Monica Edinger's Blog, page 140
September 12, 2009
The Days After
This NYTimes piece made me remember how the days after September 11th were like no others here in New York City. We had armored vehicles trundling up Broadway, There were military men with machine guns standing on guard outside subway stations. The smell was everywhere. Every day more sad signs went up, about the missing. There were small shrines and big ones. The sound of helicopters and fighter jets overhead was relentless. Police were everywhere searching everything. (Our school closed...
September 11, 2009
Remembering and Honoring
A long-time colleague of mine died very suddenly last weekend. I'd just spend the Thursday before with him at an all-day workshop. He had been involved, looked good, and all seemed well with him. Two days later he was gone. And so today we will be both remembering and honoring our colleague and remembering and honoring that horrible day eight years ago — September 11, 2001.
It is truly history for my new 4th graders; after all they were babies when it happened. I will have to explain the...
September 10, 2009
In The Classroom: Reading Aloud Redux
In the latest Notes from the Horn Book, Richard Peck is very opinionated about teachers reading aloud his books:
4. You talk a lot with young readers. What are they telling you?
Things they didn't mean to. Over and over they're telling me that the books I wrote for them to read are being read to them by their teachers. And hearing a story read doesn't seem to expand their vocabularies. If a teacher is going to take limited classroom time in reading aloud (and even giving away the ending), the...
September 7, 2009
The Baobab Prize: An African Literary Award
Just saw this on child_lit and thought I'd pass it on.
August 2009 – This month marks the launch of the second annual Baobab Prize, an international literary award established to encourage the writing of African literature for young readers. Issuing a statement to commemorate the launch of the prize, co-founder and director of the prize Ghanaian Deborah Ahenkorah said, "The success of our inaugural year gives us confidence as we launch today. We received entries from nine African countries...
September 6, 2009
Not the Book of Dust
AFTER angering the Vatican with the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman, the children's author, is to launch an assault on Christianity in a story that denies Jesus was the son of God.
Pullman will claim that Christ emerged from the "fervid imagination" of St Paul, the apostle, and spawned a religion that has inspired some to "fanatical bigotry".
Although full details of the plot are being kept under wraps, the book's title, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, gives a...
September 5, 2009
Travel Reading
Waiting on the platform at Times Square, the children plotted how to score a coveted rush-hour seat, planning who would sit on whose lap if the options were scarce. Hands were held tight, and two of the youngest girls rested their heads against each other's for a moment.
As the train pulled into 42nd Street, Jesus Figueroa, a Tremont counselor for six summers, readied the campers to board: "Get your books ready." An explosion of titles — "Jig and Mag," "A Rose, a Bridge, and a Wild Black...
September 4, 2009
Neil Gaiman's Library
No, that is not my school's lovely library, and it certainly isn't mine. It is @neilhimself's "downstairs library." I only wonder what the upstairs library looks like! More here.
September 1, 2009
My Life According to Books Read So Far in 2009
Fun (via Jenny Davidson)!
Describe yourself:
The Hidden Adult
How do you feel?
Front and Center
Describe where you currently live:
City I Love
If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Wonderland
Your favorite form of transport:
Leviathan
Your best friend is . . . ?
The Girl Who Played with Fire
You and your friends are . . .?
Pretty Monsters
What's the weather like?
One Crazy Summer
Favourite time of day?
When You Reach Me
What is life to you?
A Season of Gifts
Your fear?
Catching Fire
What is the best advice you
August 31, 2009
In the Classroom: Reading Homework
"The only homework I assign is to read for at least 30 minutes a night." (said I in yesterday's post)
"Had an interesting discussion w/ a friend on why I despise using the word homework for reading time. That fosters a hate in my opinion." (says @mawbooks)
No, no, no. It doesn't foster hate. I mean, why should it? It should foster joy. Kids should go, "I'm reading the best book; I'm so lucky that my only homework tonight is to finish it! " In fact, I've had kids come to me and say, "I'm sor
August 30, 2009
In the Classroom: Teaching Reading
In the past week I've reading two completely oppositional articles on teaching. The first was "Tyranny of the Test: One Year as a Kaplan Coach in the Public Schools" by Jeremy Miller. It is a superb piece providing a disturbing, real, and moving view of the specifics of legislation that has made Kaplan such a player in the schools, the sad realities of testing, teaching, and more. The second was "Students Get New Assignment: Pick Books You Like." This is a very different sort of article, Mok
