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