the reference will be lost on my sixth grade and rayckhelle’s sister, but we played “Wall” today in first grade with the “battle of Jericho” – which, obviously, wasn’t much of a battle so much as a walk-a-thon – good thing it happened in the old testament – today, the fatties would’ve been too tuckered out to walk around:)

“the myth of the spoiled child” – what if kids today aren’t worse than previous generations? what if their voices weren’t being heard? what if adults were being jerks in schools, in families, towards respecting the voices of the next generation? what if the answer to making things “harder” for kids was to instead make kids feel loved and appreciated – and not driven through the prison-like environments of most schools? this book definitely got me thinking in good, rebellious, ways:)

“the evolution of pitching in major league baseball” – enjoyable to a point – the point being when the author went off on his assumed premise that pitchers today are spoiled brats – and that the game has changed for the worse – just very negative – I guess the positive was I skimmed over many chapters of the rants so I was able to finish quicker

I’m taking my spring break to the streets near you as boston gets closer – today, 17 miles in the rain – yeah!!!

maf

okay, so obviously the blog was down for the weekend – sorry about that…

“william t. sherman” – biography on civil war leader – who actually served as head of the military for 15 years afterward – as i told my dad last week, it’s interesting b/c the guy used to be known for burning up the south – today though, the eco havoc he reigned with the buffalo and with the native americans would get him in much hotter PC trouble – history is always changing like that – great read

“trusting teachers with school success” – i had high hopes for this book – and then i realized i wasn’t a teacher that could be trusted – and so i skim read through the rest to get to…

“racing weight” – the one and only book about endurance athletes and keeping/holding/losing weight – fascinating read – there was a lot more there than i suspected – the author knew much more than i thought might be in there – and so i took my time and enjoyed the book – and learned a few things (like why eating right after long runs is significantly better than not)

“dl moody” – this one was finished sunday – after i usually blog – so i give permission to write about this one next week – i always fear i won’t finish a book in a week – anyway, moody was an influential Christian thinker in the late 1880s/1890s – even though he really never went to school – i guess that means he never had to deal with a blog being moody…

one week to break, five weeks to boston

maf

yeah, daylight savings time, fourth nine weeks – hard to believe…

“focus” – book on our lack of it – basically – in the beginning, there was a pop quiz on material a couple of pages back – and I, like most everyone, failed – we tend to pay less attention to things than we think we are doing – in reading – in listening – good reminder

“one last strike” – book on tony larussa’s last year with the cardinals – he was their manager – good book about motivating people to achieve a goal – larussa is well read – and he’d read management books as well that flowed into ideas he used with the cardinals – I guess one thing I thought was interesting was that he tried to limit meetings – he found his players tuned out – the meetings weren’t productive

“cheetah can’t lose” – I read this to my first graders today – we had just finished “donkey races” in honor of the story of balaam today – so they sat really still – they reacted very differently than my 6-8th graders did – go figure…

happy blogging

maf

so this is a week w/o journals b/c you have an incredibly hard final to study for… 🙂

“keeper of the flame” – book on the history/future of NFL films – irony on many levels in that NFL films has a mythologized past b/c they created a mythologized NFL through their videos – which are classic – both in content and voice – of course, today, media has changed and the book did a wonderful job describing the “threats” to those films – and there’s a very real threat just in the sense that the times have changed for that type of filming

“the gifted” by anna kathyrn davis – so it would’ve made me a better teacher to have read this one, oh, like a year ago – b/c as I read, I kept trying to go back to the Q&A at WIM last year in Pelham – alas… anyway, I guess better late than never – hey, I waited until ’08 for twilight and ’07 for potter so I might as well to wait on this one – still, having heard two presentations by davis, I feel bad it took this long to get it and read it – and, thankfully – unlike most YA, it reads quickly and painlessly – I definitely stand with fred on wondering exactly how a sequel is coming about

so that’s it for the week – again, no journals – but happy postings

maf

yep, worship time was “special” today with the kids at church:)

“the making of a man” – by tim brown – NFL great – wonderful book about the decisions guys have to make in life – and the ways men can be led astray – or blessed – because of those choices – I grew up watching Brown with notre dame and with the raiders so it was a great read – and would be good for my sport-ish guys in seventh/eighth grade

“this star won’t go out” – by esther earl – every kid that reads “fault in our stars” should read this book – I’m about convinced every kid period should read the book – earl passed away at 16 with cancer – and while that might seem a “downer,” it’s a reality that none of us get a life of all sunshine and rainbows – life is what we make of it – and I was struck that her father said given the option of knowing her for 16 years or not, you’d take those 16 years – and so yes, a young death is terrible, but it makes you realize better that time is scarce – and we should make the most of it – like spending our time blogging:)

I think lilBri already has more insightful blogging time than several sixth graders that will go unnamed – not to mention a couple of seventh and eighth graders

maf

so I went to the 5k downtown yesterday to watch my mom run – before the kids ran ONE WHOLE MILE!!! the adults ran the Superhero 5k – and teens that say adults don’t channel their inner child often are very wrong at that race – b/c most of the adults were in costume – including a Wolverine, a billion Supermans, Spiderman, and the like

but the fastest superhero finished second overall – The Riddler – huh, who knew…

“Forgotten Sundays” – great book by an NFL announcer about the relationship he had with his father, an NFL coach, and how those memories tied to Sundays from long ago – great non-fiction for football kids

“The Big Sport” – or something like that – basically, a book about football being king – the author is not a fan of Saban – or of the SEC – so he won’t win many fans around here – he does have good points about the advantages the NFL and NCAA take over the fact that people go gaga over football – as a baseball fan, it burns me up:)

“Younger” – I read this one in honor of my grandmother – and then no Avon products were mentioned – bummer – but a book about keeping your skin young – you can obviously tell I do a good job already – actually, I learned from the book I’m pretty bad about it – so you should see a younger me in the days to come b/c I’m going to exfoliate much better:)

“The Plateau Effect” – to me, snow days are free days to do independent study – and so while most people would waste time off, I used it pretty well – I got that book read – and it was a wonderful book – I’d actually teach from it in class if we had enough copies – for my 8th grade – I plan to use the material in a presentation this fall at a state gifted conference – so pretty useful book to me and good use of time during the break

bring on the warmer weather – I speak softly in order not to jinx it

what will the world come to when Bri blogs first???

maf

by the way, I learned at the ’96 games that every country pronounces their name in a three-syllable chant – thus, at those games, I heard for the first (and likely last) time “Tun-ee-shee” (Tunisia)

“Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball” – great baseball book to get me hungry for the season to come – Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for $10 million in 1972 – they’re worth over $1.5 billion today – he was an iron-fisted leader for much of his early years – lots of what I thought I knew about him, I didn’t

“Never Quit” – story of the closest US miler to break four minutes before and shortly after WWII – the guy’s story was what my grandfather’s story was – out poverty and hardship into the modern life – so reading the book made me miss my granddad – but in a good way

“Olympic Dream” – sad biography of a Kenyan who set four world records in less than 100 days – just amazing – and amazing in a sad way, he never was able to compete in an Olympics – boycotts and then age did him in – just makes me appreciate how rare it is to run and run well – and have a chance to win things

“The Heart of the Sea” – my favorite reader, WillRo, read it and said good things about it – so I was curious – he was right – gripping story – I’ve read Melville and read other books by Philbrick so I had more background than a seventh grader, and it still was an amazing read – field trip to Nantucket!!!!

remember, no serious blogs this week b/c you’re memorizing monologues

maf

wow, no school=lots of reading – six books

“run faster” – read it five years ago – wasn’t particularly impressed this time – it was more science than stories – and I could’ve done more with stories

“out of my league” – great book coming out soon to get us ready for baseball season – although, ironically, the book is about being hurt – this is the third book by this author – all of them excellent

“desk atlas” – billy can back me up that this is a book and it counts – I love fact books – so a book of maps and facts was awesome – I looked at population density mapping in there to figure out where to move and teach that’s south and warmer

“14 minutes” – a reread – but a great book – bio on a great marathon runner – great coach – great man – I guess what struck me this time was the struggle he went through to get to the top – and to return to it

“BAA at 125” – awesome book – the boston athletic association turned 125 years old last year – and this book looked at the history of the association – which includes the longest running, most prestigious marathon in the world – and as many books as I’ve read on boston and on its marathon, I actually learned a few new facts – which was great – including one about the middle school I stay at before going to the starting line (it’s connected with Harvard and a Connecticut governor)

“calling life’s signals” – one of my dad’s books – when he was 16 – a former Alabama quarterback, steve sloan, wrote this book in 1967 – with a bit of help – and it was the neatest book to read for me b/c it was my dad’s – and my dad doesn’t read books anymore – hasn’t in years – reading it made me think of jay barker, tim tebow in that it was the classic book of the quarterback with a “jesus” heart – and yet all three men have played their faith out differently – which is cool to me – and as an example of history, it was just fascinating what sloan talked about vs. barker and tebow – for example, sloan included a part against communism – can’t imagine a pro athlete today speaking out against china – or Russia – other countries making life miserable for its people

happy super bowl/commercial watching – hopefully we can return to some normalcy this week with journals – good luck to sixth grade scholars kids for Thursday

maf

“on the road to finding out” – ya book – about a high school senior – but very readable for middle school – best of all? running is involved – really a great book for gifted girls – about what you do when your plan a goes wrong – even your plan a from your senior year – the one you have all your eggs in a basket for – but, the beauty of books, the story works well even for old teacher men b/c our plan a’s go wrong all the time:)

“1929 bunion derby” – for two years in a row, a cross the country run was made – the men would run for 40-50 miles a day – or, at the end of this 1929 run, 60-70 miles a day – just an unbelievable story – including one about an African-American from b’ham – who lived in seattle later – and one of the great things about book, I realized this guy (eddie gardner) should be recognized in the state’s sports hall of fame – and those nominations are something ordinary people like me can do – so the cool thing about that book was that I could do something with it

so two running books for the week, but the first one was YA so I feel like I’m still somewhat contributing to the class – occasionally – maybe not – oh, well, at least I have my Corbo stories

maf

ps – it bugged me until I finally remembered – I read “teenagers matter” – yes, rich irony that I’d forgotten that one – but good book – I wrote to your parents about it friday

the sad thing is none of my eighth grade blog so no one can fill everyone else in on the wonders of the Golden Dragon… 🙂

“five brothers and a million sisters” – let’s just start with the best book I read this week – a bio on the NKOTB – new kids on the block – I guess take whatever band you’re currently loving, and let’s assume it’s a group of guys about 10 years older than you – and have that group fall off the face of the earth five years from now, only to resurface 15 years later awesomely – and then get the chance to read their story, you might then understand the joy I had reading this book – just great – I guess my favorite fact is that four of the five went to elementary school together

“the barack Obama story” – this was the major book I finished this week – great biographer, david maraniss, who basically wrote the story of the president’s life to Harvard grad school – the biographer started with barack’s great-grandparents – in Kansas and in Kenya – just an amazing story to me b/c even as the president grew up, no one could see the path his life would take him – just a remarkable story in the sense that you never know what the things you go through now are preparing you for later in life

“quiet” – I was disappointed in this book – but I think it was b/c I read a book in the summer, “quiet kids” that pretty well gave me most of this book as well – introverts rule the world, regardless!!! and this book further proves that point (I mean, I think it now annoys me that all the workers at publix have to speak to me – I’m like, “just leave me alone – I don’t have the energy to shop AND tell you hello…”

“the year of living biblically” – this book was sad to me – the author spent a year trying to follow a bunch of rules – eight months with the OT and four with the NT – and, very predictably, and the end, he decided that while an agnostic, he was now a more spiritual agnostic for having done this – so basically, one man’s search to find God on man’s terms – which is to an extent all of our stories unless we believe God actually makes an attempt, or THE attempt, to find us and we have just one path to follow – the gimmickness of the book distressed me

happy MLK tomorrow
maf