Last week, I tweeted a thought I had about starting a book club, and later that day TO Book Club was born. I'm looking forward to engaging with others who are passionate about literature. Reading a book is a decidedly solitary activity. We need time to absorb the words, to allow the text to move us, to allow our imaginations to interact with the text creating an intimate and individual experience every time it is read. At the same time, there is a unique pleasure in the shared experience of going on that journey with others, having a multitude of parallel experiences that intersect at a moment in the text or engage in a vibrant debate/discussion/analysis of the work. It's those experiences that I hope to have reading with you.

To that end, I have set up the @TOBookClub account on Twitter. The vision of what this book club could be isn't fully formed yet. Right now, I have the rough idea of reading the book and meeting at some point after, likely toward the end of March to discuss the novel. You don't have to live in or near Toronto to do so, as I have started the hashtag #TOBookClub and will likely explore having a meeting via Twitter and Google + or other video/chat service for a larger group discussion (depending on how many people are interested in attending). If you have any ideas or suggestions, please add them in the comments or tweet me, I'd love to hear them!

The first book selected is Half-Blood Blues, by Esi Edugyan. 

I'm about half way in and it is really difficult to put down. I have been tweeting quotes from the novel that (I hope) will give you a taste of the beauty of the narrative. Today I listened to a short podcast from the Man Booker Prize (the novel was a finalist). At the 7:30 mark is a lovely reading from the novel, a teaser that reveals just how easy it is to be drawn in by the gorgeous economy of words:

February just flew right by. Perhaps it's that end-of-winter shut down, but I realize that I haven't blogged since the beginning of the month. That needs to change. I'd like to make an effort to blog at least 2-3 times a week in March, to get myself back into the habit. So happy March 1!

I have decided to devote this month to trying new things. Spring is right around the corner, and what better  way to celebrate than to experiment and play with new tools and resources? Want to play together? Here's what I'm experimenting with right now:

Pinterest: One year ago, this site was launched and I have been following its development (as well as the usual attempt to quantify and monetize the service). I don't have much up yet, but I'm starting to get a feel for how it works. I do wish that the process of adding people to follow was a bit easier, but I like the simplicity of the site's layout and I'm finding ways to use and organize information. Organization is not my strong suit, so I'm always looking for ways to help with that challenge and I hope that this site might be a useful tool. I love the fact that it's so visual, not simply a block of text that I have bookmarked. I'd love to see how you're using Pinterest, so here's where you can find me: Ms. Solomon on Pinterest.

"Why do we have to sing O Canada in school every day?" My 5 year old asked me as we pulled up to her school this morning. When she began kindergarten, I briefly wondered what she'd think about this musical interlude at the beginning of every school day. She never mentioned it, and I never remembered to ask her. Other things seemed more important: who she played with, what story she was reading, what happened on the playground. O Canada was something she did in the morning, like putting her coat in a cubby and taking the chairs down at the beginning of class, unworthy of notice (though those rituals could fill another blog post...). Why did she ask me that question today? I find she often asks the big questions at times when we're rushed, in motion, the times when I can't fully devote my attention to the answer. This one seemed important so I parked the car, glanced at the clock and realized I had about 4 minutes before the bell rang.

"Why do you think?" I asked, curious to see how she had rationalized it.

"I don't know," was her less-than-helpful answer.

"Do you think it's because it's everyone's favourite song?" I countered.

"No. It's not my favourite song."

On Monday January 23, #K12Media (a weekly chat for teachers interested in Media Literacy/Studies/Education) discussed how we might bring last week's SOPA protest into our classrooms. We began by looking at the media texts produced that day and we hope that the discussion can continue in the comments. We will definitely come back to the topics of piracy, privacy, copyright and sharing in future #K12Media talks.

This past week a virtual protest yielded real results. Wikipedia led the charge and many websites went black on January 18. In the end, politicians in the US listened and SOPA was effectively scrapped. 

Though a battle was won, the war continues as politicians, special interest groups and the public try to determine who has control over the internet. This protest and the issues it publicized are rich with resources, topics for discussion or debate, and media texts.

Image: Screen Shot of Wikipedia.com taken Jan 18.

The SOPA protests are rich with potential ideas to bring to the classroom; censorship, media ownership, social media & its impact #K12Media

— M. Keats (@ms_keats) January 24, 2012

SOPA protests were also a media event, rich with media texts for analysis and critical thinking. #K12Media

— Ms. Solomon (@msolomonteacher) January 24, 2012