alright, i admit i’m well rested and ready for three more weeks of silliness…
“the keeper” – tim howard – US goaltender – soccer/football – insightful book – the author/collaborator was the same that did the HS BOB “Positive” – howard has tourette’s – he also has a failed marriage – so the book was about struggles – about the fact that there’s more to someone than just what’s on the field – it was pretty sad at points
“the primates of park avenue” – funny book that has a sad turn at the end – but the author, an anthropologist, studies her new surroundings – living in the upper east side of new york – and the book is about how she fits in – with $10,000 purses, finding apartments and preschool, going to the fitness places, getting the surgeries to stay youthful – just an amazing other life i didn’t know anything about – of course, i kept reading it thinking, “wow, at the money that’s wasted” – she estimated that it takes at least $95,000 a year for the upkeep of an upper east side wife
“rosemary” – the kennedy’s eldest daughter was intellectually disabled – the book is her tragic story – tragic b/c when she was about 22, the kennedy’s tried to “fix” her – i know many people don’t like the kennedy’s and so they blame the family for doing this – to me, it was a tragic mistake – all the best doctors told them that this would fix their daughter – they believed it – the mistake caused irreparable damage to a beautiful young lady – makes you realize how hard it is for people with disabilities – and their families – there aren’t that many biographies on the intellectually disabled
“reading reconsidered” – for educators – sure, your ghetto kids may can pass standardized tests and get into college, but have you prepared them for the reading they’ll do there? these authors discovered their kids couldn’t handle the texts – so they went after new strategies – including read-alouds – there were lots of good ideas in the book – rather long though – i mean, 488 pages – my kids aren’t worth the trouble:)
cast and crew – Alexa for shooting and editing – Carrie as Grandma, Vic as Tiffany, Detective as Captain, and Hope… Hope had a job, she didn’t carry through…
“finishing kick” – great book – about cross country – which actually ended this week – so a nice fit – echoes of once a runner with the book – but from a female POV – i did enjoy it
“up your score” – sat book – i think we’re going to try a secret word of the week starting tomorrow – better than my botched attempt at snazzle back in august – there will be a prize for the person that picks up on the word embedded in a lesson during the week – i think it’ll be a way to work in vocab
yep, i was fourth – and more than four people ran my race – so pretty cool…
“what works” – book on how to be a superteacher by passing national boards – i’m sort of tackling that as my next project – which means i will be keeping work from some of you – so when you find things missing…
“dynasty on the diamond” – story of vestavia hills baseball – at one time, they won the state championship 7 years in a row – their era of dominance was a while back so it was interesting to read about – and sad b/c i knew the coach had passed away years ago
“sidelined” – i’m guessing this book was written to raise money for charity – it really wasn’t that good – i finished it in a day