Habeeba B. Pasha's Blog, page 2

Nonfiction Books I’ve Read

An autobiography by Ben Carson The strategy in which Dr. Carson’s mother applied to combat his failing grades reminds me of the advice given to help struggling readers in, “What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs” by Richard L. Allington. In it, Allington states, “..if I were required to select a single aspect of the instructional environment to change, my first choice would be creating a schedule that supported dramatically increased quantities of reading during the day.” In other words, what struggling readers need is more time reading. Not workbook activities, but simply good ole’ fashion reading.

Dr. Carson explains that he did not like reading and his grades reflected this. His mother reacts by not only telling him and his older brother Curtis that they could no longer watch television except for two pre-selected programs a week, but that they had to read two books from the library each week and write a book report for each book because as she explained to them, they were not living up to their potential.

As a teacher of struggling readers, I’ve cringed at instruction based upon large amounts of instructional time dedicated to read aloud or workbook activities. I’m always wondering when our students will have the time to practice what we’ve taught them? In other words, you master skills by independently practicing it. Of course these children need teachers to guide them, but its okay to let them struggle a bit when learning how to apply the strategies we’ve taught in order to become proficient readers. Dr. Carson not only becomes interested in reading, he excels, becomes confident and known as Ben Carson, the brightest student in his class. Now, if a child from a single mother with only a third grade education can become the brightest student in his class simply by being exposed to books, just imagine the gains that other struggling readers can achieve if they had the same exposure and it was reinforced.

Later in the text, Dr. Carson acknowledges that unfairness, racism, and sexism exist but states that individuals who face these biases can acquire knowledge that make them valuable and when they have knowledge that others do not readily have, it does not matter what one looks like, someone will need them.

So many of our youngsters like Dr. Carson stated tend to think of themselves as performers, singers, or ball players instead of scientist and mathematicians. I think about African American males who are not only disadvantaged when it comes to hiring practices due to race, but because of this pervasive self-identification with being a performer, they have abandoned all educational pursuits, so when it’s time to interview the question that I ponder is why should an employer hire them?  What knowledge do they have that would make an employer deem them as being valuable? And even if they were to become self employed, do they have the knowledge needed to run a business, to sustain when competition for the same product exist? Now this situation does not only apply to African American males, it applies to white males or any other one of our babies who are struggling in school and has simply given up. So many of our babies are lost being unmotivated or not mature enough to ask for help. They do not understand the life skill of try and try again until you succeed. It is going to take parents like Dr. Carson’s mom, educators like myself, and other adults to invest in them and show them the importance of persistence, and why its so darn important to see themselves as more than being an entertainer.

Fiction Books I’ve Read

So here’s my problem with, “Once Were Cops.” I write children’s books and I guess I’m supposed to be all warm and fuzzy right? I mean, if you wrote children’s books you kinda want to keep a nice image, maybe a few pictures of yourself smiling, maybe Santa might come over, yada, yada, yada, but I tell ya Ken Bruen may cause me a few problems in terms of keeping my cookie-cutter image. I mean how can you not identify with O’Shea wanting to carry something other than a baton when some prick is beating his wife? Did I just use the word prick? Not good Habeeba, not good.

Ken Bruen does an amazing job hooking the reader in the very beginning describing O’Shea’ as, “Part of me has always wanted to be a decent human being..Then there’s the zoning from the time I was a child, I’d go someplace in my mind…..What I want most is to do damage, biblical damage, it’s beyond rage… My father said, Ah, he’ll grow out it it…..He was so close….What I did was grow into it.”

Now I’m like who is this guy? Who is this bad ass? I want to know more about this rage he can’t seem to control. And I’m no longer thinking about Santa Claus because I’m trying to book the first flight to Ireland and have a few drinks with Shea, Jameson black- no ice of course. I want to talk to this guy and hear his story all while 1). making sure they like nonnationals in Ireland-black folks of course. I don’t want any problems and 2). checking the temperature to ensure its cold so that me neck is covered.

Ah, I’ll be back gotta read…

Ok, so I finished the book. And so I’m hyped out of my mind because Rodriquez reminds me of James Doakes from Dexter and I’m thinking about how the plot played out so well that you just cant help but to admire the wit about Shea. And of course there’s the ending. Darn it! I can’t talk about it because I’ll ruin it for you, but the ending, didn’t see it coming.

I think I’m in love with Ken Bruen. Instead of writing me love letters maybe he can write me a book. lol. Okay, you have two minutes to order this book so we can talk about it. And if you don’t, your computer will self destruct but don’t blame me, it probably was that darn Shea.

Here’s the link to the book: Once Were Cops.

About Me

Well hello there. Thanks for stopping by. My name is Habeeba pronounced (Ha-bee-buh). I am a  special education teacher in Chicago. I named this blog Rainy Days because I absolutely love the smell and feel of rain in the summer and I wanted this blog to represent something that I absolutely love and enjoy, which is reading and writing.

On this site, you will find books that I am currently reading or have read and my reactions to them, but mostly you will find my experiences with becoming published. I have a book, “The Love of Debbie La’treck,”  that will be published either in October or November 2015 and its truly been a process. I feel like I’ve taken a crash course in Marketing 101. I thought why not share them in a humorous way and get feedback at the same time.

While I am writing a post, you will find #amediting, which means I am still writing it. Oh, I do have one more thing that I should probably mention. Although I write children’s book, I will read and comment on almost anything. You will not find vulgar language on this site; but, I will provide my honest reaction to books which may not paint me as Cinderella but at times more like the Wicked Witch from the West. 

Well, I really hope that you enjoy my posts. I’ll try to update it once my kids go to sleep. If you can, sign up to the site below, and If you need to contact me, feel free at myhbpbooks@gmail.com.

Happy Reading!

-Habeeba