Saturday, January 9, 2010

39. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone



I finished my last of 5 books to read for fun. I have never read more than a few pages of any of the Harry Potter books. I have taught for 6 years and watched my students proudly keep these books on their desktops in an effort to show that they were indeed reading a Harry Potter book. All of these books are huge. The shortest book is about 300 pages with the longest probably being 500+. I had thoughts of wanting to read the first book to see what it was like and this was the perfect opportunity.
I began reading this book before winter break but foolishly left the book at school so I couldn't read any of during my time off. When I got back to school I quickly began picking it up at down times at school when I didn't have students in the room. When the kids knew I was reading it they were excited and many of them kept asking what part I stopped at last. It was fun to see them reliving the book as I would tell what I had just read and me telling them what I had thought was going to happen next in the book. It really was a great teaching opportunity to show them how to retell a story.
I am excited to tell them on Monday morning that I finished the book and to have a discussion about it with them. They truly are a great class and have taken quite the interest in my goals. They are excited every time I tell them that I have accomplished another goal or gotten any closer to finishing any part.

5 comments:

Gretchen said...

Didn't we take Adolescent Lit together??? Or did you stick with Stombres and take Children's Lit? I know Roberts had us read it and then we got to go see the movie - AS A CLASS! :)

melissa said...

I forgot about that ...we all went to the theater to see it. That was fun! Good job Eric. Another book down.

Eric Weis said...

I took Childrens Lit, not adolescent lit. I also took Children's lit at Elgin Community College to compensate for the D- that I got the first time I took it.
I did hear some of it on CD with you Gretchen when we drove back from Minnesota after helping Matt move up there. I barely remember it though.

Gretchen said...

Oh... too funny. I forgot all about our road-trips.

Mom said...

The first HP (the one you read) is the only one I've read. I had to read it for a grad English class last winter. I think someday I might try to read another. The book was soooo much better for me than the movie.