Title: Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Author: Janet Evanovich
Genre: Mystery/Humor
I had never picked up a Janet Evanovich novel until I read this one. I always wondered what all the hype was about. My aunt is addicted to them which is why it gave me the idea to read one. I can remember over the past few years on family vacations or get togethers that my aunt would be reading and all of a sudden be laughing so hard she had to close the book until she was done. She would laugh so hard she was crying...and my aunt does not laugh quietly. Those of us around her would simply be laughing because she was. It is hysterical to watch.
The week after we started class I was sitting with our text thinking "what books do I want to read?" I called my aunt and asked her what genre those books would be. She said Humor and when I said that wasn't in our book she suggested mystery. She gave me "Finger Linckin' Fifteen" and assured me I would not need to read the first 14 before reading this one. She was right.
Stephanie Plum, the inept "bounty hunter," goes off another adventure trying to track down the men who jumped bail as well as the men ripping off the Rangerman accounts. While trying to manage all that, she has to deal with her friend, Lula, who is trying to not get killed by the guys she witnesses decapitate a man in front of her car. Lula and Grandma are also trying to create a winning barbeque recipe that is mission impossible since Lula can't cook and Grandma is used to a much different type of cooking. The two men in Stephanie's life also prove to cause her stress and drama. Should she go for the hot Ranger or cop Morelli? Personally I vote for hot Ranger. In the end, as any good mystery or fun read, everything works out for the best and along the way we have laughed ourselves silly.
Lula in tight bright yellow pants and a black flak jacket stuck hanging out the car window.....and her breasts falling out of her shirt....need I say more????
Monday, February 22, 2010
524-A Thread of Grace
Title: A Thread of Grace
Author: Mary Doria Russell
Genre: Historical Fiction
This book is set in Italy during World War II. A group of Jewish refugees is trying to get to Italy to be safe only to find out that once they have climbed and reached the other side of the mountain that Italy had been turned over to the Germans and they were still not safe. Italian soldiers ran with them and found them safe places within the hills of Italy with patisans who are willing to help anyway they can. The story takes you through the later years of the war and many things happen that don't make it a "happily ever after" type book.
While I think this book is very well written and a very realistic picture of what the war must have been like in that part of the world, I found it hard to keep track of since there were so many different story lines. I felt like I needed a felt board of Italy with character cut outs so I could move them along and figure out who was where and doing what. Each section would be about different characters and you would have to remember who they were talking about. As the book progressed, the characters did meet and come together so it made it easier.
The ending was unexpected and very sad, but one should expect the unexpected when it comes to World War II. I have been reading WWII books for years but this one was very different for me. I am used to the stories of Jewish families or just children being sent away and tortured in the camps, or being hidden and then found and tortured. I have read many books of survivors and what they went through to survive. This one took on a different perspective of how the Italians and Catholic in particular helped people in need.
Over all I give it a thumbs up, but be prepared to get out that felt board or some other way to keep track if you choose to read it!
Author: Mary Doria Russell
Genre: Historical Fiction
This book is set in Italy during World War II. A group of Jewish refugees is trying to get to Italy to be safe only to find out that once they have climbed and reached the other side of the mountain that Italy had been turned over to the Germans and they were still not safe. Italian soldiers ran with them and found them safe places within the hills of Italy with patisans who are willing to help anyway they can. The story takes you through the later years of the war and many things happen that don't make it a "happily ever after" type book.
While I think this book is very well written and a very realistic picture of what the war must have been like in that part of the world, I found it hard to keep track of since there were so many different story lines. I felt like I needed a felt board of Italy with character cut outs so I could move them along and figure out who was where and doing what. Each section would be about different characters and you would have to remember who they were talking about. As the book progressed, the characters did meet and come together so it made it easier.
The ending was unexpected and very sad, but one should expect the unexpected when it comes to World War II. I have been reading WWII books for years but this one was very different for me. I am used to the stories of Jewish families or just children being sent away and tortured in the camps, or being hidden and then found and tortured. I have read many books of survivors and what they went through to survive. This one took on a different perspective of how the Italians and Catholic in particular helped people in need.
Over all I give it a thumbs up, but be prepared to get out that felt board or some other way to keep track if you choose to read it!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
524-Is Reader Advisory better in a book store vs. a library?
Two of the books I wanted to read for this class were not at my local library. Instead of taking time to find it at another library or do ILL, I cheated and went to Borders. Yes, I know, as a librarian this surely puts me on the black list, however, I would rather spend money instead of time I don't have! I felt better about buying the books knowing my best friend, my mom, and my sisters would probably read them as well.
Since the first book I was looking for is a Romance, I went to the section of the store with the little sign "Romance" hanging above the books. It wasn't there...so I asked a female employee who happened to be walking by if she could help me find it. We looked in the computer and didn't see it, but did find out I was spelling the authors first name wrong. So I asked her if she knew of anything that would be similar. She mentioned a few authors and asked if I had read them and told me a little bit about each. She mentioned a few times about books that her reading group was reading so it was apparent she herself is an avid reader. She asked what about that book that specifically caught my eye. I told her it was mentioned in our text and that it had some "hot" scenes in it. We eventually settled down to two choices, one by the same author and one by another. I chose the one by the same author.
While we were walking back toward the front of the store a book caught my attention and we started talking about it. This led to her advising me on other books that are "popular" and since they were buy one get one 50%, I ended up with two books to read for fun.
As I was talking to her and she was asking me questions, I thought about the various blogs or conversations in class about the secret shopper assignment. For the most part, people are having disappointing experiences at libraries. I had a positive experience at the bookstore. I wonder if we did the same assignment at bookstores if our experiences would be different. Since retail is big on customer service, are we going to get better service at a store? Libraries should be concentrating on customer service, especially, reader advisory since it is there job!
I asked the woman who I was speaking with if she had an MLS. She said no, but she had thought about going to school and had been working at Borders for 12 years. She sure does have the experience and knowledge and I encouraged her to go to school.
Maybe I got lucky and found a bookstore worker who actually knew what she was talking about. Maybe that is the norm? I wonder....
Anybody had any similar experiences? Thoughts? Opinions?
Or is it just me? :) haha
Since the first book I was looking for is a Romance, I went to the section of the store with the little sign "Romance" hanging above the books. It wasn't there...so I asked a female employee who happened to be walking by if she could help me find it. We looked in the computer and didn't see it, but did find out I was spelling the authors first name wrong. So I asked her if she knew of anything that would be similar. She mentioned a few authors and asked if I had read them and told me a little bit about each. She mentioned a few times about books that her reading group was reading so it was apparent she herself is an avid reader. She asked what about that book that specifically caught my eye. I told her it was mentioned in our text and that it had some "hot" scenes in it. We eventually settled down to two choices, one by the same author and one by another. I chose the one by the same author.
While we were walking back toward the front of the store a book caught my attention and we started talking about it. This led to her advising me on other books that are "popular" and since they were buy one get one 50%, I ended up with two books to read for fun.
As I was talking to her and she was asking me questions, I thought about the various blogs or conversations in class about the secret shopper assignment. For the most part, people are having disappointing experiences at libraries. I had a positive experience at the bookstore. I wonder if we did the same assignment at bookstores if our experiences would be different. Since retail is big on customer service, are we going to get better service at a store? Libraries should be concentrating on customer service, especially, reader advisory since it is there job!
I asked the woman who I was speaking with if she had an MLS. She said no, but she had thought about going to school and had been working at Borders for 12 years. She sure does have the experience and knowledge and I encouraged her to go to school.
Maybe I got lucky and found a bookstore worker who actually knew what she was talking about. Maybe that is the norm? I wonder....
Anybody had any similar experiences? Thoughts? Opinions?
Or is it just me? :) haha
Monday, February 8, 2010
574-Project 1
Personal Connection:
Before doing this project, I don't know if I had a specific way to inquire about something other than if I wanted to know the answer to something I would search Google to see what I found. If that satisfied my curiosity, I stopped there. If it didn't, I would ask someone who may know the answer (friends, family, coworkers.) If they didn't know, sadly I would just give up. I never really took the time to do inquiry...I have no time to give!
When for classes when I was asked to inquire or search for information, depending on the topic, I would search Google or the IUPUI databases. I only searched full text articles and would print out websites or the full text articles and then highlight what I wanted to keep for my paper.
Now, since doing this project, I have found a way to save many trees by using NoteStar. Collectin information is soooo much easier with this tool and it produces a bibliography for you! That is always the dreaded final step of writing a paper for me personally. I like that NoteStar helps me keep things organized.
I honestly would compare my experiences with inquiry very similar to that of a child. Children start with one idea and then get lost on some other aspect of that idea easily. I tend to do that myself. I will be searching for information on one topic and then something will catch my eye and I will be off on a tangent searching that. Pretty soon, I have to stop myself and ask what was my original question. I think that is easy to do since the internet is very stimulating and has so much information. I think if students are equiped with an organizational tool it would help them stay on target and focus on the original task at hand. I know for myself, NoteStar did that for me.
After finally completeing this project (it seemed to take forever!), I think it is something important for us to drag our kids through on smaller scales so that they can build upon those experiences and be ready for middle/high school and college. I had never experienced something like a research paper until I went to college and I was a like a deer in headlights! I didn't know what to do or where to begin. I soon found writing 10 page papers to be a breeze.
Now it is time to say goodbye to the elefantes for now....I feel that I have answered the questions and found the informatio I was looking for.
Before doing this project, I don't know if I had a specific way to inquire about something other than if I wanted to know the answer to something I would search Google to see what I found. If that satisfied my curiosity, I stopped there. If it didn't, I would ask someone who may know the answer (friends, family, coworkers.) If they didn't know, sadly I would just give up. I never really took the time to do inquiry...I have no time to give!
When for classes when I was asked to inquire or search for information, depending on the topic, I would search Google or the IUPUI databases. I only searched full text articles and would print out websites or the full text articles and then highlight what I wanted to keep for my paper.
Now, since doing this project, I have found a way to save many trees by using NoteStar. Collectin information is soooo much easier with this tool and it produces a bibliography for you! That is always the dreaded final step of writing a paper for me personally. I like that NoteStar helps me keep things organized.
I honestly would compare my experiences with inquiry very similar to that of a child. Children start with one idea and then get lost on some other aspect of that idea easily. I tend to do that myself. I will be searching for information on one topic and then something will catch my eye and I will be off on a tangent searching that. Pretty soon, I have to stop myself and ask what was my original question. I think that is easy to do since the internet is very stimulating and has so much information. I think if students are equiped with an organizational tool it would help them stay on target and focus on the original task at hand. I know for myself, NoteStar did that for me.
After finally completeing this project (it seemed to take forever!), I think it is something important for us to drag our kids through on smaller scales so that they can build upon those experiences and be ready for middle/high school and college. I had never experienced something like a research paper until I went to college and I was a like a deer in headlights! I didn't know what to do or where to begin. I soon found writing 10 page papers to be a breeze.
574-Project 1
Curriculum Connection:
I could easily fit this project into any of my grade levels but for my two examples I chose 2nd grade and 4th grade.
The standards that I chose for 2nd grade are:
1.1.4: Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions.
1.1.6: Read, review and listen for information presented in any format in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
My 2nd graders would be asked to choose a wild animal that they would want to learn more about. They can search the internet and find websites that will answer their questions. I have taught them that websites with a lot of advertisments are probably ones they want to stay away from and that they should look for ones that are sponsored by organizations or zoos. They will be able to watch the videos on some websites or listen to soundbits as another way to answer their questions in addition to reading the information. They would write their questions and answers on a piece of paper as evidence that they completed the assignment.
For my 4th graders, I chose the following standard:
2.1.6: Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and techology skills to create products that express new understandings.
The 4th graders are very good at creating PowerPoints so once they complete the same steps as the 2nd graders, they can take the information that they learned and create a visually stimulating and information packed PPT to share with their classmates. They would have slide design, trasistions, and images as well as the questions and answers about their animal on the slides. Since they are 4th graders, I would probably require a minimum of 6 questions and 8 slides.
I could easily fit this project into any of my grade levels but for my two examples I chose 2nd grade and 4th grade.
The standards that I chose for 2nd grade are:
1.1.4: Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions.
1.1.6: Read, review and listen for information presented in any format in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
My 2nd graders would be asked to choose a wild animal that they would want to learn more about. They can search the internet and find websites that will answer their questions. I have taught them that websites with a lot of advertisments are probably ones they want to stay away from and that they should look for ones that are sponsored by organizations or zoos. They will be able to watch the videos on some websites or listen to soundbits as another way to answer their questions in addition to reading the information. They would write their questions and answers on a piece of paper as evidence that they completed the assignment.
For my 4th graders, I chose the following standard:
2.1.6: Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and techology skills to create products that express new understandings.
The 4th graders are very good at creating PowerPoints so once they complete the same steps as the 2nd graders, they can take the information that they learned and create a visually stimulating and information packed PPT to share with their classmates. They would have slide design, trasistions, and images as well as the questions and answers about their animal on the slides. Since they are 4th graders, I would probably require a minimum of 6 questions and 8 slides.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
574-Project 1
Wishing
I think my project went well. I think my topic was a strength and the model to do the inquiry was a weakness for me. The project was challenging simply because I have never done a project using a model and using steps. I am sure in the past I was using some sort of model, but not one I was aware of. If I had to do this over again, I would have started right away using NoteStar. I think this is a huge help to organize your information. I would hopefully have more time to use more of a variety in my sources and exapand my project to include other questions that came up while I was reading. I just simply did not have the time for this project.
I think a strength was also my technology knowledge since I use these skills and programs daily with my students since I am the "computer teacher." I am used to trying out new things to see if they will work for my kids and then using them in small simple steps so that they can learn it.
I think for this project my experience mirrored that of my older students in the sense that they usually feel overwhelmed and confused and that is how I felt throughout the process. My kids ask lots of questions and are fortunate enough to have me standing right there. For me in this project, I had lots of quesitons, but instead of just speaking right then and asking them, I had to write a post or email and wait for a response.
Overall, I think this was a good experience and will definitely help me emphathize with my students in the future.
I think my project went well. I think my topic was a strength and the model to do the inquiry was a weakness for me. The project was challenging simply because I have never done a project using a model and using steps. I am sure in the past I was using some sort of model, but not one I was aware of. If I had to do this over again, I would have started right away using NoteStar. I think this is a huge help to organize your information. I would hopefully have more time to use more of a variety in my sources and exapand my project to include other questions that came up while I was reading. I just simply did not have the time for this project.
I think a strength was also my technology knowledge since I use these skills and programs daily with my students since I am the "computer teacher." I am used to trying out new things to see if they will work for my kids and then using them in small simple steps so that they can learn it.
I think for this project my experience mirrored that of my older students in the sense that they usually feel overwhelmed and confused and that is how I felt throughout the process. My kids ask lots of questions and are fortunate enough to have me standing right there. For me in this project, I had lots of quesitons, but instead of just speaking right then and asking them, I had to write a post or email and wait for a response.
Overall, I think this was a good experience and will definitely help me emphathize with my students in the future.
574-Project 1
Waving
As I already discussed in my Wrapping step, that even though I did this project for me, I do plan on showing it to my students to show them PPT and to share with the younger students the information and pictures that I found about elephants.
I already posted my project in the Waving post....
As I already discussed in my Wrapping step, that even though I did this project for me, I do plan on showing it to my students to show them PPT and to share with the younger students the information and pictures that I found about elephants.
I already posted my project in the Waving post....
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