Shifting Hands-on Stations to Digital Collaboration

My pre-pandemic classroom was a place where students moved freely around, worked with partners or small groups almost daily, and frequently engaged in hands-on activities. Now I'm alone in my classroom, partners and small groups are in virtual breakout rooms, and even when we return in person, hands-on activities will have to be limited.

This summer, in an effort to prepare for these changes, I reenvisioned my skill-based stations for digital use. The manipulatives that students would normally sort and match at the desks can now function similarly on their computer screen.

1. Small Group Lesson

One way to use these stations digitally would be in a small group lesson. Share the link to the Google Slides version of the stations with students in the group and then share the slides on your screen. Students can take turns moving the manipulatives. As a group you can discuss the correct and incorrect moves. What would be one station in person is usually broken up over several slides, so you could also assign students a slide within a station and then review all of the slides for each station together. Don't forget to move the pieces back to the work area before using the slides with the next group.

2. Partner Work With Whole Class Review

Another way to use these stations digitally would be to assign them on Google Classroom so that each students gets their own copy of the slides. Pair students together in breakout rooms and allow them to share their screens to make working together easier. Students can discuss the stations and collaborate on their answers, and are still accountable for completing their own work. After students have had time to work through the stations with their partners, bring the class back together and review the correct answer as a whole class.

3. Independent Work With Peer Review

A third way to use these stations digitally would be to again assign them on Google Classroom so that each students gets their own copy of the slides. Before pairing students off to review, let students first work through the slides independently. After students have completed their work on their own, pair them up in a breakout room to review the assignments. Students will complete a Google Form as they discuss their work and indicate whether their answer were the same or different. If students' answers differ, they will explain the mix up or confusion. They also have the option to indicate that they'd like to review specific stations with the teacher.

You can find all my stations activities, which all include print and digital versions, here.

On My Bookshelf: More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn

The basic plot from Amazon: Growing up under his punk rocker dad’s spotlight, eighteen-year-old Luke Greenly knows fame and wants nothing to do with it. His real love isn’t in front of a crowd, it’s on the page. Hiding his gift and secretly hoarding songs in his bedroom at night, he prefers the anonymous comfort of the locally popular podcast he co-hosts with his outgoing and meddling, far-too-jealousy-inspiringly-happy-with-his-long-term-boyfriend twin brother, Cullen. But that’s not Luke’s only secret. He also has a major un-requited crush on music blogger, Vada Carsewell.

Vada’s got a five year plan: secure a job at the Loud Lizard to learn from local legend (and her mom’s boyfriend) Phil Josephs (check), take over Phil’s music blog (double check), get accepted into Berkeley’s prestigious music journalism program (check, check, check), manage Ann Arbor’s summer concert series and secure a Rolling Stone internship. Luke Greenly is most definitely NOT on the list. So what if his self-deprecating charm and out of this world music knowledge makes her dizzy? Or his brother just released a bootleg recording of Luke singing about some mystery girl on their podcast and she really, really wishes it was her?

In More Than Maybe, Erin Hahn’s swooniest book yet, Luke and Vada must decide how deep their feelings run and what it would mean to give love a try.

Why I liked it: In More Than Maybe narration alternates between Luke and Vada. Luke hosts a podcast talk show with his twin brother,Cullen who happens to be dating his best friend Zach. Students who identify as LGBTQ+ will appreciate seeing a solid relationship. Both young men are out and accepted by those around them. 

Luke is a talented songwriter, vocalist, and pianist, but does not want his talents to take him into the spotlight of stardom. His father was part of a famous group, but Luke has no interest in that life. Vada works at a local music venue and writes music reviews on her blog. 

Both Vada and Luke have liked one another for some time, but have been too shy and nervous to initiate any kind of relationship. Fans of When Dimple Met Rishi will enjoy the banter of equal minds. Readers will cheer when they finally do get together.

Classroom application: Music fans will enjoy all of the song references and the setting of the music scene. There is some mature language, but would be appropriate for upper middle school and up. While it is a romance novel, the romance in it is very PG. Possible topics of discussion would be alcoholism, divorce, the dangers of social media, and the power of copyright.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of More Than Maybe for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

On My Bookshelf: The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui

The basic plot from Amazon: Day in, day out, bombs fall on Daraya, a town outside Damascus, the very spot where the Syrian Civil War began. In the midst of chaos and bloodshed, a group searching for survivors stumbles on a cache of books. They collect the books, then look for more. In a week they have six thousand volumes. In a month, fifteen thousand. A sanctuary is born: a library where the people of Daraya can explore beyond the blockade.

Long a site of peaceful resistance to the Assad regimes, Daraya was under siege for four years. No one entered or left, and international aid was blocked.

In 2015, French-Iranian journalist Delphine Minoui saw a post on Facebook about this secret library and tracked down one of its founders, twenty-three-year-old Ahmad, an aspiring photojournalist himself. Over WhatsApp and Facebook, Minoui learned about the young men who gathered in the library, exchanged ideas, learned English, and imagined how to shape the future, even as bombs fell above. They devoured a marvelous range of books―from American self-help like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People to international bestsellers like The Alchemist, from Arabic poetry by Mahmoud Darwish to Shakespearean plays to stories of war in other times and places, such as the siege of Sarajevo. They also shared photos and stories of their lives before and during the war, planned how to build a democracy, and began to sustain a community in shell-shocked soil.

As these everyday heroes struggle to hold their ground, they become as much an inspiration as the books they read. And in the course of telling their stories, Delphine Minoui makes this far-off, complicated war immediate. In the vein of classic tales of the triumph of the human spirit―like All the Beautiful Forevers, A Long Way Gone, and Reading Lolita in Tehran―The Book Collectors will inspire readers and encourage them to imagine the wider world.

Why I liked it: The Book Collectors is a quick read and transports the reader into a world very different from the one I comfortably live in. Despite the author’s desire to tell the stories of the young men in Syria, the text still felt centered around her and her feelings and concerns. The text also felt detached and distant from the rebels’ struggles, perhaps an effect of the author’s background as a journalist. 

I liked the list of frequently read titles and the rules of the library, one of them being that the name of the owner was inside each book. These rules show the integrity of the group and their respect for others’ property as well as their desire for order in the midst of chaos.

Classroom application: The Book Collectors, with its focus on the conflict in Syria, would be a great read for high school world history or government class. For a middle school fiction read on the same topic, check out Escape from Aleppo by N. H. Senzai. 

The text deals with the themes of the power of knowledge, the ability of learning to liberate, and right to an education. The Book Collectors could connect with the fiction classic Fahrenheit 451 or the newer nonfiction autobiography, I Am Malala. 

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of The Book Collectors for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.