Day Sixteen: World Book Day-My Thirty Favorite Books to Teach

Today is World Book Day in the United Kingdom. I thought I would do a list of my favorite British literature, but that list would be really short-mostly Shakespeare and the Romantic Poets.  Instead, I decided to compose a list of my thirty favorite books to teach (that was hard to say, because I really insist that students do not call them books but by their genre). Over the course of my 18 year teaching career, I have taught many works.  Some I like, and some that I didn't like as much, but here they are in from least favorite to favorite.  Just so you know, I have taught grades 7-12 and currently, teach a dual enrollment college class, so the works come from all levels. I like variety, so some of these works I will teach every year, while some I have either retired, or only teach every other year.
I based my choices on how much I like the work and how well the students respond, and the actual work.

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (every year)
2. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (every year)
3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (every year)
4. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (most years)
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (every other year)
6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (the past three years)
7. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (it's been a while)
8. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs (once, but I love this book)
9. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (every other year)
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (twice)
11. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (every other year)
12. A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (every year)
13. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (every year)
14. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (every year)
15. The Crucible by Arthur Miller (every year)
16. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (retired to another teacher)
17. The Tempest by William Shakespeare (every year)
18. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (once)
19. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (when I taught junior high)
20. Mythology by Edith Hamilton (every other year)
21. Antigone by Sophocles (when I taught ninth grade)
22. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (every other year)
23. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (an independent work every year for my honors class)
24. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (every other year)
25. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (every other year)
26. King Lear by William Shakespeare (every other year with my college class)
27. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (when I taught junior high)
28. The Miracle Worker by William Gibson (when I taught junior high)
29. The Pearl by John Steinbeck (retired to another teacher-I really don't like it)
30. Billy Budd by Herman Melville (retired because I grew tired of teaching it.)

So, this is my list of favorites works for my class. How many have you read?  Which is your favorite on the list.
Until next week, “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”― Oscar Wilde

Day Fifteen: "Nothing Gold Can Stay"

We had a meeting today, and I noticed that the Junior high students had made images of their interpretations of Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay." It brought back a lot of memories of my experiences with the poem.  I don't really remember what class I had to memorize it for, but I still remember every line by heart.

Every time I read it, it always reminds me of The Outsiders, of course, Ponyboy and Johnny and the disasters that happened during the course of the novel, as well as, the Frances Ford Coppola movie that every girl in the 80s fawned over. You know the one with Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillion, Emilio Estevez, and Tom Cruise.  Loved this movie. Stevie Wonder also co-wrote and performed the song "Stay Gold" in the credits. I still get chills when I hear that song.





The thing about that poem is that it is so very simple, but so very powerful.  Over the years, when I have lost someone, I always find comfort in this poem. They like a beautiful sunrise or beautiful sunset was meant to bring us pleasure, beauty, and joy to my life, but not meant to stay.  I appreciate them for the time they were here, for the beauty and joy they brought to my life. Each a wonderful thread in the tapestry that is my life, because I would not have become the person I am without that piece.  I love them then, I love them now, and I will love them always...


Until next time, "“Today, just take time to smell the roses, enjoy those little things about your life, your family, spouse, friends, job. Forget about the thorns -the pains and problems they cause you - and enjoy life” ― Bernard Kelvin Clive

Day Fourteen: Okay, this is hard...

I admit. This is hard. I usually do this on Sundays, during football season, after I have done some research.  Football season gives me something to talk about, because I don't follow the machinations of the off season.  Unless, the conversation involved Tony Gonzalez or one of my favorite Chiefs, but TG is retired, and I haven't heard anything about my Chiefs except that Justin Houston has received the franchise tag.


It's the coming up with topics every day. I work with students all day, and unlike some teachers, I don't feel that it is appropriate to share what we say in my class.  Although, I could probably fill pages with that. I don't really like talking about my former students for the same reason.  They have a right to privacy, and I respect that.


I read A LOT, I listen to music that is antique by modern standards, and when I'm not doing school work, I watch a lot of TV and Netflix, and I play video games and work on my lesson plans.  I live a relatively boring life, and unlike most people, I'm okay with that, but I digress. 


The thing is I don't want to repeat or rehash things that I have already written about which makes this task so hard. I know what you are thinking, because that guy has already made an appearance in this post. Well, so what, I watched his new show You Can't Lick your Elbow last night, and it was fantastic.  It made me wish that I taught science, so I could share it with my students.


This is embarrassing, but short post tonight. Tomorrow, I am going to make a list of topics that I would like to discuss.  I probably should have done that sooner, but hey, it's the end of the nine weeks, Spring Break is about to start, and I'm trying to wrap everything up before we head into the home stretch.  It will be better tomorrow.


Until next time, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."-Mark Twain

Day Thirteen: 100 Books to Read in Your Lifetime

So, perusing my Facebook page this morning, I came across of Amazon's 100 Books to Read in Your Lifetime. Nerd that I am, I decided to see how many of the 100 books I had actually read or want to read.  Here is the entire list, plus my comments. I have highlighted the one's I have read in blue.

Amazon’s 2014 List of 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime  

1. 1984 by George Orwell- Read in high school in the 11th grade.  I did not like it had to force myself to read it. Not a very long book, but I just couldn't get into it. Had to take a day off from school to read it. Haven't attempted since. Maybe I will.
2. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking 
3. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers 
4. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
5. A Series of Unfortunate Events #1: The Bad Beginning: The Short-Lived Edition by Lemony Snicket -Read this one as an adult. I did not like it either. Mostly, because I felt that the narrator was condescending to his readers.  I read the next two before I gave up with the series.
6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
7. Alice Munro: Selected Stories by Alice Munro
8. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll-I read this for the first time as a child, and then, reread it when the Johnny Depp movie came out. I love the journey through childhood to adolescence that Alice represents, so did my students.
9. All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
10. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
11. Are You There, God? It's me, Margaret by Judy Blume-I read as many Judy Blume novels as I could when I was a preteen.  While I actually like Are You There, God?, my favorite was Tiger Eyes.
12. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
13. Beloved by Toni Morrison-I didn't discover Toni Morrison until college. Beloved is a book everyone should read, but boy, is it dark. I've only read it one time. It is a moving novel, but it is such a hard read, not reading level, content.  Still well worth the read.
14. Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
15. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
16. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
17. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl-One of my favorite for children, may not exactly be for children novel. Those kids deserved every punishment they received (kidding).
18. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White-It was the first book I ever bought with my own money. I read it until the covers fell off.
19. Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
20. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead" by Brene Brown 
21. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 1 by Jeff Kinney
22. Dune by Frank Herbert
23. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury-Read it for the first time as a teacher. I loved it so much that I incorporated it into my American Literature class. I often match it with The Hunger Games.
24. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson-Read it for the first time this past December. Didn't like it. I'll just leave it at that.
25. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
26. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown- Read it as a kid. I liked it okay.
27. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
28. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared M. Diamond
29. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling-I was challenged by my students to read the Harry Potter series. I love the whole series, but this wasn't my favorite. Half-Blood Prince is may fave.
30. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote- I read this work a few years ago after watching the movie.  I preferred the book. A great read that kept me interested all the way through.
31. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
32. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
33. Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
34. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain 
35. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
36. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder- I think it was expected of all young girls in the 70s and 80s to read the Little House on the Prairie series. I enjoyed them, but I not anxious to read them again.
37. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
38. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez-I bought and read this shortly after his death, because I felt a little guilty that I hadn't read much by Marquez. While it was a good read, I wasn't fan, especially of Fermina.
39. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
40. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
41. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
42. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
43. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
44. Moneyball by Michael Lewis
45. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
46. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
47. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
48. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
49. Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
50. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen-Was forced to read it in AP English. Haven't read it again. Can't say that I want to.
51. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
52. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
53. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
54. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
55. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
56. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley- Changed every thing I thought I knew about Malcolm X. I read it after I read Roots. It is one that I will eventually read again.
57. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak-I read this after I read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I didn't read it all at once, but a little at a time. I think that did it a disservice. I liked it, but I didn't love it.
58. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
59. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
60. The Color of Water by James McBride
61. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
62. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson-I so did not like this work. I read it for the H.H. Holmes aspect, but the building of the Worlds Fair just bored me to tears. I lost interest, but chugged away to the end.
63. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
64. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
65. The Giver by Lois Lowry
66. The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman-Read the entire series. I didn't care for them. It was all just too much for me. It wasn't the "anti-religion" aspect. It was just...I just didn't like.
67. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald-This is my favorite book of all time. I don't care, I don't care, I don't care.  I teach it every year, so I get to read it every year. It is a pleasure every time.
68. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
69. The House At Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne
70. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins-My students challenged me to this text, too. Love the entire trilogy, but The Hunger Games is still my favorite of the series.
71. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
72. The Liars' Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr
73. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) by Rick Riordan-This was another challenge by my students. I read the first and the second, but I wasn't sold on it. I stopped, because it wasn't for me.
74. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
75. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
76. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
77. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien-Love, Love, Love The Lord of the Rings. I initially put it down the first time I read it, but once I past Hobbiton, I never wanted the adventure to end.
78. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
79. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
80. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster -Read this trippy little novel as a kid. I prefer Roald Dahl and Lewis Carroll
81. The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
82. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro
83. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
84. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
85. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
86. The Shining by Stephen King-Read this one in junior high. I like The Shining, but I would hardly call it my favorite Stephen King novel. I would have picked It or The Stand.
87. The Stranger by Albert Camus
88. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
89. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
90. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
91. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
92. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel by Haruki Murakami
93. The World According to Garp by John Irving
94. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
95. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe-Can you like a book and not like the protagonist? I didn't really care for Okonkwo, but I still loved Things Fall Apart.  I use to teach this novel in my World Literature class. It was always hit or miss with the students.
96. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee-It is one of my favorite novels. I don't get to teach it because it is one of the ninth grade novels. I didn't read it until I was an adult. I don't think I would have had the same reaction as a ninth grader.
97. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
98. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
99. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
100. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak- Read as a child. I've always enjoyed the story, can't wait to share it with my little niece.

In total, I have read 28 of the 100 books. I will eventually read more like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks which I started and stopped, the Catcher in the Rye, The Diary of Anne Frank, etc.

I think they left off some better books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Siddhartha, and Life of Pi, but I'm partial to those novels.

Until next time, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” ― George R.R. Martin

Day Twelve: Live Blogging the Walking Dead

Warning: This contains spoilers


8:00-Entering the camp, man are they jumpy.  Daryl-We brought dinner. A Possum. Carl may or may not have seen something. You know, I know that the fence is protection, but man, it is just so creeping seeing the gates close behind them. This lady playing Deanna looks so familiar. I can't put my finger on it.  Googleing...


8:17-Loving the clean Rick, but man was that nasty going down the drain...so, she just going to come in and give Rick a hair Why is Daryl still holding the possum?  Only Daryl will enter an interview holding a possum. So, who is sleeping with whom?


8:21-Daryl, please take a bath...Okay, why are some of you still dirty...I'm like the members of the group. I'm still suspicious of everything. You feel that way after hanging with the governor. Daryl is like, uhm, nah. I'm good.


8:30-This lady is really trying too hard. Stay away from Rick, chick.  Carl thinks these people are weak. I think they may be sneaky.  I don't trust them at all.  Richonne...So, this girl has a husband and she is trying her best to get with Rick.


It took a minute, but it is Tovah Feldshuh who is playing Deanna. She played Danielle Melnick in multiple episodes of Law and Order.


8:43-I agree with you Daryl. Carol looks ridiculous in that outfit, but dude take a bath.  This girl is going to get Carl in trouble.  The Frat boys are going out with the younger members. Uh-oh, Rick's blender piece is gone.  It looked like the gun the Frat boys gave Tara. Rick isn't even surprise when Carl is not where he is suppose to be.  The blender piece missing tells me they were watching the whole time. I don't trust these people at all.


8:52-Look at Member's Only jacket trying to be a badass. This dude is stepping to Glenn. Aiden is crazy-a stupid dude who will get people killed. Daryl will whip your butt bro...as will Glenn. Carl has a crush. 
We will not be weak. That's not in us any more.  Love that Rick Grimes.


Until next week, "If they can't keep this place, we'll take it."-Rick Grimes