A lot of things happened this year. In many ways, it's been an excellent year. I started out with a vague goal of reading 100 books and ended up reading over 150 (the actual number is a little unclear depending on what counts as a book). On the other hand, it has been a exceedingly challenging year. While, I've restarted my reading habit, in a big way, I'm still struggling with the writing, and there have been several long gaps in the blog.
As a result, I have a new set of self-challenges in both reading and writing.
Part of my success reading is a result of really owning my position at the school as the resident "book lady." I firmly believe that part of the reason kids hesitate to read is that once they've finished a book, they can't really share the experience unless they can find someone else who read the same book. Reading can be a very isolating pursuit in that way. Part of the reason kids disappear into video games/youtube/television is that it's easier to find a connection. The time investment is less and, for many games, there are ready made online communities to connect with.
About two thirds of the books I read this year were YA or Middle Readers. I picked up anything I saw one of my kids with and then anything those books led me to. I talked to the kids about what they read and I got them talking to each other. It was actually very successful in its way, but it meant that I read a lot of young people lit. On a downside, this lead to some stagnation. I enjoy YA lit, but it isn't stimulating in the same ways as other literature so here's the goal for the upcoming year:
100 YA Novels/Middle Reader Books: What I'm doing with my students is valuable and that means I have to keep reading in this area. So I am committing to reading at least 100 YA books in the upcoming year. It's not a hardship but the trick is going to be avoiding stagnation
20 non-fiction/professional books: I need to read more nonfiction. I just do. I like nonfiction even, but it's slower going than fiction and I tend to put it aside for later. This year I will read 20 of them, ideally they won't all be pedagogy books, but those do count. So do cookbooks for that matter.
10 short story collections: It's often easier to get a reluctant reader to commit to a 20 page story than a 200 page book. Which is great, if you have a handy stock of short stories to suggest... which oddly I don't. I know the standard high school text book stories...but that's about it. 10 collections for the next year will be a start.
10 books of poetry: I have a dirty secret. I secretly dread the Poetry Unit that my 9th graders do each year. Strangely, I love teaching poetry for my 12th graders. I suspect it's an issue of familiarity. Clearly, I need to read more poetry recreationally.
60 adult fiction and genre: I love YA fiction. Really. But, I'm in my 30's. I need to read some adult stuff from time to time to maintain sanity.
It all adds up to:
200 total books: To help with managing all this, I'm going to divide my monthly lists into categories. While it's possible for a book to qualify in multiple categories, it can only make the count for one. Additionally, I'd like at least 50 of the books for the year to have been published in the last five years. (so, since 2012) I'll do something like an asterisk for those .
Other Goals:
Fully read the text books: We bought new text books this year at the school. So, as an additional reading goal, I'd like to fully read through the two text books that I am particularly responsible for: 9th grade and British Literature.
Blog: I have a love hate relationship with this blog. It's like a never ending deadline. However, it's good for me and it helps me keep a record of what I read. So, my goal is to have a complete year, no missed days for 2017.
Other Writing: I keep coming back to writing. Creatively, I mean. I don't know that I will ever produce something publishable, but I know that if I don't pursue it on some level, I will look back at my life and wonder what if? So 30 minutes minimum, every day.
It seems like a lot, and it's probably too much taken all together. I know I have at least one person reading out there who specifically said 200 books were too many. However, I don't believe that all goals should be necessarily achievable. Goals are valuable for the striving. Sometimes, we meet them, but even if we don't, if we genuinely strove for it, that's success.
Any one of these goals is possible, but all together, it might be too much. However, wouldn't it be amazing if I actually managed it?
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