The New John C

It's Friday afternoon, and I have about three hours to myself.  I need to use this quiet time to get ahead on my homework (or just catch up).  I have to substitute teach all next week, not to mention stay on top of everything else around here, so these three hours better be productive. I settle in at my desk and 10 minutes later my yard guy Victor shows up.  I open the gate, and then (of course) I have to chat with him for a few minutes.  I don't mind this at all, because I've done business with this guy for 20 years!  He wants to know about my kids, especially how my son is doing with baseball this spring.  I'm interested in how his kids are doing, too. We both smile and shake our heads about how fast everyone is growing up.  I ask how he and is his family are doing post-Harvey, what a nightmare.  I almost forget to ask if there anything special going on in my yard that he needs to tell me about. And, I get to practice my Spanish a little bit...

When my children were young, I would often read aloud to them.  Actually, there was a LOT of reading to them.  We went through the entire set of Harry Potter books...twice to be precise, one time for each child.  And my son enjoyed the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  So did I!  These times were priceless. They could follow along with the plot line, and recognize characters and their traits, but, as expected,  they were not doing a lot of higher level thinking about what they were hearing.  What sort of themes were being communicated in the books?  What about character conflict?  How did my kids feel about what they heard?  In the vernacular, my kids needed some scaffolding!  And candidly, my son - the younger of the two, now at age 16 - still does. I think a tool like BHH is beguilingly simple, and therein lies the beauty.  It's something that young readers can use, remember, and understand.  It's a marvelous approa...

My best reading experience?  Interesting question!  I haven't given this much thought, despite the fact that I'm reading so much every day.  Correspondence with friends and families, social media, text books, novels, things my students are working on, magazines, online news and analysis sites, and online product reviews are just a few things that I read regularly, but I know there are more. It's not imperative that I have a silent and undisturbed place to read, but I tend to lean in that direction.  For me, the most important part of a good reading experience is what I am reading.  Am I engaged, and have I learned something?  Have I gotten some other value out of what I read?  Of course, the term "Value" registers on many different levels.  Have I been entertained?  Did I read something that was thought-provoking, or something that I found aesthetically pleasing?  Occasionally I may read something and find myself being amazed that a hu...