A New Direction.....

One of my students doing a scan quiz-using a QR code scan linked to a google form-quiz I set up. These are a quick and easy way to assess students in a fun way.
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My career seems to be taking a turn and I am just going to travel in that new direction for now and see where it takes me. I know in my heart, that integrating technology into my reading and literacy middle school classroom has been life changing for my students. They might not say it, but I can see it. No, they are not always on board. Yes, they have days where they still say, "I don't want to read for an hour". They are middle school aged students,  after all. However, my students engagement has grown exponentially. Technology is the 'key' to open that elusive  door to learning with passion. It not only makes  perfect sense to me, but technology integration has been recognized by those who  are 'in the know',  so to speak. 

"Concurrent with this range of literacy needs, many schools are not engaging students. In addition,
students are less motivated to read in later grades.While these problems may coexist with any of the difficulties cited above, a lack of incentive and engagement also explains why even skilled readers and writers often do not progress in reading and academic achievement in middle and high schools.The proportion of students who are not engaged or motivated by their school experiences grows at every grade level and reaches epidemic proportions in high school." (Reading Next—A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York)

The  plain truth is, I have seen a more present and receptive  group  sitting before me. They are able to work on laptops. They read on ipads using the kindle books application. They go up to my smart board and highlight the main ideas of an informational article I have copied and pasted, for size and content for enhanced understanding, into a Google document. They read and note take and use apps on the ipad like Popplet where they can design their notes  into a pattern, unique to them. This one element helps them  to engage at a higher level.  For me, to see them move from writing one or two words in each Popplet bubble to advancing  and  note taking  with lots of bubbles; a  layout which is almost scientific in it's specific structure and the addition of pictures and  color coded bubbles; and a quest to let  others see their work is mind boggling.