It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 10/7

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

This week was a much better reading week.  I decided to spend a lot of my time on Saturday reading and relaxing so I was able to get through many more pages.

Books I Finished This Week:

I have been reading So Cold The River by Michael Kortya for a couple weeks.  It is a mystery book mixed with some magical realism.  I picked this one up because this author will be at the Key West Literary Seminar that I am going to in January.  I am really excited to find and read more by this author in the next few months.  The story was so fascinating and really kept me captivated.  
I was so excited to get my Scholastic box this week because this one was in there.  I have really enjoyed all of the Origami Yoda books and this one did not disappoint.  I love the message about testing that Tom Angleberger is including in The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Hut. This book made me want to have a Star Wars marathon so that I could remember who all these characters are.  
Tommysaurus Rex by Doug TenNapel was another book from my Scholastic box.  I love all of his graphic novels and enjoyed this one too.  I think many students will definitely identify with the protagonist in this book who loves his pets and finds a friend in them.  
I could not put this book down.  I know that my students will really enjoy it.  It is full of adventure and suspense which starts from the very first paragraph.  I was so interested in the details about the Hawaiian islands as well.  What would you do if you were the only survivor of a plane crash and stuck in the middle of the ocean with no provisions?  Would you be able to survive?  These are the kinds of questions that a reader will ask themselves while reading this book.  

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am reading Endangered by Eliot Schrefer aloud to my class.  As I read, I am remembering how brilliant this book is.  I love the silence that descends in the classroom because the students are so hooked on the story.  You know you have a good read aloud when a different student asks each day if you are going to read.  
I also am listening to Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo.  It is slow going but I hope to get back to working out this week so I should catch up a little then.  I bought a device to be able to play my iPhone in the car, but it is spotty reception.  I will mess with it more this week to maybe be able to listen to my book on the way to and from work.  
I just started The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa because a colleague lent it to me so it went to the top of the pile.  

What’s Next?

I am thinking that I would like to read Make Lemonade this week and then possibly The Song of the Quarkbeast or Out of My Mind.  There are so many books in my piles to-read that it is hard to make plans.  I also have The Common Core Companion by Jim Burke and What You Know by Heart by Katie Wood Ray for professional reading.  
What are you reading?  Do you have any recommendations for me?  I would love to hear from you in the comments. 

Slice of Life: My World Turned Upside Down

Ruth and Stacey at Two Writing Teachers
host the Slice of Life every Tuesday.

Three weeks ago, I came home from school after a long day on my feet, took off my shoes, and put my feet up.  My feet felt weird.  They were feeling kind of swollen but also tingling and like they were asleep.  I figured they were just tired and mad at me…after all it was not too far into the school year and I was not yet used to being on my feet all day.  I went to bed a little concerned but not too worried.

Then I woke up with tingling and numb feet on Tuesday.  I still was trying not to be too concerned, there were a number of things that could explain it.  I had a text conversation with my sister the doctor and decided to just relax and go with the flow.  But she warned me to pay attention if the numbness and tingling started spreading.  Of course, later that afternoon I started to have tingling in my lower legs. Now, I was a bit worried.  I went home and stayed off my feet. If pure willpower had been enough to cure me, I would have been cured.  I did not want to have to go in to the emergency room.  I decided that it wasn’t really spreading so I chose not to go that night.  (I was also refusing to be sick because I had organized an author visit at school for the following day)

Wednesday morning I woke up at 3am to the weirdest sensation ever.  My feet felt like they were going to explode out of their skin.  At this point, I was worried.  I requested a substitute and went in to urgent care.  There they ran a bunch of tests, but diagnosed me with neuropathy.  There wasn’t anything they could do for it so they sent me home with a new vocabulary word and directions to follow-up with a neurologist.  I went to school at 10am and was able to host the author and it even went better than it would have because my class had the substitute teacher and I could be there just for the visit.  I had a great time meeting Jasper Fforde and seeing students that were really excited to meet a real author (from Wales, no less).

Did I mention that I was walking funny and losing my balance easily?  The three flights of stairs to my classroom seemed extra daunting so I was glad that I wasn’t working.  I went home and rested and tried to get a hold of the neurologist for a follow up appointment.  No dice.

The next few days were normal, except for the fact that I couldn’t really feel my feet at times, or they were extra tingly and uncomfortable at other times.  Then, on Friday,tingling and numbness started in my groin area.  I talked to my sister the doctor again on Sunday and she insisted that I immediately go to the emergency room.  I guess numbness in that area can sometimes be spinal cord compression and this was something to get figured out.  So, I headed off to the hospital.  They did a whole battery of tests on me.  The doctor in the ER wanted to order a STAT MRI, but didn’t think they would let her do that.  This hospital was small and there wasn’t a radiologist in on Sunday night so they didn’t do the MRI.  She sent me home with a prescription for the STAT MRI and instructions to expect a phone call the next morning to schedule it.

Now I was feeling awful because I was going to miss school for the second day in the first three weeks of the school year.  This was not the way I wanted to start the year.  I stayed home on Monday so that I could schedule the MRI as soon as possible.  I got the appointment for noon on Monday and then played the waiting game.  I got to the hospital, registered, and was brought back to do the MRI right away.  I changed, locked up all my things, and headed off to the MRI machine.  Then, they handed me some earplugs.  I should have expected it but I didn’t.  I get super nervous when I can’t hear well. Then I was lying on the table and the technician put a cage-like thingy over my head.  I got more nervous. Then, I asked how long this was going to take.  She said about an hour.  That was the last straw.  I couldn’t do it.  I did not know I was going to be claustrophobic but this was not happening.  So I had to leave. Because it was an MRI that was ordered by an ER doctor, I didn’t have anyone to ask to reorder the MRI with sedation or with anxiety meds.  I went home frustrated and started calling my primary doctor, the emergency department where I had been seen, and the neurologist that I was supposed to follow up with.  Two hours later, when I hadn’t gotten anywhere with those doctors, I decided to go back to the ER.  This time, I went to a bigger hospital.

By this time, it was already Monday evening.  I had another long wait in the ER, but because I still had the numbness in the groin, I was a higher priority with the triage and didn’t have to wait long to be brought back.  This doctor did not waste time, she reviewed everything that had been done at the other ER and ordered the MRI right away with anxiety meds this time.  She decided to get a scan of my brain as well as the lumbar part of my spine.  When the results were back, the doctor consulted my primary doctor and decided to admit me to the hospital.  They had found lesions in my brain scan and wanted the neurologist to take a look.  Before bringing me up to the room, they decided to do a spinal tap so that the results could be back in the morning.  On Tuesday, the neurologist ordered yet another MRI of the rest of my spine while we were waiting for the spinal tap results.

Tuesday was a long day of waiting.  I did not get on the MRI schedule until the evening so I spent the day watching HGTV and trying to read a little bit.  I think I also slept some as well.  On Tuesday night, the neurologist called to talk to me and let me know the diagnosis.  He had mentioned it in the morning, and I knew that is what they were trying to figure out, but it was difficult to get the diagnosis.  I have Multiple Sclerosis.  I am not crazy.  I am not a hypochondriac.  Those weird symptoms that I always seem to get have a cause to them.  It explains a lot.  But it is not a fun thing to find out about yourself.

Being a nerd, and having a doctor for a sister, I have a lot of research to do.  My sister has already sent me multiple articles to read.  I know what my genius hour project will be about.  I have done some reading but this week was mostly about getting back to normal and catching up at school (I missed the entire week last week).

What has been the most difficult about this time is that the world continues to revolve while my brain stalls a little bit and I just feel like crawling under the covers and hiding from the world for a time.  I know this is not the worst thing that could happen to me by far, but it takes me from the world of healthy people into the world of people with a pre-existing condition.  I have an auto-immune disease. That is hard to fathom.  It is hard to accept.  But I will get there.  I just need a little time.  For now, I hope this flare-up goes away and I can focus on moving forward. One day at a time.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 9/30

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books Finished This Week:

I did not finish any books this week.  Zip. Zilch. Zero.  That is a first for me since I started keeping track. I hope to get back on track soon.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am reading So Cold the River by Michael Koryta. It is an intriguing mystery with a magical realism element to it.  I am really enjoying this book and will definitely look for more by this author before I see him talk in January.  I am also listening to Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo.  I absolutely loved the first book in the Grisha series and I am really liking this one so far as well.  I hope to get back to exercising this week so that I can get through the audiobook quicker.  

What’s Next?

I plan to read Song for the Quarkbeast next.  I also would really like to get to Crank by Ellen Hopkins soon.  The 5th Wave is also burning a hole in my shelf.  
My reading will also be spent on some information about Multiple Sclerosis.  I was diagnosed with this condition two weeks ago and so my time is consumed with learning what this means for me.  Part of the research I am doing is reading some of the very medical articles that my sister the doctor is sending me.  
I also want to get back to reading some professional titles and some blogs.  I hope this week feels more normal and back on track.  

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 9/23

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers.  This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take.  Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

This week was another slow reading week for me.  I spent some of the week in the hospital and had some life-changing medical news so my mind was not exactly on my reading.  I was out of school all week so some of my time was spent creating sub plans, but mostly I mindlessly watched HGTV.  I hope that this week I will be able to escape into my books a little more, because I think that is some of what I need.  
Books I Finished This Week:
This was actually a pretty perfect book to have with me for the endless waiting in the emergency room.  It was not a book that required a lot of attention but was distracting enough to help me feel less nervous.  I am not really loving this series that much and my sister feels the same.  We are probably going to give up on the goal to finish the whole series.  I might skip ahead to some of the more recent books in the series to see if I like them better. 
I needed an easy book to distract my mind a little bit in the last few days.  The Pretty Little Liars books do not disappoint in being an easy distraction.  The books are by no means literature, but I find them really entertaining and I am glad I am reading the series.  
I found Love That Dog in the clearance section at Half Price Books this weekend.  I sat down and devoured it in one sitting.  What a great celebration of poetry and writing!  I LOVED this book!
Books I am Currently Reading:
I am still listening to Siege and Storm and just started reading So Cold The River by Michael Kortya, which is a mystery book.  
What’s Next?
 I just hope that I can get myself to pick up a book and read.  I am going back to work today and I feel overwhelmed already.  I know I will also be reading quite a bit of research and information about medical issues in the next few months as well.  I will just play it by ear and pick up what I feel like reading.  

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 9/16

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers.  This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take.  Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I finished this week:

I am still enjoying this series.  Did not love this one as much, but I am sure I will continue liking the books.

I am really glad I read through all the Gallagher Girls novels.  They are so much fun!

I had preordered this one, so it was a nice little surprise in the mailbox this week.  I devoured it! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Kate Messner and this one is my favorite.  It was so intriguing learning about concussions and then that clinic was so creepy.  I love the way suspense built throughout the book and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Books I am Currently Reading:

   I am still listening to the second book in the Grisha series.  I really like this fantasy world and the characters that live there.  I am loving the narrator for this one as well.  I also started reading E is for Evidence.

What’s Next?

   I honestly don’t know what is next. I am super busy and now this week I have some health issues that I hope will get resolved quickly…but it is hard to read with a preoccupied mind.  It sucks because now I have missed two days of school in the last two weeks and it is only the third week of school!  I hope things get back on an even keel soon and then I will be able to read like crazy.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 9/9

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers.  This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take.  Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

The whirlwind of work that begins a new school year overwhelmed me last week.  My blogs have suffered a bit in the last few weeks because I am caught up in the mile-long to-do list that continues to grow.  I also have been supporting my husband as he learns how to run a classroom.  That means that a lot of the time that would usually be reading time for me has been taken up with looking over his lesson plans and showing him how to use a teacher’s guide and other things that a cooperating teacher would usually do for a student teacher.  It is so fun to see how he is enjoying his job and I know he is going to be an awesome teacher.

My bedtime reading is not happening as much either.  I am so exhausted at the end of every day that I hardly make it through two pages before I start dropping the book.  These are the books from the last two weeks since I missed last Monday’s post.

Books I Finished:

Adult Books

I really have enjoyed all of the Robert Langdon books by Dan Brown.  This is another one that has a lot of action and some really interesting symbology.  There are a lot of people that are really down on this author, but I think his books are entertaining and thought-provoking.  I would recommend this one to people who enjoy a good mystery.  

Young Adult/Middle Grade Books

Like all of the other Pretty Little Liars books, Killer is a fun mystery and a light read.  The characters and situations are very different from the television show at this point in the series and I really like that.  I would recommend this series to teens that like mysteries.  
Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter is another fun Gallagher Girls book.  Cammie continues to be in danger from the mysterious circle. She starts to find out that maybe she can’t trust everyone that she thought she could trust.  I am impressed at the way the author is able to keep the book light and funny while also dealing with some pretty dangerous and dark themes.  I can’t wait to read the next one this week even though I fell behind on the #GGReadathon.
Once by Morris Gleitzman is a haunting story.  I really enjoyed the audio because the little touches like music between the chapters really enhanced the mood.  The narrator in this book has been kept in the dark about what is happening in Nazi occupied Poland and his confused explanations for what happens make the story that much more tense.  This is a great book to add to the collection of books about the holocaust and to give another perspective.  I will definitely be seeking out the other books in this series. 

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am about halfway through D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton and I have started listening to Siege and Storm (Grisha #2).

What’s Next?

I hope to find some more time for reading this week.  I want to read Out of Sight, Out of Time this week to catch up with the readathon.  I also want to read The Song of the Quarkbeast before Wednesday when Jasper Fforde will be visiting my school.  If I am able to find the time, I will start with book E in the Sue Grafton series as well.  

Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stievfater

Title: The Dream Thieves
Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publication: September, 2013

Source: NetGalley

Goodreads Summary: 

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…

My Thoughts:

Maggie Stiefvater is a master storyteller.  It never ceases to amaze me how creative her stories are.  What I love about all of her books is that the fantasy elements blend so seamlessly into the realistic components so that I never have a problem suspending my disbelief.  That is pretty amazing.  
The Dream Thieves is yet another thrilling book from Steifvater.  In this book the characters are all troubled and struggling to come to terms with their own troubles.  The story that results is a magic and compelling story that will make it hard for you to put the book down.

I love the character development in this book.  The author proves the point that no one is all good or all bad and I love seeing this.  It is so hard to talk about the book without giving spoilers so you will have to deal with my cryptic notes for now.  All I know is that I cannot wait to find out what happens to everyone in the next one!

If you have not read The Raven Boys yet, you must go out and read it immediately.  You are going to want to get your hands on a copy of The Dream Thieves as soon as they are available.  You will not regret reading these fabulous books!

I give this book 5 stars out of 5 

Starting a New Year

Today was my first official day back to school.  I have been working in my classroom for about a week and had learning team meetings last week to write the School Improvement Plan, but now I have to get back to the routine.  The beginning of the school year always makes me think of New Years Day and resolutions.  I think I make more resolutions each time school starts than I do at New Years.  This year, thanks to some great professional reading, my biggest resolution is just to BRING IT in the classroom.

I also am super excited because someone in the district office finally listened to us and the super strict mandates for curriculum and instruction have been lightened this year.  I will be able to teach with Reading and Writing Workshop models and not have to figure out how to connect it to the mandated structure.  I have the most coherent and connected plans for instruction that I have had in the last few years.  Of course, there are still millions of things on my to-do list that need to be done before next Tuesday when students start school.

I am so excited to be setting up our reading community.  Here are a few pictures from the work-in-progress.

The book sorting process. It is much more organized than it has been in the last few years. I love the genre classification stickers from Demco!
I am so excited about this reading door!

My reading door display is much bigger this year.  I had a small display last year and it really started conversations.  This year, I have it up before the staff meeting that will be in my room tomorrow and before Open House.  I can’t wait to see what kind of buzz I can create with this display.

For now, I need to take things a step at a time and get ready for the best year ever!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 8/26

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers.  This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take.  Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole host of titles to add to your to-read lists.

This week was a whirlwind.  I was able to get into my classroom for the first time last Monday.  I don’t have a ton to set-up because my classroom is a computer lab and I can’t move furniture around. However, I do have my extensive class library to sort and display.  I worked a few hours early in the week on this.  On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I met with my school’s learning team to write our School Improvement Plan  (so even though we are not officially back to school until this Tuesday, I was working this week).

On Tuesday evening, my husband received an e-mail from his professor.  He was originally supposed to do student teaching this semester and had his placement lined up and was excited about that.  The e-mail was a forwarded message from the principal at a small charter high school in town.  She was in a bind because her Spanish teacher resigned the day before their teacher training started and she needed to hire someone.  My husband’s professor offered this as an opportunity for him to do student teaching on the job.  He was hired Wednesday night and started working on Thursday.  This is a great opportunity for him, but gives me a lot more work to do with supporting his beginning teaching.  He is jumping in with both feet without having a student teaching experience and my role changed from supporting-wife-who-will-give-some-advice-but-let-the-cooperating-teacher-really-be-his-safety-net to the-person-who-needs-to-give-him-the-advice-a-cooperating-teacher-would-give. Needless to say, my reading suffered a bit this week.  We are both excited for this school year and thankful for the great opportunity!

Books I Finished This Week:

Adult books

I am really enjoying this mystery series.  It is fun to read the books with my sister and send some texts back and forth discussing the characters.  It will be fun to share this experience with her.  
I need to do something about being more healthy.  I thought this book did a good job of convincing me that my eating habits need to change.  I have read numerous other diet and nutrition books that talked about the same types of health concerns, but this one really highlighted the dangers of what he calls diabesity.  I am planning to start a really rigid eating plan this week.  Wish me luck with the caffeine withdrawal!

Young Adult/Middle Grade books

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde is a fun book.  The author has a very witty sense of humor in this book.  I am excited to share this one with my students and the staff at my school!  I am even more excited for the author visit from Mr. Fforde in September after reading this fun book!

Books I am Currently Reading:

I started listening to Once by Morris Gleitzman.  This was one of the Sync audiobook titles that was offered free this summer.  I am liking the book so far.  I enjoy the music that is played between chapters also.  I am just cringing at the way it is starting.  This boy is so naive and ignorant of what is happening in Nazi-occupied Poland and I just know it will end up badly for him.  I have really just started this book so I am not sure where it will go, but it makes me nervous.  I also am reading Killer (Pretty Little Liars).  This will be a good one to read during the hectic first week back to school.  

What’s Next?

I am finally on schedule for the Gallagher Girls readathon, so I will be reading Only the Good Spy Young this week.  I also would like to read the galley I have of The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde.  I will probably also start D is for Deadbeat this week and I have another mystery book from the library that is another author we will see in Key West.  
What are you reading?  Any recommendations for books I should read?  Please leave a note in the comments.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 8/19

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers.  This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take.  Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole host of titles to add to your to-read lists.

This week was another great reading week for me.  I also started to think more about plans for the school year, which is approaching too quickly.  A lot of my time this week was spent re-reading snippets from my favorite professional books and reading blog posts to get good ideas.  I anticipate a good amount of my time will be spent on technology in the next week as I get my class website and some other tech tools ready for the year.  

Books I Finished This Week:

Adult Books

B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton is the second book in the Kinsey Millhone series.  I have enjoyed rereading the first two books in this series and look forward to getting as far as possible before January.  

Middle Grade/Young Adult

I don’t know why it took me so long to pick up Seedfolks by Paul Fleischmann.  I have heard a lot of good things about it and it definitely lived up to all the praise.  I think this would be an excellent read aloud and would really foster good discussion about understanding things from all different perspectives.  
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer was one of the titles in the set of literature circle sets I received as part of a grant.  I had not heard of the book before, but then started to notice that people talked about it on blogs.  I loved this book.  It is a book that really does the what-if scenario well.  A lot of books out there are post-apocalyptic with many different ideas of how the apocalypse happened.  I loved that this one started a few days before the major event happened and then chronicled what was going on as the disasters struck and the world changed.  It was a haunting book because it really felt like the author nailed what people would be like in these types of situations.  I will highly recommend this book to my students and cannot wait to hear the discussions that come out of the literature circle using this title. 
I really enjoyed rereading Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter.  I love the fun characters in this series and am enjoying reading it.  I am participating in the Gallagher Girls readathon, but was a little ahead of schedule with this one because my digital hold came through last week.  I can’t wait to continue reading about Cammie.  I want to see what happens with Zach! 
I finished listening to Shadow and Bone this week too.  I LOVED this book and will have to immediately go out to find the second one.  I really enjoyed the audio of this one as well.   

Picture Books

I picked up a stack of picture books at the library after reading through the picture book 10 for 10 posts the other day.  Some of these are books I was looking for and others are books I ran across.  I was looking for some mentor texts and for some read alouds so I ended up with a big variety.
All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan would be a great book to use for a mentor text when talking about place narratives. 
I love most of Neil Gaiman’s work, but The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish was a little weird. I guess I would have to see how kids react to this one before making a final judgement.  
I have read multiple references to using Tough Boris in reading and writing workshops.  I need to go back to see how those authors suggested it be used.  The book was okay, but I am not sure how I would use it for a mentor text.  Maybe with younger students I could see a better connection.  
Patrol by Walter Dean Myers will be a good picture book to read aloud in class.  I think middle school students will really be able to discuss the moral dilemmas that people face during times of war.  
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems is cute and was a fun book to read.  It would be a good one for a quick read aloud and a discussion of the artwork.  
Both Salt in His Shoes and Dream Big are about Michael Jordan.  I am planning to do a short unit about mindsets and how people get good at things.  Michael Jordan is a great example of someone who worked hard and practiced a lot in order to pursue his dreams.  Both of these picture books would be great to use in conjunction with the lessons about growth mindset.  Both are also great examples of narratives that stem from every day things.  

Professional Books

Opening Minds by Peter Johnston is another excellent professional resource.  I liked the reminders in here about how the language we use can put students into certain mindsets.  I certainly will be even more careful about the way I give feedback this year after reading this book.  This is a short book that should be required reading for every educator along with Choice Words.


Who Owns the Learning?: Preparing Students for Success in the Digital Age by Alan November offered some great food for thought about the way technology can be used in the classroom.  I had already started to think about some of these ideas so was glad to see such interesting examples of how teachers are using technology to enhance learning.  I like the idea of a digital learning farm and the roles for students.  I need to spend a little bit of time with these ideas in order to figure out exactly which ideas to implement.  

Books I am Currently Reading:

I started reading Moby Dick this week because my husband decided to read it and I wanted to read it with him.  Both of us are struggling with it and not enjoying it so I may have to abandon it soon.  I also am reading The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde.  We are going to have him visit our school in September so I want to read this book and the ARC for the second one before then.  I am reading Spilling Ink as well.  The last book I am reading is The Blood Sugar Solution.  

What’s Next?

I read a few pages of Jellicoe Road and of Paranormalcy.  I liked both and just got sidetracked this week so will probably go back to both books.  I will continue the Sue Grafton series this week as well. Since I can get into my classroom this week and have meetings all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I will get considerably less reading done.  
What is on your reading agenda this week?  Have any recommendations for me?  Please share in the comments.