Sunday, August 31, 2008

Back to School

This might be news to a few people, but I have decided to go back to school. It isn't for anything glamorous or life changing. I am going to get my Reading Specialist certificate so that I can one day be a reading teacher. This won't be for several years, but I know that I like to have lots of different doors open to me. In my professional life, I have taught three different grades. I have taught the same group of children for two years in a row. I have taught in public schools and a private school.

I received my class syllabus by email tonight and realized that I will be spending every waking minute reading young adult and children's books this semester. I am not exaggerating when I say that I will be reading at least 20 young adult novels. Twenty books is not a big deal, but I was also the student who got through junior high without ever EVER reading an assigned book. I know that sounds crazy, but I was just really good at absorbing information from class discussions. It wasn't that I was not reading during those years. I just wanted to read what I wanted to read.

So, now, I am going to be reading a lot of young adult literature again. I decided that since this is grad school again, I cannot resort to my 14 year old behavior of 'fakin' it till I make it' in class. I read my first book Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli. I picked it up at 9 PM and finished it in two hours. If you know me, I like any junior high love story especially if there is a quirky girl and a smitten boy in it.

I am going to try to take advantage of the required reading and use it as a time machine back to my own junior high and high school days.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay for you!

I love Stargirl! You'll chew through those YA books FAST. I can slurp up one in less than 2 hours, usually. I love them! They're like watching a detailed movie. Only better.

Carm said...

In the past 8 days I've read 7 books... most of those were young adult books. I'm on a real reading craze lately. Stargirl was ONE of those books. I read it because Rachel recommended the sequel, "Love, Stargirl" and I couldn't remember the first book very well. I enjoyed them both... thank you Rachel... and I look forward to hearing what you're reading for class. What fun!

patrick | steed said...

My brother got his specialist's degree. He never regretted it once. Fantastic idea!

Unknown said...

Let me know if you come across any that would be awesome for sixth graders. I'm always looking for new reads for my students. Good luck with grad school.