The Tiger Rising

The Tiger Rising, a haiku
deep in Florida
there was a hidden tiger
two kids let it go

Since my last post, the only book I finished was The Tiger Rising, which is such a short book that it could be called a short story. I read the entire book in less than an hour. Even in its brevity, the book covered some serious issues: bad bosses, bullying, culture shock, death of a parent, divorce, moving to a new place, and poverty. There were also positive messages of family and friendship, even if times are difficult.

In an academic context, this book might be best for middle school, maybe in conjunction with journal writing exercises. Teachers might ask students Have you ever found a friendship in unexpected places? or How would you deal with a tiger in a cage? Would you let it go if you could?

I still have a big stack of library books for my "summer reading" - which might have to happen after I start the school year again on August 4.

Hoping to finish Smart Girls in the 21st Century soon so I can get back to pleasure reading. Although, it's been a very educational book - glad I am enjoying my summer "homework"!

#STEMTTC15

More conferences mean no more books to review just yet. Maybe I need to revise the title of this blog a bit - add "Book Nerd Techie Adventures" - hmm, not quite the same ring to it as "Book Nerd Adventures". Well, maybe my readers (or lack thereof) will tolerate books AND tech. In schools, librarians and technology specialists can have commonalities - many libraries often are also running a maker space or doing technology integration in some form or another. Collaboration between library and technology is a topic for another post, so I'll leave it at that for now.

This week I am at the STEM Think Tank and Conference in Nashville, TN. Below is the presentation I shared as part of a workshop on Design Thinking and School Maker Spaces. I also facilitated a think tank discussion on Creation Tools, Maker Spaces, and Design Thinking in K-12 Schools. It was interesting to connect with other educators interested in maker spaces and implementing design thinking in the classroom.

After this week, I am hoping to get more reading done - finishing Smart Girls in the 21st Century, but also reading some books for fun!