A remodel for the books

Imagine buying the house next door, turning the neighboring house into a personal library, and connecting it to your house with an atrium.  What you'd end up with would be something like this:

I learned about this bibliophile's dream over at Book-A-Rama's place.  This screen capture isn't very sharp, but you get the idea.  Click on this Minneapolis StarTribune link to see photos of the two houses before and after they were connected.  (The story was published on August 21.)

Footloose in Chattanooga

Over 140 volunteers exploded into action yesterday to the music of "The Chattanooga Choo Choo" in front of the Tennessee Aquarium.  With just three rehearsals under their belts, dancers delighted Chattanooga's Labor Day weekend tourists and demonstrated once again the vitality of the arts in Chattanooga.

Good books I've read

Rosemary got a Kindle and, ready to download books, asked, "Any suggestions?"

Our mutual friend Madge had two:  "A Fine Balance and Geek Love are two of my all time favorites."

Rosemary said, "I already read A Fine Balance, and it is one of my all-time favorite books too. I had Geek Love but have not read it yet. A co-worker recommended it to me years ago."

Reminding them we had read and discussed A Fine Balance in our book club a decade ago, I gave Rosemary a list of good books I've read lately.  Of recent novels, I suggested:

1. Look Again ~ by Lisa Scottoline, 2009
2. Every Last One ~ by Anna Quindlen, 2010
3. Shanghai Girls ~ by Lisa See, 2009
4. House Rules ~ by Jodi Picoult, 2010
5. The Postmistress ~ by Sarah Blake, 2010

This month's book for discussion with my online Book Buddies this month ~ click to join us!

6. Out of My Mind ~ by Sharon M. Draper, a YA novel, 2010
7. Family Matters ~ by Rohinton Mistry, 2002
8. The Wives of Henry Oades ~ by Johanna Moran, 2010
9. The Help ~ by Kathryn Stockett, 2009
10. The Invisible Mountain ~ by Carolina de Robertis, 2009
11. Remarkable Creatures ~ by Tracy Chevalier, 2010
12. Prayers for Sale ~ by Sandra Dallas, 2009

I also suggested two nonfiction books:

13. I Am Nujood: Age 10 and Divorced ~ by Nujood Ali, 2010
14. When Everything Changed ~ by Gail Collins, 2009

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry was published in 1995.  I read it in June 2000 and again in December 2001.  About rereading books, Madge said, "That is the only one I reread again, ever."

What good books have you read in the past year or so?  Would you reread any of them?

Caturday report ~ bookmarks

Look at these bookmark crocheted by Joy Renee of Joystory.  The two on the right now live at my house.  Okay, so Joy Renee sent them to Bonnie.  But I live here, too, and I don't see why Bonnie can't share and give me one.  I would be happy to get my claws on them!  Well, of course I mean that!  Yes, I do mean literally get my claws into them.  Crocheted bookmarks are made of thread, aren't they?  Cats like to play with strings and yarns and threads and such.  I'm a cat.  I want to have one!  They look chewable, too.  One has a button on it.  This button:

I could chew on that.  I could use the claws on all four paws and pulls those bookmarks apart in no time ... but Bonnie won't let me.  She says that the acorn button was once on a jacket Joy Renee's mother made for herself in high school. Bonnie also says the bookmarks have names.  The blue and green one is named Summer Daze, and the colorful one is Bounteous Grace.  I'll take either one, but -- c'mon -- gimmee, gimmee, gimmee!  No?  Then I don't want to talk anymore.







Signing off.....
Kiki Cat




P.S.  Bonnie says, "Thanks, Joy Renee."  But not me.  Humpf!  I'll just go back to reading my book.  Without a pretty bookmark to play with.

Using cell phones to teach? Really?

Answers to yesterday's question about "the primary purpose of college" are still trickling in.  (I promise not to grade yours, if you add it to the comments.)  Today I have a video that was posted for the instructors at my college.  Some of you may have noticed Susan's suggestion that I have my students start blogs as part of their educational experience.

Susan:  "Excited for you Bonnie! Have fun in your new classroom. How about assigning each student to create a blog for their writing assignments?"

Bonnie:  "Susan, that's a great idea! However, it may overwhelm my students, some of whom may be trying to go to college while learning English as a second language. People often think blogging must be incredibly difficult, though you and I have done enough that it no longer seems difficult. I'll keep it in mind, though, in case there's someone who could benefit from blogging. Thanks."

After watching this YouTube video, I may have to rethink my quick answer from two weeks ago.  The video tells me Susan is onto something!  Watch this, and then I'll share a link to a blog I used in class this morning.



Digital richness?  Podcasts?  Cell phones to teach?  "When I go to school, I have to 'power down'," says a student?  Well, at least I tried to be technologically adept this morning.

In July, when I agreed to teach writing, I developed a blog for the writing courses I would be teaching.  Little did I know it (the blog) would become "Plan B" this morning -- when I got to class with my flash drive, and nothing worked.
My PowerPoint presentation was nowhere to be found on the flash drive, according to the student helping me ("I've been doing this for fifteen years, and I'm only 24," he said).
But that didn't matter ...
because we couldn't use the ceiling projector anyway ...
because there was no remote at my computer console ...
or anywhere in the room.
I left my students busily writing and ran down the hall to see if the departmental secretary had the remote (asking myself, "Was I supposed to pick up a remote before using this equipment?").
The secretary had two remotes, which "didn't work," she told me.
Duh!  There were no batteries in either one.
No backs, either.
I discovered both back covers behind the equipment at my console.
What professor had separated remotes and their back covers?
And why?
Who knows?
Next objective:  find batteries!
"In that cabinet over there," said the secretary.
Wrong sizes.  Not a single battery (much less two) small enough for these remotes.
Back to my classroom, where the industrious students were still writing away.
The young man helping me confirmed the worst:  "It isn't on your flash drive."

So, on to Plan B -- my class blog.  Wanna see it?

Developmental Writing 0800, featuring today's writing prompt.  (You should comment here, rather than there.  That blog is for my students, though your comments at either place come to me for moderation and I would simply shift them over to this blog, anyway, if need be.)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.  I mean, back in the classroom.  Most of the students had finished their writing assignment -- how well is yet to be determined when I read their paragraphs.  Gone are the days when students tossed their papers on the teacher's desk as they filed out of the classroom.  My students used the computers at each seat, attached their work to an email addressed to me, and clicked "Send."

Ah, the fast and furious fun of the first week of school!  Helen, you're an educator; what do you think of the ideas in this video?
__________

Oh, by the way!  I cannot access (fancy word) my classroom and equipment until less than ten minutes before class starts -- because another class is meeting during that hour.  And I must leave immediately after class ends -- because another twenty students are arriving as we leave.  I have no idea when I could play around with "my" equipment and make sure it works.  Another little thing I need to find out.  Stay tuned.

What's the primary purpose of college?

What do you think is the primary purpose of college — to give students a general education or to prepare them for specific careers?

Latest books ~ reading ruminations

My most recent acquisitions all look serious:  three are nonfiction, and the fourth is a YA novel with lots to think about.

The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality ~ by Walter Benn Michaels, 2006

When I brought these first three books home from the library this afternoon, I flipped open this book and had read four or five pages, including flipping to the back to read a couple of end notes (yes, this is a two-bookmark book), before I caught myself.  "Wait!  I don't have time to read this today!"  I reluctantly put it down and glanced at the other library books.  This from the inside cover is what compelled me to select this one:

"Walter Benn Michaels argues that our enthusiastic celebration of 'difference' masks and even contributes to our neglect of America's vast and growing economic divide.  Affirmative action in schools has not made them more open, it's just guaranteed that the rich kids come in the appropriate colors.  Diversity training in the workplace has not raised anybody's salary (except maybe the diversity trainers'), but it has guaranteed that when your job is outsourced, your culture will be treated with respect."

This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women ~ edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman, 2008

I have requested a copy of This I Believe, which I have obviously not yet read.  But seeing this at the library, I got it to read while waiting for the first collection of essays.  These books are based on the NPR series of the same name.  From the three or four essays I've already read this afternoon (yes, I had to force myself to put down two out of two books that quickly pulled me in), I can see that I'll really enjoy these short pieces by such varied people.

According to the dustjacket, the YA novel Feed by M. T. Anderson (2002) is about

"Titus, whose ability to read, write, and even think for himself has been almost completely obliterated by his 'feed,' a transmitter implanted directly into his brain.  Feeds are a crucial part of life for Titus and his friends.  After all, how else would they know where to party on the moon, how to get bargains at Weatherbee & Crotch, or how to accessorize the mysterious lesions everyone's been getting?  But then Titus meets Violet, a girl who cares about what's happening to he world and challenges everything Titus and his friends hold dear.  A girl who decides to fight the feed."

The Brief Wadsworth Handbook, 2009 MLA Update Edition / Edition 6  ~ by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, 2010

And, it says -- or rather, &.  I'm curious about the symbolism and why an ampersand was chosen to grace the cover.  This, of course, is for the courses I'm teaching in developmental writing this semester at Chattanooga State.  Here's a look at the sections:

Writing Essays
Critical Thinking and Argumentation
Writing in the Disciplines
Doing Research
Documenting Sources: MLA Style
Documenting Sources: APA and Other Styles
Creating Documents in a Digital Age
Strategies for Success in College and Beyond
Revising Common Sentence Errors
Writing Grammatical Sentences
Improving Sentence Style
Understanding Punctuation
Understanding Spelling and Mechanics
Resources for Bilingual and ESL Writers

I am most fascinated by the stuff on the digital age.  It's a whole new world at the college now, with students doing assignments on computers, even in the classroom.  Both classrooms I use have a computer at each seat, and I am able to monitor what's on each computer from the one I use.  Everything was done with pen and paper when I last taught there in 2006, a mere four years ago.  Now I won't have to lug slippery piles of papers to the car, mark them up with red ink, and lug them back to school to be returned to the students.  Once I master the technology, grading should be easier (I hope).

On an orange sheet among multi-colored handouts given to adjuncts last month, we were told:  "Instructors should familiarize themselves with up-to-date MLA formatting and ... ensure students' papers meet these guidelines."  Knowing my thin MLA booklet from 1970 (how could it be 40 years?) was extremely out of date, I asked for a copy of the latest MLA booklet -- and was given this 607-page handbook.  I'll probably use the others sections more than the MLA bit; this is, after all, a remedial writing course and our relatively short research paper won't require the same documentation as a doctoral dissertation.
__________

Have you read any of these?  What are you reading these days?