so school ended this week – YEAH!!! now, i am free to read what i want to and free to write what i want to…

“marathon” – remind me not to speak to this guy in chicago this fall – i reread the book – which i got in 09 in chicago – had forgotten most of it – what i liked? the pope running the marathon what i didn’t like? the book’s central premise that we had to marry off our sweet 30 tv anchorwoman before it was too late – she certainly did need a man to make her life complete…

“oceana” – who knew i would grow up to read a book on oceans by the lead character of “cheers” – a show that i had to go to bed before it came on (and then hear my parents laugh for the next 30 minutes) – anyway, scary book about what overfishing does to the world’s seas – hopeful though – and lots of pretty pictures of fish and coral

“insurgent” – started it – don’t want to finish it – again, i forget why don’t want to continue reading some series – this was one of them – it’s like twilight in that it strikes that odd combo of “ooh, we’re on the edge of death and the world is against us” and “ooh, i want to kiss you sooooooo much”

grrr….

i’m not going to finish this book any time soon – but i will finish – then, i’m moving back to the safe world of non-fiction – and never reading another teen fiction book again…

happy summer!!!

maf

no promises that i won’t big league you if i see you there (i’m just that important:)

last week was finals, but i somehow snuck in a book or two (i’m just that good:)

“the total tragedy of a girl named hamlet” – i wanted to like this book – it just didn’t work out – i rooted for the wrong guy in the book (the good guy for the girl was apparently the won that just boldly kissed her and made her “feel it” – the quiet one that was her friend??? yeah, he’s out in the dark now…)

“mystic bat” – again, i pulled hard for the book – i lost – even a book about baseball – it was just that kind of week

the kids and i have an origami e-book now to keep us company – “origami x” by robinson – all the way through until the summer – i think the book is designed for smaller kids, but even bigger ones can too be flummoxed by how poorly they play with paper:)

i’m off to start crying some more tears about the students that will be leaving me – and those that left so long ago…

maf

happy finals week – remember, sixth grade – no more blogging for grades – i mean it – don’t even try – i won’t approve them… 🙂

“fire in the ashes” – a former teacher, current teacher advocate, wrote about the kids he wrote about for years – in other words, after spending years working with young kids and now 20-ish years down the road, how did those kids turn out??? it was a fascinating read from my POV because basically, there was no way to tell who was going to succeed, who would fail – a lot was based on how the kids responded and what they were asked to respond to – very good reminder that a “success” story isn’t always college an a billion dollar job – it’s a kid that grows up to be a man and treat others with respect

“the yearling” – i didn’t think i had read the book and i always feel bad assigning books that i haven’t read so i went back and committed to it – and then discovered a few paragraphs in that i had read the book – probably in my childhood b/c i could remember a few things but not all 400 pages – as a summary, it was good – it didn’t win the newbery, it won the pulitzer in ’38 – so an adult award for its writing – the dialect is classic – the backwoods south the writer captures doesn’t exist any more – so that’s cool to experience – when you read a book like that, you realize how similar most books are that you’re currently reading

“remarkable” – new book – ungifted kid living in a gifted town – a mystery – pirates – a science fair dance – cute book – to the author’s credit, she doesn’t make the main character realize that she’s actually brilliant – the character stays “sort of” average – the gifted people are ego-centric and not favorable, to say the least – again, cute book

“mulberry street” – i read this to my write in the middle folk friday – we used it to rock at the festival – our stories should be collected and published – in other news, i walked them to death on the campus…

“sweetness” – oh, what a sad book – the life of an NFL great – walter payton – who died too early – who strayed so far from who he was at 20 – reading his story makes you aware that if the who you are at 18, 20, etc. is good, you shouldn’t start running after different things when your circumstances change (are we reading this tiger woods???)

happy finals week,

maf

sniff…

(like i won’t be journaling next week anyway)

“the showdown at shepherd’s bush” – wow, what a book – if i had time, we’d detour this week in eighth grade land to talk about how to research a topic – b/c this book was researched – researched better than just about anything i can ever recall (as far as page-by-page sourced) – great book for runners to boot!!!

“one shot at forever” – sports illustrated writer – high school illinois team in 1971 were runners up for the state title – sort of like hoosiers – a one-division format – so it’s the story of how a small town does something that big – even with a (wonderful) hippie english teacher/coach – but also the story of the life afterward – and how you live with disappointment if you’re driven to overachieve – great, entertaining read

“the glory field” – myers classic – loved it – i told you so this week in class so i don’t have to repeat that

creative piece (meant to mimic the tendency for these not to be creative but just for you to journal about your life – like i care…) – so there was this guy who teaches who decided to go to a “singles” mixer at his church – and he barely made it in the door before his first obstacle: the name tag – apparently, it was booby-trapped – he couldn’t get the tag to pull of it’s backing – so he could stick it on himself – he could see the lady behind the desk, in charge, thinking something like “poor thing – no wonder he married – he can’t even get a name tag on himself”…

(that was actually the high point – it went downhill from there…)

happy last week – maf