Conference

I just got back from Seattle where I attending the International Reading Association's Regional conference. I went with Brenda Paxton, a teacher at our school. We had a great time, but of course I also learned so much! I usually leave conferences feeling extremely guilty about all of the amazing things that I could be doing, but this time I was a little more patient with myself and decided on figuring out two things that I could take back to school.
I heard a writer, Ralph Fletcher, speak about how we as a society have "hushed" boys and their writing...Boys writing is often not "nice", like girl's writing, and usually has spaceships, blasters, and images of war or violence....He believes, and I do too, that boys write to be social, to communicate with their friends, to fight virtual "monsters", to create worlds of fantasy, and to impress other boys....we shouldn't be afraid of this, but we should encourage boys to be imaginative!
I came home to many green pumpkins....the boys and Lance harvested them, but many of them are still not orange....any ideas about how green pumpkins taste? I am sure they would make some funny looking jack o lanterns.