CC's Stuff and Things

Book 3: Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah First, let me say this is the third book by Kristin Hannah that I've read.  I read The Great Alone  and The Nightingale , both which I enjoyed, though I felt that The Great Alone  should have ended differently. I'm also noticing that Kristin Hannah likes to leave the reader feeling hope in some way.   Winter Garden is a family drama sort of book centered around the mother, a Russian woman who married an American and came to the US after World War 2.  She is very cold towards the two daughters she has, and when their father dies suddenly, they are left to care for her.  The story is very well done and flashes back to the mother's time in World War 2.  Very well researched, and I did really enjoy it.   Book 4:  The Art of Inheriting Secrets by Barbara O'Neal I listened to this as an audiobook last year, and I like this author ( When we Believed in Mermaids  my favorite so far).  I decided to read the book because I liked the premise

 Book 1 of 2022:  The Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz :) Purchased this book at the Palm Springs Airport on my way to San Jose for the Christmas holiday with family.  I didn't realize that this book was the 2nd in a series-ish sort of book.  It references things that happened in "The Magpie Murders" by the same author, without giving so much away that I knew exactly what happened, but it's not entwined so much with the Moonflower Murders that I could read it and not be confused.  I really liked this book because it was definitely a different structure than I'm used to.  It's about an editor of a deceased author who is contacted because the parents of a missing woman think that she discovered hidden clues in a novel that pointed to a murderer of someone who was killed.  It follows the main character as she travels to England to investigate herself, then about midway through the book, the book with the hidden clues is included for you to read along with t

By no means is this list complete. I suspect I'm forgetting 5-10 books I read. I read books from the library, books that I have been loaned to me, e-books, books purchased at Goodwill or scored for free at church sale prep, and audio books. I was told by a friend that I'm allowed to include audiobooks because I also read book books. I love a good story. So the short codes here are :) for good, :/ for okay, :( for did not enjoy, :)) favorite. 2021 The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben :) Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore :/ The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate :) Verity by Colleen Hoover :( The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O’neal (audio) :) The all you Can Dream Buffet by Barbara O’neal (audio) :) The Garden of Happy Endings by Barbara O’neal (audio) :) The Lost Girls of Devon by Barbara O’neal (audio) :/ The Art of Inheriting Secrets by Barbara O’neal (audio) :/ Write my Name Across the Sky by Barbara O’Neal :) When we Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal (audio

It's true.  The last few years have been rough, moving across country, adjusting to a new culture, a new career, and working with students who exhibit extreme negative behaviors due to adverse childhood experiences.  I have suffered with depression for a really long time, possibly since my teenage years, but in the fall, I took a nosedive.  Actually, when I was thinking about this earlier today, I realized that I was really struggling badly the summer of 2018, and felt emotionally unbalanced.  I visited Ohio that summer for my cousin Shane's wedding, and when I was staying with Mark, he encouraged me to seek therapy.  I attributed my depression mostly to secondary trauma from working with my students.  Christmas of 2018, I cried off and on worrying about one of my students in particular whose parents/family never told him they love him, and he haunted me as I watched my nieces open their presents, knowing that they (thankfully) will never experience the kind of trauma or

This, my last semester before student teaching, has been an experience.  I'm only taking three classes, which is all I need to finish up before student teaching, so I thought it would be a cake walk, particularly considering that I took five classes both semesters last fall and four classes during the summer.  Keep in mind, I work full time and I still manage to maintain a 3.7 GPA (bragging). Despite the fact that my butt only has to be in a classroom four days a week for about an hour and a half apiece, I still have to complete 20 service hours each at two different locations as well as tutoring an elementary student in reading on Saturday mornings for my literacy class. So yeah, I'm busy.  And the literacy tutoring is the thing that's keeping me awake at night and my brain spinning most days at work.  I've been assigned a second year old urban student who I affectionately refer to as the Big E when I'm thinking about him outside of our tutoring sessions. Whe

As the school year starts up, I have seen a lot of posting on Facebook about how Common Core Math is the worst thing in the entire world for kids.  Three months ago, I might have agreed with you, but here's the thing, I am a student in the College of Education working towards a degree that will allow me to work with students who have learning disabilities.  And as such, I had to take a class called "Math Methods" which taught us how to use different techniques to work with those types of students. I should stop and explain (in case you didn't know) more schools are adopting a multi-tiered form of special education services.  This means that as much as possible, schools are including students who have mild to moderate disabilities in the general education classrooms rather than secluding them in a room all unto themselves.  That being said, this emphasizes the fact that there are students with a wide variety of learning styles.  Additionally, (as most everyone knows)