Guilty!

So, I have been really beating myself up lately about my lack of reading this summer!

I decided a few days before the end of this past school year that I was going to learn to knit.  Well, RElearn to knit.  As a child, my mother taught me to knit during one summer.  I remember I really enjoyed it, but I couldn't remember how to do it.  So I got some materials and started and, in all humbleness, I'm not THAT bad at it.  In fact I have started making some Christmas gifts!  It's wonderful to have a new outlet for unwinding and for creativity.

The problem?  Usually my free time over the summer is spent catching up on my long list of "to reads."  It's not that I'm not reading at all.  After watching the Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility for the first time, I decided to reread the book.  I love Jane Austen and haven't read one of her novels in a while.  I'm really enjoying it, but I still feel guilty that I'm not reading more.  I mean, I want to be a librarian for crying out loud, reading is a must, right?

Last summer I read 8 books.  This summer I hope I finish 1 in the next two weeks.  I try to justify myself by remembering that I do have a four-year-old at home (we read a stack of picture books every night).  I'm also taking a class.  I've gone on a few dates with my husband (we've gone to the movies twice this summer) - it's been a long time since that's happened!  I even allowed my husband to get Netflix - this in turn has caused me to become addicted to Sherlock!
<3 Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch

So my summer has not been a complete wasting of my limited free time.  At the same time, I feel very disappointed in my lack of summer reading...I read more for pleasure during this past school year than I have this summer.  That is just...unbelievable!

The Purpose

At the beginning of a class, the teacher is supposed to always state the objectives, right?  So, what am I doing blogging? 
Well, I am currently an elementary school technology teacher.  I want and need to work in current technology so that I can stay on top of what's going on. 
Additionally, I am learning to be a librarian.  Library (like most everything else) isn't what it used to be.  Technology is important in EVERY aspect of education (and daily life actually).  The school library is a central part of the school both in an academic sense and, in many cases, a physical sense.  As a future librarian, I need to interact with other librarians in order to know what's going on out there and what's "hot" in library trends.  Blogging allows me to share what I've got and connect with others in order to create the best library situation for my future patrons.
Finally, blogging is really fun.  I always loved the whole stream of consciousness thing. 
<3 Faulkner
It's much easier to type what you are thinking.  When I used to try to physically write in stream of consciousness style, I would've had several other thoughts before I was able to get the first on one the paper. 

By the way, stream of consciousness writing is a really fun writing activity I used to do with my 5th graders.  At first there was a lot of "I don't know what to write.  I don't know what to write." but after a bit, they can come up with some pretty funny/interesting things.  Kept in a writing journal, this writing is also something great to have the students go back to when they are at a loss for writing topics, need to practice editing, or to remind them of the writing style if they want to do it more on there own.

So it begins...or continues.

We never really stop learning, do we?  I mean, we try.  Having been a child in elementary school and teaching in elementary school for the past 8 years, I KNOW that many people try to get out of learning.  We may not learn what the teacher intended to teach, but we are always learning.
I actually love being a life-long learner, but I keep telling myself (and my husband, family, coworkers) that I am going to stop going back to school.  Yet here I am nearing the end of my graduate studies.  I am so enjoying earning my Masters degree and adding school librarianship to my teaching license.  I loved going back to school for my initial teaching license.  I even liked my first stint in college to earn a B.A. in English (still not sure what I thought I was going to actually do with that :).  But this is it.  I mean it.  Really...