Young Adult Fiction - I'm a fan

Last Saturday evening in October and the temperature is dropping outside. Temperatures will be rising inside at school on Monday however, with the news of the Red Maple selections for the 2007-2008 school year. The Forest of Reading program is such an amazing way to generate excitement about books. Yes! Good old-fashioned BOOKS ....
Reading is the Key. If they can read ... they can be successful in any subject. The Red Maple Reading Group is a fabulous way to positively raise the profile of reading in middle school. The competition to read at least five books - to be able to vote for the favourite - generates huge buy-in and interest from many in the 11-14 year old range.

Many of the books are well worth a read by adults. YA Fiction is tops!

Reflections on Clouds

Del.icio.us.
Web 2.0 had a Summit: October 17-19, 2007
Wikki (Wiki's)
Blogs
Tags

There is a beauty to the language.

There is a new attitude about sharing and exchanging and learning. Information finally (!) is perceived to only have a value once it has been passed along to me, and then to you, and to him, and to them, and finally to her.
The sense that knowledge is part of a shifting landscape and ever-changing reality was never stronger. How does one find the pulse of this beast? Or is it a Beauty? Is there a pulse? There is a sense of wanting to try to define this; better to try to define a rainbow.

It is a beautiful language. Colour.

But can They Dance?

Today was the middle school Hallowe'en Dance. The black and orange streamers added a somewhat festive touch. The odd cardboard skeleton taped to a wall made clear the purpose of the event. Adolescents in the gym were like those across time: small knots of youth talking and moving, groups walking from here to there and back again, and many conversations of exaggerated drama and importance. Such as it has always been ...

Do adults really remember the significance, and the emotional roller coaster of emotions? I sense that perhaps these memories are (mercifully?!) lost ...

High School Cafe

Tonight - Music Cafe. My daughter will be playing the piano for a group who backs up a Spanish singer. It is very cool to listen to. I used to get so nervous "for" her, but now, mostly ... I can relax and enjoy. These are all music students performing tonight and they are all so talented. I just hope I am home again before 10. Isn't that the magic hour for Library Part 3 students?
Thursday already ... where is time going?

King Lear, Oklahoma, My One and Only and To Kill a Mockingbird

Cannot resist sharing my good fortune to see not one, or two or three ... but FOUR plays/performances this year at Stratford. I have gone FOUR entire years (in the recent past) without seeing one. King Lear was fabulous and To Kill a Mockingbird so uplifting. I still want to burst into song after seeing O! Not moved to take up tap dancing though after My One and Only...those actors are so fit and talented no matter the performance. Bravo! Encore!!

Must be Monday...

Hello to the World. This has been a tough Monday. Meetings and issues and a vague sense of 102 issues to be tackled. Never enough time. Energy is flagging. One bright spot is to look ahead to the first whole week of November and see "busy" from sunrise to sunset and beyond. Makes this week look like a picnic by comparison. Time to take the proverbial chill-pill and enjoy the ride!