Reading Goal Met 2011

All in all, this has been a successful reading year. I accomplished 111 books in 2011, for a total of 12,087 pages. I read books in print, Kindle books, books on my iPad, and books on a Sony e reader. I did not listen to any books. Although many titles I wanted were available through our school digital library via audio format, I have finally embraced the reality that I cannot successfully listen to books. 2011 was a great reading year, but I am hoping for an even stronger reading push in 2012, that benefits not only myself, but my family and students, as well.

Summer Book-A-Day

1. Balarama: A Royal Elephant (BB) 6/6
2. Imogene's Last Stand (BB) 6/7
3. The Hallelujah Flight (BB) 6/8
4. The Duchess of Whimsy (BB) 6/9
5. Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott 6/10
6. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod Ninth Grade Slays 6/11
7. Strange Case of the Origami Yoda 6/12
8. Mirror Mirror 6/13
9. The Extraordinary Mark Twain 6/14
10. The Storm in the Barn 6/15
11. Black Elks Vision 6/16
12. Goal! 6/17
13. Amazing Faces 6/18
14. The Buddy Files-lost boy 6/19
15. Brixton Bros mistaken identity 6/20
16. Turtle in Paradise 6/21
17. The Books of Elsewhere 6/22

Book Challenge #3

Summer Book-A-Day Challenge begins Monday, June 6, 2011. Won't you join me?

Book Challenge #2: 111 Books in 2011

I found my second book challenge: The Centurions of 2011: 111 Books by January 2012!. Post your books each month, choosing one as your "Must Read" to total twelve favorites for the year. All genres of books are welcome!

First Book Challenge 2011

I have decided upon my first book challenge for 2011: Dana Huff's Books I Should Have Read in School, but Didn’t Challenge Something I do not often admit to my students or even my own daughter, is that I was a fake reader in high school. I did not like being told what I had to read, much less spending so much valuable reading time on one novel. So as to rebel, I just opted to not read what was on the required list.

Obviously, I was able to get through Grad school, so my methods worked. But, now, I am in a different place in my life. With my daughter reaching the age of also being told what she "has to read" for her AP English classes, I figured this would be the perfect time to start reading all of those books that were on the "mandatory list."

My goal for this book challenge is at least 12 books that I feel I should have read in school. Most of my choices will come from high school, but being an elementary librarian, I will also choose a few elementary novels that I know I have avoided over the years, mainly so I can have that rich conversation with my students.

The #1 position goes to: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1960.

I think Atticus can sum it up perfectly for why I am starting this challenge: "When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles 'em." ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

,, { ipod's Laundry } ,,

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

I didn't know what to expect when we attended the Library 2.0 training, I just had this feeling it was going to be big. Huge is more like it. As cheesy as this may sound, I feel like this was a life-changing experience. My thoughts about technology will never be the same. I know I probably still only have just a little knowledge about what is available to me and my students, but I know I do have a lot more to offer now.

According to Sir Winston Churchill, I may have only just come to the end of the beginning. So where do we go from here? I think my most important next step is to get this information out to my teachers. This new knowledge is only as good as how many people you get it out to.

My students and teachers are already enjoying the new additions to the library web page. Seeing the new photo collages of their field trips has been fun. My first plan is to work on a podcast covering the research we just completed in fourth grade. Hopefully, from there, it will just continue to grow.

Honestly, I do not think there was any activity that I did not gain some knowledge from. Every time I sit down to work on something on the computer, my approach is different because of something I have learned. Now I just want to maintain this knowledge and learn how to keep up with new technology.