Dear Son,
On December 20, four days after his semester finished, my youngest son flew home for Christmas break. On December 29, he flew back—19 days before his new semester started.
New Beginnings: Born a Crime
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood is a memoir by Trevor Noah about his upbringing in South Africa and how he became a popular comedian in America as host of The Daily Show.
New Beginnings: Tokyo Ever After
Tokyo Ever After: A Novel by Emiko Jean has been climbing the charts as one of the most popular books right now for young adults. With Netflix’s “The Crown” and Katharine McGee’s American Royals being the rage, this book has emerged among them successfully.
New Beginnings: Let's Get Lost
Adi Alsaid has released many young adult books since his first title, Let’s Get Lost, but I can promise you, this one blazes through as just as good, if not better than the rest. A new beginning can start at any time, declared by the person who needs one. In this story, the main character, Leila,...
New Beginnings: Some Girls Do
Many students endure the (not-so-fun) ritual of moving schools mid-year. In Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan, this is the reality of one of the two main characters, Morgan, as she is forced to transfer schools. Morgan is an elite track star at her Catholic private high school, but is kicked out...
New Beginnings
The most beautiful part of January isn’t the snow or the magical lighted displays around town, but instead it’s the chance for a new beginning. January is a refresh button and a new starting line. And as an educator, I feel the need to begin again around this time of year with a clear mind and some...
The Gift of Reading: Romancing the Fruitcake—A Tale of Two Genres
For the past two weeks on my morning runs, I’ve been listening to the podcast Christmas Wars: A Very Merry Rivalry on the battle for Christmas movie superiority waged by Hallmark, Lifetime, Hulu, and Netflix, which is a bit on the ironic side because I have absolutely no interest in this genre.
The Gift of the Math Guy
Before transitioning away from life as a public school educator, I worked as the academic trainer for English and social studies in a large, urban high school in San Antonio. I partnered with English and social studies teachers on strengthening the literacy skills of their students.
The Gift of Reading: We Three Books
On the day after state testing, one of my sophomores burst into the room and announced: “Mr. G, I used rule of three on my essay.”
It was a proud moment. Rule of Three is the concept that words or phrases are inherently more appealing in groups of three. It’s a quick and dirty writing trick/tip I...
The Gift of Reading: Of Authors, Words, and Magic
For most of the past year and half, I have spent most of my waking hours querying or obsessing over querying literary agents for my young adult novel The Closest Thing to a Normal Life.
.png "Untitled (Zoom Events Header)")