alright,
so hoping this sunday morning finds you all well…

“good girls revolt” by povich – great example of a misidentified book – it’s found in the “business” section of the north shelby library – but it’s a story of the women who sued newsweek for sexism in the 1970s – so it’s really non-fiction – if anything, historical – not “business” at all – particularly when those books are 90 percent of the team targed to white guys who rule companies – of course, this book is written in part to change that – 40 years later, and still not much changed…

“the symptoms of my insanity” by raf – another misidentified book – it was under “children’s fiction” – i’d definitely go “teens and YA” – and probably go “YA” all the way to upper high school – but that said, it’s a great, positive book for upper high school girls – the voice of the main character is true – and her doubts and insecurities are what i would guess girls that age go through – the hazing part the guys go through is definitely true – and, as an added bonus, the musical “oklahoma” was performed!!! 🙂

happy reading – i’m ticked at billy right now b/c he hasn’t reported on our fantasy baseball teams – if he makes us late to post our teams, he’ll never pass my class… 🙂

maf

yes, wait for it… the return of the blogs!!!

yippee – fourth quarter time – it’s our time – it’s winning time – to quote bama’s strength coach that appears on the jumbotron to start the quarter:)

i hope all had a wonderful spring break – it looks i read more than i did…

“pilgrim theology” by horton – this book was what slowed my pace the previous week – thick – heavy – but a really encouraging read – obviously things i learned that i didn’t know – the encouragement was much of it was review of things i’ve been told since i was your age – one interesting note i found was the author pointed out that there are two current strains of thought in society – those that say we can reason our way to anything – and those that say we can’t know anything at all for certain

“twerp” by goldblatt – oh, i was excited when i was invited to read this one – it comes out in may – and it’s really good – i’m sure a bazillion people will compare it to wednesday wars – and do it in a good way – but this book adds some complexity that WW doesn’t have – and all through the eyes of a sixth grade boy – and for our class, it’s worth noting that it’s a highly perceptive, very gifted little sixth grade boy – read the book in a day – and i’ll be curious to get feedback when my kiddos read it

“the future” by al gore – in short, the future is dark – we’re not taking great proactive steps right now as a country to lead and solve some of the long-standing problems we have – in the environment, in banking, in democracy, in aging, in science – in a about six areas – gore outlined the problems with much thought and had interesting solutions – but on the scale of dark to light, dark book…

“teaching advanced learners in the general education classroom” by smutney and von fremd – i think this book’s title basically describes what i do:) anyway, it’s good to read books about teaching when i’m not teaching – otherwise, the students (yes, i’m talking to you anna) just make me too mad to keep reading about teaching – so this was a good break book and i have some ideas to try for the fourth nine weeks – which is what it’s all about

maf

i know, you’re green with envy…

“theory of everything” by luna – i’m curious for my kids to read it and let me know what you think – for an old man teacher:) it reads well enough – i couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t in the teen section – it might be considered “too innocent” for that age – but i’ve got plenty of high school girls that fit that category so i think the book reads well for 7th-11th grade – again, maybe more for girls just b/c guys like to read about themselves – anyway, the basic plot is a girl who sees pandas and thinks they relate to her father’s leaving so many years ago – and her quest to figure out what’s real – the title relates to string theory – physics term – not music:)

and that’s it – i’d write more but i’m on the disabled list right now with a right hand that doesn’t want to work (b/c i sliced three fingers off at the county dump yesterday – oh, the fun with microwaves)

stay safe,
mafeld

figured i’d give an extra credit boost to those of you that read before monday’s final:)

“intentional walk” by raines – book on the faith and the story of the st. louis cardinals 2012 season – it fits the “Christian testimony” genre, if there is one, but the book went well into what you would expect – it greatly encouraged me, and i’m sure my baseball/softball kids would enjoy reading about professional athletes that intentionally try to make their walk match their talk

“see to play” by dr. peters – durham eye doctor’s lifetime work of theory and exercises for the eyes – how the eyes affect play – how you can train your eyes to help your performance – he recommends starting early – i would think, again, my baseball and softball – not to mention those of you that have sports coming in the fall – would gain from getting the book and doing the exercises – i think the theory stuff at the front is a bit beyond you, but you’d enjoy the results behind 10 minutes of practice every day

“the redsox years” by francona – tito was manager of the barons when dad and i first had season tickets – he was a great, great manager – he was here when jordan played his one year of baseball – i enjoyed reading his story – and what happened with the redsox during his reign – lots of lessons can be learned – just from tito, like as a teacher, how you manage personalities in a classroom – how you get everyone on the same page – how you get the king of dinosaurs and the queen of waffles to quit eating chicken in the clubhouse during games (this was a problem with the pitchers in 2011)

happy test week
maf

so we have a week left before finals – which means one week left of journals…

“kings of the road” new book about road running in the 1970s – i ran saturday in tuscaloosa and felt nothing like the main characters because i was way, way back in the pack – great book that wove the story of three US runners in the 1970s – and how they helped create the running boom that exists even today – great stories as well of how a strong work ethic can overcome quite a bit in the sport of running – and the amateur ties the book addresses are things that college football is currently having to figure out (see johnny football)

“the ghost runner” by bill jones – British runner commits one “crime” as an amateur in the 1950s and spend the rest of his life paying for it – amazing story of a guy that often ran without a number – without the proper okay – again, issues with amateur running are things that college football is currently trying to figure out (how much money can you make off someone before you owe it to them to share) – so i enjoyed the book

“steve scott: the miler” – so a triffecta of running books this week – strange how that works sometimes – i’m balancing with a baseball book this week:) anyway, scott was a talented miler in the early ’80s-’90s – good description of that time period – that culture – scott’s story of how running affected his marriage was revealing – and brave of him to include

hope we all celebrated seuss day yesterday in proper fashion – as i mentioned at the top, i was on the road running – with sister – nearly froze:)

sincerely,
mafeld