Tag Archives: Summer

I’m ready to write again

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I’m sitting on my couch, balling my eyes out…I just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Wow, talk about a powerful piece of fiction. To be honest, for the last two weeks I have struggled with writing, fought against it, and generally just gave in to my writer’s block. That is in part because I was busy camping, spending precious time with my friends and family in Minnesota before heading back down to the land of air conditioning and sweat (Texas). Then I was overtaken by summer. By the sheer delight of getting up in the morning and reading my way through breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. But after finishing The Book Thief, suddenly I was ready again, to write. So, I didn’t hold true to my resolution to blog everyday, but I’m OK with that.

My "To Read" pile

So, what has this teacher been up to? I already shared that I’ve been reading my little heart out. I scoured my favorite reading blogs (Check them out here and here) , and made a long list of books I want to read this summer and headed to my local library. On top of that, my dad gave me a bunch of books he has read and recommends. Growing up, I never would have called my dad a reader, but wow, did we talk books this summer! He gave me Drive by Daniel H. Pink and How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer, and I’m excited to read them and be able to discuss them with dad–and he showed me his “To Read” stack of books and it was bigger than mine, who would have thunk!?

My “To Read” books have three piles: We have my Fiction Pile from the library, my Recommendation Pile from Dad, and there is one more pile: my Teacher Pile. This pile includes Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle. I went to her workshop on Wednesday, and WOW, it was awesome! It was exactly what I needed as I plan my own Writer’s Workshop (More about that workshop soon!). I also finished my two books about Reading and Writing workshop and ordered three more from Amazon and borrowed a few from friends:

  • Revisiting the Writing Workshop
  • Revisiting the Reading Workshop
    • by Marybeth Alley and Barbra Orehovec
  • Around the Reading Workshop in 180 Days
    • By Frank Serafini
  • The Daily 5
  • The Cafe Book
    • By Gail Boushey and Joan Moser

So this nerdy teacher will be reading, writing, running, cooking, and relaxing, because it’s SUMMER!

The wave of enthusiasm…is dead.

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Remember that wave of enthusiasm I told you about last week when I excitedly made my way to school on a Saturday? Yeah, that’s dead. It ran out yesterday, on the last day of summer school. I promised my wonderful custodian, Jose, that I would have all my stuff put away by Friday (at the latest) so he could clean the carpets in my room.  (I saw the panicked look in his eye when he looked at my disaster)

What, you can’t clean around my mountains of boxes and random piles? After I  finished getting everything wrapped up at Summer School, I headed to my lair classroom, and I just stood there staring at the piles, as the  waves of enthusiasm slowly ebbed away, and disappeared into the ocean of Summer. So, what’s a girl to do? She starts stuffing things into cabinets, bookshelves, and drawers as quickly as possible, of course! (Is this the way anyone else “cleaned” their bedroom when they were a kid?) Caution: Do not open the big storage closet, or you may be hit by falling math manipulatives! I know I will regret this come August, but I simply could not be at school for a minute longer! After everything had been “put away”,  I drove my sleepy little self home, and took a THREE hour nap! It was like my body had been waiting for summer, and knew the exact moment it arrived.

I’m so glad that I went in last weekend, and I did finish the library:

Don’t you worry, even though I won’t have any trouble staying away from school until August , I still have lots of nerdyness to share with you until then!