why we broke up.

H at work gave me the following book:

Why We Broke Up
by Daniel Handler
art by Maira Kalman

i finished reading it this afternoon during my lunch break. and let me just say...THIS IS THE BOOK I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO WRITE, BUT DIDN'T KNOW HOW. it's incredible how close to home it hits. it's about this high school girl's first love...and it's clear from the beginning that the relationship is doomed. but you feel for the girl, or at least i did, because you know how it is.

i told H this afternoon, after i'd finished reading it, that this book is like the last 6 years of my life, rolled into 345 pages and a shorter time frame (less than 2 months).

this blog is a project devoted to the book, where readers can write their own "why we broke up" stories:

whywebrokeupproject.

here is mine.

we broke up because
i realized we weren't forever,
and no amount of wishing or trying
would make it so.

just for fun.

adorable. <3

The Book Thief

just finished it yesterday.

i'd bought it quite a while back--maybe a year and a half or so? i knew i wanted to read it, but never got around to it. then, during a professional development day, our facilitator had us read the prologue for an activity.

i decided to use the same activity with my kids because i loved it (and that excerpt from the book) so much.

then, i started reading.

i was in the middle of another novel, but that really didn't matter. because The Book Thief totally ROCKED.

i can't recommend it enough. i've only read one other book by Markus Zusak, and it was wonderful as well. but this book was just...really beautiful. and it's so appropriate for young adults. after we did the activity with the prologue in class, i had about six kids show up with the book in tow over the rest of the course of the week. and they really seem to be enjoying it so far. that makes me incredibly excited to be an english teacher. :)

THE BOOK THIEF
by Markus Zusak

it's been a while.

sorry. it's been much too long.

the thing is, i jump back and forth between blogs because i don't really know what there is for me to write about.

lately, i have a lot.

school's in full swing, and we're currently closing in on Thanksgiving break, which i am particular thankful for.

it's actually been a pretty fun year so far. i really enjoy the kids for the most part (although some of their parents are a different story). we actually had a Skate Night a couple of weeks ago. it was a shindig at the local skate rink put on by the PTO. they considered it a rare opportunity for parent, teachers, and students to get together in a casual setting and interact.

i hadn't roller skated in quite some time, and hadn't been in an actual skating rink in even longer. it took me a couple dozen laps to get my sea legs back.

anyway, the rink people dimmed the lights and announced that everyone should come on over to the center of the rink to do the hokey-pokey!

i knew it was a bad idea. i knew i shouldn't go.

but Jackman and Lofty INSISTED that i join them in the circle.

so i did.

it started out okay. i put in my left and right leg with minimal wobbling. i thought i'd gotten past the worst of it.

i threw my left elbow into the middle of the circle, wiggled it around, and then proceeded to hokey-pokey in an circle. it was then that i felt my feet fly out from under me. i would later describe it as one of those trust activities--you know, the one where you just let yourself free fall backward? except in this case, there was no one to catch me.

i fell backward in almost-slow-motion, and not knowing what else to do, i stuck out my left arm (because apparently i was still in hokey-pokey mode) to break my fall. i didn't bend my arm or anything--just let it hit the ground and brace my entire body weight. (which is more than i'd like to admit, lately.)

i didn't think much about the arm at the time. i just peeled myself up off the ground (with a little help from Jackman) and tried to gather up as much dignity as i could carry away with me.

the next day at school, the kids who weren't even at the Skate Night told me they'd heard about my fateful accident during the hokey-pokey. Jackman said that her kids were talking about it too. except, they didn't know my name. so they just referred to me as "that one teacher who fell during the hokey-pokey."

"oh, geez," i told her. "i really don't want to be THAT teacher."

"what teacher?"

"the teacher that fell during the hokey-pokey."

thankfully, the moniker wore off after a few days.

but the pain in my left arm only grew stronger.

this past sunday, it was almost unbearable. i got on the internet and started trying to find a doctor who might be able to help. but honestly, i had no idea what kind of doctor i was looking for.

i looked over at LB, who was also sitting in the living room at the time.

"what kind of doctor do you go to when you think your arm is about to break?"

"callie."

i had no idea what he was talking about. "callie? who the heck is callie?"

"you know. from Grey's Anatomy."

that boy seriously needs to start watching some manlier shows.

field trip tomorrow! :)

first day of my life.

performed by: bright eyes.

this song/video=happiness.

new unit.

on the school front, we're tying up our unit on Animal Farm. i think the kids are pretty happy about that; only about 2 of them seemed to enjoy the book at all.

it really bites that they have to do all of their reading in the classroom, because it takes up a lot of time we don't have. and i feel terribly bad for the kids who read slower than the rest, because they're always behind. thankfully, the library had quite a few copies of the book, so i just sent them out as needed to get a copy, and we managed that way.

as a final project, i had the students create their own country. this turned out to be an incredible amount of fun. i'll try to take some pictures of their creations, because they were truly unique ideas. they all went above and beyond what i'd expected. we're finishing these up tomorrow, when we get back from spring break, and then we'll be doing presentations on tuesday.

after that, we start Elie Wiesel's NIGHT:

NOTE: it's also an Oprah's Book Club pick! who knew?

i'd never read this book before, and knew only that it was a memoir based around a Jewish man's experiences during the Holocaust.

i decided, since i would be teaching it fairly soon, that i should probably read the book.

and

it. was. beautiful.

absolutely beautiful. i don't say this about books very often, but it was like poetry in prose form. where Animal Farm is brusque and to the point, with very little description or figurative language, Night is rich in detail and emotion. it is simply gorgeous.

i want the kids to be able to really appreciate the novel, not just for what an accomplishment it is (Elie Wiesel went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his extensive autobiographical work), but for what an absolute work of ART it is.

i have so many ideas floating around my head right now.

what i'd really like to do, before we jump into a completely new unit, is to make a transition of sorts, because Animal Farm does have a great deal in common with the events that transpired during the Holocaust. both instances are about power, and the people at the bottom not being aware of what those people in power's true motives are. the beginning of Night focuses on Wiesel's family, and the other Jewish families, and their communal disbelief that the Nazi party could be doing anything all THAT BAD. their disbelief continues until they are actually taken to Auschwitz, adn then they understand. that's a very big theme that plays throughout Animal Farm as well. disbelief that the pigs are only out for themselves, and that conditions are becoming worse on the farm than they were under the leadership of Mr. Jones.

so that's what i'm working on right now.

i'd also like to bring in some other examples of memoir writing, and have the students work on a memoir of their own, because i really believe that personal writing is incredibly important.

we'll see.

spring break recap.

it's sunday, and the last day of my very short spring break.

really, it was just as long as anyone else's spring break, it just felt particularly short-lived.

i've done almost completely nothing this week, except refine and tune my resume, and work. the resume looks excelente, thanks to the feedback of my lovely sister, who happened to take an entire class over resume writing/job interviewing and the like.

now i just have to get my letter of recommendation, write up my list of references, and i'm good to go.

i started browsing for english positions in the surrounding school districts, and right now there's a whole lot of nothing. however, i have high hopes! i WILL find a job!

in the meantime, i really need to find me a job (probably in the service industry) for the summertime. i need some hours, VERY badly.

the past couple of days have been fun, though. Will came to visit, and to check out SXSW, so he's been staying with us since Thursday. we checked out a couple of shows, learned how to play Settlers of Catan (which is SUPER FUN), and just had some generally good times. he's leaving today, and i'm currently at work, which kind of sucks...but that's just the way things are.

it was really nice having him here, though. we haven't had many opportunities to hang out in the past couple of years, just a day here and there, on christmas break or maybe during the summer months. it was nice to just kind of catch up.

also, it's good to have some motivation to get out of the apartment. if we don't have other people to think about, me and LB will just stay in and watch HGTV all day. maybe leave to go to the grocery store so we can make some dinner, but that's about it. we're kind of lame that way.

all in all, i wish i had some more time off. but i'll work with what i've got.