Mission

Bibliophiliac is the space where one passionate, voracious reader reflects on books and the reading life. You will find reviews, analysis, links, and reflections on poetry and prose both in and out of the mainstream.

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Franz Kafka

Monday, August 23, 2010

Manic Monday












Look at my classroom, looking all clean and shiny...The orange paper in the bottom photo is a work-in-progress--graffiti walls by my creative writing classes.  Notice the bookcases!  I'm gearing up to write some grants for books to fill those bookcases.

Since it is Manic Monday, a bullet-style post is called for:

  • Now that school is back in session, I'm back to trying to read several books at the same time.  Books for teaching strategies, books I'm currently teaching, books of writing exercises, etc.
  • I love Fridays even more now:  Silent Sustained Reading. AKA heaven.
  • I'm working on a review of Nashville Chrome by Rick Bass.  The short version:  loved it.
  • On Friday I have a guest post at Desert Book Chick (Amanda).  This Outback bookie has a fun, entertaining, and highly individual blog--so thanks, Amanda, for letting me yak about my love for Russian classics.
  • I've been working on my blog list--spiffing it up a bit.  Take a look, because I've added a few newbies who are worth checking out...
  • I've been thinking about awards lately--and I'd love to have your thoughts.  The folks who give awards are lovely, but the problem is in passing them on.  It seems sometimes that I'm giving someone an unwanted task rather than a gift outright.  Some bloggers have a policy of not accepting awards, a practice I find entirely reasonable and unoffensive.  What do you think?

13 comments:

Julie P said...

Your classroom does indeed look beautiful and shiny and new! What grade do you teach? I am down to only one child left in school--my youngest is starting high school this year....

Anonymous said...

What a great classroom! I'm surprised that you have all these book cases with books in your class. In The Netherlands you wouldn't see that very often, the books are stored centrally in the school's library.

Hope you manage to fill them even more. What a great way to inspire your students!

Awards: yes, I can understand why people don't want them. I find them "trouble" because it's extra work, but I DO like that people think of me for an award and I do like pointing others in the direction of blogs that I think are very good (by re-directing the reward).

What I find VERY silly, are awards where you have to send the award to 15 other blogs. Come on! I usually award only 3 new blogs, never 15.

bibliophiliac said...

Julie-I'm a high school teacher, and I teach grades 10-12...
leeswammes-our books are stored in a central location as well...I have accumulated my library over the course of six years, begging and borrowing and sometimes buying books for my students (every year I spend hundreds of dollars of my own money on my students). I am an expert scavenger!

Kate said...

Hey! Nice looking classroom! I'm loving the bookcases.

As far as awards go, I think that as long as you thank the person you're just fine. I find the hardest part is the "passing on". I try to give them to blogs that are new to me, or blogs that are just NEW. I also usually just pass it on to 3 - not 15!

B said...

The bookshelves in your classroom look amazing! How wonderful for your students.

I've got to agree with you on awards. While they are always nice to receive, I rarely give them back to anyone - I'm not sure whether they've already gotten it and usually there are just too many to give back to - like leewammes said - 15 is too many.

Kerry said...

Lovely! Your students are lucky to have such a collection. Good luck with the grants!

Stephanie said...

I love all the bookcases in your classroom! It gives it such a warm, bookish feel, as if it's a library as well as a schoolroom.

Katrina said...

It's a lovely classroom, I like your posters too.

I was recently given two awards and I know it sounds daft but I was really stressed about what to do with them, I didn't want to offend anyone. In the end I just said thank you for them. I didn't pass on to anyone - 15 is just crazy.

Unknown said...

Wooo! Back to School!!! I've been at my school's PD for the past 3 weeks and our kiddos come on Monday. I think that your classroom looks Fabulous - full of inspirational words and images. My sister is a writing teacher and she has a graffiti wall in her classroom as well. Such a fun idea!

Amanda said...

Wow! You classroom looks fabulous. Want to come over and decorate my office :)-

Jo @ Booklover Book Reviews said...

Looks like you have created a wonderful environment for learning - your students are very fortunate.

Great guest post for Amanda's Classics Month too - you've inspired my to try a Chekhov I think. :)

www.bookloverbookreviews.com

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

Wow! what lucky kids to be in this classroom.
When I first started blogging, the awards made me feel special,that someone had actually read my reviews or thought and liked them. But I quickly realized how much time can be spent passing them on. So now I am award free.

Aisle B said...

I see book shelves.... ahhh my fetish for books has been satisfied. I see Gandhi peeking down on me, yes I've been a good Buddhist, albeit an absent one from the lotus position at the monastery.
Nice pics and classroom looks awesome. Your students are very lucky and they will be inspired by your lead.