MAC Week 3 Reading - The Art of Possibility, Chapters 5-8

"A child comes to think of himself as the personality he gets recognition for...."

The Art of Possibility - Chapter 6, pg. 82

by Flickr user Michael Sarver

This statement highlights an observation that I've made over the past three years.  Between the freshman and sophomore year, many students mature and come into my English II classes as a slightly different person than who they were in previous years. Each year I go to the freshman and middle school teachers to find out what I should expect from certain students, but I always keep an open mind to allow the students to mature and be different than they were in previous years. Thankfully, many of them do mature, especially the guys.

Last week I was talking with one of these students, I'll call him Alan (not his name, but I can't tell this story with only pronouns). I have Alan in three of my classes this semester -- English II, Intro to Journalism and Public Speaking.  He's a great kid who does well in all three classes, and he's a smart aleck who likes to keep me on my toes for the three hours he's with me each day.  Last week he and some of the other students were talking about his behavior in the past, which included getting suspended for fighting a student and using brass knuckles in middle school. The freshman teacher had warned me that he could be lazy and combative, but she also told me that he had potential. He was shocked when I told him that I knew about his previous behavior pattern. He had no clue that I knew because I gave him the space to change and only acknowledged his current behavior.  He's been a model student this year, and many of his previous teachers are shocked to learn this.

With each chapter I read, I find that it is clearly applicable to teaching or that it highlights something I've observed in my short time as a teacher.  I think I'm going to read the book again at the end of the summer before school starts again because I want to apply these principles in my classes more.  I would also love to give a copy to everyone I know who works with students.

MAC Week 2 Free Post - After EMDT

Some of my upcoming reading after finishing up next month.

Not that I'm looking to wish away the last month and a half of the EMDT program, but with only a few weeks left, it's time to start thinking about how I'm going to fill the time that I devoted to this endeavor over the past year. 

Right now I have one plan: reading.

If you look at my blog's sidebar, you can see some of the reading challenges I've chosen to engage in this year.  I've not really applied any time to these yet, but I don't think I'm down and out yet.

I'm an English teacher, so it's no big surprise that I like reading and collect books. The ones listed above are only a few of the ones that are in my I have yet to read.  I purchase most of the books I read because part of what I love about books is owning them. I do visit the library, but I'm a slow, and sometimes distracted, reader which means that having a brief time to interact with a book from the library really limits my enjoyment.

My wife keeps asking me if I'd be interested in a Kindle, Nook or other e-reader, and I'm not really interested yet. I really enjoy the physical interaction with the text on a page that I turn, not scroll.  I don't really enjoy the fact that most of the text books in this program have been in a digital format, but I see the value.  I do think that I might be persuaded to try e-books on an iPad because if I don't like the experience, I can still use the iPad for other uses. With a dedicated e-reader, if I don't like it, then there's not much I can do with it.

So after my adventure in EMDT ends in April, you can find me with a book, either in a chair by a window or in a hammock in my back yard.

What are you looking forward to after we end our time in EMDT? And what are your thoughts on e-books versus physical books?

I joined another reading challenge...

So I worked on making a list of books for the first reading challenge I signed up for this year, and added Turn of the Screw by Henry James.  Then I found the Gothic Reading Challenge, so I put the two together and decided to join this challenge as well. That means in addition to the 6 or so books I'm reading for the "Books I Should Have Read..." challenge, I'll also be reading 5 books with gothic elements in them. But, with a list of 45 (and counting) books I'd like to read in the next year, I can squeeze them all in.
As for my 5 books, I'm open to suggestions beyond Turn of the Screw.  The only other one that comes to mind right now is Jane Eyre, which would fit both challenges because I didn't read all of it when I was supposed to read it in college.

BP3_Shelfari

I spent some time this past week looking at a few Web 2.0 tools that cater to book lovers because I thought these might have the best chance at being useful in my classroom.  Most of them were still in the beta stage, which contributed to their limited functionality.  One site, however, had a clean interface and was very user friendly.

Shelfari, which was launched in 2006 and acquired by Amazon.com in 2008, is a social network website that allows users to place the books they have read, are reading, and plan to read on a virtual bookshelf they can share with their friends.  Based on the books on your shelf and the shelves of your friends, Shelfari recommends other books and friends you might be interested in checking out.

Some of the books on my virtual shelf.

Users also have the option to share their bookshelf with others outside of the Shelfari site through web widgets like the one at the bottom of this blog page.  This is a great way to get others who aren't using Shelfari exposed to the site, thus expanding your community.

The site also allows users to join and create groups about certain books, genres, or organizations.  These groups provide a space for members have discussions and place books on a common bookshelf. 

The group I created for my classes.  I've already placed Animal Farm by George Orwell on the shelf.

As you can see, I've already created a group for my classes.  My plan is to use the site as place for my students to discuss the books we're reading together in class.  I'm also going to have my students place the books they are reading for their independent reading requirement each quarter on the shared bookshelf.  At the end of the quarter, they'll have to write a review of the book they read and put it in the review section of that book.

The benefit of this site is that if provides a visual representation of the reading a person does.  I think it will be encouraging for my student to be able to see all the books they've read.  I've been adding books I read in college, high school, and even in elementary, and it's interesting to see all the books I've read that I can remember.

I'm excited to use this site with my classes, but it's fun to use outside of the classroom as well.  If you like books and reading, it's definitely worth checking out.