I discovered the most amazing book ever in class today!

In class today Dr. Garcia read the best book ever! She read The Sweetest Fig by Chris Van Allsburg. I absolutely loved this book, I loved it so much I even bought myself a copy. One of the reasons I loved the book is because the ending is such a letdown, but in a good way. It is a good letdown because it forces the listener and the reader to be creative in what occurs next. Now on to the second reason why I loved this book, because of the ending and the beautiful pictures I feel it would be a fun introduction to writing, even in a high school classroom. I could see myself reading this to a group of freshmen students and then asking them to continue the story for me. I would maybe use this within the first week of school because then it would give me an idea of their level of creativity, and more importantly their writing abilities. Now I cannot wait until I receive my copy so I can share it with my boyfriend and family to see their reactions. What a fun book, thanks for introducing it to the class, Dr. Garcia.

We also got to discuss my other favorite book, The Book Whisperer. To discuss the book today Dr. Garcia had us do an activity called “Save the last word for me.” How it worked was that one student would share a quote or thought from the book, then other students would comment. After everyone who felt like commenting did, the student who presented the quote or thought then says why they chose it or liked it. It was a really unique way to have a book discussion. Plus it got more students to participate in the discussion, or at least that is how I felt. I do think I will incorporate this activity in my future classroom. It is a little more structured than just letting the whole class discuss. Plus I think my future students would enjoy having different discussion ideas to utilize. And maybe for the more shy students it will help them be brave in sharing a quote and then it would give them plenty of time to formulate their thoughts about why they shared it.

As for an update about my tutoring partner and me, things were better this week. I was astounded that she liked the lesson plan I created and had no qualms about it. That is a very good sign and I feel better about working with my partner. Thank goodness.