Breaking Up is Hard to Do.

I came across this article in the NY Times this morning.  Though I would rather read it out loud to my classroom full of kids, it's AUGUST and I don't have a classroom right now.  Sharing it on this blog will have to do.  I just know, all too often, there were kids crying and sulking in my classroom over boyfriend-girlfriend break-ups and friend break-ups.  Getting hurt by someone you cared about is a part of growing up.  But it doesn't need to be fueled by hurtful Facebook postings, un-friendings, and other online trimmings.  May this article and the gathering in Boston kindle more conversations and healthy relationship-ing.  Read on.      -stenson

From NPR

While I haven't read any of these books, I know lots of smart teens.

Click here to see a trio of books recommended by various contributors to NPR. Three books for smart teens. I love it. Let me know if you check any of them out!

Keep reading!

-stenson

Loving Libraries.

Here's to you, Ms. Noreen, Ms. Thurk, and Ms. Lang, the three talented women who make it happen at the OGM Media Center.

Your media center is filled with so many good books organized in a way in which we can find for what we are looking (unless a pesky middle-school student of staff has screwed it all up!). There are 45 computers that you let us jump on and off; not to mention the comfortable chairs for us to use while we do our scholarly work. Your hard work in the media center makes our reading lives richer and more satisfying. Thanks for putting up with us, keep the media center a sacred place in our school, for nurturing the readers in all of us.

I thought of you three when I read this story. Hope you all enjoy!


picture from StoryCorps and NPR.org

Keep reading everyone. Visit a library today!
-Stenson

p.s. Don't get ideas about stealing books, kids. There is nothing wrong with reading- be proud of the books you read. Everyone's doing it. The 7th graders this year have already read close to 1,000 books. Way to go, Huskies!

1 down, 39 to go.

40. Forty. Cuarenta. 4-0. The number of books my 7th graders and I are going to try to read this year. It's about 1 a week (though I told one family it there were more than 40 weeks in the school year...oops!). It's a goal that is worth shooting for. A goal that depends entirely on effort, good choices, and good books.

Since I'm going to reach for the goal of 40 books this year too, I made sure I had a good book for this three-day weekend. I know it may be a little of a head start, but I'm counting the book I finished this weekend.

It's not a book I'd necessarily recommend to my students, but since it's the first book of the year for me, it's worth mentioning. Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer. Easy-cheesy crime novel. Kinda spooky though so I only read it when my husband was around and in the daytime hours. I've recently rediscovered mysteries, so I loved this holiday book (holiday book=easy read). I really liked that the setting (where it takes place) is in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Anyway, 1 down 39 to go. Here's to a really fun challenge and sharing it with my students!

My inspiration for this goal comes from Donalynn Miller and her extraordinary book The Book Whisperer; this is a book every teacher, parent, educator should read.

The Reading Workshop Classroom

photo by Herb Swanson of the NY Times


I've always admired the work of Nancie Atwell, a visionary reading teacher and specialist. Recently, a colleague sent me an article about her classroom and how it is inspiring a new generation of reading teachers and reading classrooms. It's really a powerful movement.

Getting caught up in the rush and chaos of the start of a new year is easy to do. Even so, I always aspire to have a classroom where students of all reading levels are comfortable with who they are as independent readers, where students are choosing their own books and enjoying their time reading them, where all of come together as a community of readers. It is in Nancie's ideals where my work is grounded. Kids, parents, all readers, take a peek at the article and at the slide show accompanying it to see just what we are shooting for in Room 103. Here's to reading. Here's to kids. Here's to the start of another great year!

Keep reading!
-stenson