So Out of the Literary Whirl!

During our last month of classes, my 12 students in Writing/Reading Workshop, a developmental class for students needing extra time and attention paid to their reading and writing skills, created their own blogs. Some students have put a great deal of work and thought into their blogs, and these are really terrific. I find that some students are writing about their personal dilemmas and their difficult lives in a way they never have before, despite the amount of personal writing we do in this developmental class. (By the way, this is NOT the class with plagiarism issues.)

How I wish I could help some of them! But I'm just their English teacher, whose job it is to help them express in writing what they want and need to say. It's been a fascinating semester. Our final classes are this week, and on Wednesday, it will be farewell to them, and a happy Christmas to all, I hope. I will miss this blogging class, particularly, and will never forget them.

What about my READING???? Really, now, will it ever come off the back burner?

NEWS: I am reading The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page (see below), and am finding it wonderfully relaxing. It's set on an island in Maine, and because I've spent considerable weeks on a Maine island, all because Ken grew up spending his summers at his aunt's cottage on Peaks Island in Casco Bay, I'm finding it particularly reminiscent of my island experiences.

BUT THEN: I downloaded The Christmas Visitor by Anne Perry onto my Nookcolor. This Christmas novella, set in the 19th century, had particularly good reviews a number of years ago, so I'm going for it.

How I wish I could gobble up books by the wagon-load! But I can't right now. And, good news, I'm rehired for the next semester, starting January 24th.