Search results matching tags 'new news' and 'book recommendations'

Stolen time…

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:54:57 GMT

As it turns out, I can only do ten things well, not eleven. Guess I don’t go to eleven. Oh well.

Anyway – I haven’t been posting on this blog frequently for two simple reasons: first, haven’t wanted to use any of the time in my contractual day with personal technological communications and missives, and second, by the time I get home I want to goof-off. You know, be a responsible wife, mom, writer, and part-time gamer. Sure there are loads of clean laundry in there, too, but have been suspicious about certain odors.

But the thing is, I started this blog as part of my integrated technology instruction for 2st Century Learners. There’s a mouthful. My intent was to use my technological prowess to provide my students a platform for their voices, too, and for the most part, have succeeded. Took a mini-break last year, more like break-down, but am trying to reconnect to these restless digital natives in new and innovative ways.

And it’s not easy.

And I’m even questioning its necessity.

So, a fabulous librarian offered to come to my school and talk to our students, in our classrooms, about new books, and what is being offered at the library.

You should know this: she shared with me that Neil Gaiman hugged her once. He. Hugged. Her. Among a group of well-heeled Gaiman Groupies, she was fresh from working in her garden, a little grimy, and he hugged HER. I immediately jumped up and hugged her, of course!! Forget you, Kevin Bacon. Two degrees of hugging Neil Gaiman works for me. When I shared this with my students, they ran up and hugged ME! It was hilarious! So, Neil, if you felt a little happier yesterday, there was adolescent worship coming your way in the universe.

You’re welcome.

Her personal blog is: http://www.infocreature.blogspot.com/

I think between the two of us, we got a few new converts to reading. I conspired with my students that over the break (which officially begins tomorrow…thank you loving heaven above, because I am wiped out….), if they needed to “escape” for a bit and were sick of playing Call of Duty, they should go to the library. I gave them four creative project choices from How to Be An Explorer of the World by Keri Smith.

My “everyone can be creative” belief may be greatly challenged by the results of my open-ended experiment. What the heck — it is extra credit, after all. There is no standard for “creativity.” Pity–but perhaps not having it tested on a national assessment is the best thing that ever happened to creativity.

Well, before the New Year, where am I now? Where are my young charges? Four months until the state tests of reading and writing for 7th grade, our school needs to meet AYP or something, and none of us know what, will happen. I have been placed in the care and feeding of 7th grade students because so much is riding on their scores, and I am feeling equally unbalanced in my wavering “YES I CAN DO THIS!” and “OH NO!!!!”

But I hugged Neil Gaiman.

Kind of.

If I blog it, they will read…

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:09:09 GMT

I think if I say it publicly, I’ll have to honor the promise to myself to write about reading. Disclosure statement: This is not everything I know about teaching reading, and I don’t know much, paradoxically! My experience is with “average” middle school-aged students, 11 to 15, with a large population of diverse languages, backgrounds, [...]

Books You Should Read:

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:02:09 GMT

Excerpt: Chapter 20: Dying Languages Speaking, writing, and signing are the three ways in which a language lives and breathes. They are the three mediums through which a language is passed on from one generation to the next. If a language is a healthy language, this is happening all the time. Parents pass their language on [...]

Remember to read.

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:46:53 GMT

No matter who you are, your ability to read is so important to making who you are. I have spent hours myself, reading about my burning question of “Why should we read?” and its sister question, “How do we read?” So, why should you? The reasons for reading are as many as there are words on a [...]

Brains and Blackguards! Posthumously Humorous!

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:50:03 GMT

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Graham Smith (and Jane Austen, although without her permission…maybe she’s walking around as a zombie herself right about now…), Quirk Publishers (April 2009) is so completely funny…but not for the faint of heart. Imagine your 12 year old brother got a hold of the classic Austen novel of social class, [...]

Reader’s Bill of Rights, and Batgirl was a librarian?

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:47:02 GMT

Defend your rights as a reader! Whether or not you choose to wear a purple polyester costume and mask is entirely up to you! From: The American Library Association (ALA) Everyone has the right to read. Here’s The Reader’s Bill of Rights to help you make the most of that right: Readers have: The right to not read. The right [...]

Super Circus Freak-y…

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:30:30 GMT

One of my former students LOVED the Cirque du Freak series, long before anyone had taken a bite out of the Twilight apple. If you check out the Dog Ear blog, she gives the trailer a mixed review, stating it gives too much of the plot away. I’ll leave that up to you to decide [...]

Falling Down a Rabbit Hole Near You…

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:13:49 GMT

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax– Of cabbages–and kings– And why the sea is boiling hot– And whether pigs have wings.” Let’s talk about some other things. I read Alice in Wonderland when I was an adult, long after seeing the Disney animated version (though it was first released in 1951, I [...]

You really DO like to read, don’t you?

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:26:56 GMT

Teens read more than they let on. If you believe a scary US report, reading is on the decline. But, says Steven Johnson, it completely fails to consider the amount that we do every day on our computers.

Graphic Novels, Manga, and the New York Times

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:44:09 GMT

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/graphic-books-best-seller-list-july-11/ If you’re looking for some graphic novel/manga recommendations, check out this link from the New York Times newspaper. I am starting the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, and the Batman graphic novels look interesting, too. Authored by blog0rama. Hosted by Edublogs. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fblog0rama.edublogs.org%2F2009%2F07%2F20%2Fgraphic-novels-manga-and-the-new-york-times%2F'; addthis_title = 'Graphic+Novels%2C+Manga%2C+and+the+New+York+Times'; addthis_pub [...]