Light Reading

I'm in the process of moving back into the room I spent my adolescence in. Moving from an apartment with plenty of storage space into a tiny bedroom has me overwhelmed. That in conjunction with starting work, and trying to finish school (I'm ridiculously behind in my coursework) has put blogging and wedding planning on hold.

I spent the last week in Virginia with my parents, brothers and Danny. I saw one of my best friends and her boyfriend for two days, and spent some time reading trashy, terrible romance novels by Catherine Anderson and Julie Garwood. Comanche Moon, Comanche Heart, and Lion's Lady all took place after the Civil War and dealt with wagon trains, pioneers, and Native Americans.

This made me re-read some of the Little House on the Prairie Books. I guess that sounds like a lot of reading for someone who is supposedly stressed out by schoolwork, but reading simple romances and children's stories have kept me calm and helped me not worry as much about things I can't control at the moment.

Right now I'm reading The Freedom Writers Diary in the hopes that it will inspire me to go above and beyond the call of duty with my new set of students. I know I will need to be calm, brave, creative, compassionate, sensitive, and emotionally strong to handle this new group. I worry I won't be able to earn their respect, and that I'll feel as helpless and as miserable as I did three years ago when I first began teaching.

I'm also about to start reading a set of books for adolescents called The Bluford Series. These books are apparently all the rage at the school I will be working at and I've heard there is a guidebook for teachers to use these books in their classrooms.