Summer Reading

Okay my list of summer reading books is almost cut in half and with only 3 weeks until school starts again, I need to keep reading.
I finished The Bean Trees and really liked the story. I hope the students enjoyed it as well. I also reread The ABC's of Kissing Boys by Tina Ferraro since I won it from a YA Fresh giveway. I have to say I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. I took my niece to a bookstore to help her pick some preteen books to read and stumbled upon a new book by a new author Brent Crawford. The book is titled Carter Finally Gets It and it is the story of a young boy trying to navigate his way through his first year of high school. I actually laughed out loud during several scenes and my teenage son did as well. It is a good story with a great message.
I also did some professional reading about teaching reading and writing by Jim Burke over the summer and I am excited to start this school year. I feel like I have enjoyed this summer more because we finally took a real vacation. We went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and I worked on my novel. It was so inspiring to just sit on the beach and write my story. I finally feel like my life is starting to fall into the place after years of being in school, starting my teaching career, and trying to dig out of debt from being in school.

Piles of books

I really have so many books on my must read list for this summer that I have no idea where to start. I have to finish The Bean Trees because the other Sophomore teacher assigned it for summer reading. I also want to finish my professional books I purchased from the Jim Burke conference I attended. Of course Sarah Dessen's new book Along For The Ride is on my list of must reads. I also want to read Water for Elephants and The Liar's Club because a friend recommended them to me. I also want to read So Yesterday by Scott Westerfield(sp) because a student said it was good. So many books, so little time. I must start making more time during the school year to read. I try to always read during the year but it takes me longer to finish a book during the year with all of the grading, planning, student issues, and meetings that I have. As I sit here I keep thinking of more books that I want to read and it is driving me crazy, so I am off of here and on to reading. That sounds so nice...reading is such an escape for me.

Summer of work

Really I do plan on keeping an up-to-date blog it just seems like I never get enough hours in the day.
Anyway summer break is here and I am feeling motivated. I want to work on my curriculum for my classes adding some really good literature and assignments to go along with that literature that make the students look at the bigger pictures of life. It should be a fun summer, who doesn't love reading books and having it be considered part of your job. I know I can think of no better way to relax than to dive into new books.