No Chromebooks? No problem with Plickers!

I had a set of Chromebooks in my classroom for a whole semester. What a lucky gal I was. It was love at first sight and students in my 5 classes used them in their learning 3-4 times s week. Minus off an assessment day in class and that makes almost every day students using technology! What a great anytime, anywhere environment for students to learn Spanish and having the opportunity to connect to all that amazing culture in the world! Looking back on it, I had loads of opportunities to try out new approaches and new apps. 

This past semester I piloted e-portfolios with my AP class and dubbed Socrative as my favorite new formative assessment tool and was able to incorporate more Latinamerican culture into my choice boards which gave students more options during class time and more access to authentic resources! Students were creating and collaborating with Google, sharing and accessing documents quickly.  I added it up in my head, my students were using technology probably 60-90 minutes a week! And they were thriving.
Now that I don't have the Chromebooks this semester, I needed to solve the problem of access. I was able to solve the issue of a low tech/ barely no tech formative assessment option in the classroom. Enter Plickers. Plickers says that it is "a powerfully simple tool that lets teachers collect real-time formative assessment data without the need for student devices" No lie. Plickers uses a set of student cards in conjunction with a smart phone or iPad used by the teacher for quick checks for understanding and to know whether your students are understanding big concepts and mastering key skills. I like simple, and I really needed something now that me and my students were without the laptops. 
Plickers provides you with free cards on their site or you can buy a laminated set on Amazon (very pleased with these!). After setting up the account on my laptop, I downloaded the app on my iPhone and iPad. Setting up my classes is pretty easy as well as the questions for the day. To use Plickers for a quick formative check of the day's material, I passed out the cards to the students and readied myself with my laptop running the program and my iPad with the app and camera ready to scan my students. Here are some screenshots I took of my AP students as we went over a reading activity with AP=level . Yes, look at those smiles! 

As you can see from the screen shot on the left, the correct answer was B and many of the students were answering C and D. After I got done with the Plickers, we all took another look at that problem and we were able to talk about the students' misunderstanding of the problem, refine their understanding and interpretation of the question. 
That's why formative assessment is so important; giving students instant, valuable feedback along the way, pinpointing areas that need readjusting, refining and getting back on track with learning. And that's why I like Plickers: it offers a viable solution to not having technology every day. No Chromebooks? No problem with Plickers!

Who Says you Can't Play Golf with Apples?

What do you do to help your students learn in a climate of optimism and hope? Do you have a successful strategy you can share?

Be flexible. Be flexible. Be flexible. This will help create a classroom shared by both teacher and student. Being flexible does not mean letting students always have their way, or always getting to do what they want. Being flexible means listening to what they have to say, considering their ideas, and weighing their suggestions as you plan and carry out your lesson and activities, rubrics and long-range planning. Students who feel that they are valued and part of all aspects of a class will work harder and care more about you and their learning.

 

I would consider myself to be a thoughtful person, at least that is what others say of me.That's both a positive and a negative in my life. Because being thoughtful means you weigh things, you want lots of input to make a decision and you want to consider everything and everyone who is part of the decision. To put it bluntly, I am not someone who pulls the trigger, goes off on a whim, jumps off the deep end first, throws caution to the wind.  

Even though I may have missed some unplanned and spontaneous moments in my personal life,  being a thoughtful person has been very beneficial in my teaching because I do always consider alternate solutions, look for the middle ground and will always try new things. Like the poster says- Who says you can't play golf with apples? I am always will to listen to why that student did not have a homework, or give him/her time to explain why they were acting a certain way. Maybe there is something I was missing. Because after all my 25 years of teaching I still don't know everything- so why not consider other alternatives and solutions?  I would like to believe that being flexible with my students has led to those many smiles, cares and Facebook friend requests that I get as time marches on. 

Change is difficult. Not changing is fatal.

How does your school adapt to change? What structures does it have in place to encourage staff to try out new ideas and approaches?

This year I am happy to say that my school district is taking a proactive approach to the school year. instead of the customary " We have arranged some workshops and institute days for you. You will love them. Attend them and you will learn so much." That was the first 24 years of my teaching. I would go to these workshops, choose from a set list of presentations. I would sit there, sometimes interested and sometimes not. It was a good day if I took 1 idea or thought away to hopefully use in my classroom. Now in my 25th year of teaching I am happy to say that I see changes happening.

Change can be scary, but it can also be very exciting. With a large turnover of staff at our district level came new administrators and some fresh, current ideas. This new administration decided to base its district goals around the book Embedding Formative Assessment by Dylan Wiliam. the idea of embedding Formative assessment is now the center of many committees around the district and discussion revolves around how can we integrate it more, how can we learn more about it, how can we help students to see how these types of assessment can help them advance their learning and more! I have really loved just focusing on 1 large goal deeply instead of many goals all at the same time with mixed results. In fact, this is the first year in a long time that our upcoming January Institute Day is going to be put on by teachers and students. Many of us are presenting on some of our areas of expertise, and these are circled back to the D. Wiliam book. I am presenting with 3 other teachers who use portfolios as a way for feedback and student self-reflection. Student groups are also presenting- there are clubs showing off their stuff, students talking about their diverse backgrounds and elective classes highlighting some of their semester projects! So many people involved in making this a worthwhile day!

I see new things happening in our district and I am happy about that. I am excited that teachers, staff and students are now part of the planning process and our expertise is being valued and shared with others in the district. The idea of everyone sharing and taking part In a community is being acted upon and not just talked about. 🌟

Thank you Randy!

There are those people that continue to inspire us with their words even after they are gone. Their inspiration words can be found on plaques, posters, walls. We place them on our desks, write them on cards and hang them on walls to remind us to be better than we were yesterday.

Share a TED Talk that you found useful/ interesting/ inspiring, and share why.

Some of my favorite ones are watching the Steve Jobs Stanford 2005 graduation speech, and the John F. Kennedy "We choose to go to the moon" speech at Rice University, 1962. But I would like to write here about the Randy Pausch Last Lecture speech, which is tender, inspirational, sad and funny for me all at the same time.

http://ed.ted.com/on/HFjDhdRz

If you have not seen the clip, Randy tenderly admits that he is dying of pancreatic cancer, makes light of the situation, but also has multiple messages that he would like everyone to hear before he leaves. The thing that always moves me is his openness to his sickness, his reality of the situation, the limited time and the genuine love for helping all humanity with these messages: 

• Take advantage of every day because you never know if it is going to be your last.
• Leave something behind for others to remember you by (not talking something negative here!)
• My favorite: FIND YOUR PASSION AND FOLLOW IT. WHAT FUELS YOU FROM THE INSIDE?
• The things that you leave behind are not important. It is what people think of you after you are gone that is important.

I think I need to put some of these inspirational messages on Sticky Notes around my desk to help me on those tough days. To remind me to be patient and understanding with students and colleagues. To remind me that it is not always how much I did, but instead what I did and with whom. Thank you Randy, for leaving these messages behind for me to remember and grow from!

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast...

What do you intentionally do to make sure you don't let too much time pass without having a caring conversation with all your students?

As soon as I read the prompt for the #reflectiveteacher at +TeachThought  January Blog Challenge, all I could think of was The 59th Street Bridge Song. If you know it, please take a moment to hum it to yourself because it ties in nicely for what I am going to share today. 

1. Slow down, you move too fast.
   You got to make the morning last.
   Just kicking down the cobble stones.
   Looking for fun and feelin' groovy.   

Many of the approaches that we use in the classroom encourage and facilitate opportunities for students and teachers to have caring conversations about performance, behavior, study skills and goals. This "slowing down" or intentional pause in learning lets both teacher and student reflect, discuss and plan for more learning.  I probably love the use of tiered activities/learning stations the most in my language classroom because I am able to off the students a variety of activities which let them work on culture as well as their language skills. Many of the activities that I create include showing work to a teacher or sharing what you learned with me, and that is where I am able to have a moment with the students to talk about all of the great things he/she is doing and ask them to talk to me about their learning as well. A flipped or a modified flipped classroom also always works well and lends itself for teacher to act as facilitator and move about the classroom with the ability to have impromptu conversations with students. 

BUT, if you don't find that your teaching provides you with moments to sit down and talk with students about what they are doing in the class and how they can be better, then you have to either throw out the old method adopt a new approach that will offer you those opportunities or you need to create them yourself! Being able to talk with students, give them feedback orally is so much more effective than writing a note on a paper. I actually don't think students even read what teachers write on papers, do you? Now, we need to do is convince schools to give us smaller class sizes so that we can do more with a smaller group of students!

A Brighter Tomorrow Starts Today!

What changes do you envision in the next ten years?

This past June I blogged about something that I still feel needs to change in the future-the physical learning space of students. I had just attended a Chromebook Institute workshop, learning more and more about how to engage my students with more technology. But actually the thing that piqued my interest more was an area that had a whole bunch of furniture. New age furniture for new age learning. It was very cool. Even though it has been almost 7 months since I attended, I still look around and feel the same.

C'mon, you know the following is true:

ACTIVE LEARNING=PHYSICAL MOVEMENT=INCREASED STUDENT ENGAGEMENT=MORE LEARNING

So why do many areas of our schools still promote seated, arranged, static, cramped and at times robotic learning???

Our physical layouts of classrooms, resource centers, learning commons and offices need to be redefined for the teachers and students as education evolves. For me, it is an essential that our desks and tables and learning spaces should be different if we want to create an environment of student ownership and active learning and professional collaboration. Wouldn't you or your students like to work, design, create and collaborate in these types of spaces with colleagues and classmates?

Images courtesy of Turnstone Office Furniture and Steelcase Office Furniture

Don't you think that this type of environment in your departmental office or learning spaces would get everyone's creative juices flowing more and encourage more thinking, more working together, more creating? Wouldn't the time with collaborative teams or groups be more productive in areas that lend themselves to easier collaboration and sharing of ideas or visions for the future? Me too! If we are changing the ways teachers and students are working and learning, shouldn't we change the physical layouts of our buildings so we can help that process along even more? Me too.

Show Me and I Learn

 

Describe a cross-curricular relationship that surprised you and made you a stronger teacher.

If you are a language teacher you are all about culture. And one part of culture I really like is art. I get to talk about Picasso, Dali, Valazquez, Remedios Varo, El Greco, Kahlo, Rivera, Botero and many others in a year. Exposing students to art not only expands their understanding of the Spanish language but also encourages them to use the language with higher thinking skills for expression of opinions, comparisons, and theorizing. 

Even though all that talk in class is great for students to learn, I know that many students learn better my being active as well. I wanted the students to create their own piece of art as well, and so I teamed up with the Art Department to use some of their supplies and area for students to paint a typical Spanish tile called an "azulejo". Not only were students learning about this type of decorative, geometric tile that comes from the Arabic cultural influence in Spain, but they were designing, creating their own and having fun.

The Art Department generously offered their space, brushes and space so that we could so this. All I did was buy the paint and tiles for the students! Art teachers also stopped by and were encouraging the students and supported them in their new, blossoming art talents and possible careers!

After the Rain

If a young person told you they wanted to become a teacher, what would you tell her/him?

It's the hardest job in the world but the best job in the world! 

It allows your personality to peek out, you have flexibility to be yourself and most often the latitude to do what you need to do within your classes. Although I have never been anything else but a teacher in my career, I have had some part-time jobs here and there throughout the summers. What monotony and numbness to the mind it brings doing the same thing every day! I felt like the walls were closing in on me. In education, my days are busy and full of curve balls, but also full of great conversation about techniques and tips and theory about the craft of teaching. My mind is firing every day on four cylinders; learning, absorbing, watching, noting, adjusting and then starting it all over again!

Teaching is a job that is strenuous yet filled with unexpected rewards, so that always wipes the slate clean for me. Like a good rain that washes everything away and the world is once again clean and fresh and new.  Just today I received this email from a mom as grades for the semester arrived home after final exams!

Hi,

We are so proud of Nadia and how she scored on her final… We are all hoping you teach Spanish 3 next year… Thanks for being such a great teacher and for making Spanish worth studying in Nadia’s eyes..

Warm Regards,
Donna 

This was an unexpected gift- this mom had no idea that I had been running around in the morning planning for active classrooms that would spark student interest and keep them wanting to learn. Small thank you from this mom today is all I need to keep going...I need to remember to pay forward this act of kindness forward to someone else in the hopes that it will help them keep moving forward as well!

Is There an Easy Way?

What is one area of digital learning that you want to improve on in 2015? How are you going to do this?

Yes, another blog prompt that involves technology! If I had to choose one area that I would like to learn more about in terms of digital learning, then I would have to say I would like to find a way that I can get students to reflect on their own learning within a digital environment. I already have the students reflecting on their learning, but I am looking to cut down the amount of paper involved in the process. I am currently playing around with e-portfolios, but that requires me to visit each portfolio. Too many clicks, pages, links for me. I would like something that would come to my inbox instead of me going out to the sites. 

Maybe a Google Form? Maybe a Google Table where students fill in their reflections and I all have to do is go and visit that page? Ideas anyone? Just looking for a way to make a student reflection piece more of a regular process in the class for the students, and also be an easy item to add on to my plate :) It is a work in progress. I like the students, am continuing to reflect on this!         

Successful People Never Reach Goals Alone

How did your initial teacher training prepare you? What would you like Teacher Ed programs to provide now?

I still believe in the power of mentors. They provide a personal contact for new and returning teacher and can be the difference between a great experience or a teacher possibly leaving the profession. I have been a mentor for many teachers and working with them always provides me with opportunities to learn new things and also to re-adjust my focus on doing what's right for the students. I had an amazing mentor many years ago who continued to guide me throughout the years, without pay, unofficially. In fact, some of the best lessons that I learned from him were much later in my teaching career. And that brings me to another points, those lessons that I learned from him were later in my career which means I stayed around the teaching profession because there was a network of support and guidance around me.

Having strong professional programs in place for teachers will help to retain them. And we need teachers. Strong, confident, resourceful teachers. Administrations need to continue to work towards giving team teachers, mentor teachers, grade-level teachers time together during the day to gather, discuss and re-work lesson plans and instruction. They need to work towards more team time during the day and allowing flexibility during institute days and late starts. Just let teachers be, to do what they need to do, to develop relationships with students and each other so that we all stay in school and be the best we can be.    

Teach Different to Prepare Them for Tomorrow

-I wrote the book because I really believe that the revolution in learning, that Ken Robinson and others have called for, will only come about if we open up our learning systems, and make learning a social and engaging act. 

David Price, author of Open

How has education changed since you began teaching?

If you have been reading my blog posts, you have gotten to know me a little bit. So then you know that I love technology. The inclusion of technology into education has been, IMHO, the biggest change to education. I mean, before teachers getting laptops I was taking attendance on slips of paper and clipping them to my door for a hall monitor to pick up. Students were turning in rough draft on pieces of notebook papers. I was making copies on a mimeograph machine and showing movies on a reel to reel projector (and what happened when a student missed that showing?). Students left the building at the end of the school day or summer and were never heard from. Faculty mailboxes were much more packed with papers and reminders. Students actually needed folders and binders for all those handouts. In class, teachers had copious papers for each and every activity. The chalkboard only held so many students for that game or problem (What were the rest of the students doing?) And for a language teacher, not having the time/means to visit another country (even better with students!) for realia and authentic materials meant that your students were not being exposed to as much culture. Thank you technology for arriving and massively changing the way I teach. Because our students are different than 1990. And they need to be taught differently to be successful in their futures :)

Now I carry on conversations with students outside the classroom and can support them in the learning anytime, anywhere. Now I don't have to kill trees. Now students have the Latin-american culture at their fingertips and can chat with people across the globe. Now all my students can be working on that same problem that was on the chalkboard, but 30 students adding to it and collaborating together. Now students who are absent from school are never absent from the learning.

From the ways students and teachers work to the way to the way we all learn and interact together with the rest of the world, technology has and will continue to affect education in many, many positive ways. The only limits are our imagination and ideas!

Optimism is a Happiness Magnet

What are the benefits of connecting with other educators? 

Brings me to a wealth of positive people!

Encouragement to take risks- because others are too!

New ideas that  I can use tomorrow!

Endless supply of support

Fosters the belief of “Yes, I can do this!”

Interesting, new approaches to engage students

Thoughts different from my own to like problems/issues

Serves as a place where I can listen as well as be heard 

How am I going to make sure I do this on a regular basis? 

Make a commitment to be involved in one more thing this year. Participating in productive, positive environments and discovering great ideas or new approaches don't fall right in front of you. You must go out and find them and discover new places, put effort into meeting new people, listen to what others say, take a risk to voice your thoughts and ideas as well. Decide today to take some time to find a professional group to become a part of, volunteer for something that interests you, or find a group that you have always wanted to be a part of but never had time (I know, no one ever has enough time in the world, it's time to make time!) in your community, church, school or cyberspace. Guaranteed along the way you will become a better teacher, person, partner, friend, colleague for having taken the time and effort to do so! I know it did for me!

There's No Place Like Home...

This year I am participating like many other educators in an online campaign where you choose a word that I want to focus on all year long. I pick RESILIENT because it is not something that I am, but something that I aspire to be. I don't feel like I have ever been a particularly easy-going person. I work hard to be better, look for opportunities to redefine myself, become stronger, more accomplished, etc. My father says I have always been like this. It is not always easy for me when things don't go as planned, so I plan to be more resilient!

What challenges have I faced during teaching in 2014 

that had helped me to grow professionally?

An opportunity in my school did not work out as I had planned and prepared for. I knew that I was not the first person in the world to be disappointed by something unexpected. And it was maybe hard to hear because I know that I am not that resilient of a person, not able to bounce back as easily as others. 
How did this experience help me to grow professionally? Because I realized that whatever position I may be in, I am still always a teacher first. I went back to being who I am and not someone that I may never be. Thank you online community for helping me to heal and become a better teacher with your kind words, great classroom ideas, words of wisdom, and helpful hints and resources. The #reflectiveteacher community has shaped me a lot in 2014 and helped me find my groove again! 

Getting out my Microscope...

“We must begin where we are and move forward immediately by starting small and capitalizing on what's at hand.” 
― Mike Schmoker, Results

When studying assessment results, where does your energy and focus lean?

When I look at assessment results, I tend to go small. Maybe because I am a detailed-oriented person, but I like to break them apart into their many small components. Starting small and seeing smaller trends is an approach that I may have developed through the years from what I teach: languages. 

Learning any language is composed of 4 skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Language teachers can look at assessment data to analyze/get feedback on how students are performing in all of those areas. Those assessment results can tell us a lot about where students are needing extra support. That data is also great to share with students because they can see where they are strong and where they may need to also focus more attention. The results always helps student and teacher set new goals for moving forward.

Focusing on those smaller pieces of skill areas is also how our department sets up and enters our assessments and calculates grades for students. So in reflecting on those assessments, I can easily see where more classroom guidance/instruction is needed or if I need to plan more activities built around a certain skill area. Ideally, a language classroom is buzzing with students using all four of these skills daily, but sometimes language teachers can focus a little too much in one area and not include others. This could be a result of the theme or activity being done in class that day or week or even our own personal preferences as teachers. I know that I like to keep my classes very active, so I tend to plan lots of speaking activities, so I need to make sure that my lesson plans are well balanced and have a little bit of each four skills for the students every day!

Updating in Progress...

How many updates do you perform on your computer to keep it running smoothly? Probably every couple of weeks there is something that needs your attention or something that the tech department at school want you to do, some button to hit to update the system and its programs. And don't forget, it is highly recommended that you turn over your laptop to the tech department during the summer so that they can really clean up things and install newer version of programs/apps that keep your teaching day running smooth. Why should teachers be any different than those machines we take care of?

How am I going to update myself professionally and with what resources?

Last year and this year I am trying to read more books related to my teaching. This has been helpful to keep me informed of the latest best practices so that when they make it to our school I have some knowledge of the approach/theory and am much more at ease with incorporating it into my teaching. I never used to do much reading on the craft of teaching until I saw that one of my administrators has quite a nice book shelf full of professional reads and when I would go down to his office to work with him on technology, he would encourage me to check a book out of the "library".  Thank you Chris for being such a great leader and encouraging me to learn and think more about the hot topics in education and how they affect what I do in the classroom every day.

Even though these books are not as entertaining as say, a good murder mystery or the years Pulitzer Prize winner that you just can't put down, professional reads give me great food for thought and keep the core of my teaching (my hard drive) updated and running smooth throughout the year!

Comeback and check out my virtual library that I soon will be adding to my blog, full of things I am reading. This "update" to my blog is a thank you to Tim Jeffries @tjjteacher, a tweep that I met through the TeachThought blog challenges!

We are the Music of Your Life

Being a new teacher is both exciting and exhausting. Every day is a learning experience. But being a mentor to a new teacher is a very rewarding experience and us veteran teachers can learn so much from teachers that are new to the profession as well! What an honor I have again this year to be guiding a fellow language teacher that is returning to the profession after 10 years. She is seasoned, yet eager to learn new things. She is caring, yet always wanting to find better ways to connect with her students.  

What advice can you give a new teacher as to the priority or focus for energy as they begin their careers?

I would say to spend time and focus some of your energy on connecting with parents, teachers and your students. Get to know people in the building, make new friends, work to make connections both in your department, outside your department and outside the school. Making connections is so beneficial on so many levels: leads to better cooperation between home and school, more effort and buy-in from the part of the students and a more connected, enjoyable, "I like coming to class feeling" everyday for everyone. It also offers you multiple resources when you need answers, support, or guidance, or volunteers for class activities.

I thing of the movie Mr. Holland's Opus when one of his past students pays him tribute and states:

There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life.”

Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) – Adult Gertrude Lang (Joanna Gleason) 

I hope that this happens to all of us one day before we leave the field of teaching. What a honor and tribute to occur to all of our dedicated teaching careers!

No Act of Kindness is Ever Wasted

 

Staying positive can be a challenging thing to be at times. Like today, many teachers are back at school after 2 glorious weeks off to decompress, and re-connect with family and friends. It is challenging to come back to the structure and the deadlines and the business of a school day. I feel it, I know that others feel it too. Staying positive today, enjoying my students is what is on my plate today, and not getting mired in the fact that I did not sleep well all night. So, 

How do I stay positive and share/encourage that positivity in my students?

I encourage students to do the same thing that I do: Take baby steps, celebrate small victories and be good cheerleaders to yourselves and to others. I like to start off or end my class where students say a kind word to one another: it could be something that they did that day, or something about them, their clothes, or their attitude that day. I try and encourage kind words that I believe will lead to more positive attitudes towards one another. I believe that small little acts of kindness add up to larger, overall kinder hearts and positive attitudes to oneself and to one another. As teachers, we need to remember to be a good modeler: be kind to yourself, give yourself a pat on the back, and find the silver lining in situations. Your attitude is what the students see as well! 

 

The Important Thing is to Not Stop Questioning. -Einstein

I am here early in the morning seeing a fine dust of snow over everything outside the house. Winter has finally come to the area. It is gentle and quiet outside and it has started to snow even more, a great opportunity for me to get outside and snap some amateur pics. It was still dark outside- the world was calling me to come outside and be a part of the 
show. As Oliver the cat looked on from the front door, I took some pics of the front garden with the flash, and there are a couple that I like. Working on developing my picture taking skills in the new year.

And so, on to developing my other life: What is one area of my learning and teaching I want to develop this year?

I would like to develop my questioning techniques to my students, especially the younger ones. I think I ask good questions that require them to think deeper than just a yes/no or rote answer, but what happens when students don't want to put in the effort to answer it? What kinds of follow-up questions do you ask? How can you come at the question once more in a different sort of way, rephrasing it to get students to try once again and not just say "I don't know."? Maybe the issue for me is that I just don't know enough good questions to ask, or have enough options to dip into. So looking around the Internet I found this that I think will help me a bit to refresh about questioning and getting students to show learning. I especially liked this page that provided me with some nice refresher ideas connected with Blooms! . In fact, I think it would be an even better idea if I threw some of these on the whiteboard in my classroom, so that when I am teaching I have a quick go-to reference! Thank you Michele Paule – ReCAP Oxford Brookes 

Thinking/Learning	Type of Question
Knowledge/Comprehension	What happened when…? What are the main points…? Why did…?
Application	Think of alternative word… Can you use the word in a different context…? Can you think of another example that shows…? Does the same idea apply to…?
Analysis	What effect is achieved by…? Why do you think the author chose to…? Does this fit in with a pattern…? Why do you agree/disagree with…? What is suggested…How…?

Synthesis	Where else can you see this…? Create your own version of… Change the features/audience etc
Evaluation	What do you think of…? Which is the most effective…? Do you think this works well…? What are the weakest/strongest aspects of…?

If anyone reading this blog has any other resources for questioning techniques, I would love a recommendation or pass-along. Thank you in advance!