I'm Dreamin'

of a trip to the beach, with ocean waves crashing onto the shore

of lazy summer mornings and weekends that do not require

essay-grading marathons and lesson planning

of creating and sharing

of spending time with my daughter

before she grows up and leaves the nest

What about you? What are you dreaming about today?

A book's not a book if it's

on a Nook. Seriously. That's what I found out when I told my students we were getting Nooks for the classroom. They were eager (yes, eager) to get their hands on these handy, little electronic devices. And these were some of the same students, mind you, that would equate reading a book with eating a full plate of broccoli.

But they were excited, and I was so glad that I could interest them in reading.

The Nooks didn't arrive completely by magic. But almost. Two angels, so to speak, sprinkled fairy dust in my room and made the Nooks appear. One angel was a community business that awarded a grant that I had applied for. The other angel, Peggy, lives right here in blogland. It was through her foundation that eight more Nooks, with books and covers, made their way into my classroom.

And they couldn't have come at a better time. You see last fall, the books we were reading were literally falling apart at the seams. (Imagine a picture here of a book falling apart at the seams...) My students complained when pages were missing and were always trying to claim the better copies for their own. Yet more than half of the students were still left holding what claimed to be books.... pieces of them anyway.

As you can see, I needed to have my camera set on action shots the way these kids' hands were flying across the touch screens. They had the Nooks figured out in no time.

And this is one quick shout out to one of the angels who made it possible. Thank you, Peggy! Your kindness and generosity mean so much to my students and to me.



Peggy, second from right, has been making the world a brighter place for children for quite a while.
Here she is in Rwanda teaching children how to use digital cameras.
You can read about her journey to Rwanda by clicking this link.
Photo from Middle Age Ramblings.

 

Haven't I heard that before?

It wasn't the exact same song, not even the same song, period. But when I listened to my daughter's new CD, I had that nostalgic twinge we sometimes get when we hear a song from our past. This sound, however, was from a new artist, Ellie Goulding.

But, boy, did she remind me of Edie Brickell and New Bohemians... a group who had their big hit, "What I Am" in 1988.... and I l.o.v.e.d their sound.

I would listen to the tracks on that cassette tape over and over again. Singing along with Edie, windows of my VW Beetle rolled down. I was Edie Brickell and her New Bohemians.

And now, today, my daughter and I have something extra in common. At a time when we're not so keen on the same music... raps are all over her playlist, yet are only sporadically found on mine... we share a new favorite, Ellie Goulding. And I can't help but compare her to Edie. My daughter says they're similar, but she likes Ellie better. I'm just glad she's listening to something I like at the moment. We're music twins. Sort of.

Mother's Day 2012