it’s days like today that make me thankful i haven’t adopted my orphan child from africa or europe or china yet so that i have to take that child to office supply stores and fight people over penny buys (b/c after spending my money on adopting, i’ll have no money left to spend on school supplies:)

so a huge thanks to all who have shown up to my room to help so far to get the room ready – ya’ll are great (yes, even you “imaginary trey”) – still time for those of you who want to make an A this year to drop by and lift heavy stuff…

and as for the books…

“growing up colt” – by the mccoys (father and son) – great book – read in a day it was that good – you might remember young colt as the starting QB in bama’s championship win at the rose bowl (he was knocked out on like the third play) – i suppose in the midst of hating the opposition:) i didn’t quite catch the full story of who he was – who his dad was – and so their story was amazing – great, great read for my football fans out there (st. k???)

“how lucky can you be” by olney – story of a south dakota coach who was dying of cancer – and knew it – the last two years he coached – good story about what matters in life – like letting the people around you know that you love them (and then sending them on wind sprints up and down the court until they puke:)

“five minutes on monday” – nook book – little odds and ends devotionals – i’ll probably use a few of the lessons this year – one was on paradoxes – that all of the great truths in life are paradoxical – had never thought of it before

“How to develop your child’s creative mind” – by renzulli and reis – found a few good quotes for the classroom about creative kids – i wish i had a few in the classroom

i finished “last hero” too – and read the player bios in my bama media guide – guess those are most of it – hope you all have a wonderful week where you try not to think of the nightmare that awaits you the following week:)

luv,
maf

for those non-football people out there, in addition to weeping for you:) i’ll mention the books first…

“eifelheim” – 06 award winner – probably for adult sci-fi – two stories – one, 1300s in germany where the people are visited by aliens (outer space) and then the black plague – second story a modern one as a cliologist (studies ancient cultures) and a physicist uncover why the village of eifelheim disappeared – forever…

anyway, great book – very complex – or more complex than what i usually read – i consider it the “tough” book of the summer – but i enjoyed the story – the ethics as well that were involved in what had to be decided – and the message of sacrificial love was encouraging

“the last hero” by bryant – about henry aaron – baseball’s home run king – all-time (i don’t count bonds) – aaron grew up in mobile – he played for the braves – i’m about 1/2 through – learning more about a person that i knew little about – so i’m enjoying that

other readings – i read all the transcripts of the sec coaches this week (80 typed pages plus) – the funniest quote of the days for me was les miles – he said he’s instructed his players to “avoid the internet” – yeah, good luck with that…

(i should turn up at the bama-lsu game this year with a picture of the internet to use as tiger bait:)

of course, at this time, everyone, every team, thinks they will win – hope springs eternal – i guess the striking thing to me this year was that little of the questions were about the upcoming season – most were about recruiting, academics, conference matchups, 3-4 defense, nfl strike, miss state billboards in mississippi (they say “we own state” – as in they own the state of mississippi – makes me wonder how many pennies they had to pay for it…)

well, i’ll be in my room this week – st. k and landon b, due to your undying devotion to my blogs, i have media t-shirts to give you next time you drop by school – i also have pink “orange beach” hats if anyone wants one – besides nathan and a fuzzy pink squirrel named climaxx… 🙂

mafeld

well, mother helped:)

from sec media days – maf

okay, first thing is first – all ye library card holders (public library, although what other card you’d have is beyond me…)

just in case you don’t download your music illegally – or you don’t have daddy’s credit card for unlimited use at apple – go to www.northshelbylibrary.org and lick on the free music downloads – you need your card number (the password should be your month and then date of birth – so for me its 0803 – aug 3)

anyway, you get three downloads a week – let me just say that the news crew music will ROCK this year – b/c we’ll be playing all of the great things i’m downloading (i might make my entire crew get cards – so i can download more music – i’m greedy like that…)

okay, with that done, i forgot to mention that i read a football book the week before – two espn guys on radio – “mike and mike” – wasn’t great – i guess that’s why it wasn’t memorable:)

(they did have one point that there’s always one person on your hated rival that you like – i’m still trying to think if there’s ever been auburn player i haven’t hated – although, if cam does bring the program down, he might win:)

“john wesley’s journals” wesley was the founder of the methodist movement – his journals are very lengthy – great firsthand account of england in the 18th century (wesley lived from like 03-92 – so almost the entire century) – his spiritual ups and downs are things i can identify with

“deathly hallows” – cried as harry went to sacrifice himself – particularly that he didn’t say goodbye to ginny in the book as she was beside someone as he walked to his (first) death – sometimes, words aren’t needed – anyway, i liked the movie but there were several differences with the battle in the book – and i liked the book better in those situations – but it’s fine, honestly warner brothers:)

“advanced marathoning” – i knew it all before – or am currently ignoring it:)

“coach: what i learned from a year with landry and lombardi” – the title should’ve been “i’m a crabby old guy and i’m going to write a book complaining about today’s NFL stars” – depressing book – BUT, it read quickly

“mindset” – great book – i need to get it and read it to my students this year – basically, about how we can chose to act like our intelligence is set and there’s nothing we can do about it – or, we can believe that we can always improve – always get smarter – and that our mindset explains everything else (now, i don’t go that far as the author, but i do think i have 90 percent of my sixth graders that believe they’re “smart” and so if they get a bad grade, then they panic b/c they’re worldview is threatened)

any questions anyone needs answered at sec football media days this week??? i’ll be there – can’t wait

mafeld

so i went to destin – survived – almost – or thought i wouldn’t – or something like that when i tried to do so outdoor running saturday and sunday – sunday, it got even better (worse) b/c my water bottle mysteriously disappeared and my hotel key was left in my room – brilliant next 20 minutes of my life as i said my goodbyes to my internal organs…

but…

i got back in – got water – got back to alabama – and all is right in the world (all that for like 10 minutes of beach time – enough time to walk a bit on the beach – and go away – definitely not a beach person – in my defense, it wasn’t my trip – the idea anyway)

books…

“switch” – business book on how to create change – basically, it can be hard to do when people don’t “feel” inclined to change – or it doesn’t make sense to them – or they don’t have a path to follow – i’m sure what i read will come in handy next year in motivating everyone to become like me:)

“my father at 100” by ron reagan – great book – stories about our 40th president – things i didn’t know – even though i’ve read a bunch on reagan – his son is a democrat so that adds some intrigue to the book – or did – good read – again

outside of those two, i just had odds and ends – my sister dropped “deathly hallows” by my house while i was gone – so i’m going to give that a reread in prep for the movie – can’t wait – hope football guys are surviving their “tough, macho” workouts – be sure to project dinner into the proper trash cans (read: not mine) when the running gets tough:)

mafeld

so finished the BOB list books this week – huge relief – of course, what i read isn’t necessarily going to make the list (all of them can’t in the first place – second, my tastes aren’t the tastes of the committee members) but…

“moon over manifest” – finished it – liked it – could tell why newberry honored it – best book of last year though??? mmm…

“the shadow project” – sort of a spy thriller – got really strange in parts – the book starts as a “sprint to the finish” race to save people, then it shifts to a “oooh, there’s a whole back story we need to learn about for, oh, about 100 pages” and then back to the race to the finish – sort of three books in one – but none of them that good

“how lamar’s bad prank won a bubba-sized trophy” – pretty decent read – best part of the book is that it’s a different voice for the kids that will read BOB – most of YA lit authors are white females – or males – a different voice introduces different characters – different things to think about – it’s not a book that BOB kids would pick so i’m pressing to get it on “the list”

“fever crumb” – i really liked this book but i don’t want it, ironically enough, on “the list” – future dystopia type book – so in that vein, similar to “hunger games” – and the central character is female, and she’s strong – best part of the book is that there are really tough choices that have to be made in the book – and most of the characters aren’t completely good – or completely evil – it’s the sort of book you could actually discuss with someone – so i’m hoping to have kids read it outside of BOB (i don’t like it with BOB just b/c i thought some of the issues were too weighty for sixth graders)

“drive” – not a YA book – as my reward for finishing “the list,” i went back to reading what i like – i got a business book to relate to education – to make me a better teacher – and “drive” was wonderful – best part, i learned how to make some cool things on the internet for my class – we’ll definitely be using it in the classroom this year

“odds and ends” – that’s not a title, but having finished “the list” plus one, i’ve been trying to break a bit – so i’m just reading on the old testament (it’s really long – i’m reading psalms and i kings right now) and my weekly magazines – i got a freebie on the nook yesterday that i’ll probably try next

hope your week is a great one – happy 4th

mafeld