I read Holes at school during reading class a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I watched the video last Friday night and it was great. I am going to use this book and film with students as I feel there are a lot of good things to be learnt from it. I found another book There’s a Boy in the Girls Bathroom by Sachar. It gave me a whole new appreciation for the counsellor at our school. I don’t know how often I have heard or said the comment that the counsellor is not doing enough to help. I read that book and it made me appreciate the kind of long term effort it can take with people for counsellors. It is an important role and to expect instant results would be silly. It is a great book, was an enjoyable and mostly very light story. I think there is something in that story for everyone. I realised in reflection on my own behaviour, how it is easy to become disliked when you are angry and sad. You push others away and it can happen very quickly that you end up with few people who want to be around you. It is not some kind of huge personality disorder, that needs to be untangled. It was a great read.
Avoiding Report Writing
Today I want to write my reports for my students. Every time I get to this time of the year I get the urge to clean my house, start a new business, write a novel, visit an elderly relative I have been neglecting and to read. I read the most I ever read around report writing time.
Yesterday I felt I was being choked to death slowly and painfully by my ‘to do’ list that I hadn’t had time to write down. Many of the things on that to do list were urgent and I’m afraid Mr Covey I was beyond figuring out whether they were important or not. I hadn’t slept the night before worrying that if I were to forget one of the things on my list it would create a large catastrophe in my life.
No matter how organised I get, procrastination and panic are my constants.
Reading
I’m finally reading Billy Connelly’s biography. I am a fan. I have seen him twice in Melbourne. He is returning soon I hear and I will have to pass, for lots of reasons. I would enjoy it. I have never laughed so much than when I saw his shows. It was a great workout for my stomach muscles.
I am finishing ‘The Road to Camelot’ a collection of Authurian short stories edited by Sophie Masson. So far my favourite was Isobelle Carmody’s story about Guinevere.
I’ve just started ‘Rasberries on the Yangtze’ by Karen Wallace.
I am looking forward over the next few weeks to collecting a pile of books for my summer reading. Any suggestions anyone?