my money’s on rahracheel – Nicole parties too much, billy will be watching football, and fred will be, um, working overtime at the diner – yep – got it

and everyone be sure to post comments about fred’s jacket – I didn’t get to that one until today (see last week’s post and the last comment – well, last for now)

“love letters to the dead” – good high school book – works for eighth grade gifted – nothing terrible for younger kids, but I would wonder how much they’d get out of it – pet peeve? the “perfect” boyfriend is in the book – as is the phrase “all guys want the same thing” – okay, by that logic, the perfect boyfriend either doesn’t exist or else is very sinister – and all I want most days is a good bowl of Wheaties so what does that say about the rest of guys??? 🙂

“ruth and billy” – great example of why you always read the epilogue – when they’re included – oh, I forget – none of you read non-fiction – anyway, the best part of this book was after the book – the author, an older guy, commented that today is all about experience and connecting – that people aren’t interested so much in truth or prior knowledge as they are experiencing things and being a part of groups – and I see that as a very true statement of pop/current culture – so I learned something

“thinking fast and slow” – this was my proud book read – Harvard economist about the decisions people make – and how we tend to think fast about things – it’s our nature – and while that can be good – it can also be the wrong decision – for example, most stocks sold are sold at the absolute wrong time – even by professionals – in part b/c people are bad at math – and in part b/c we hate losing at things – so winners are sold much more than losers in the market – which is a mistake – my favorite part of the book was the brief mention about public education – that you have a small sample size so you can never trust edu stats b/c they will contain outliers until the school is big enough – a statement that essentially takes down all current educational thought – LOVED knowing that – will be frustrating not to share that one in meetings:)

happy new year

maf

so I decided to be all social yesterday and meet up with a group for a training run – and yep, six miles later, face down in the gutter with the skin off my hands and knees

so the lesson I learned??? running with people other than fred, sarah, and Nicole is rotten – and painful

“running free” – great classic book about the british miler seb coe – I think the book came out in ’83 – was basically wrapped up by the 1980 Olympics – I guess what I enjoyed most from the book was coe’s fearless determination after a bad performance in his first race at Moscow – he was written off – completely tossed aside – and he had the guts a couple of days later to get out there and win the gold in an event that wasn’t his strong suit – very inspiring

“Norwegian by night” – my first adult fiction book in years – I’m so diversified!!! anyway, an 82-year-old witnesses a crime – and his dementia prevents him being totally in the present, but his life’s memories and work help him protect a small child – all the while the police close in on the killer – really got good the further along one got

currently reading a great book involving why baseball players are overpaid – and why small schools both over and underperform – I should get a job with stats in education – but no one would listen to them

happy last-minute-shopping – if in doubt, yes, you definitely need to buy more:)

maf

ah, first grade…

so we didn’t get to my wonderful interactive site with sixth grade, www.todaysmeet.com/6grade, but the rest of the stories are up there right now for your last thoughts – www.todaysmeet.com/drmafeld, www.todaysmeet.com/fredsdiner, www.todaysmeet.com/thebirdisawaffle – I think I just put them in reverse order – drmafeld was eighth grade, fred’s was second block, and the waffle group is my first block group

“starting and closing” – by john smoltz – braves pitcher I grew up watching – big theme in the book was that of handling failure – that guys in the big leagues get there having never failed – and they have problems dealing with it – reminds me of gifted kids that have problems when things get hard for them – most panic and quit – so it was a good book if for just that lesson

“long run of myles mayberry” – gave it up – which is a shame b/c it’s set in boston and myles runs the marathon – but it was a bit too adult/mature/r for me – and that’s my pet peeve with fiction – something wonderful like the boston marathon and running can be ruined with talking about cheating on your wife who’s cheating on you – but still ends up having your baby…

“write on the bus” – from the national writing project – English teacher/soccer coach who had his players journal – I really like this idea of having kids explore what went right, what went wrong, after a game – and I’d love to do something similar in class

“the cancer chronicles” – made the ny times book of the year list – I could see why – good overview of cancer – how it develops – and why – and a proper way to respond – the tie-in to the writer’s ex-wife – and his brother – one survived cancer, one didn’t – made it all the more interesting

“the tao of chip Kelly” – coach of the eagles, former coach of the ducks – a book about his philosophy and how it’s just “perfect” – at least for this author:) good read – very middle school friendly – good for business people as well

happy final-ing

maf

yep, hard to act cool on a sideline when you realize fans are throwing TP down from the stands – it’s like “mmm, what a lovely game – TOILET PAPER – DUCK!!!”

i hardly read a thing yesterday in the midst of being at the game – still…

“capture the flag” and “stealing air” – i had the smart idea to read two elem BOBs this week – honestly, i guess i could’ve chosen worse – but neither was exceptional – that said, they also weren’t like 600 pages long and strange (like the high school BOBs can be) so it wasn’t that bad – and i’d actually recommend stealing air to most of you – it was entertaining – the flag book was just ultra typical – nothing new in it – but i did read it in a day – and that’s always a good thing

“yes, it’s hot in here” – great book coming out about living the life (the dream) as a major league mascot – the book looks into the history of mascots while also weaving personal stories about tryouts and life in the stands – it was a clever book – and made me watch Truman and Aubie a bit different yesterday

last week of journals in 2013 – i expect great things:)

maf

so this past week, I continued in my slack-ish ways and just read one book – technically, I finished another and read several magazines – and tried to work on scripture memory (2 Corinthians 8:7 and 9:7 if I remember right) – but I only count those typically when I’m slacking:)

“marathon man” by bill Rodgers – the last “haven’t read” running book I have that I had not read – really great book – Rodgers was underemployed, smoking, and basically going nowhere when he caught a vision of running – again – like he’d started in college – and over three year’s time, he transformed himself into a world-class marathoner – he won boston four times, starting in 1975 – and so the book reads well as a story of how hard work can bring us success, how we have a choice to become the best in us – and leave the rest aside – it inspired me – as my girl wendy does too:)

maf