Books

I've finished two books recently.

The first one is Notebook Connections: Strategies for the Reader's Notebook.  I'm always looking for ways to help my students respond to what they are reading.  Because everyone is reading their own books at their own level I think it is important that we connect through implementing various reading strategies.  I struggle with this because I just like to read.  I don't like to respond to my reading and I certainly don't like to pick apart words and paragraphs.  But I'm a teacher and this is what teachers have students do.  I wasn't very good at it this past year so after reading reviews on this book I was hopeful this could give me some good ideas, and it did.  It lists strategies (along with the rationale behind them) and tells you when and how to implement them so that students are responding to their literature in their reader's notebook.  I look forward to using this book this year and having a way that isn't too tedious for students to share their thoughts and learn about themselves as a reader.

The second book I read is Ghostbelly.  This is a memoir by Elizabeth Heineman recounting her experience of having a home birth that resulted in a stillbirth.  She takes the reader into her grief and guilt for the whole first year after the death.  It was a pretty awful book to read, due simply to the subject matter.  If I had a child death to relate to, I think this book would have been a wonderful help because Elizabeth is honest and frank in her recounting of the birth, death, and time following.  But instead I felt like I was reading something intimate that didn't involve me.  Elizabeth is an excellent writer and does a fabulous job drawing the reader into her emotions, but I wouldn't recommend unless it would be a personal help for you.