Book List

Reading and a Rerun

November 28, 2011
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Reading and a Rerun

I know, I know. Thanksgiving is over. Time for a new post. Well, I’ve been busy… I’ve been learning a lot about maintaining a thirty year old pinball machine. And, ummm, playing one. Digesting food. Seriously. I weighed myself TDay evening, and then again then next morning (barely–it was almost afternoon). Six pounds difference. I don’t know where it goes. Well, I guess I know where at least some of it goes. Trying to stay ahead of my video class. Since there aren’t as many hardware issues this quarter, things are moving along much more quickly. I have a couple of pairs who are two weeks ahead of last quarter. D’oh. Enjoying our 70+ degree weather. In November. Sorry. It’s one of the reasons I live here. Reading. Latest in progress: Damned (narrated from Hell by a 13 year old girl…there are certain contexts when a 13 year old girl’s perspective is the best one to have), by Chuck Palahniuk, the same guy who wrote Fight Club (never read it or seen it… I might now). Damned funny. Sorry.  1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (an epic in three parts totaling 1000+ pages — I’m about 1/4 of the way in). I love his work. It’s

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Five-Oh

November 14, 2011
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Five-Oh

I turned fifty last week. Or as we like to say in my room, fitty. I’d like to think that’s accurate too. Although, my sister-in-law gave me a big sticker to wear at my (surprise) party that said, “I’m 5 Today!” That’s probably most accurate. Then she went and wrote “decades” in small print under the five. D’oh. My nephew was over playing my pinball machine this weekend. My wife had told him that she got it for my 50th birthday. “I can’t wait ’til I’m 50.” He’s 21, and he was totally serious. His girlfriend said the same thing. So did another nephew. Who knew fitty could be so desirable? All it takes is the right toys. Meanwhile, I’m feeling closer to 100 after this weekend. I will see you all on Wednesday. Here are a couple of books to check out. I especially liked Downtown Owl. Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman. Even though nothing really happens until the end, the characters are just so great, you don’t really care about the plot. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Narrated by a precocious nine-year old, who isn’t too annoying. Very touching and funny too.

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Victory!

October 12, 2011
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Victory!

Yesssssss, as the kids say when we’re checking a quiz or something, and they get a few in a row correct. If they’re on a streak as we go over it, it’ll be… “Number seven… D – savvy, the opposite of naive.” “Yesssssss.” “Number eight… E – none of the above.” “Yessssssssss.” It gets longer each time. “Number nine… there there… let me help you with that… C – patronize.” “Yesssssssssssss.” “You sound like you’re leaking air. Puh-leeze.” “Number ten… C – aghas–” “Nooooo!” “I mean E – none of the above. ” “Yessssssssssssssssssssss.” “Would you just stop it? Now?!” “Yesssss.” But anyway… Yesssssssss! The intervention was a success. Thanks for the update Mr. M. We are all glad to hear that your colleague has seen the light, and if she actually reads Readicide and gets it, we might see some real change. Just think how many kids we saved. (Do the math.) And I guess great minds think alike; I was just going to start blogging my way through Nurture Shock . I’m going camping this weekend, and we have a Survivor, Modern Family, Psych triple shot of tv love tonight that is like a long-awaited fix for a tv junkie

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Didja Miss Me? (Summer Reading)

July 13, 2011
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My. Oh. My. It’s been awhile since I’ve been here. Hafta to dust off the cobwebs before we get started. June has done disappeared, and July is well on its way to doing the same. How did that happen? I know I’ve been taking a lot of naps, but… I sound like a grandpa. Now get off my lawn. Actually I hope there are still at least few of you out here, because , what with me attempting to create a new video class from scratch (well I do have $120K to play with), and a whole buncha new “initiatives” (one of which is a pledge to raise our 90% of  ALL our students to the proficient or advanced levels in math AND English) coming down the line from our new supe, and a host of other things I’ve been trying to ignore for the summer, I think this year is going be miiiiiiighty interesting. (Now THAT is one looooong sentence. Assignment due Friday: Diagram it.) At least I won’t have any S(ullen) and R(esentful) 8th graders this time around. I don’t think so anyway. What I’ve been doing this summer: Going to the Live Oak Music Festival. Peace, love,

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This Year’s Book List

February 7, 2011
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This Year’s Book List

The 120 Seconds presentations are finished, and most of the kids have added their books to this year’s list of books they liked enough to read out loud. There are still about 25 or so kids who are lagging about adding theirs, but I’ll post an updated list in a week or so. Most popular authors for boys: Riordan, Horowitz, Dahl. Most popular authors for girls: Meyer, Collins, Rowling. Fading in popularity: Twilight, Harry Potter. Still Steady: Percy Jackson, Hatchet and Holes (for the kids who don’t read and can’t think of anything else), Where the Red Fern Grows (ah, the classics). Rising: Hunger Games series (especially among girls), sports books (for boys). Brand new to me this year: People of Sparks (Ember series), Scumble (sequel to Savvy–my fave word), Joseph, and Things Not Seen, which I think I might just get for my new Nook Color. The excerpt the kid read sounded intriguing, and the reviews at Amazon look good. Here’s this year’s  list. If you see any mistakes, please let me know via the comments, and I’ll fix the problems. I blame my servant. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenes I Had a Hammer by Hank

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Random Featured Post

“How cute. Like hobos…” (Also: Hank Williams.)

Wednesday. Vocabulary Pretest. Talk of facades and irony. Both figure large in The Outsiders. More on that later. Today I have more insight from my friendly class. We’re reading chapter 4 (the death of Bob, Dally helping with the getaway, jumping the train out of town), and we get to where Dally is telling Pony and Johnny to “hop the 3:15 freight to Windrixville.” We pause and talk about how it’s only been less than 36 hours (book time) since the beginning. They find it hard to believe until we start to do the timeline. Figure that Pony gets out of the movie in the late afternoon, and gets jumped and saved. Pony and Johnny and Dally go to the Nightly Double the next night, and it’s now 3:15am that same night. Then I make sure they know that a freight is a train. And one girl says, “How cute. Like hobos…” Hobos maybe. Cute? [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used to Do? When the boys run to find Dally at Buck Merrill’s house, Pony offers a brief description of Buck that ends with, “…he was out of it. He dug [...]

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Mr. Coward has been teaching on the beautiful central coast of California since 1989.

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