Well, as I expected, I quickly got behind on posting to this blog. I have been keeping up with my new LinkedIn Great Books group, and I have checked out Facebook a little, and some other blogs and social networks, but I haven't been posting myself, so...Time for some catch up.
I finished the Reeves book on Reframing Teacher Leadership, finding it useful, if a little thin, and I'm passing along parts of it to various people for further consideration and action, so that was worthwhile work reading. I've also plowed through some back issues of Harvard Educational Review (HER) and Managing People at Work, and ordered a book about students and trust in learning situations that was reviewed in HER.
For some light relief and to pass the time while I was waiting for my cell phone to be repaired, I picked up The Last Unicorn, by Peter Beagle, in what was billed as a "40th anniversary edition of a fantasy classic." So since fantasy is my favorite genre, and I never even heard of the book, I thought it would be good to check it out. And I liked it. I don't know that I would say it is great, as it is a little too light and a little too ironic? for true classic, in my opinion, but it was a good story, told with humor and an awareness of the history of the genre, and there was some emotional resonance at times as well.
This morning, I started The Cutting Room, a first novel by Louise Welsh, which was birthday book from my husband (not sure if it was this summer or last?). One of the books that seemed too strong/ different from my usual choices and so didn't get read immediately and drifted to the bottom of the to-read pile. It is dark so far, but absorbing and I am enjoying being drawn into the world she's creating. More later....
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
work reading
Today I decided to start a new book for work, Reframing Teacher Leadership to Improve Your School, by Douglas B. Reeves. I've been interested in Reeves' work for a little while now and have checked out his web site, so when this book turned up in the premiums I get from ASCD, it ended up on the top of the list. I was also adding the Amazon List to my LinkedIn profile and wanted to have an "acceptably professional" sounding title for my first listing (thus not the 2nd volume in the Twilight series, which is what I actually just finished reading).
One of the points I often make when teaching workshops on the Shared Inquiry method of learning is that we should all have a variety of different reading experiences, some for light enjoyment, some for information, some for work, some for fun, and that we should help ensure students get exposed to that range of experiences too.
For Shared Inquiry, books that are a bit above your own level work best, as then the discussion is not redundant. Thus, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain was a wonderful basis of discussion for the group of readers that I share an Into the Woods experience with every fall, as we could easily fill our four two-hour discussion time slots helping each other untangle the points of view that Settembrini and Naptha were presenting to the main character of that novel, plus touch on how Mann embedded his ideas about time and space into the texture of the novel.
For work, I like books that help me think about how to move our organization past what seem to be obstacles, such as the trend in teacher professional development against using outside providers (i.e., people like me and my staff). I think Reeves share some of my core values about education, but he is using a different path to help schools and teachers get there, so I hope I can learn from his experience.
However, since I'm getting tired after a long day, it may just be Prevention magazine on the bus on the way home tonight!
One of the points I often make when teaching workshops on the Shared Inquiry method of learning is that we should all have a variety of different reading experiences, some for light enjoyment, some for information, some for work, some for fun, and that we should help ensure students get exposed to that range of experiences too.
For Shared Inquiry, books that are a bit above your own level work best, as then the discussion is not redundant. Thus, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain was a wonderful basis of discussion for the group of readers that I share an Into the Woods experience with every fall, as we could easily fill our four two-hour discussion time slots helping each other untangle the points of view that Settembrini and Naptha were presenting to the main character of that novel, plus touch on how Mann embedded his ideas about time and space into the texture of the novel.
For work, I like books that help me think about how to move our organization past what seem to be obstacles, such as the trend in teacher professional development against using outside providers (i.e., people like me and my staff). I think Reeves share some of my core values about education, but he is using a different path to help schools and teachers get there, so I hope I can learn from his experience.
However, since I'm getting tired after a long day, it may just be Prevention magazine on the bus on the way home tonight!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Thanksgiving weekend
Well, I didn't get much reading done over the holiday weekend. Just a few pages of New Moon, the second volume in the Twilight series, which I decided to read after so many parents and teachers mentioned reading it or that their students were reading it.
The first volume was ok, I guess. Nothing great, in my opinion, but I can see why it's caught on with tweens and teens, girls especially. The old lure of the forbidden love interest, and yet the book is so vague on details that Bella could be any girl and Edward any boy whom others tell you "isn't good for you." But hey, if it is love, then you just can't help yourself, right? Anyhow, it's been a fast read overall, but I just haven't given it much time lately.
This weekend it was films and games. The "big" film was the Lord of the Rings trilogy (again). My husband said he chose that as a preemptive move so that I wouldn't say he never lets me watch it. We've only seen it 4-5 times in the uncut DVD version, plus I saw them all in the theaters too, of course (not to count times I've read the books). This was only the second time on the still-relatively-new big home screen TV. It was a great way to spend the long evenings, but I may be reaching that point where the story doesn't affect me as strongly any more, since I know it so well. I spent more time looking at how it was made this time than I ever have before.
Other film highlights were the restoration of the 1969 Jean-Pierre Melville film Army of Shadows about the French Resistance in WWII, plus a couple of what we call "morning movies" (goofier, lighter films that we watch upstairs cuddled up in bed on lazy mornings): King Solomon's Mines (with Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger), The Bride Came C.O.D. (Bette Davis and James Cagney), and What Price Hollywood?
More on the board games in the next post...
The first volume was ok, I guess. Nothing great, in my opinion, but I can see why it's caught on with tweens and teens, girls especially. The old lure of the forbidden love interest, and yet the book is so vague on details that Bella could be any girl and Edward any boy whom others tell you "isn't good for you." But hey, if it is love, then you just can't help yourself, right? Anyhow, it's been a fast read overall, but I just haven't given it much time lately.
This weekend it was films and games. The "big" film was the Lord of the Rings trilogy (again). My husband said he chose that as a preemptive move so that I wouldn't say he never lets me watch it. We've only seen it 4-5 times in the uncut DVD version, plus I saw them all in the theaters too, of course (not to count times I've read the books). This was only the second time on the still-relatively-new big home screen TV. It was a great way to spend the long evenings, but I may be reaching that point where the story doesn't affect me as strongly any more, since I know it so well. I spent more time looking at how it was made this time than I ever have before.
Other film highlights were the restoration of the 1969 Jean-Pierre Melville film Army of Shadows about the French Resistance in WWII, plus a couple of what we call "morning movies" (goofier, lighter films that we watch upstairs cuddled up in bed on lazy mornings): King Solomon's Mines (with Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger), The Bride Came C.O.D. (Bette Davis and James Cagney), and What Price Hollywood?
More on the board games in the next post...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
getting started
I'm getting started with this blog by explaining to myself (and anyone else who might show up) what I plan to do. Maybe going back later to re-read this will help me stay on track.
The idea is to practice blogging by just writing about whatever I happen to be reading. Not formal reviews, but just short notes and reactions.
I've often wished I had kept a master list of everything I've read, so even if this isn't totally comprehensive, it might come closer than anything else.
Of course, I'm dying to go back and list what I have been reading in the past, which suddenly seems oh so much more interesting than what I am reading now, but maybe I'll get around to that too.
And of course, if anyone would ever read this and respond, maybe I'd get more titles for my list of "to reads." So that's another incentive. Ok, next post will be on my current reading, as planned.
The idea is to practice blogging by just writing about whatever I happen to be reading. Not formal reviews, but just short notes and reactions.
I've often wished I had kept a master list of everything I've read, so even if this isn't totally comprehensive, it might come closer than anything else.
Of course, I'm dying to go back and list what I have been reading in the past, which suddenly seems oh so much more interesting than what I am reading now, but maybe I'll get around to that too.
And of course, if anyone would ever read this and respond, maybe I'd get more titles for my list of "to reads." So that's another incentive. Ok, next post will be on my current reading, as planned.
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