Rejuvenating Reading



While I was on the Cross Sound Ferry going to New York and back to New England, I had lots of time to read my book. It is called The Tipping Point, written by Malcolm Gladwell. It is simply an excellent book. It talks all about how certain things in society can become really popular (like an "epidemic"). For example, the TV show Sesame Street was not always popular. The author discusses the different factors that lead to an event, person, or fad becoming really popular...think about today's society. Ipods were not always so popular. It took certain factors for these products to become popular: cool people using them, lots of people using them, usefulness, convenience, etc. Once these factors occurred, Ipods became a "fad," where today so many people use them.

In this book, I have learned that so many things around us in daily life - everything from DVD players to Ipods to Crocs (plastic shoes...maybe I will make them popular?) may or may not become very popular, based on certain people and certain factors. It's very interesting....and if nothing else, they mention Paul Revere (which we will study in the 7th grade). See how interested I am in reading my book? You should make the effort to do the same!

Hopefully you have started or finished 12 Again by Sue Corbett, our all-school book. You have done that, right? I have already finished the book - I did so in the springtime, and I loved it. It reminds everyone to not take your life for granted - and be happy with what you have (among many other lessons, of course...). If you have not yet gotten it, they have copies in the Young Adult section of the Medfield Public Library...I have seen them there with my own eyes! Go ask a librarian there for help...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maslow's Hierarchy of School Needs (Steve Guditus)

Image
The pace of schools today is frantic.  So little time is left in a child's 24 hour-day to play and explore - both in and out of school.  Unintentionally, we may be pushing students to think and learn at high levels when more basic needs are not met.  For a student to be available for learning, basic needs need to be met - in both school and at home.  We need to shift our paradigm from student supports as "extras" and "add-ons" to prerequisites for a student to be available for learning.  I created this Maslow's Hierarchy of School Needs to highlight the need for other pieces to be in place for students to be available to learn (and to learn at high levels, reach their potential, and increase their potential). Any thoughts, feedback, edits, subtractions or additions?
Read more

37 inspirational ideas to kickoff your school year (Steve Guditus @sguditus)

I just participated in a great brainstorming session with some outstanding educational leaders at the MSSAA summer institute , and made note of 37 different ideas to inspire your school and have a successful kickoff to the school year.  The best educators beg, borrow and steal ideas and adapt them to be their own - so I offer this list to be borrowed, stolen and adapted (no need to beg!). Have staff write one fun fact about themselves on a post-it note on their classroom door. Create a scavenger hunt and have folks hunt down items, discover new info about fellow staff members, the school or the community. Create a teacher survival kit: a mini hershey's bar for a pick-me-up, a K-Cup for a jolt of caffeine, some office supplies, etc. Have staff set a personal goal, in addition to their student learning and professional practice goal: make it about personal health, nutrition, work/home balance, family, etc - and have check-ins! Leave a personal note, post-it, memo or quote on ...
Read more

Grades: Understanding, not Obedience

The New York Times got me thinking, in its November 28, 2010 article " No More A's for Good Behavior ."  The Potsdam, NY Public Schools, led by Superintendent Patrick Brady, are right on.  As I concluded in a previous blog post, " Extra Credit: The Downfall of America ?", grades must be a reflection of knowledge learned, information synthesized, skills demonstrated, not a reflection of behavior. I have opened up the following conversation individually with teachers, but have not yet taken it on with the staff of the whole school in which I work - yet.  Grades must not be a reflection of behavior, but of understanding.  This includes the a big piece of student responsibility: homework.  The excuse that "if students do not homework and are not penalized for not completing it, then won't ever learn to do it!" is simply hogwash.  We should be creating homework assignments that are essential, and if it uncomfortably illuminates our own homework polici...
Read more