The Best Books I Read in 2024
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reading
Best Books I Read in 2023
Every year, I join the reading challenge on Goodreads. More often than not, I don’t reach my goal of reading 100 books, but last year I exceeded it. I credit this to our nighttime reading switching from picture books to chapter books. We are deep into Who Would Win, Magic Tree House, and Junie B.
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On Not Meeting Goals
This year, I didn’t meet my reading goal. I joined the Goodreads Reading Challenge and set my goal to read 100 books by the end of the year. I read 88. It would be easy to look at this picture of the quippy, “Better luck next time!” and feel disappointed or discouraged. It would be
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The Top Five Books I Read in 2022
Every year, I join the Goodreads Book Challenge. This year for the first time, I increased my goal to 100 books. I didn’t quite make it this year, but even so, I have set the same goal for 2023. As I conclude the year, I take the time to think and reflect on the books
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The Best Five Books I Read in 2021
Over the past six years, I have joined scores of people who have set a reading goal for the year. My goal has been fifty books for the last six years. The only years I have met that goal were years we were battling a pandemic. There is something about slowing down that reminds us
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Stamped from the Beginning
For the last two weeks, I have been knee-deep in Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning. I reserved this book at the library after a summer study of his book How to Be Antiracist. I knew there was more that I needed to learn. I knew there were stories and experiences that I had
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Best Books I Read in 2019
Every year for the past three years, I have participated in the book challenge on Goodreads. Every year I have set my reading goal for fifty books and I have yet to meet that goal. This year I read twenty-seven books out of the fifty and I am proud of that. This is a good
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Developing Critical Literacy
One of the aspects of our current cultural conversation, especially in regards to a digital presence, is the observation that many, many, too many people don’t know how to distinguish between a reliable source and an unreliable source. Many, many, too many people don’t know how to search and find multiple perspectives. This is something
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The Best Books I Read in 2018
For the last two years, I have participated in the reading challenge on Goodreads. I’ve challenged myself to read 50 books. In 2016, I read 23. In 2017, I read 34. This year, I read 47. I’ll also challenge myself to read 50 books this year. It’s good to recognize challenges often take longer than a
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Children’s Books that Teach Kids to Love Language
Sometimes in our desire to make sure our children are learning all of the important preliteracy skills they need, we forget the power of loving language. Words are powerful, but words are also fun and funny and whimsical. As I was studying to be a reading specialist, one of the things I always wanted to
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