Month: June 2012

Teachers Write Week 2 list poem

     I am working this morning on catching up with the prompts from this week of writing.  I am surprised at myself by how lazy I was about writing this week.  The only excuse I have is that it was exhausting working on packing up my classroom and I was drained each night.  I also have the reading addiction and now that I have such great contacts on twitter and through this camp, I am completely sucked into fabulous books!  I am looking forward to having actual time off to work on writing and reading.  Next week is my first complete week off and I only have a few meetings and inservices so I will be able to devote more time to this. 

    I think one of the things that stopped me this week was the Monday prompt.  I was so impressed with that beautiful list poem that Jo Knowles posted that it was incredibly hard for me to think about trying to emulate it.  Here’s my attempt:

I love how he becomes a little child
when he enters his mother’s house,
because he knows that this is what she wants
he lets her spoil him
I love that he melts
when there is an animal around
how he loves Carmela and took in Sparky.
The insecurities he feels when faced
with unknown tasks make him so vulnerable.
I love how there is always music playing when he is around
How he has to pause before starting a drive
making sure that he has the perfect CD for his trip
The way he learned guitar but not in a conventional way,
learning riffs and sounds he liked, not whole songs.
How he is on an endless hunt for more great albums
scoffing at people who say they love music but don’t know
what he does.
I love the way he shouts out the number of the answer in trivia
while I play,
repeating it over and over as if I didn’t hear him the first time.
He loves to help me win.
How he knows when I need a hug
without my saying anything.
I love his righteous anger when things upset me
and his extreme patience with my extreme perfectionism.
I love the way that he uses the word “on” for all prepositions
confusing himself in his quest to master English.
How he cried when Spain won the World Cup,
so proud of his country.
How he looked so proud on the day of his naturalization ceremony.
And again on our first day together at the polls.
I love that he has caught the reading bug from my endless hounding
it is so fun to talk books with him
Most of all I love that we have grown together through the years,
learning to enjoy the things we each enjoy
learning to survive
learning to grieve together over disappointments
learning to argue
learning to love unconditionally and fully. 

It’s Monday! What are you Reading?

     Last week I picked up the book El Asedio by Arturo Perez-Reverte and made a whole-hearted attempt to get into the book.  My mind was elsewhere and the dense Spanish filled with technical terms just wasn’t sinking in.  I decided to abandon that book for now and try again when I have less other business to attend to.  I did read Eona last week.  That was a great book and series that I will recommend to my 8th graders next year.  I also read This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen which went much faster for me than I thought it would.  This weekend I read If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko.  I have read Al Capone Does my Shirts multiple times…the last time as a read aloud that my class really enjoyed.  I really like Choldenko’s style.  She is able to write about things that are really difficult things for any kid to handle and she does it with humor.  I like the really short chapters in this book and I can definitely see using it as a read aloud.  I also read The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French.    It was a cute story and would make a quick read for a student who enjoyed Tim Burton’s movies, but I am not a huge fan.  Finally, I read two graphic novels that I have for my class library.  Bad Island is a weird story but I enjoyed it and Nightschool was also entertaining.  I am sure I will be able to find just the right students to recommend these books to next year.

    This week I have not completely decided what’s on deck.  I have a bunch of books on hold at the library ready to pick up so I am sure my reading will include those books.  I am currently reading Fallen by Lauren Kate and The Story of Humankind since I decided to do the Newbery challenge.  I also might pick up Cutting for Stone which has been on my to read shelf since last summer.  Thursday is the first day of my #bookaday challenge and I can’t wait to be done for the school year.

Summer…Here I come!

      I am so excited to be wrapping up this school year.  I have found solace in my reading throughout this year and I cannot wait to start my #bookaday challenge later this week.  Having finished my report cards last week, and having little to do for planning because of all the 8th grade graduation details, I found myself with more time to read than I thought I would have.  There are quite a few titles to review this week.

    The first book I finished was Eona by Alison Goodman.  This book is a sequel to the book Eon in which the reader is introduced to a world in which there are 12 dragons of power and each year an apprentice is chosen for the ascendant dragon.  In the first book it comes out that Eon was actually a girl posing as a boy and she has been chosen by the female mirror dragon to be a dragoneye (dragon warrior).  Since this dragon had been missing for a long time there was not a dragoneye in place already so Eona did not become an apprentice, but was given the status of dragoneye right away.  At the end of the first book there has been great devastation and Eona has escaped.
     I was excited to read this sequel but unsure what to expect since a colleague told me she liked the first book better.  I have to say that I disagree about this.  I really enjoyed this book and felt that there was much more internal conflict to this plot. The second book picks up the story right where the first one left off.  Eona is traveling with members of the resistance and they are hoping to rendezvous with other resistance fighters and find the prince who is rumored to be alive.   Along the way, Eona is trying to find out more about her ancestors and the book that connects her to her dragon in some mysterious way.  Since she is the only dragoneye warrior that they have, the resistance is relying on her powers, but she is having a hard time because she has not been trained to use the power.  Enter a love triangle and we have a book that is intriguing and surprising right up until the very last page.  I could not figure out how the numerous conflicts in this book would be resolved and I had doubts that the author would be able to tie up the story in such a way that it would not be outrageous.  I was wrong to doubt her.  I loved the way this book ended.  I would definitely recommend this book as a great example of a strong female character.

     Since I have been more active on Twitter, I have been quite entertained by Sarah Dessen’s tweets that seem to narrate her daily life.  I had read one of her books a while ago and was not that impressed and frankly didn’t see what people liked about her books.  However, not one to judge to harshly by one example, I decided to pick up This Lullaby from my to read shelf and give her another shot to impress me.  It worked!  I really enjoyed this story and whipped through it.  Remy is such a believable 18 year old.  Remy has just graduated high school and is starting the summer before college.  She has recently reformed her bad girl ways and is looking to have a fun summer before moving across the country in the fall.  Her mother is getting married for the fourth time and Remy has become a cynic when it comes to love.  This book follows Remy and her friends through their summer full of romance and big news.  I understand now why so many people enjoy Sarah Dessen’s books and am looking forward to reading more from her.  On a side note, it was fun to read about Remy’s mother who is a writer and the weird writing habits that she has.  I wonder if Dessen has any of those same habits.  I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys a good love story.  
    
     I have made it a point to read more graphic novels and to acquire more for my class library.  This is one that I got because one of my 8th graders wanted to do his author study about this author.  He had enjoyed Ghostopolis so much that he begged to be able to do the author study about Doug TenNapel so I went out and found this other graphic novel by him.  Bad Island is a fun story about a family vacation that becomes disastrous when the family boat crashes on a mysterious island.  There are weird plants and creatures on the island and the family has to work together to solve the mystery so that they can find their way off the island.  I really enjoyed this story and would definitely recommend it to my students.  I will look forward to finding more books by this author in the future.  
     More to come over the summer about the fabulous books I am reading.  I have decided to join the Newbery challenge so I will be sneaking some of those books into my to read pile throughout the summer.  Happy reading!

Library QUick Write–Thursday

It can’t be right.  It just can’t have happened that way.  I was just strolling along on my way to pick up some new books and there he was.  He really did it.  He asked me out.  I can’t believe it.  Wait, did I just say that I would go to a movie with Justin Hunt?  Oh my god!  Did I have anything on my face?  Where’s a mirror when you need one?  I must have looked okay or he would have run in the other direction.  Okay, first things first, I must find some advice on first dates.  I came in here for books, but this is an emergency that takes precedence over my book lust.  Thank goodness for the media part of a library/media center.  Okay, calm down.  Once I Google first dates and make sure I have the perfect outfit picked out and know what to say I can get down to my library business.  Must. Find. Computer.  Oh, hello Mr. iMac, how are you?  What say you do some magic for me and help me get this research out of the way.

    I sit down at the computer and start searching for advice columns.  It takes much longer than I anticipated and soon the lunch bell rings and I realize that I have missed my chance to eat anything as well as my chance to look for books.  I quickly grab the scribbles that I have for notes and scramble out of the library, headed for AP American History.  I am hardly aware of the crush of bodies as I tunnel my way through groups of friends milling around in the hallway.  I can’t stop replaying the scene in my head and a part of me wishes I had spent more time noticing the details of what I am sure will be the “how it all began” story we will tell our grandchildren.  I realize as I arrive to class that I am still without a book to read and I will have to visit the library again after school.  Somehow this whole situation has made a mess of my brain like that old commercial about drugs,  “This is your brain (egg)…this is your brain on drugs (frying egg in pan)” except this is my brain on Justin.  I will have to get a grip soon or my whole school day will be lost to me.

Day 2 Writing Camp

Okay, so I started this blog in order to do some of the assignments for the Teachers Write camp this summer.  I am not sure about sharing my draft writing with people but I have decided that I will be brave and share.  Today’s assignment was a quick write that ended with a descriptive paragraph of a place.  I went to my favorite place on Earth in my writing.  When I have written with my students in class, this is always a place I go to…I think that if I do get a novel going it will involve this place in some way.  I now have many ideas flowing for further exploration.

My brainstorming and Quickwrite:

Ruthie in the kitchen giving me a ruthie roll and Don and Pam giving me kool-aid in their kitchen.  I walk down the wooden steps that my dad helped build and approach the beach on the lake.  The shack there is full of canoes and paddles and life jackets.  
Everything I see:  The playground is empty as I walk past.  The merry-go-round that used to be there has been replaced with a memorial to the two kids who lost their lives there.  There is a path to every important place here.  I can see the tall trees moving in the breeze and the old dining hall with its screen doors and huge bell.  I walk toward the craft lodge and see the chairs that were painted the year I was the crafts director.  And then there is also the Super-biffy…the shower/toilet house that was built when I was young.  
Everything I hear:  The laughs and high-pitched shrieks that let me know that children are having fun.  The wind rustling through the trees and the birds calling out.  I hear the bell waking everyone up and setting the schedule for the day.  People are calling greetings to one another as they come in and out of the shower house.  I hear the stream of hissing water as people shower and get ready for the new day.  At night I hear crickets and other bugs as I lay there.  I hear the pop and crackle of the flames in the campfire and a guitar strumming elsewhere in camp.  
Everything I smell:  I smell the musty humid smell of the house and the cabins.  I smell the fire and the air that is clean.  The Super biffy smells like mildew and concrete mixed with the various shampoos and soaps that people are using.  In the dining hall I smell the stench of old wood and floor wax.  I smell the crisp air at night as I star-gaze in the peaceful night.  
Everything I feel:  The wind rustles my hair and presses against my skin.  I feel the branches of the trees near my head.  I feel the uneven ground under my feet.  I feel the oar in my hand and the cool lake water.  
The paragraphs I came up with from this prewriting:
 As I slowly meander my way down the lane, I shiver with anticipation.  This is my favorite place on Earth and I cannot believe I am lucky enough to be arriving here once again.  This time I know it will be different.  This time I get to stay for the entire summer and provide amazing experiences for campers.  As I approach the dining hall I smell the pine forest and feel the crisp breeze rustling past.  The cool air of the morning makes me shiver as I walk toward the doors.  In the dining hall, there is the distinct smell of new carpeting and I wonder how long ago they replaced it.  It feels weird being in this new space when I have always been in old buildings while at camp.  I walk into the office and introduce myself to the secretary.  The director comes out and greets me and then the two of them tell me where I will be staying this summer.  
     When I leave the dining hall I turn right and take a deep breath.  I can’t believe how crisp and fresh the air is here.  The gravel crunches under my feet as I slowly make my way past the old dining hall and the Super Biffy.  The playground looks lonely as I walk past and I have to fight an urge to run over to the swings.  In a few days this area will be chock full of campers and I won’t be able to take a turn.  Seeing the jungle gym reminds me of the merry-go-round that used to be here and I silently pray that nothing like that tragic accident will happen while I am here.  To the left is the small arts and crafts lodge that I will be taking over for the summer.  I can’t wait to get in there and get started with the fun.  I continue forward to the campsites and walk into the center of the cabins.  Walking into a clearing I approach the picnic table and sit down.  Six cabins surround me and a flood of memories rushes me.  I walk over to the counselor cabin and the screen door screeches open.  I let the door slam behind me and revel in the smell of forest and rain that greets me.  It feels like I have never left this place and, even though I will have to sleep on the nasty old cots that are there, I know that I will sleep soundly knowing that I am home.

Teachers Write Assignment #1

     Today the writing camp that I joined has begun.  First assignment?  Make time to write.  Writing this summer is a priority for me.  The plan for the summer is to set aside at least 30 minutes a day to write.  I will write in the mornings while I have coffee and enjoy the most contemplative time of day.  Another time that I might use for writing is the evening before bed.  Throughout this summer my husband Ramon will be busy in evenings with summer school classes.  I am best at thinking when I am alone so that seems like a good time as well.  Since I am going to be spending two weeks this summer in a writing project workshop, I am sure that I will be able to kickstart and maintain my writing momentum throughout the summer.  When the school year starts, I will continue to write before bed in the evening.  I will write in the living room on the couch or at my desk, depending on what I am working on.  I am excited to set up my writer’s notebook just so and I will explore the world of blog writing this summer as well.

     The writing prompt that Jo Knowles provided this morning has really got me thinking.  She recommended that we start by imagining a childhood kitchen.  I immediately pictured the kitchen at our house on Glenside Circle.  The kitchen was open and accessible from the dining room, the family room, and the hallway.  Our table was always busy with people sitting and working on homework or just family conversation.  I remember the blue patterned wallpaper and the yellow phone on the wall.  There are so many stories that I have flooding into my brain with this idea…the time I dropped the pot of boiling water while making mac and cheese, the morning battles with my screaming sister telling me not to look at her, making Christmas cookies with the powdered sugar glaze, the time my dad got so mad he threw the silverware tray and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind him.  I wish I had more time right now to start exploring these ideas…but it will have to wait.  I will possibly write more in the morning about this topic.

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

    I am still in school so I am a little slower in finishing books than I will be this summer.  I cannot wait to do the bookaday challenge and have a bookshelf full of books to read.  (Of course, I will also make trips to the library and Half Price Books which makes the shelf fill up again…but that cannot be helped)  
   This week I finished The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, Insurgent by Veronica Roth, and The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes.  
   I have decided to start El Asedio by Arturo Perez Reverte now, before the challenge starts, because it is a thick book.  Since it is Spanish it will take me longer to finish it and that could slow down my progress this summer.  I will also start Eona this week.  I was ecstatic when I saw this book at HPB last weekend because that means I can read it that much sooner.  I really enjoyed Eon and I hope this book has more of the same.  

Inspiration from Twitter

     I recently decided to start exploring more with my Twitter account.   When I came home from the Key West Literary Seminar (a fabulous literary event) in January, I was very interested in the fact that some of these authors of speculative fiction were referring to their social media accounts during their talks.  I don’t know why I had never thought about following authors before but this was my “a-ha” moment and I started looking for authors to follow.  Pretty soon I ended up with an account full of authors, both of the fiction books my students and I enjoy, and of professional resources for teachers.  I have now stumbled across blogs of teachers and librarians who are so like me it is scary.  I love reading about other teachers who read as voraciously as I do and enjoy discussing good books with their students and with other teachers.  I have recently been adding books to my “to read” list at an alarming pace. (Especially since I already have an entire bookshelf with to read books at home).   Two of the three books discussed here are books that I have been inspired to read because of Twitter.  I loved the other books I read by these same authors and now am enthralled with the every day posting of each of them.  My summer book a day list will also be full of Sarah Dessen books.  I love the way she narrates her days through tweets.

Jay Asher is one of the authors that I have enjoyed following on Twitter.  I was entertained with his posts about what he was eating and drinking during his recent trip to Wisconsin.  I absolutely loved Thirteen Reasons Why because I believe it is important for every teen to understand the way their actions have ripples throughout many lives.  My copy of that book is quite beat up because it makes the rounds through the class each year as my students discover the power in that story.  The Future of Us will not disappoint those students that were eagerly awaiting another book by Jay Asher.  I love the way Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler mixed science fiction and teen romance in this book.  At the beginning of the book, Emma has just received a new computer as a gift from her father.  The book is set in the late 90’s so this is a big deal.  Her neighbor Josh comes over to give her a CD-ROM with 100 free hours of AOL so that she can connect to the internet.  Emma and Josh used to be best friends but things have been awkward between them lately because of some things that happened a few months ago.  When Emma connects to the internet a blue and white screen comes up and when she enters her e-mail and password she is taken to a weird site called Facebook.  The screen that is there is her own profile from the future.  What comes next is a funny and heartwarming account of how Josh and Emma deal with being able to glimpse their futures and how every decision they make can have an effect on the future.  The authors really catch the angst of these teenage characters and the book brought me back to that stage in which everyone is trying to figure out their relationships and how to navigate high school.  I would recommend this book to everyone.  I chuckled many times throughout the book at the attempts of these teenagers in the past to figure out what Netflix, iPads, and many more things could be.

     After reading Divergent not too long ago, I was very excited to start the second book.  Divergent ended with battles and the characters heading for temporary safety and this is where Insurgent picks up.  This book is all about Tris trying to discover why the Erudite attacked the other factions.  Tris is dealing with the grief of losing both her parents in the attacks, and the guilt of having killed one of her best friends when she was faced with no alternative.  Her choices throughout this book start to distance her from Four and we see some conflict arising in their relationship.  This book was full of action and adventure.  I enjoyed the complexity of the characters and the underlying theme that there is no one who is all good or all bad.  Each character has to face that and to decide who to trust in this time of strife.  I cannot wait until the next book is released in Fall 2013.  This is the downside of reading newer series…there is a lot of time spent waiting for the new book.  

     The other author I have enjoyed seeing on Twitter is John Green.  I enjoyed reading Looking for Alaska a few years ago and have spent a lot of time recommending it for my teen students.  Watching the reactions to his most recent book release made me curious to read his other books.  I loved An Abundance of Katherines.  The protagonist, Colin, was a child prodigy and his struggling with his recent break-up.  He feels like a wash-up and does not think that he matters in the world and this bothers him.  His best friend Hassan decides that he needs to take Colin on a road trip and they take off across the country.  I enjoyed reading about this characters quirky way of dealing with life.  It was fun to read all of the trivia in the footnotes.  This book is also a book about relationships and fitting in.  I would recommend this book to teens and adults who are like me…a little nerdy.