Debby's Tuesday Teaser

" All literate individuals possess and use many different skills. Readers and writers develop literacy and learn to use skills by having many successful reading and writing experiences and by being given instruction with strategies and skills that will help them move forward in their literacy development. The process is much like learning to play the piano. You learn your first little piece. You play it over and over, and in the process you develop 'fluency.' You are then taught a new chord, key signature, or rhythmic pattern (one that you lack or are unable to use.) Once you learn the new 'skill', you can learn new pieces. "

Literacy Assessment Helping Teachers Plan Instruction by J. David Cooper and Nancy D. Kiger. page 12.

Ok, I know most of you will not be interested in this book, but it is what I am rereading and enjoying at the moment. This is the text I use in the Literacy Assessment course I teach in the MAT program at SMCM.

Dari's Teaser Tuesday

"Where much is given, much is required," Professor Andrus repeated, "and I've one more suggestion. Believe beyond your doubts. What was it you used to say to me all the time about your fanciful creations?"

"I can paint whatever I imagine and believe whatever I paint," Thomas replied.

"How much more powerful might it be if belief came before imagination? I appreciate that may be difficult, given 'the comfortable ambiguity of agnosticism'!" He repeated the expression Thomas had used.

"Acknowledge that your talent is a gift from God and thank him for it. Ask for his help so you can perform at the extreme edge of your ability. Even if you are unable to believe," Professor Andrus said finally, "at least open yourself to the possibility of the divine beauty your masterwork deserves."

The rim of golden light on the old man's face, the quiet resonance of his voice, the dark pools of his eyes and unguarded sharing of things most personal caused a stirring within Thomas. A swelling warmth. The inner voice. A quiet grove.

What was happening?

The Evolution of Thomas Hall by Keith Merrill pg. 294

September Read: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Our new read for this month is Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua. I am excited to hear what everyone thinks of this book: it has 217 5-star ratings on Amazon and 116 1-star ratings. I am looking forward to some intense discussion on September 20th! There were 8 library copies available last time I checked, plus a couple on audio, or order it from Amazon for $15.92.

In Battle Hymn, Chua imparts the secret behind the stereotypical Asian child's phenomenal success: the Chinese mother. Chua promotes what has traditionally worked very well in raising children: strict, Old World, uncompromising values--and the parents don't have to be Chinese. What they are, however, are different from what she sees as indulgent and permissive Western parents: stressing academic performance above all, never accepting a mediocre grade, insisting on drilling and practice, and instilling respect for authority. Chua and her Jewish husband (both are professors at Yale Law) raised two girls, and her account of their formative years achieving amazing success in school and music performance proves both a model and a cautionary tale. Sophia, the eldest, was dutiful and diligent, leapfrogging over her peers in academics and as a Suzuki piano student; Lulu was also gifted, but defiant, who excelled at the violin but eventually balked at her mother's pushing. Chua's efforts "not to raise a soft, entitled child" will strike American readers as a little scary--removing her children from school for extra practice, public shaming and insults, equating Western parenting with failure--but the results, she claims somewhat glibly in this frank, unapologetic report card, "were hard to quarrel with."

Debby's Tuesday Teaser

"One thing to always remember around Williamsburg and most of Virginia: No road runs compass-straight. Ever. The hilly, river-crossed terrain doesn't lend itself to it. Locals joke that some roads run the way they do because some native or settler wandered crookedly centuries ago.
So remember that Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown are small, and roads in the heart of the localities are paved versions of the early paths of the colonists: quaint, sometimes narrow, and often congested. Give yourself plenty of time to make it to your destination at the desired hour."
I'm currently in Williamsburg and found this book to be helpful planning my trip and also during the trip. Lots of family fun.

Shelly's teaser

"In bed that night I invented a special drain that would be underneath every pillow in New York, and would connect to the reservoir. Whenever people cried themselves to sleep, the tears would all go to the same place, and in the morning the weatherman could report if the water level of the Reservoir of Tears had gone up or down, and you could know if New York was in heavy boots [his phrase for being weighed down with stress or grief]. And when something really terrible happened--like a nuclear bomb, or at least a biological weapons attack--an extremely loud siren would go off, telling everyone to get to Central Park to put sandbags around the reservoir."

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by Johathan Safran Foer