Salk Staff Book Club summer edition

Happy summer, and best wishes for a restful vacation... with a good book or two, of course!  Don't forget to grab a copy of A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (along with, if you get inspired, the rest of the trilogy: Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing) so you'll be all set for book club!

We will meet on Wednesday, August 27 at 4 PM at Push Cafe.  Mark your calendar!!  And, until then, have a wonderful summer.

Pauline

Salk Staff Book Club -- follow-up to June 11 and looking ahead to August

A great big thank you to Patti for hosting our last book club, and to Rhonda for inviting Pedro Noguera to come discuss his book The Trouble With Black Boys with us.  Rhonda, Patti, Julia, Cherith, Betsy, Jake, Katherine, Jim, Sonia, Jason, Ling, Marcel, Jenna, Leslie and I had the privilege of speaking to Pedro about his book and the implications for us as a school community.  Every time I hear Pedro speak, I am struck not just by his powerful ideas but also by his way with words.  For that reason, instead of trying to summarize what he said, I thought I'd share with you some quotes.

 

"We have to find a way not to get paralyzed by race."

 

"The collective wisdom of the group is where you're going to get your answers.... You need to tell specific stories -- 'we've never taught ___(name of kid)___ before'.... you can't look for answers in a book."

 

"Learn from each other -- but even after you learn, you have to figure out how you're going to deal with it yourself."

 

It's important to have "a conversation without blame but with accountablity and responsibility."

 

"If you had a Salk museum, would kids treat it with dignity and respect?"

 

"The kids may not have all the answers, but they have a lot of the answers."

 

"We're all implicated in the ways these patterns of failure seem so predictable."

 

"When education is powerful it enables people to do things they didn't think they could do.... How do you create an environment that challenges stereotypes?"

 

"School is about regulating behavior.  People who don't fit in get ostracized.  We need to create an environment where kids can be different."

 

"Fairness is not about treating everyone the same."

 

"To be a kid and not have an adult that's got your back -- that's a lonely kid."

 

"When you go to schools and ask, 'Who are you accountable to?', affluent schools say 'the parents' and poorer schools say 'the superintendent'."

 

Also: Pedro mentioned that he had been on the Leonard Lopate show the day before our book club meeting -- if you want to hear that episode, you can find it here: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2008/06/10

 

 

 

In terms of our next meeting: we will go on summer hiatus until the end of August, and we will continue the tradition (o.k., it's only a year old, but it's still a tradition!) of reading a Y.A. book over the summer.  Betsy suggested we read A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.  This is part of a trilogy, so if you really get into it you can read all three books before we meet!  There are probably some copies of this book floating around school -- check with Humanities teachers.  Or, you can find the book online. We'll meet right before the beginning of the school year -- probably Wednesday, August 27th somewhere near school.  More details will follow later in the summer.

 

Thank you to everyone who attended a book club meeting this year, and I hope to spend more time reading alongside all of you in the coming year!  In the meantime, have a wonderful, restful summer (with your copy of the Libba Bray book, of course!).

 

Pauline

 

 

Re: Salk Staff Book Club -- follow-up & looking ahead

Hi guys,

 

A lot of people have been asking for an update about our next book club meeting.  We're still on for Wednesday, June 11th at 4 PM at Patti's apartment, where Pedro Noguera will be joining us to talk about his book The Trouble with Black Boys.

 

A big thank you to Patti for agreeing to host!  For directions, please go to www.watersideplaza.com, click about and then go to maps & transportation. Patti's apartment is building number 20, apartment 30D.

 

Looking forward to seeing you then!

 

Pauline

Re: Salk Staff Book Club -- follow-up & looking ahead

The date for our next book club has been set for Wednesday, June 11th, and Pedro Noguera will be joining us! Mark your calendars, and hope to see you there.

Pauline

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 9:44 PM, Pauline David ; wrote:

Thank you to Jake, Jason, Sonia, Ling, Marcel, Cherith, Katherine and Rhonda for making it to the most recent session of the Salk Staff Book Club. We had an interesting discussion about the book Being Smart about Gifted Children by Dona Matthews. Since Ling studied with her, she was able to give us some insight into how Dona might react to our comments about the book. One of the big things we talked about was differentiating for students who are at the top of our classes, not just for those who struggle. We also discussed the politics of gifted education and some of our own experiences. Additionally, we discussed school choice in New York City and the decisions parents are faced with when looking for school placements for their children. Thanks, Ling, for suggesting the book, and to everyone who came to the discussion!

Exciting news about our next book: Pedro Noguera has said that he would be willing to come to our next session if we wanted to discuss his latest book, The Trouble With Black Boys, with him! For those of you who don't know him, Pedro is a professor of education at NYU who focuses on issues of urban schooling (I can't possibly do justice to his rich resume in just one sentence, but you can read about him here). He's also a former Salk parent, and an amazing speaker and thinker. This is a really great opportunity to read a thought-provoking book and discuss it with the author. Read about the book here.

Rhonda is checking Pedro's availability regarding dates -- we will shoot for sometime in May, so stay tuned. Patti has graciously agreed to host (thanks, Patti!!). And, as always, I'm happy to order copies of the book to be delivered to school. Amazon is selling the book for $16.50 (o.k., $16.47, but I don't want to get any pennies!). If you want me to order you a book, please send me an email by the end of the week so that we can (hopefully) get the books in before break.

Whether you're a diehard book club attendee or someone who's been lurking in the shadows, this is one book club session you're not going to want to miss!!

Yours,
Pauline

Salk Staff Book Club -- follow-up & looking ahead

Thank you to Jake, Jason, Sonia, Ling, Marcel, Cherith, Katherine and Rhonda for making it to the most recent session of the Salk Staff Book Club.  We had an interesting discussion about the book Being Smart about Gifted Children by Dona Matthews.  Since Ling studied with her, she was able to give us some insight into how Dona might react to our comments about the book.  One of the big things we talked about was differentiating for students who are at the top of our classes, not just for those who struggle.  We also discussed the politics of gifted education and some of our own experiences.  Additionally, we discussed school choice in New York City and the decisions parents are faced with when looking for school placements for their children.  Thanks, Ling, for suggesting the book, and to everyone who came to the discussion!

Exciting news about our next book:  Pedro Noguera has said that he would be willing to come to our next session if we wanted to discuss his latest book, The Trouble With Black Boys, with him!  For those of you who don't know him, Pedro is a professor of education at NYU who focuses on issues of urban schooling (I can't possibly do justice to his rich resume in just one sentence, but you can read about him here).  He's also a former Salk parent, and an amazing speaker and thinker.  This is a really great opportunity to read a thought-provoking book and discuss it with the author.  Read about the book here. 

Rhonda is checking Pedro's availability regarding dates -- we will shoot for sometime in May, so stay tuned.  Patti has graciously agreed to host (thanks, Patti!!).  And, as always, I'm happy to order copies of the book to be delivered to school.  Amazon is selling the book for $16.50 (o.k., $16.47, but I don't want to get any pennies!).  If you want me to order you a book, please send me an email by the end of the week so that we can (hopefully) get the books in before break. 

Whether you're a diehard book club attendee or someone who's been lurking in the shadows, this is one book club session you're not going to want to miss!!

Yours,
Pauline

Salk Staff Book Club -- **change of venue**

Because of a scheduling conflict, we will be changing the location for Thursday's book club meeting.

 

We will meet at 4 PM at Push Cafe (3rd Ave. & 22nd St.).

 

Thanks, and hope to see you there.

 

(If you can't come but have ideas for a future book, please let me know!)

 

Pauline

 

On 3/12/08, Pauline David <pauline.david@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello all,

 

Several people have commented to me that this next book club book (Being Smart About Gifted Education by Dona Matthews) is rather long and have suggested that we could jigsaw some chapters.  So, if you're not up for reading the entire book, you might consider reading chapter 1 and then choosing one other section that particularly interests you.  Please don't let the length of the book deter you from participating!

 

As a reminder, our next meeting will be on Thursday, April 3rd at 4 PM at Patti's.

 

Hope to see you there!!

 

Pauline

Salk Staff Book Club -- update about April 3rd meeting

Hello all,

 

Several people have commented to me that this next book club book (Being Smart About Gifted Education by Dona Matthews) is rather long and have suggested that we could jigsaw some chapters.  So, if you're not up for reading the entire book, you might consider reading chapter 1 and then choosing one other section that particularly interests you.  Please don't let the length of the book deter you from participating!

 

As a reminder, our next meeting will be on Thursday, April 3rd at 4 PM at Patti's.

 

Hope to see you there!!

 

Pauline