Books:  I will start with a few of my "reading for pleasure" choices. These books may not be brand new, but they are well worth checking out:

Verity by Colleen Hoover- I was part of a book club and this was a title that a member chose. I had never read anything by this author,  and I wasn't too excited about reading this book. Well, let me just say, I was hooked by the second chapter. It has a sinister feel as you read deeper into the story. What you think has happened as you read quickly changes making this a page turner.

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani- One of my favorite authors of rich family stories. This novel is a breathtaking family saga that tells a tale starting with the immigrant experience. It takes place  in the early twentieth century and heats up in the Italian Alps as Enza and Ciro meet, but soon get separated as Ciro is banished from his village and sent to hide in New York's Little Italy. This multi-generational story brings the reader through the separate paths both Enza and Ciro are forced to take, and then to their reuniting only to be separated again. Great saga of family, love, loss, war, and new beginnings. It is a masterfully crafted story that will stay with you. If you are like me, you'll sign up for ancestry.com after reading this story to begin to dig into your own family stories! 

I've Been Thinking by Maria Shriver- This book is one that offers the authors reflections on life, along with prayers and meditations. I enjoy this book because it helps to calm my mind, make me smile, and laugh. It lets me reflect on the good things that happen in my life, while considering ways to relieve my mind of things that I cannot control. I would not consider this to be a book you read and move on from, rather one that you'll pick up again and again when you want to have quiet time to just let your thoughts rest and your mind relax. 

Professional Reading: I have read and reviewed many wonderful professional texts for Middleweb that you can check out on their website. 

Writing and Building Your Personal Learning Network: 

Kate Messner has been offering a free summer writing “camp” that I have enjoyed for the past few summers. This year's theme is “Teachers Write 2021 – An Invitation to Reflect, Write, and Renew”. It will begin on June 28 and wrap up on July 30th. Weekly reflections and writing prompts are delivered via email on Monday mornings. Kate describes this year to be a “no-pressure, participate-on-your-own-terms summer, so feel free to sign up, even if you think you might try one or two prompts, or if you’d just like to watch from the sidelines”. 

TeachWrite EDU is offering a “Stories from the Classroom” online workshop. I've included some information directly from their site. 

“Have an amazing classroom practice that you'd like to share with others in the form of a book or journal article? In this Stories From the Classroom Workshop, Dr. Cherylann Schmidt will get you started on a practitioner inquiry project that can help you do just that!

“The Stories From the Classroom workshop is led by Dr. Cherylann Schmidt, a practicing middle school teacher and graduate instructor of the Research Methods and Capstone Writing in Urban Teaching Residency Program (UTR) at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) at the University of Pennsylvania. She has a passion for teacher-inquiry and using stories as a tool for uncovering the gems hiding inside classroom instructional practices.”

Check out this link for cost and more information: https://www.teachwriteacademy.com/storiesjuly2021