Monica Edinger's Blog, page 130
January 6, 2010
A Sort-of Resolution
I have to admit I'm not much for resolutions of the New Year's sort. Goal-setting and other such activities are hell for me. This is because the moment I set a goal I obsess and become overly preoccupied with achieving it.
For example, in my thirties I was a competitive runner. It was my first positive experience with a sport and I enjoyed it tremendously. I loved being part of a track club and when racing went well it was exhilarating ; however, after a while I became far too anxious...
January 5, 2010
Thank You, Katherine Paterson…
for taking over.
Yesterday there was a well-deserved outpouring of gratitude for Jon Scieszka as he completed his superb tenure as the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Who, many wondered, could possibly top him?
No other, we learned yesterday afternoon, than the esteemed Katherine Paterson. Like Jon, Katherine is a remarkably diverse writer for children. She is best known for books like the moving and serious Bridge to Terabithia; perhaps less known is that she has a...
January 4, 2010
Thank You Jon Scieszka…
for
helping me with my loot at BEA,
your appreciation for others before you,
your memories, and
for being an all around great guy, writer, teacher, fellow children's literature enthusiast, and ambassador.
January 3, 2010
Lo, the poor Na'vi!
Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind;
His soul, proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way;
Yet simple Nature to his hope has given,
Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heaven;
Some safer world in depth of woods embraced,
Some happier island in the watery waste,
Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold.
To be, contents his natural desire,
He asks no angel's wing...
January 2, 2010
In the Classroom: Sixteen Years Later
I just found this unpublished essay from 2004 about my teaching with technology. What a leap from the word processors we were using in 1994 to the wireless netbooks all our 4th graders have today. This coming Tuesday we will be introducing my current class to blogging — each child, as we've done for the previous three years — will be getting his or her own blog. They and I can't wait!
So what follows are my 2004 thoughts along with some from today:
____
My article, "Empowering Young Writers...
December 30, 2009
Inspiring Writers
Inspired by this list over at Poets & Writers, Alison Morris asks "What Living Authors and Illustrators Inspire You?"
From the Poets & Writers list, I too am inspired by Elizabeth Alexander (who wowed me with her Amistad poems before she did the inaugural one), Alison Bechdel (Fun Home is one of the most amazing memoirs, in any form, I've ever read), Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — need I say more?), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (I read One Hundred Years of Solitude decades ago and...
Hey, Hobbits!
There was a flurry of excitement (here, here, and many other places) about a casting call for hobbit extras on that movie, I mean, those movies (they are doing two out of the one book, evidently) a guy over in New Zealand is making. The latest from theOneRing.net is to hold your horses (or ponies or whatever hobbits prefer) as casting calls won't be until February.
