text or the words within it. I find this to be particularly true when reading nonfiction texts in the science and social science disciplines. To combat this issue, one of my focuses this summer is helping students use context clues to make meaning of what we are reading. Yes, students can use their Chromebooks to look up the definition of a word, but even with that resource (which they are reluctant to use in that capacity), they still may struggle with understanding what the author is trying to say. Instead, encouraging students to use context clues to create overall understanding can empower them and give them the confidence they need to succeed.

Using gamification, I have encouraged students to enjoy vocabulary work. To help students prepare for accessing a text, I provide students with sentences that contain vocabulary words underlined. We read the sentence first together as they are projected on the board. Then I have turned to fan favorite formative assessment tools such as Kahoot, Quizlet, GimKit, and Quizziz that challenge students to apply what they have initially understood about the words presented and also shed light on what words they may need to review more thoroughly.

Often, I start with Quizlet to allow students to use the flashcards and individual games to review the words that we are studying for the day first. Note that I typically have used 12 words in any given session, which I find to be an adequate number of words to make the learning experiences interesting while not overloading students with too many words as too many words may limit student retention. After students are exposed to the words, I will start a Quizlet live session, which encourages students to dialogue about the words with each other. Then, we play a quick round of one of the more competitive formative assessment tools to reinforce gained knowledge. I prefer GimKit as it repeats questions, which means more exposure to the words students are attempting to learn. After a session of formative gaming, we have read and annotated these articles together - stopping to talk about the words and their meanings while we read. While this process can be time-consuming, modeling the use of context clues and vocabulary learning to the class can show students the importance of understanding the words they read and empower them to be able to decipher texts based on the clues and content provided to them.

This summer has been an enjoyable experience with students and the gamification of vocabulary words. Witnessing students processing texts and seeking a deeper understanding of words they may not be familiar with has been such a positive experience. These students are so capable of decoding the texts we have been exploring related to cell phone and technology issues, mental health, and healthy lifestyle choices. I am encouraged by their ability to make connections, identify authors' claims, infer, and evaluate what we are reading. My prognosis for student literacy success- take the time to cultivate vocabulary skills. When students can diagnosis definitions and examine a text to find the author's intended message, they are sure to have a healthy sense of reading self-efficacy.

Teaching Reading: Opening the Cover to a World Full of Possibilities

Reading is an activity that many people enjoy later in life. Even my husband as a child would never have considered reading for any reason beyond being forced to for school until he graduated college and started taking a train to work. This sentiment is a common caveat among adults. When speaking with current high school students about whether they choose to read, the response I receive is either a chuckle or an exasperated reply, "With what time?" In the ever increasing treadmill-paced trot that too many of us, adults and youth alike, find ourselves trapped within either because of the current societal expectations or our natural intuition to overcommit, numerous young people (and adults too) often find themselves unable to sit still long enough to engage in this sustained and solitary activity.

Every summer for the past five years, I have had the opportunity to dive into reading with a group of my district's incoming freshmen students. Bright eyed and eager to start school, they often reluctantly come to this particular class because of the preconceived notion that they are enrolled in this class because they did poorly on a placement test, or they simply are not skilled enough to read on their own without support. Their self-efficacy is lower than their peers, and the level of discouragement in their eyes is apparent as they enter the uncharted territories of high school. While the curriculum does require direct instruction with fundamental reading strategies such as summarizing, evaluating, predicting, and inferring, the conversations and connections that can be made during this time to a wide variety of nonfiction and fiction texts provides students with keys that can unlock not only their academic success in their freshman year but also a new perspective on who they are as readers and consumers of diverse literary genres.

This summer, my focus has been placed on the question, "Why do we read?" and "How can we make reading more fun?" The conversations and reflections that my students have generated this year have impressed me immensely. Candidly and honestly, these students have truthful discussed why they do not read and have come to discover that reading is so much more than skimming the pages of the novel they have been assigned in their language arts classes. Reading is a skill, a habit, and a way to communicate with the world. The act of evaluating and deconstructing a text allows us to gain more information that can be used in conversation, to make decisions, and to understand more about ourselves.

Students read much more than they initially recognize. They are constantly latched to their devices like leeches - attempting to devour whatever social media post or notification comes their way. They read online. Even if the articles lack credibility or what many might deem quality content, students (and countless adults) find themselves caught by a catchy title and topics that pique their interest. As our conversations have divulged this summer session into the reasons and motivations for reading, I have attempted to steer our conversation toward nonfiction - toward articles that continue to rouse their curiosity and the types of literature they are far more likely to consume on a regular basis. From sources such as the New York Times Learning Network, Center for Urban Education resource bank from DePaul University, Kelly Gallagher's Article of the Week, Newsela, and Jamestown Reader articles, I have sought to encourage students to recognize what they can learn when they have the patience to search for a text that truly interests, engages, and relates to them. In addition to exposing students to texts, they may naturally encounter online, developing a familiarity with nonfiction reading skills will benefit them in school and on standardized tests. This type of nonfiction reading will also allow them to develop a richer understanding of the world in which they live. While I do love the Abraham Lincoln Books, which are often filled with young adult novels that students often love, I want to encourage my students to access all types of texts. I want them to understand and recognize how much they are consuming online and have resources to which they can turn for credible, high caliber articles if they so choose to explore a particular topic that sparks their curiosity. 

Regardless of age or educational experience, reading has the power to unite us. The more versed in literary content and familiar a person is with the skills required to access knowledge from texts, the more he or she can make informed, educated choices. Reading does not have to necessarily be a top priority or a favorite hobby (a fact I am trying to instill in my students), but it can be viewed as an enjoyable and empowering tool from which a person can gain vast amounts of information from and even an activity a person chooses to do in whatever free time he or she can muster out of life. Will they enjoy everything they read? Absolutely not. Can they gain the confidence and skills to make reading a meaningful part of their daily lives for a variety of purposes? Of course.

My Top 5 Books Read in 2016

Like many teachers, I tend to read for enjoyment a great deal more in the summer than during the school year. The reading of essays, reflections, and other classroom writing is all-consuming and a necessary part of my job. When I do have the opportunity to read during the year, I tend to read young adult novels, particularly from the Abe Lincoln Award Winning List, searching for books to recommend to my reluctant readers. This year, I have found inspiration in a few books that challenged me to think deeply, allowed me to have a cathartic moment, and kept me captivated. My top five books read in 2016 are books that left a lasting impact, and I am thankful for the unique experience each one provided. Here's my fab five of 2016:

1. Two Kisses For Maddy by Matthew Logelin

My favorite genre is memoir. I prefer nonfiction in general, but I also love a quality story. With memoirs, I have the opportunity to get lost in a narrative while also reading something true to life. This memoir, written by Matthew Logelin is one of the most honest books I've read in a long time. Immediately after Matt and Liz Logelin became first-time parents, Liz unexpectedly dies and leaves the author alone to raise his daughter and navigate life without his wife. In this book, Matt retraces his experiences with his wife and takes his daughter on a journey to find peace with his wife's death and honor her life. Emotionally riveting, heart-wrenching, and humorous - this book will a reader cry, curse the world, and inspire all at the same time. When I read this book, I was teaching summer school. I am certain some of my students thought I was more than a little emotionally sensitive because as I read this book, black tears rolled down my face constantly. I make not apologies for the ugly cries that were shed over this remarkable recount. Another great read that was along the same vein was It's Okay to Laugh: (Crying is Cool Too) by Nora McInerny Purmort. Purmort's book is significantly more humorous and focuses on the grander picture of her life, specifically her adolescents, but I did appreciate the two books together and thought their stories complimented each other well.

2. Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg

As I stated earlier, I love nonfiction, and this book had me captivated from the start. After listening to a few Freakonomics and NPR podcasts on productivity, I came across Charles Duhigg and his most recent book. While I had read, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business and thoroughly enjoyed it, I had not researched Duhigg any further. This more recent release examines group interactions and decision making while analyzing what makes companies such as Google and the FBI more productive and ultimately more successful. For anyone as obsessed with Google as I am, this is a must read. Through careful research, Duhigg uncovers how daily decisions lead to innovation and shares it in a compelling, well-crafted book. The pop culture references and real-world examples are thought-provoking and engaging. I loved this read, and I have since applied many key ideas to my coaching philosophy this year.

3. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown

From the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking and deliverer of The Power of Vulnerability this book focuses on our need to belong and fear of taking risks. Brown challenges her readers to examine our own sense of self to understand our emotions, both the positive and negative ones. The ideas within this book are meant to inspire individuals to embrace vulnerability as a powerful tool to allow us to break down personal barriers and reach beyond insecurities to achieve our personal bests. Beautifully written and refreshingly convicting, I loved how this book asked me to reflect on my relationships, how I engage with others and the world around me, and encouraged me to embrace the actions and interactions that make my life meaningful. I definitely recommend this read to introverts, sensitive souls, and people who live life passionately.

4. Orphan Train by Christina Kline

As a historical fiction novel, Kline's book does a beautiful job capturing the perspectives of both a senior woman and a young, troubled teen whose lives parallel each other in unexpected ways. As one of the two main characters, a foster child, finds herself in a bit of trouble, she is assigned to help an older woman clean her house. What she finds as she reluctantly completes her community service is a kindred spirit who also was at one time an orphan who rode a train to find adoptive parents who will love her as opposed to use, oppress, and abuse her. As the older character reveals her painful past, the younger character begins to make connections and find hope in the stories retold that sadly reflect a period of our own history. Griping, descriptive, and moving - I found the two juxtaposing voices to be a powerful reminder that while our experiences may be different, our need for love, compassion, and a place to call home remain the same.

5. Great Teams: 16 Things High-Performing Organizations Do Differently

As a coach of a sizable team, I am always seeking inspiration from experts in the area of group dynamics and athletics to help me further my team's success. Efficiency, expertise, and excellence are important concepts that need to be cultivated; understanding of these concepts is gained through experience and wisdom. This book was a random find at the library but has helped me to reflect upon how to create a cohesive organization, motivate people to work harder, establish individual and group goals, and begin to develop an exit plan (as I look to focus more on raising my children than being the head coach). With many sports analogies, I had to ask my husband countless questions - although, I did find the stories fascinating (I'm extremely into 30 for 30 documentaries - especially One Night In Vegas). While I do not have enough space in my brain to invest too much into sports, I love a great feature story. This book was very laid out and contained several examples of the ideas it addressed. I found it incredibly helpful and highly recommend to a coach of any sport or competitive activity.

In addition to the novels I read, I have been reading to my two and one-year-old daughters. At the end of July, we began recording the books we've read in hopes of hitting 1000 unique books in a year (meaning, even though we have read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom 53 1/2 times, it only counts once). We are on track to meet our goal. Children's books are moving, full of life-lessons, hysterical, and full of beautiful imagery. I have loved taking this adventure with my daughters and am so grateful to our local library for the diverse selection that it has provided for us. My most memorable children's book honorable include:

• Orion and the Dark by Emma Yarlet
• Sidney, Stella, and the Moon also by Emma Yarlet
• The Nowhere Box by Sam Zuppardi
Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
• Max the Brave by Ed Vere
• The Olivia the Pig Series, Scaredy Squirrel Series, and Froggy Series - These books have made my family laugh and have encouraged us to talk about life choices, consequences, and relationships with our girls in positive and surprising ways. 

I have immensely enjoyed this year of reading all different genres and age-leveled books. I cannot wait for what literary adventures have in store for me in 2017. First stop - George Cuoros's The Innovator's Mindset. 

You want me to do what in 45 minutes? (Reading Activities)

I have often been told by observers that I get "a lot accomplished" in a 45-minute class period.  I move quickly, but I tend to establish routines to save time.  Maintaining a fast-paced learning environment keeps students on task, engaged, and makes learning seem a little more fun when they are not watching the clock for the bell.  Within a 1:1 learning environment, keeping a brisk learning pace is even easier.

I organize my learning activities and targets on a daily agenda that is labeled by class day, date, and unit.  Students have access to all agendas from the semester through the current week of class.  Each day when they walk into class and log into Chrome, they can access each agenda (just an example) and begin to prepare for class. Establishing clear routines for logging in saves time.  Students are able to preview learning activities and outcomes, and they are always aware of where we are in the learning process of each unit in our class.  Sometimes, students even log into the agendas before class and come in with the knowledge of what we will be doing that day because they have access to it.  That's always an awesome feeling.

With clear routines, students can accomplish a great deal.  While I do change activities frequently and apply them for a variety of purposes, I have found a few reading strategies with the use of Google Docs can produce great outcomes in a single, 45-minute period.  With clear objectives and familiar practices, students can accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time.

1. Variation on Reading Strategies Handouts:

When asking students to apply reading strategies to a short story, nonfiction article, or part of a larger text, I have traditionally given students a handout to work on independently before we talk about the text.  With Google Drive, that handout (Here's a basic example. So much can be added/changed as needed!) becomes a living document that can be edited by many people.  Now students can authentically work together to share information about a text.  In addition, this information can easily be collected by me via Google Form or directly sharing it with me.  I can enter their documents while they are working and can even project it on the big screen for the class to see.  Students can have chats within the document or they can sit with groups and have conversations while they type together.

Here are a few recommendations to make it easier:

• Have each collaborator write in a different color. This makes it easy to identify who has contributed what. 
• Collect via Google Forms.  This is an organized way to keep all of the same pieces of work in one location.  I like to think of a Google Form like a digital stack of papers.  Make sure that students change their share settings so that ANYONE WITH THE LINK CAN EDIT. 
• Make sure students know the purpose of the activity.  A Google Doc is not a worksheet; it is a "living" document that can be changed, altered, and share with anyone.  
• Find ways for students to bring in outside resources like news articles or YouTube clips to help make real-world connections.  This will encourage students to research, talk about what makes a reliable source, read more, and even reflect outside of class.
• Experiment and play with this type of activity.  Find what works best for the nature of the reading, the class, and the teacher.   Google Docs can provide so many new learning experiences that traditional paper could not.  It is important to capitalize on those opportunities!

2. Reading Jigsaw/Graded Discussion:

When reading about a nonfiction topic, such as a female gender issues in my Senior-Level Media class, a digital jigsaw can challenge students to analyze a current, nonfiction reading while being exposed to several other articles related to a central article.

First students are assigned to small groups.  Then, they are given a hard copy or a digital copy of a short article.  I personally prefer to hand students hard copies of the individual article that they are assigned so that they can annotate it thoroughly, but they can also annotate the article online.  Diigo is a great app that students can use to annotate articles online.  Students can also annotate PDFs in Google Drawing, too, but Diigo is easier.  After completing individual readings of articles, students fill out a shared document that will save important information about other articles.  Individual readings will take about 20-25 minutes, leaving about 15 minutes to have a meaningful (graded or not) discussion about the topic at hand.  This exposes students to several articles, which they will have access to in the future, that can be used for research assignments or as references in the future.

During this particular lesson, I also had students complete a survey using Google Forms to preview their feelings about female stereotypes related to the articles that they read, provided time to complete the readings individually and write responses, and saved time for class discussion.  At the end of the period, students even had time to evaluate whether or not they accomplished the daily learning targets and provide feedback for the lesson.  Again, this is a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time, but it is possible when teaching students routines and using Google Apps purposefully.

Variations on this lesson are also very effective.  What I have used it for is to provide students with several gender issues for a major research paper.  This way, they are exposed to credible sources, have read and talked about several articles, and have these resources saved in their group's jigsaw document (that they also shared with me).

3. Reading Strategy Presentations:

This semester, I have played a lot with reading strategies activities especially during the fiction novel unit with my sophomores.  This year I taught Divergent, and the teaching experience was amazing.  Most students read this novel in three days, and many went on to read the second and third book finishing before the unit (which was 3.5 weeks) was completed.  In order to challenge them, I wanted them to apply reading strategies and then be accountable for their work, which would be shared in front of the whole class before the end of the period.

For this lesson, I chose small groups and assigned a short section of the night's reading.  Then I pushed out a Reading Strategies Presentation Template.  They had approximately 27 minutes to complete the document.  After looking at the agenda for this lesson, students went to file, made a copy of the presentation, and renamed it accordingly.  They then changed the share settings to ANYONE WITH THE LINK CAN EDIT.

Note: I almost always have them use this share setting.  This way it is easy for me to collect the link and make comments on their document as needed.  I can also go into revision history and see who contributed what. The routine of file, make a copy, and share with the group is one that I did coach them through a lot in the first few weeks of class, but now they do not even need to think about it.  They are expert collaborators!  A side note for teachers new to Google Drive - having students share their documents with the teacher is always important.  Even though I might not look at a small activity, having the ability to open up their doc on my computer while their working keeps them accountable, on-task, and gives me the option to assess students informally or formally as needed.

Even before they were done, I went around to each group and made sure they shared their presentations with me.  Using Google Form, I collected their group information, who covered what part of the reading, and was able to sort that information in a spreadsheet that I used later in the period.  Throughout the period, I circulated, helping students to coordinate and divide tasks as well as talk about the novel.  After the work time period was up, students went back to their seats and came up group by group to present their work.  Presentations were brief, with only 15 minutes to get through each group, but students had the experience of demonstrating their own knowledge of the text, applying reading strategies, collaborating with a group, and even presenting their material to the class.  Yes, it was a whirlwind of 45 minutes, and it really would have been nicer to have another five minutes to present, but the learning targets were met.  Students were active, engaged, and were using technology purposefully to accomplish the objective.

Student Examples:

• Example One
• Example Two
• Example Three