A little light reading

During my five-day vacation in paradise, I had a lot of time to read.  I did not work at my computer or plan but I read a lot.  I read a wonderful book, by a person who seems to be the male version of me only perhaps a bit more depressed and with a slightly larger vocabulary, on religion.  The premise of the book is that the author has the spiritual void that he wants to fill.  Until this point he as not associated with a specific religion but thinks that he needs to make a choice if he is going to take care of this desire to connect with the divine.  It is hilarious but also thought-provoking (at least for me!).  The book is by Eric Weiner and is called Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine.  I highly recommend it and thank by friend Elizabeth Ballard for sharing an article of his that was in the travel section of the New York Times.  The article was wonderful and so I sought out his book, also wonderful.  Others don't agree quite as much, here's a review from the NY Times on the book, but it was the perfect reading for me at the moment.

I've also been doing quite a bit of academic reading.  I enjoy teaching but my desire to learn, create, solve problems, and generally remain forever active have me constantly thinking about how to both make what is taught in class more interesting, effective and applicable to the world we are living in for both teacher and student, and the work-load a little less daunting for teachers.  Being a part of the curriculum committee has provided be with a place to discuss ideas and ask questions, as this group of people is struggling with many of the same questions as myself.  The group, however, is not acting fast enough for me so I've been pouring over books and trying to figure out how to make some of the things we have been discussing in theory happen in my own classroom....now.  Books that I read and am now regularly referencing include: 21st Century Skills:  Learning for Life in our Times by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel, and How the Brain Learns and How the Brain Learns Mathematics by David A. Sousa.   A lot that is in these books I've heard bits and pieces of over the years, maybe even used in my class at times, but the information was always passed on to me from a professional development training or from observing another teacher.  This time I'm taking it all in and making sense of it for me and it is exciting.  With what's left of my vacation, I am spending hours developing some projects for that last unit I have with each of my subjects: 5th grade geometry, 6th grade geometry, and 6th grade mathematics.  I have a lot of work ahead but I am loving having a project.  I'm sure as the units and projects unfold I will have more to share and hopefully exciting news about my successes.  Although I anticipate some lessons learned and what-not-to-dos as well.