What role do graduations play in our growth?
By Guest Blogger on May 20th, 2013
It’s graduation season! (Even our own Megan is in on it — she graduates today with her Master’s degree in English and American Literature! Go, Megan!) Julia Graeper from our Classroom and Community Group is here with some thoughts about what these often-symbolic moments really, truly mean.
Last week, a friend asked me to contribute to a “words of wisdom” book that she is compiling for her daughter who will graduate from college this month. As I wrote to her about my own experience, I also wondered whether it is possible to discover some universal truth about graduation. A big idea, I know. But graduation seems to be the occasion when, in a single breath, we’re most likely to talk about such topics as the future, the past, career, ambition, life, love, death. Well, maybe not death. But the rest seems fair game during graduation season.
A student might experience many graduations: kindergarten, eighth grade, high school, college, maybe even graduate school. I wondered what these have in common. Reasonably, greeting cards and commencement speakers focus on what’s been accomplished (“you did it!”) and what lies ahead. In the letter to my friend’s daughter, I used the word “transition” a lot, particularly the disconnect between what I expected the transition to be after college, and what it actually was. I thought it would be about learning to wake up at 7:00 a.m. instead of 10:00 a.m. Instead, it was about learning how to be myself, to do new kinds of work, to fit in and find myself. Again. I thought I already did that in high school! And college!
In Our Feeds: 65 books to read in your 20s, baseball poetry, tagged photos
By Morgan on May 17th, 2013
Every Friday, we share a handful of links that we found funny, provocative or just plain cool. We call it In Our Feeds. Have a good weekend! Let’s start with all you 20-somethings, shall we? Buzzfeed listed “65 books you need to read in yourmore… full post
5 Questions with Meg Cabot!
By Morgan on May 17th, 2013
We’re closing out Children’s Book Week with a bang: Meg Cabot stopped by to answer our 5 Questions! If you don’t know Meg, get ready. She’s the bestselling author of books like the Allie Finkle series, The Princess Diaries, and the Abandonmore… full post
A Week for Children’s Books: Lia’s take
By Lia on May 17th, 2013
In honor of Children’s Book Week, several OOMers are sharing one classic children’s book that we loved as a child, and one book that we hope will become a classic in the future. Morgan, Lauren, and Jessica all had some great suggestions. Time tomore… full post
Children’s top picks in honor of Children’s Book Week
By Alex on May 17th, 2013
Makayla with her “Old Lady” books! In honor of Children’s Book Week, we asked the children in our lives to tell us what their favorite book is and why. Although we got some pretty great answers, we also encountered a few children who said theymore… full post
Gr8 Textpectations
By Lia on May 16th, 2013
As a total word nerd, I love all things related to English language: spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and, of course, word play. Even when it comes to text messages, I’m a stickler for proper punctuation, and tend to shy away from the use ofmore… full post
Biography love: a roundup
By Lauren on May 16th, 2013
Happy National Biographer’s Day! I must confess biographies are one of my favorite types of books. I love learning about the day-to-day lives of some of the people I’ve been the most fascinated by. Go on, quiz me about Anne Boleyn or Cleopatra.more… full post
A Week of Children’s Books: Jessica’s take
By Jessica on May 16th, 2013
Following in the footsteps of both Morgan and Lauren before me, it is my turn to celebrate Children’s Book Week! In celebration we will be bringing you one classic children’s book that we loved as a child and one book that we hope will becomemore… full post
Using Storia to navigate historical fiction with students
By Guest Blogger on May 16th, 2013
Fourth-grade teacher Laura Murray is here again with some great Storia ideas! Today, she’s talking about historical fiction. And who doesn’t love some good historical fiction? Thanks, Laura! History was never my favorite nor my best subjectmore… full post
Outstanding Educators Help Struggling Students Become Confident Lifelong Readers
By Alex on May 16th, 2013
There are certain times of year I always look forward to, such as the start of summer, my birthday, and of course selecting the READ 180 and System 44 Outstanding Educators! I was again inspired by the nominations we received this year; we have hadmore… full post
