Hey,

Guess what? It's Friday and I have some news for you. So here it goes...

Whether you like it or not, you are tasked with teaching reading. No matter what subject you teach, your students must be able to interpret text and extract meaning from it. And while understanding the subject matter is important, being able to read to figure stuff out and learn is crucial to the future success of our kids.

Having said that, let me also mention that as a science teacher, I do not teach reading enough. First, I abandoned our chem book. Not because Matt Miller said so, but because it sucks. Second, it is hard to find more than 2 chemistry articles students might actually enjoy reading. Third, I am kind of out of my element. I mean, I've had some PD, but I would not call myself a teaching reading guru.

As I think about it, I am realizing this is precisely the reason I should do it more often. To become better, I must venture out. I must allow myself to stumble and do the scary things that help me grow as a professional. I must teach reading in chemistry. Scary...

So, I have done some article lesson plans. This is what I call doing a pre-reading activity, followed by students actively reading, followed by some sort of a discussion, culminated by an after reading assignment. I was able to find an article or two that students actually got into. Check out How To Use Learning To Stop Michael Phelps' Evil Plan for an article lesson on peeing in public pools. It's a classic and it's got science in it.

But most of the time, my students probably die a little inside or at least throw up in their mouths a bit, when asked to read a piece they just don't give 2 fecal matter units about. At those times, we all could use some help. I'm not saying you should give your students boring stuff to read. By all means, find something more lit if you can! But if the curriculum, or the common core, or whatever the thing you must follow is called where you are, forces you to do it, do it with edji.

Did he just misspell edgy? Is it some urban dictionary term I should be afraid to look up? Is he encouraging me to perform some inappropriate act?

Uhm... No.

Edji is a free web based edtech tool that combines personalized and collaborative reading with making meaning in a fun way. The creators claim that "whether you’re analyzing The Scarlet Letter, labeling the parts of a fish, or identifying important details in a story problem, Edji is the best way to engage students around an idea." So I tried it.

And, I liked it!