#Nerdlution: The Year of Billy Miller and More

We're into our first week of the second round of #nerdlution.  Today is the first round-up at Michelle Haseltine's blog:  One Grateful Teacher.  Each Thursday participants will link up to share their progress.

Let's be honest, a few days of being trapped in the house because of the extreme cold made this an easy first week.  Here are a few of my DISCOVERIES this week as I read for #nerdlution.


This Week's Discoveries

A Book
The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes

Billy isn't sure how his year in second grade is going to go.  He doesn't get off to the best start with his teacher and Emma, another second grader, drives him crazy.  Things at home with his sister, Sal, can be challenging too.  Thankfully his parents always help to pull him through.  Billy loves Papa and Mama and his love for them shines throughout the story.

This is a great story about growing up.  Henkes captures the joys and challenges of being 7 perfectly.  If you haven't read this Newbery Honoree yet, you'll want to add it to your reading list.

A Blog (Maybe a few blogs)
This week I discovered a few posts that made me pause for a bit.

Teachers for Teachers  Pre-Assessment Questions:  Assessment Opportunities:  In this post, Clare and Tammy, authors of Assessment in Perspective, share authentic assessment opportunities that happen as we talk with children.  There is much to learn about what children know if we just ask a question.  This post is full of possible questions to ask as well as suggestions for listening closely to these conversations.

GStevens Blog  Slice of Life:  Would You Rather Fast-Forward Time or Rewind It?   I think we all ponder this question every now and then.  Stop by to see what happened when students were asked their preference.  Their answer may surprise you.  Which would you prefer?

Two Writing Teachers  Writing About Reading in a Writer's Notebook  Two Writing Teachers is hosting a week conversation dedicated to writing about reading.  Across the week several posts about the topic will be shared by the blog authors.  The event will be wrapped up with a Twitter chat on February 3rd at 8:30 EST (more here).  In this post, Stacey shares her thinking about writing in response to reading in a Writer's Notebook.  Her lens of reading as a writer really shapes her responses in her notebook.  Often she is able to spring from a piece she has read into new writing.  So many ideas here!

Can't wait to see what next week will bring!

Round 2: #nerdlution

#NERDLUTION
Ding.  Into the ring we go for round two of #nerdlution.  I took a few hits in round one, but managed to stay on my feet.  I read 50 minutes of fiction most nights.  Each evening I tried to be done with school work as well as day to day chores by 9 p.m. so I could begin reading.  The first few nights I would watch the clock for my 50 minutes to be done; not because I wasn't enjoying the time, but because I felt like the clock owned me.  I didn't really enjoy this feeling and thought about how our students must feel when we give them "assigned times" to read.  After I realized #nerdlution was a bit flexible, I decided to quit clock watching and just read each night.  Before I knew it I was reading for much longer periods of time.

What I Learned
I'd consider myself more of a nonfiction reader, but I was reminded during the challenge how much I miss getting lost in a story.  I had missed meeting new characters and making them a part of my life for a few days.  Reading fiction also gave me a chance to catch up with all my #nerdybookclub friends who manage to read for hours each day and keep up on all the latest books.  Without Karen Terlecky, Katherine Sokolowski, Katie Strawser and Stephanie Shouldis I would have been lost.

During the event I created a "tissue book rating scale."  It seemed every book I read somehow had me in tears before the end of the story.  Here are a few examples:

• The Center of Everything:  4 tissues out of 5 (grandma stories get me every time)
• Counting by 7s:  4 tissues out of 5 (tears for sadness and joy in this one)
• The First Phone Call from Heaven:  2 tissues out of 5 (who wouldn't want to get a call from someone they miss, but….)
• The Book Thief :  5 tissues (I had to leave the room as I was worried I'd wake my husband I was crying so much.)

What's Next
During round one I was enjoying reading fiction, but I was also not entirely happy with my #nerdlution.  While I was getting to know characters, my nonfiction reading pile was growing.  I wanted to read The Power of Quiet, Thinking Fast and Slow, and Becoming Scientists.  I was also missing spending time with the blogs I enjoy stopping by to read and comment.  There are only so many hours in a day and deciding how to use them is a trick.

This time around I want to be able to diversify my reading a bit.  I want to keep growing the number of fiction books I read, but I also need to have time for nonfiction and blog posts.  I'm going to find time to read each day and will continue to work toward being done with everything by 9 so I can curl up to read.  However, some days just don't work like that so I may have to find my time in a different part of my day.  Each week at the #nerdlution round-up Michele is hosting on Thursdays, in keeping with my #olw DISCOVER, I'll share a book and a blog post I discovered in the previous week.  We'll call it my #BooksandBlogsDiscoveryTour.

The Community
Most of all, I look forward to laughing and learning with everyone tweeting about their triumphs and road blocks.  If you'd like to join, stop by Colby's blog to link to the event.  

Yep, I'm Going There: My One Little Word

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves.  -Andre Gide (from Brainy-Quote)

It's a new year, but are we any different?
Standing in line at the grocery store this evening, I had to smile.  The magazines all featured pictures of the thin and fit.  Carts no longer contained sugar, cookies, snack food, and holiday beverages, instead everyone had Weight Watcher meals, vegetables, and grains.  Everybody waited in line wearing their "somehow I'm different today" looks as they strive to put their best foot forward in the new year.

I smile to myself, "Who are we kidding?" I wonder as I wait in the long check out line.  Every once in awhile I pull out a resolution or two, but for the most part I try not to fool myself.  I'm constantly trying to improve, don't get me wrong, but I'm probably not going to make it to the gym anymore than I did last year.  I'm probably going to drink just as much coffee and I can't really live without chocolate.

Many of my friends have been talking about choosing their One Little Word for the new year.  There has been talk on Twitter, Facebook and blogs about the words they'll let guide them for the year.  I tried this in 2012 with the word "gratitude."  Last year, I just decided to let the New Year roll by with no crazy promises.  As we said goodbye to 2013 and moved toward 2014 I considered a resolution, a word, a challenge (my 2011 fiasco), or something, but nothing really felt right.  I was quite fine with letting another New Year slip by without pomp and circumstance.

Then this morning I stopped by Tammy and Clare's post at Assessment in Perspective.  They were celebrating their new word.  You'll have to stop by their post, Celebrating Our One Little Word 2014, to find their words and some information about OLW.   Tammy talked about how her word was choosing her.  After reading their post, I decided to not really force a word (or a resolution or a new plan), but instead to see if it found me.

Today's DISCOVERY:
spinach, goat cheese, red pepper
crepe from Taste of Belgium 

My One Little Word
Today I talked my husband, Jeff, into venturing out before the cold came.  We've been entertaining for days and getting out of the house seemed a great idea.  We decided to go into Columbus to the Columbus Museum of Art to walk around for a bit.  It had been a very long time since we'd been there.  There was an interesting exhibition of Columbus artist, George Bellows, and a fun Lego exhibit.

After leaving the museum we meandered to the North Market.  As we walked around enjoying the afternoon sampling flavored popcorn, smelling spices, looking at different cheeses, sipping coffee, and checking out the variety of ethnic foods, my word hit me:  DISCOVER.

When we travel we usually find ourselves in a city.  I enjoy discovering new food, unique shops, historic sites, and the culture of an area.  I always wonder why I don't know as much about our own city as I do about all those we visit.  I could tell you more places to go in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, than I could suggest to you right where I live.

In the weeks to come I'm going to think about this word a little more.  I'm also going to think about what it means to me.  Though there are some things I'd like to find out more about, I think DISCOVERY, at least for me, will also be about those random surprises I find that make me want to dig a little deeper; the things that unexpectedly surprise and fascinate me.

Stay tuned
In the weeks to come I hope you'll hear more about my word.  I'm thinking on this blog you'll be hearing more about how the word plays out on the educational side of my life, and on Merely Day by Day I'll be sharing my life DISCOVERIES, but who knows.