so lots of books to cover this week…

“racing the rain” – a reread from a month ago – still awesome – merged well with schs track going to regionals this weekend – and i had kids that qualified for state – down at the beach – so it’s always good to have kids qualify for the beach – i bookmarked several passages this time around that i really liked – one about athletics, that the thing about athletes is the trying – that you try

“first class” – grete waitz won the NYC marathon in 1978 having previously only run 12 miles – she beat her husband up at the finish line b/c he conned her into running it – she went on to win the NYC marathon a total of 7/8 times – just unprecedented – tragically, she died of cancer a few years ago – this book came out in the mid 1980s when things were good for her – i got the book from auburn – i love old books that no one is reading – like that book has probably sat on a shelf for 20 years waiting for someone – i think that’s kind of cool

“never say no” – parents to switchfoot – or jon and tim foreman – great book with parenting advice – teaching isn’t parenting, but lots of parallels

“write back soon”  – writing strategies – for handwritten notes – irony that i’m blogging this

hope everyone has a great week – seventh grade can skip blogs and journals thursday night if they turn in their work thursday

mafeld

it was a good week to test – i had time to knock out books i’d rather not be solely devoted to…

“mark of the corripian” – we heard this lady a week ago at write in the middle – as i have told binder girl, WAY better than anna kathyrn davis – not that it’s a competition:) but we should’ve had this book before – and we’ll have it in my room soon – promise – anyway, future – dystopia – star-crossed lovers – but it moves along – honestly? it should be middle school BOB next year – should’ve been on the list already

“sub 4:00” – on to the good stuff:) a book about running – it took 30-plus years between the first high school kid to go under the 4:00 minute mile – and this kid – alan webb – the book was published in 2003 – which made it sad for me b/c i know what’s happened to webb – and a lot of the people in the book – they’re no longer what they were then – and that was sad

“believe it!” – story of the 2005 chicago white sox world series – as big a white sox fan as i was growing up, it was strange that i didn’t follow that season – the only one they’ve been good in for 100 years – so i bought the series on dvd – and this book helped me piece together stats – which was fun for me

happy blog-ing

mafeld

still poetry month – just sayin’…

“the radical cross” – by tozer – reprint of his work in what i’m guessing was the mid-20th century – he’s seen today as a well-respective Christian writer for conservatives – thus, he’s pretty harsh reading – that is, it’s not the lovey-dovey stuff – more harsh than positive – good intellectual points though

“mission high” – LOVED this book – reporter followed a high school in san fran for years – so instead of the “we need more money for public education” or “we need more tests for public education,” she reached the entirely sane conclusion that we need more time for teachers to learn how to be better teachers – to learn to work with kids – so teachers need more planning times – times to go over what’s working – and not – in the classroom – it was a powerful conclusion based on what she observed at this school – which was labeled a failure b/c of test scores – but a school that sent like 80 percent of its kids to college – really enjoyed reading the book

back to watching the masters

mafeld

you never know when your running habit comes in handy outracing someone to a tomb…

“origin: buffy” – how buffy got started – very clever comic – the artist took the original screen play by whedon and then applied it to a comic setting – b/c what happened in ’92, the script got run over by the director (happens in hollywood) and so whedon was so upset that when he was offered the chance to “fix” buffy later, the TV show began – so i enjoyed thoroughly the comic

“racing the rain” – oh, a great book – will be my recommendation for high school BOB next year –

“41” – w wrote about hw – or 43 wrote about 41 – regardless, it was a great read – w wrote b/c he’d been with a historian who said he’d wished john quincey adams had written about his dad – and it’s truly a good idea – the personal touches in the book are really neat – like that hw would devote saturday mornings to writing letters – that he really never developed enemies – that even potential enemies he worked hard to make friends – we could use more men like that

happy easter

maf