March Book Madness (Plus a Big Announcement)

[00:00:00] Shanna Martin: Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast, where each week we talk about a free use or two of technology that you can use in your classroom. I'm your host, Shannon Martin. I'm a middle school teacher, technology and instructional coach for my district,

[00:00:31] Fuzz Martin: and I'm a producer and husband, Fuzz Martin here to make some racket talking about brackets.

[00:00:37] Shanna Martin: Oh cute. Good job.

[00:00:39] Fuzz Martin: Thank you. Thank you very much.

[00:00:41] Shanna Martin: Ah yes. Episode 2 29.

[00:00:44] Fuzz Martin: 229 episodes. It is

[00:00:46] Shanna Martin: here. And we're in March.

[00:00:49] Fuzz Martin: Feels like it was just episode 29.

[00:00:51] Shanna Martin: And it's madness.

[00:00:53] Fuzz Martin: Madness. It is madness, that's for sure.

[00:00:56] Shanna Martin: So before we get started today Yep. We have a fun little announcement to make. Yes. I dunno if it's super fun,

[00:01:02] Fuzz Martin: but fun, fun,

[00:01:04] Shanna Martin: fun for us.

[00:01:04] Shanna Martin: I mean,

[00:01:04] Fuzz Martin: it's, it's fun because it is. We've been doing this for a while.

[00:01:07] Shanna Martin: We have. And so we decided. That after eight seasons, um, we will be finishing off this year, this school year. So we will go through episode 235.

[00:01:20] Fuzz Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:01:20] Shanna Martin: And then that will be a pause for the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast. So, uh, we're gonna take a little break over the next year because.

[00:01:30] Shanna Martin: Oh my gosh,

[00:01:30] Fuzz Martin: yes. Life is uh, madness.

[00:01:32] Shanna Martin: Yes. Like we have so many fun things with our family going on and our kids are involved in stuff and trying to find the time. As everybody knows, we're always rest for time. And so we love doing the podcast and it does not mean that we won't be podcasting. Right. You might just shift or do something a little different.

[00:01:53] Fuzz Martin: Yep.

[00:01:53] Shanna Martin: Um, 'cause we enjoy our time together. That's right. And we've been doing this since

[00:01:57] Fuzz Martin: 2018. We started. Kitchen countertop in January, 2018, and now we're old. Now we're in a nice, so

[00:02:05] Shanna Martin: old,

[00:02:06] Fuzz Martin: nice, beautiful, uh, studio that I. Spent a bunch of money.

[00:02:11] Shanna Martin: We work on a studio now and we have lots of things going on.

[00:02:14] Shanna Martin: Yeah. And um, also a lot of like nonprofit work and stuff that we do in the community. So we are going to take a break at the end of this year. So we will go through this school year 'cause there's still so many things to talk about. Um, I never run outta stuff to talk about when it comes to tech tools and supporting teachers, but we're just gonna have to take a little break at the end of the season.

[00:02:31] Shanna Martin: That's right. We will go through episode 2 35. So here end of the school year. And then we are gonna. Take pause. Take a break. Take a break, and then maybe do some other things. Any,

[00:02:43] Fuzz Martin: any chance I have to quote Hamilton is,

[00:02:45] Shanna Martin: yes

[00:02:46] Fuzz Martin: a good day for me.

[00:02:47] Shanna Martin: Very much so. Everybody loves the little Hamilton song. Mm-hmm. So anyway,

[00:02:51] Fuzz Martin: number one,

[00:02:53] Shanna Martin: back to March book Madness.

[00:02:57] Shanna Martin: Alright, so March book Madness. Developed. Usually you're like the background guy here.

[00:03:03] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:03:04] Shanna Martin: Developed in 2015.

[00:03:06] Fuzz Martin: Okay.

[00:03:07] Shanna Martin: By two teachers in Ohio.

[00:03:08] Fuzz Martin: Yes. Little Midwest.

[00:03:08] Shanna Martin: Woo.

[00:03:10] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. What's up Midwest.

[00:03:11] Shanna Martin: And they came up with this concept to make bracket style, like reading, like, um, like we are gonna put these books like head-to-head and kids are gonna read 'em and then they're gonna choose which ones are awesome.

[00:03:23] Shanna Martin: And then there's internet surveys and voting brackets and forums and there's all kinds of cool stuff around March book badness. So I pulled some information, some resources on March book Madness. 'cause if you aren't doing it in your classroom, it is such a cool thing to do and they have it set up beautifully for picture books, middle level books, and like preteen books.

[00:03:43] Shanna Martin: So there's different books to set up in your classroom to, to create this like March book Madness. And it creates this great buzz around reading, um, like highlights. Like it's great to get kids reading across the board every grade level. It's a fun competition that's like low pressure.

[00:04:01] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:04:01] Shanna Martin: So if your students like don't like reading or they're struggling readers like this gets them involved in reading.

[00:04:07] Shanna Martin: 'cause you can do it as a whole class. Read aloud. You can do it, you can set it up like there's rules around it, but you can also set it up how whatever fits best for your students at whatever grade level. Um, you can design what works for you, whether it's, um, like you could kind of set up where, like groups read it, like Battle of the Books, or you could set it up this whole class competing against other.

[00:04:26] Shanna Martin: Classes in your school or district. Mm-hmm. You can do it just within your classroom. So, um, it's an easy way to get buy-in for reading with students and it's just a lot of fun. So originally the site, like the OG site was a Weebly site that you can go to and that literally is March book Madness.

[00:04:47] Shanna Martin: M-A-R-C-H-B-O-O-K-M-A-D-N-E-S-S dot weebley, W-E-E-B-L y.com. That's like the OG site. From that site, it will actually link you to the new site. So you can do it either way. The new site is a Google site, so you can imagine it's like Google sites dot view. I mean, I can read the whole thing. It's pretty long.

[00:05:09] Fuzz Martin: You don't need to,

[00:05:09] Shanna Martin: um, but you get the idea. We'll link

[00:05:10] Fuzz Martin: it. But you can also just Google it.

[00:05:12] Shanna Martin: You can Google it or we'll link it in, we'll link it into the podcast notes. But March book Madness 2026. So when you go to the site, it sets it up like first round starts. 7:00 PM Wednesday, March 11th and ends March 17th like it gives you first round, second round, third round.

[00:05:34] Fuzz Martin: Yep.

[00:05:34] Shanna Martin: Championship just like March Madness. The 2026 champions will be announced April 9th. They give you the brackets so you can see the picture books for 2026. If you choose to do picture books, you can do the middle grade books, also bracket available for you, and then also young adult books bracket available for you.

[00:05:58] Shanna Martin: And it will give you, if you keep scrolling down the page, it will give you the list of all of the picture books with a little detail in your author. So you can search those books up. You can find 'em in your library, you can search them everywhere. And you can find the links to them. It will like link it to the different sections.

[00:06:15] Shanna Martin: They also have, within the sites, if you scroll across the top, it'll give you the picture books and it'll give you the covers of them. Because a lot of teachers in my district at least print the covers and then they make giant brackets. Oh yeah. On a bulletin board.

[00:06:29] Fuzz Martin: Sure.

[00:06:30] Shanna Martin: So in our hallway we have the elementary books and then the middle school teachers have their books and then they.

[00:06:37] Shanna Martin: Like put pictures of the book cover so kids are familiar. 'cause we know that like we, it's gotta catch our eye for us to wanna be able to read it. Um, and even if you choose not to do March Book Madness during March, you can set this with all these resources. Mm-hmm. You can set this up in your classroom, however you choose to, and not do the online portion where you can connect with other people.

[00:07:01] Shanna Martin: You can just do it in your classroom. But it's also a great way to find. High level recommended books. Like if you're just looking for books for your classroom to boost student reading and to engage them, it's a great way to find a book list. If you scroll across the top, it'll give you the Hall of Fame, so like the champions and you can go through and that's gonna give you, again, books from past years that are a great way.

[00:07:25] Shanna Martin: Um, like picture book, like the 2024 Hall of Fame. The picture book was the cran the day the Crans Quit. Ground zero from Alan Gratz, which every kid I know loves to read. And then sth, um, also a fantastic book. I have read all of them. Yeah. And they're all great and they're all in my classroom and I teach social studies like they're just great books to have in your classroom and also offer, offer to your students.

[00:07:55] Shanna Martin: So there's just a cool collection of stuff then. One of my favorite parts is, is how the kids can see the participants. So if you click on the participants button, you can see all over the United States, but anybody can participate in this. Um, but all over the United States schools that have registered their school, and you can click on a little map and then sign it with your Google account and your school or library can register.

[00:08:22] Shanna Martin: Around by us. There's tons of libraries that also participate. So if you search Mark March Book Madness Online, you will also see tons of libraries participating, not just schools. And even though a lot of this is focused in the United States, we have friends in Canada.

[00:08:38] Fuzz Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:38] Shanna Martin: And we have friends in other parts of the world that also participate with the March book band.

[00:08:44] Shanna Martin: Just 'cause it's a really cool way to get involved in reading and engaging kids in reading. Um, yeah, it's just a really cool thing. We did not have this, I mean, it started in 2015, like we didn't have this when I was in school. Sure. Didn't, um, because you know, I'm old.

[00:09:01] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. But,

[00:09:01] Shanna Martin: and

[00:09:02] Fuzz Martin: also, yeah, the internet was the one it was

[00:09:04] Shanna Martin: No.

[00:09:05] Shanna Martin: But it's just a cool way to connect kids with books and around the world and as teachers have resources for cool books to put in your classroom. I have often new teachers that I know. Um, or that are coming into teaching. I have like purchased books off the March book Madness List. 'cause I'm like, Hey, these are books that kids really like.

[00:09:26] Shanna Martin: Yeah. And they're already engaged in. So it's a great way to kind of like, gift other teachers books that we know, um, kids really like as, as well.

[00:09:33] Fuzz Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:09:33] Shanna Martin: So, March Book Madness. I highly re recommend testing out or reading about it in your classroom, seeing if your library is involved or if your school is involved.

[00:09:42] Shanna Martin: There's still time, like today is March. Monday, March 2nd. Yep. So there is time to get it set up and everything's done for you. You can also search online March Book Madness and find blank brackets too so you can find, um, blank brackets for setup along with if your kids are really involved in basketball as well, you can bracket the books and basketball at the same time.

[00:10:08] Shanna Martin: Oh,

[00:10:08] Fuzz Martin: okay. Alright.

[00:10:08] Shanna Martin: Which is fun. 'cause then everyone's like

[00:10:11] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:10:11] Shanna Martin: You know, involved in both and then there's lots of. Competition, especially in our middle school,

[00:10:17] Fuzz Martin: we always do, uh, spud, uh, spud madness here at, at the office where we put potatoes up against one another, you know, different

For

[00:10:26] Shanna Martin: real.

[00:10:26] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. I mean like, like, like we'll go like mashed versus french fry versus hash brown versus And the

[00:10:32] Shanna Martin: people vote.

[00:10:33] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. Versus tater tots favorite type of Yeah. Every year and we see who wins.

[00:10:36] Shanna Martin: Okay.

[00:10:37] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:10:37] Shanna Martin: Is there a consistent, like one always wins?

[00:10:39] Fuzz Martin: Uh, I mean, french fries always does really well. Yeah. But doesn't always make it. So,

[00:10:45] Shanna Martin: yeah. Do you then have snacks available?

[00:10:47] Fuzz Martin: I believe we have, yeah.

[00:10:48] Shanna Martin: I feel like you should have a potato party.

[00:10:50] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, I think so. I don't know why the po potatoes, I think it's just a joke in a meeting that,

[00:10:54] Shanna Martin: and then it just started happening.

[00:10:55] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:10:55] Shanna Martin: I love it.

[00:10:56] Fuzz Martin: Yeah,

[00:10:56] Shanna Martin: you can bracket anything.

[00:10:57] Fuzz Martin: You can

[00:10:58] Shanna Martin: books, basketball and

[00:10:59] Fuzz Martin: podcasts,

[00:10:59] Shanna Martin: potatoes. It'll be great. Love it. Another way to get your kids reading, I just wanna highlight too, if you're not already using Epic in your classroom, it is available for teachers for free.

[00:11:11] Shanna Martin: During the school years or school day specifically, and you can sign up how you choose to, um, if you wanna have like a paid account or if you just wanna work with your students. But Epic, get epic.com/educators is a great way to offer reading to your kids online if they have, um. If they have tablets in the classroom or if they have Chromebooks in the classroom, um, you can even throw them up on your smart board mm-hmm.

[00:11:37] Shanna Martin: To do like read alouds with your students. But it's a great way to get kids reading and books at their level and support students in reading. And, um, families can get it too, which I think not every family knows, like you are able to buy like a family. Version of it as well. Sure. And have that available for kids like through the summer if your kids want extra support for reading.

[00:11:58] Shanna Martin: Mm-hmm. So that's just something to think about. So again, we've talked about Epic way back in episode 25 and then episode 50, which is so long ago. Mm-hmm. And there's been tons of upgrades since I've talked about it last. But Epic for reading is a great way to offer reading for kids digitally and all of the like popular books are out there.

[00:12:17] Shanna Martin: It's an easy way to get books in kids' hands. Um, within your classroom and then also at Level Text so that it helps them out a ton with reading at their level and then pushing them and engaging them in their reading.

[00:12:29] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, for sure.

[00:12:30] Shanna Martin: So yes. March Book Madness.

[00:12:33] Fuzz Martin: March Book Madness.

[00:12:34] Shanna Martin: Go read a book.

[00:12:35] Fuzz Martin: Yes.

[00:12:35] Shanna Martin: Or seven.

[00:12:36] Fuzz Martin: Or seven. And also the books. Yeah. The books come out in October every year. So you can get prepped and read all of them. Yep. And

[00:12:42] Shanna Martin: get them in your libraries and things like that.

[00:12:44] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:12:44] Shanna Martin: And be able to find them. And also just get the resources out there.

[00:12:48] Fuzz Martin: And now you have to speed read. But that's okay.

[00:12:50] Shanna Martin: That's okay.

[00:12:50] Shanna Martin: Yeah, there's time.

[00:12:51] Fuzz Martin: There's time.

[00:12:52] Shanna Martin: And especially like the picture books, you can build it. And again, like I said before,

[00:12:55] Fuzz Martin: you could do it anytime.

[00:12:55] Shanna Martin: You could pick and choose, like maybe you're gonna read just the last like pick four and you're gonna like make the bracket a little bit smaller. Like there's different ways to do it.

[00:13:03] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:13:03] Shanna Martin: So that way you can do whatever is manageable for you.

[00:13:05] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:13:06] Shanna Martin: But you have the resources and there's tons of real resources out there to support you. Yeah.

[00:13:10] Fuzz Martin: You could also, um. Get all the class if, like, if you're in elementary school.

[00:13:14] Shanna Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:14] Fuzz Martin: Get all the classes together, like put 'em all in a bracket. Yep.

[00:13:17] Fuzz Martin: And then have 'em read as many books as they can and whoever

[00:13:20] Shanna Martin: Yep.

[00:13:21] Fuzz Martin: Goes head to head for the week or the whatever,

[00:13:23] Shanna Martin: and then have them talk about it. They could stand up in the hallway and shout This book is great because

[00:13:28] Fuzz Martin: Yes, exactly.

[00:13:30] Shanna Martin: You know, because

[00:13:30] Fuzz Martin: it's March because we love shouting in schools

[00:13:32] Shanna Martin: because we need shouting down the hallway even more than normal.

[00:13:35] Fuzz Martin: Uh, yes. I could imagine if that actually happened in your school. School. We're gonna

[00:13:38] Shanna Martin: get through, we're gonna get through the spring break. Then

[00:13:41] Fuzz Martin: somebody, and then somebody was shouting in the hallway

[00:13:42] Shanna Martin: about this great book they were reading, and then I, they got in trouble, but it was about a book. All right, on that note, madness, it's Marsh Book Madness.

[00:13:51] Fuzz Martin: And we're going mad.

[00:13:54] Shanna Martin: Thanks for tuning in. This has been the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast. If you ever have any questions, you can find me on Blue Sky Threads, Facebook, Instagram at smartinwi. And if you wanna get more information on the links to the technology discussing this episode, you can visit smartinwi.com.

[00:14:10] Shanna Martin: If you like to support the show, please consider buying me a coffee or two. Visit. Buy me a coffee.com/ smartinwi or visit smartinwi.com and click on that cute little purple coffee cup. Your donations help keep this show going. New episodes each week. Thanks for listening. Go educate and innovate.

[00:14:26] Fuzz Martin: The ideas and opinions expressed on this podcast and the smart and wi website are those of the authors, Shanna Martin, and not of her employer.

[00:14:33] Fuzz Martin: Prior to using any of the technologies discussed on this podcast, please consult with your employer regulations. This podcast offers no guarantee that these tools will work for you as described, but we hope they do, and we'll talk to you next time here on The Tech Tools for Teachers Podcasts.

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