#18 Joan Didion: Year of Magical Thinking

I finally took some time to wrap up a few books I'm reading this summer. Good thing, too, because I start school next week. I'll be reading a bunch of new books this year, however, because I have a new prep: English 11.

Anyway, back to Year of Magical Thinking... it was good, I guess. A bit slow. But a very interesting and methodical look at the year following Didion's husband's death and the near loss of her grown daughter. I think I've read something by Didion a long time ago, maybe Democracy. It might be worth looking at her fiction again, but I'm not too sure I'd recommend this book to anyone.

#17: Things Fall Apart--Chinua Achebe

After I finished Gilead yesterday, I tried to read something more lighthearted: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I read The DaVinci Code several years ago and enjoyed it's tale (if not Brown's writing style) and thought I might enjoy this one. I know that it's a dramatically different genre than what I just finished, and tried not to hold Brown's writing up to the same measure I would judge other, more serious authors, but I couldn't stand it. I tried to just let go and enjoy the tale he tells, but after 65 pages I finally gave up and went to find something better.

I've been meaning to read Things Fall Apart for several years now. A teacher I once taught with in Virginia taught it to her sophomores and really thought highly of it. This book was clearly better than anything Dan Brown could think to write. Powerful, direct prose that is subtle, yet powerful. I really like Achebe's plain and clear writing, and the story of one stubborn and flawed man facing the end of his civilization as he knows it is powerful, both as a testament to what happened to African tribes and also as a metaphor for societal change in general. I can see why my colleague enjoyed teaching this book--there is so much to teach here on many different levels.

#16 Gilead--Mariylnne Robinson

I'm not sure where I got the recommendation to read this book, but I ordered it from PaperBackSwap a few months ago and finally had a chance to read it. What a beautiful book! Robinson is clearly a talented writer and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work. Gilead is told in the first person by an aging (and dying) minister, writing to his seve-year-old son. His goal is for his son to read this journal when he is an adult so that he will understand more about his father. The narrator is dying of heart disease, and knows that he will not be there to watch his son grow up.

The story is a meandering account of the narrator's life, friendships, and family. The narrator often interrupts himself with observations about current interactions and ramblings about his father and grandfather, both preachers as well. While it gets a little slow at times, it ends powerfully, demonstrating the power of friendship, family and faith. And did I mention that Robinson's control of language is outstanding?

#15: The Taming of the Shrew--Shakespeare

This is the last major work my ninth graders will read this year, and it's a nice one to end on. After this, we'll do short stories, and then the year's up.

I enjoy this play quite a lot, and the kids seem to as well. They get the humor, there are fun gender stereotypes to play around with, and generally they have a good time with it. It's also fun to read a comedy, rather than always focusing on his tragedies.

Tags: 50 Book Challenge

#14: Catch Me if You Can--Frank Abagnale

Now that I know I'm teaching juniors next year (I need a break from those seniors), one of the other teachers and I are working to find a good summer reading book for them. We want it to be somewhat related to the major themes of the year (the American Dream, etc.), something that isn't horribly boring, or too difficult. Ideally, it should be something the kids can read on their own, will find somewhat interesting, and allow us to keep coming back to throughout the year. I began my search last week, and happened upon this book. It just might be the right one.

I liked this book. I was different than the movie, of course, and better in some ways, worse in others. There's much more detail, and things make more sense than in the movie, but Hollywood is good at making real stories a bit more exciting than the original, so some of the suspense and action is less exciting in the book. The character played by Tom Hanks in the movie has a very minor part in the book. My one other complaint is that the writing is nothing really special. It gets the ideas across, but there's not much to the language or style. Still, this might be the one.

Tags: 50 Book Challenge, Catch Me If You Can, Tom Hanks

#13: Algernon, Charlie and I--Daniel Keyes

I usually do not like to hear authors speak or read their reflections about their writing. Often, authors take on an egotistical attitude, especially successful authors. This book is somewhat autobiographical, but also a history of Keyes's Flowers for Algernon. He talks about how he started off as a writer, how he got the ideas for Algernon, and some other general observations about writing and publishing. I really enjoyed this book, and I will most likely use pieces of it when I teach this book again, especially the Afterward, where he talks about learning how scientists are now doing experiments on mice similar to what he predicted more than forty years ago.

Tags: Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes, A Writer's Journey

Grad School Update

After procrastinating for several weeks, I managed to finish the two graduate classes I was taking. This wraps up the classes required to earn my supervisor's license and opens up a substantial amount of free time for me to begin reading more interesting texts. I'm hoping to take a couple more classes this year, but not until the summer. In the meantime, I'll work harder on achieving my goal of fifty books in a year.

Actually, thinking about it, I'm not really behind. I've read 12 books so far this year and we're only one quarter of the way through the year. Nice. I'll make it this year for sure.

#12 Effective Teaching Strategies that Accommodate Diverse Learners--Coyne et. al

This book was a real waste. The authors discuss effective teaching for "diverse students," which is all well and good, but how can you lump all diverse students into one category? Basically, what ends up when you do is a book about using good teaching strategies that help all learners. Each chapter is focused on specific areas of curriculum, such as teaching early readers, math skills, etc, but none of the chapters are very detailed or useful.

#11 Curriculum Development: Theory into Practice--Tanner and Tanner

Ugh! I thought that Ornstein and Hunkins's textbook on curriculum was boring, but this is even worse! Tanner and Tanner spend hundreds of pages worshiping at the alter of John Dewey and bog the reader down with charts, graphs, and very dense writing. I can't imagine wanting to study curriculum on the level that these people do. Hopefully, I'm done taking curriculum classes for a while now, as I've now met the requirements for the Supervisor's license in New Jersey, which is why I was taking this class.

#10 Flowers for Algernon--Daniel Keyes

I just finished teaching this book to my freshmen again this year. It's a great story and Keyes's prose is very tight. He does a fantastic job getting the reader to identify with and really get involved in the main character, Charlie. My students love this book, especially the ones that just can't get into Ender's Game.

#9: The Adult Learner--Knowles, Holton and Swanson

So, Malcolm Knowles wrote extensively about adult learning, specifically labeling it as androgogy. He published extensively about it and this book is now in its sixth edition. Here's the catch: this sixth edition was published eight years after Knowles died. Come on Holton and Swanson! Write your own damn book and stop worshiping at Knowles's feet. Ugh!

Very theory-heavy and dense prose. Not much fun to read.

#8 Teachers Caught in the Action--Ann Lieberman and Lynne Miller

This book, also for my grad class on teacher leadership, is pretty good. It's a series of articles written by various teachers about good professional development in their schools. I like that each chapter is focused on one aspect of professional development; too many writers try to tell about every aspect of professional development, rather than just focusing in on just one aspect. Of the three books for this class so far, this was the more interesting one.

#7 Learning Along the Way--Diane Sweeney

I just finished this for one of my online grad classes. Overall, I think this book is just average. Sweeney tells about some very successful work being done at an elementary school in Colorado. It's informative in telling about good educational leadership and reform, and told in a very personal manner, not loaded with eduspeak. But overall, there wasn't a whole lot that I learned about teacher leadership from this book--maybe it's just too much of a beginner's book.

Still, I like that it's not loaded down with theory and Dewey quotes every other paragraph.