This is where you guys can post a comment/question based on the summer reading "chat" I gave you all in Mrs. Spradlin's class. Make sure you tell me WHO YOU ARE! I don't know you yet, so be specific - 1st & last names.
Also, feel free to check out some of the other comments from this year's 8th graders, especially the part about WHAT THEY WISH THEY HAD KNOWN. Their hints, tips, advice & warnings might be very useful to you! :)
I look forward to hearing from you!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Advice for Future McNeeley Students
So my little 8th grade darlings - soon to be high school punks :)- this is where I would L-O-V-E for you to post any tips, hints, advice or warnings to next year's 8th graders for surviving the coming academic year with me. You can comment on anything specific (i.e. summer reading, Holocaust unit, Elizabethan fair, abstracts, reading logs, etc.) or everything in general. What do you wish you had known BEFORE you came to my class?
Friday, May 2, 2008
New Discoveries
So, this post is all about all the new things that I've "discovered" lately...
This is not necessarily a new revelation, but I have been reminded lately just HOW MUCH I really love to read. I'm reading one book after another at an almost manic pace because there is so much out there to read! Can you believe that I did not read (for fun) for the first five years I was teaching? I was so overwhelmed with lessons and grading and all that stuff that I didn't allow time to enjoy books. I only started reading again in grad school and that was only because I took a class where I HAD to read! Not having TV helps, though. This blog and all your posts help, too. All those factors help get me excited about the NEXT new book, which right now is Ann Rinaldi's The Staircase. I really like Ann Rinaldi because she writes great historical fiction (FAVE: A Break with Charity), but after reading The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, this book feels a little "dry." (I'm only 27 pages in, so I haven't really gotten into it yet...)
Speaking of Sarah Dessen... She is my other latest discovery. Yang told me that she was an awesome writer and she was right! I admit that I didn't want to read The Truth About Forever at first b/c it sounded a little cheesey. The cover was a little cheesey, too. Once I opened it though, I couldn't stop reading! It's a modern story - meaning it takes place NOW - so going back to the 1860s with Ann Rinaldi is a little abrupt. NOW I'm dying to read more by Dessen, though, so I'm going to search for more titles from her later... (Guys, beware. Sarah Dessen seems to be a "girly writer." I'll try and get some more "guy stuff" soon!)
I'm looking up Dessen titles later, but to answer Emma (& probably others) I did look up Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, and found other titles by her. I have no idea if they are good or not (their covers looked good!) but here goes:
Prom
Catalyst
Chains
Twisted
BTW, did you notice my LATEST NEW DISCOVERY???? Nina taught me how to do BOLD and ITALICS! I LOVE IT! Anyone know any other tricks? Polly, you still have to help me make my blog look "cooler!"
This is not necessarily a new revelation, but I have been reminded lately just HOW MUCH I really love to read. I'm reading one book after another at an almost manic pace because there is so much out there to read! Can you believe that I did not read (for fun) for the first five years I was teaching? I was so overwhelmed with lessons and grading and all that stuff that I didn't allow time to enjoy books. I only started reading again in grad school and that was only because I took a class where I HAD to read! Not having TV helps, though. This blog and all your posts help, too. All those factors help get me excited about the NEXT new book, which right now is Ann Rinaldi's The Staircase. I really like Ann Rinaldi because she writes great historical fiction (FAVE: A Break with Charity), but after reading The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, this book feels a little "dry." (I'm only 27 pages in, so I haven't really gotten into it yet...)
Speaking of Sarah Dessen... She is my other latest discovery. Yang told me that she was an awesome writer and she was right! I admit that I didn't want to read The Truth About Forever at first b/c it sounded a little cheesey. The cover was a little cheesey, too. Once I opened it though, I couldn't stop reading! It's a modern story - meaning it takes place NOW - so going back to the 1860s with Ann Rinaldi is a little abrupt. NOW I'm dying to read more by Dessen, though, so I'm going to search for more titles from her later... (Guys, beware. Sarah Dessen seems to be a "girly writer." I'll try and get some more "guy stuff" soon!)
I'm looking up Dessen titles later, but to answer Emma (& probably others) I did look up Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, and found other titles by her. I have no idea if they are good or not (their covers looked good!) but here goes:
Prom
Catalyst
Chains
Twisted
BTW, did you notice my LATEST NEW DISCOVERY???? Nina taught me how to do BOLD and ITALICS! I LOVE IT! Anyone know any other tricks? Polly, you still have to help me make my blog look "cooler!"
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